Glenn had his EEG today. Bob took him, and he said Glenn did very well. He stayed very still while the wires were put in his hair and he fell asleep pretty quickly when they were ready for him to. That's because I got him up at 5 am to the detriment of my day (I took a nap when Alex napped this morning or else I wasn't going to make it to lunch). And poor Glenn was so tired tonight that he didn't even want a bath. They left an electrode on his chest, so I had to carefully scrape it off. He had such a long day that he lost it and cried until I got it off. I would have just ripped it off quickly like a bandaid, but I had a bad experience with an electrode when I gave birth to Alex- it took a patch of my skin with it. So, I took my time taking it off him even though he was so upset- but I didn't get any skin, so it was worth it. He fell asleep very quickly tonight.

It was in the teens this morning! My dad emailed me in an attempt to make me feel better by telling me that it was just 2 in CT. I put a hat on Glenn before taking him to school and he asked if he was going to play in the snow and moved his arms like he was making a snow angel. Such a cutie!!! It was definitely cold enough for snow, but the atmosphere has been very dry the past couple days. It's supposed to be in the upper 60s tomorrow. We're looking forward to that.

We're all sick here. It started with runny noses in the boys. Then Bob started not feeling well, and today it was my turn to join the misery. Poor Alex wakes up with snot all over his face because he usually rolls to his tummy while he's sleeping. It was in his hair this morning, too. Yuck!

Glenn made it the whole day today without having an accident (we're talking potty talk here). We were so proud of him. He did wear a diaper to his EEG, but it was dry. It's rarely his idea to go to the bathroom, we keep reminding him to go. Usually he says he doesn't have to go, but we insist. I think he's going to stick with it this time. I've very excited.

Then there's Alex and night time. A friend recommended putting several pacifiers in the crib so that when he wakes up, he can find one and plug his mouth and fall back to sleep. I bought several yesterday and we tried it last night. He was awake still for an hour (even though I fed him half way through the hour), but he didn't wake up until 2:30, which I think is the latest he's ever woken up for the first time during the night. And he wasn't screaming because he had a pacifier in his mouth. It was more of a whine. So, we'll see how it goes.

I think I just wrote a book- I guess we have a lot going on. I think I'll go get ready for bed so I can get to sleep early tonight.

This isn't right...

I know I shouldn't be complaining to all you northerners, but it's cold here. It was in the 20's this morning, and my hands almost froze off while I was pumping gas. There were even puddles frozen over. But at least it'll be getting to 46 this afternoon. Friday it's supposed to be 70! I don't remember such fluctuations in the weather last year. I remember a couple of mornings being in the 30s, but not weather we've been having lately.

Anyway, on to the good news. Glenn was dry the whole time at school yesterday and loved telling his teacher he was in underwear. He gave me the whole run-down of the day- telling his teachers, "Potty! Potty!", going to the potty, Diego underwear, high fives! He was actually dry all day yesterday until after he got off the phone with Nana and Papa- then he had an accident. He felt really bad. But I was very proud of how he did yesterday. He was very excited to wear underwear again to school today.

I had my semiannual visit with my nephrologist today (kidney doctor). I had a good check-up. My creatinine level is stable (shows how much protein waste is in the blood, higher number means that the kidneys aren't filtering out that waste as well)- it was 1 right after giving birth, and is still 1. My uric acid (can cause gout and kidney stones) is kind of high, but that's to be expected since I'm just using diet to keep it low and no medication while I'm still nursing Alex. It was 9 (it's usually 4.5 when I'm medicated). So, it's low enough that I get to continue nursing Alex until he's a year, at which point I'll go back on medication and will be able to eat meat again-Yay!! (sorry Lisa!)

Nights are still tough with Alex. He just can't seem to go to sleep in the middle of the night unless I feed him. Any other time, it's not a problem. I'm completely exhausted because since we've started this sleep training thing, he's up a whole hour in the middle of the night. Two nights ago, once he finally fell asleep, it took me a while to go back to sleep. That just made things worse. He's got to get it soon, or else I won't be able to keep this up.

Bob's nursing his Wii shoulder. But he'll work through the pain. He thinks he'll be more fit on his right side than the left.

Glenn went to school wearing underwear today. I hope he's doing well. He did so well over this long weekend. I think he only had 2 accidents (not counting the night). He's even been staying dry through his nap. So, hopefully he did well enough. I'm not expecting him to be perfect, and neither is his teacher. She suggested once he made it to the toilet 50% of the time to send him in underwear. But I would have felt to guilty. I'm excited to hear how he did.

We got a Wii this weekend. Bob had been trying to find one for a couple of weeks now, and finally found one yesterday. It's a lot of fun. I say this because I can actually beat him at some of the sports. I beat him twice in bowling and once in boxing (he hasn't won in those two sports at all). The boxing is really a good workout. I guess I should mention that Bob does win in tennis. He also got Guitar Hero, but we can't play the drum set when the boys are sleeping- TOO LOUD!

Since there's no school tomorrow, a bunch of moms (and kids) are meeting at the park by our house tomorrow morning. So, we're looking forward to that. Hopefully it'll be in the 50's by then since it's supposed to be really windy. I am sorry to hear it's so cold up north. We had a couple from Ohio visiting at church today, and they said they had come here for the warmth, but was a bit disappointed since we had a few cold days here (40s and low 50s). Reminds me of when Bob and I went to Disney in December one year and it was the longest cold snap they'd had in many years. I think it was actually warmer in CT than it was in Orlando while we were there.

Now I'm rambling, so I'll just go back to reading my book...

Making Progress

Alex tried a new food today. He loves nectarines, or at least doesn't spit it out or try to vomit. But he is getting very smart- he'd still rather not eat solid food, so it's a pain to convince him to open his mouth. Anytime the spoon comes near, he clamps his mouth shut. Previously, we had tried rice cereal and sweet potatoes. You'd think I was trying to poison him. He hated them. We'll try them again in a couple of weeks. I'm just happy he'll eat something. He ate a half an ounce at dinner, which is quite a bit for his little tummy.

He also did well sleeping last night. He went to bed around 7:00, woke at midnight, 4:30, and 6:00. I did feed him for 2 minutes after giving him a chance to try to go back to sleep. I was happy he slept for 4 and a half hours after his first waking. Usually it's every 2 or 3 hours after he first wakes up. So, that's progress. And tonight, I'll only feed him for one minute when he won't go back to sleep. Tomorrow night will really be the test as I won't feed him at all.

Not much to tell about Glenn. I don't have as many stories about him when he's in school for half the day and sleeping for usually 2 hours in the afternoon. We are still trying to potty train him. He's pantsless when he's home (and not sleeping). We find he's much less likely to have accidents if he's not wearing anything. Today, he must have gone to the potty 50 times because every time he's actually productive on the potty, he gets a little snack. He would be so frustrated when he couldn't produce anything even though he'd just gone 5 minutes before. We're really frustrated with the whole potty training thing, but hopefully this tactic will help him. When he's wearing a diaper or underwear, he doesn't care if he goes, and is too busy to be bothered with going to the potty.