Everyday I'm shufflin...

Connor has been a superstar the last two nights! Last Sunday, I had just about had enough. I have been exhausted, moody, grumpy, sore (from sharing a bed with a squirmy 9 month old) and basically just a big grump!

For the last 9 months, I have only had two nights of solid sleep (the two nights Chase and I went to Eureka for New Years!). So basically on Sunday night, I had a mini-break and I was so frustrated that I was not able to sleep. I felt terrible that I was frustrated at my sweet and amazing son for not letting me sleep.  Well, coincidentally I had a friend from my Instagram suggest 'The Sleep Lady Shuffle' that evening to another friend in the same boat,  which is based off a book titled "The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy" by Kim West.

You better believe I hopped over to Amazon and ordered that baby!

Well... the book arrived on Wednesday while I was at work. I came straight home, put down Connor, and started reading with fervor. Basically my husband and child's my life depended on it. ;)

That night, Connor cried for about 15 minutes. We stayed in the room with him and comforted him with calm words and shooshes from side of his crib until he fell asleep. The poor kid just didn't know how to fall asleep on his own without nursing, walking, bouncing, or patting. We were doing him a terrible disservice by not teaching him how to fall asleep on his own. So that night he woke up three times. All three times, we did the same thing as bedtime. We comforted him from the side of his crib, but did not pick him up. He eventually fell asleep on his own... although at 1:45 he was up for an hour and ten minutes- sometimes crying. It was hard!

Last night, he fell asleep with minimal fussing (5 minutes). We didn't hear from him again until 1:45!! That is the LONGEST stretch he has slept ever in his entire life! (You moms out there can sympathize, I know!) He only woke up once more and we had to shoosh and stand by his crib but he fell asleep again by himself.

Well tonight, I laid him down, and was prepared to go back in his room, but I needed to make a quick phone call so I left the room with the intention of going back. Only.... he fell asleep before I could make it back in! No fussing, no crying, no talking... just sleep! We'll see how many times he wakes up tonight, but just within three nights his sleeping has changed by leaps and bounds. I'm so in LOVE with Kim West!

We had tried Baby Wise... the Baby Whisperer... Crying it out... they didn't work for us. Sleep lady, you rock.

I heart you.

Let's Get Organized

Many of you know that I am a bit of a... how shall I say this nicely.... tidy mouse? I love things to have their own place, and for things to magically return to their place when they are no longer in use. Some days, that just doesn't magically happen.

So in an effort to make our home more streamlined, I've embarked on a mission to make sure every item in our house has a home.

You can imagine this being a little overwhelming, and well it is! Oddly enough, it's the items outside of the main living area (... *cough cough* garage and attic *cough cough* hub's domain.. *cough cough*.... ) that need to be dealt with. I am one of those people that would just rather throw it out or into the garage sale pile. Not the hubs.


So here's my tentative plan. Since we (and by we, I mean hubs) have already organized our filing cabinet, and I've cleaned out our closets (minus mine... I need a few more supplies for that), organizing and planning is going to be a little easier. The biggest obstacle is not trying to do it all at once. It will be a process and I'm okay with that! Part of the process is procuring the correct totes, organizing bins and labels from Thirty-One (because they ROCK) and saving my $ for labels and laminators and hanging tags.

To me, the best part of organzing (besides the sheer pleasure it gives me to have things where I know they shoudl be) is the visually pleasing nature of an organized closet or kitchen cabinet.

1) First item on the docket for next week when my new organizing utility tote arrives? The under the kitchen sink dilemma... as well as childproofing those babies!

Peachy!

So this week has been beyond beautiful in regards to weather. I've been out almost every day after school with C man either walking, cruising with the windows down or going for mini photo sessions. I am learning more and more each time I use my camera.

Today, I searched and searched for an orchard (saw Blaire Perry's absolutely stunning photo and I had to try to recreate something similar!) Well I found Vanzant's Fruit Farm in Lowell, which is really only about a seven minute drive from our house...

What a sweet and beautiful place. On the way there, I found that every where I looked, I was searching out prime photo locations. What a beautiful place we live.... so many gorgeous and unique places around here!

Anyhoodle, here are a few of the photos I captured of my sweet little C. I'm still learning about photo editing and really it's mostly trial and error at this point. Our friend's CJ and Carly have come over once or twice to give me tips and CJ has shown me his workflow. I'm slowly figuring out what works and what doesn't.

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!!

Thanks friends!

Mini Photo Class

I have mentioned it before, but I have been taking a free online mini photo class from Christina at LittleFashionDiary.com. She has really helped me understand photo composition on a level that applys to what I want to use my photography for- which is my family! (and possibly other families, too!)

This week's assignment is about timing. Waiting for the moments to naturally happen, and letting your subject become comfortable in front of the camera.

My Little C is great for practice and I never get tired of seeing his sweet eyes behind the lens!

Here's a peek at what we got!

5 new things:

1. Imitating "buh" sound

2. Trying to army crawl/crawl but ends up moving backwards

3. Trying to stand up in the bath

4. Like to slap hands on surfaces that make fun sounds (i.e. mommy's skin :P)

5. Eating veggies with his fingers/hands

Love you, Little C!!