Where in the world are our Chiquita Bambinos?

I miss blogging, I really do. The world is changing so quickly these days, that the things I totally took for granted when Mia & Gabe were tiny are now already totally different. Do people blog? Do people even read blogs? I do not know. But I still kind of miss it.

One of the reasons I haven't been on here that much simply is just our lives have changed. Adding in a new person (hello, Will, who never got a formal introduction here on the blog!) at the beginning of the school year meant we just got sucked into the vortex of school and newborn parenting all at once.
Additionally, between the school runs, and homeschooling (we continue to partner with a school that's half-homeschool, half-"regular" school), my consistent nap times for the other kids were not as consistent, and nap times were often when I'd get any blogging done in the past, if I wasn't trying to sneak in a nap myself. By the end of the day, the last thing I'd want to do is get on my computer, as I was all "what series can I finish in one night on Netflix?", and so, here we are, just a year since my last blog update, with a 9 month old and what feels like a lifetime of stories to catch up on.

Speaking of naps, that's what our "little" 9 month old is doing. Whilst holding a child-proofed bottle of teething tablets. "Wear your supplements," they said, and thus he is, clutching them in his hand! That's just where we're at right now. Will is 9 months old, has 3 teeth on the bottom and the top two are breaking in. He had his 9 month check-up the other day and is 19lbs, 9 oz, and 28" long. Blessed be my brain, but I can't remember the stats for Mia & Gabe at this age, but, he's pretty big for our kids for a 9 month old baby. I think Mia weighed 19lbs by one year. Everyone remarks on how big and solid he is. He's definitely a little haus...as one can clearly tell by this solid picture. :-|

Naps have been a source of much discussion around here lately. Are we getting one today, or not? Because Will is the third baby, he hasn't had the luxury of our staying at home most of the time to ensure he can stay on his nap schedule. Life is so much different now than it was when Mia was three and Gabe was a tiny tot. This past school year two days of the week, either myself or Greg was running out the door at 2:30 to pick up Mia from school. On Wednesday afternoons, we had violin lessons for Mia and gymnastics for both Mia & Gabe. Those were long afternoons. If Will was asleep and it seemed like he might take a good nap, sometimes I left him home (with Greg who works from home) for those runs out the door. If he wasn't asleep, he had to come with me, and we just let him sleep on the go, or he'd stay up and we'd just roll with it. Trust me, he's a special kind of baby to just be "rolling with it."

Now that it's summer, though, we've been able to rearrange our schedule a tad and also cancel some activities (bye bye, gymnastics!), so I'm really working on getting into a better nap groove a) for his own benefit and b) for my sanity. I may be random, but I do crave some structure too. After all these years, Spontaneity and Structure can be good friends, I've determined :P

Our goal is to get him on a pretty regular rhythm or routine so that we can plan the rest of our activities in step with his nap needs. This has required some nap-training, which sometimes sounds like a horrible code-word for "crying it out." I don't enjoy crying it out (I mean, who does?), but what I mean by nap-training is laying him down, and patting his butt, and playing special music he likes that is a cue for sleep, and continuing to do this (and sometimes leaving his room to let him know it's not play time) until he falls asleep. We are at like a 60% success rate right now. He knows the cues, so it's a matter of continuing to reinforce it until it becomes solid. Sometimes we have to do this at night as well, if he doesn't fall asleep while nursing. The transfer after bedtime nursing is like 98% more successful than the transfer after naptime nursing.

So, I just spent a good portion of this blog talking about nap times. Cuz that's where I'm at!

Next blog, I'll back up and introduce who Will actually is and his birth story, cuz I'm all about a good birth story. Until then, adios! Master William is awake from his merry morning slumber. Adieu.