Bye-Bye big grand hopes!

I (we) had big grand hopes that our little sweet laid back smiley Gainesy would stay this way forever....even through those crazy toddler years. With an exception of the nights and the lack of sleep we've received over the past 10 1/2 months, Gaines has been a very laid back and easy baby. "They" say (who are "they" anyway) if you have one that's tough, you'll typically get a break with the second. I don't know...is such a statement scientific or just based on luck???? Either way, this theory didn't work out for us either scientifically or through luck as it appears we have another high maintenance one on our hands! YIKES!!!

We have been very blessed to have had two good infants (again, with the exception of the lack of sleep which you tend to adjust to and you also tend to not complain about much unless you're writing a blog). But, now that Gaines has hit 10 months, he's found himself and is a WILD CHILD (this is exactly when Lola turned on us)!!! I think Dado (Clay's dad) explains Gaines' new self just perfectly...he says "He's as wild as a peach orchard boar". Literally, love this statement for many reasons. One, because it's just down right funny and two because it's oh so true.

Our little guy is now movin' and groovin' and getting into and climbing on EVERYTHING! He no longer prefers to just sit all snugly in our laps (although, he does have his moments) rather he's constantly wants to be on the floor slapping his hands on the ground as he crawls around trying to figure out what his next target will be. Just when I think I have everything put up and nothing for him to find that will cause any major turmoil, he finds it! How do they do this???

Anyway, in addition to this, he's become quite vocal. When he's doing the "slap crawl" (which is Hilarious BTW...must catch on video and post), he's constantly babbling or screaming something or other. He's gotten to the point where he loves to read books too. We read to Lo constantly when she was a baby and still do. We haven't been real good with Gainesy as we have other things going on (like a crazy 3 yr old for example) so I've been worried the lack of reading to him may affect his speech or cause a delay. Luckily, so far, that doesn't seem to be the case. He's saying "Mama" and "Dada" of course. His "Mama" is more of a smacking of his lips unless he really wants something and then it's clear as can be. He'll say Baba (bottle) at times and my new favorite is the cute little wave followed by a giggly "Bye-Bye". Of course, he'll never say any of his words on demand.

On another note, you've probably noticed that the lack of sleep we receive is mentioned often in this blog. Well, we're full on tackling it now. I invested in a fabulous sound machine which seemed to make a big difference. For the first time since August 4, 2010, Gaines slept from the time I put him down around 8:30 (late I know but I have both kids on my own this week so impossible to get them both in bed on time) until 4:19 a.m. This is the longest Gaines has ever slept. Now, this would have been considered an excellent nights sleep except for the fact that I didn't go to sleep until around 11:45 (last looked at the clock at 11:39) and then Lola woke around 2:00ish and 5:00ish. Other than that, this was still a great accomplishment.

Our next big step....we (well actually I) decided to separate the kiddos and move them into different rooms for a number of reasons. So Gaines is moving to our room upstairs which is now the master, the master bedroom will now be moved to the guest bedroom downstairs and the guest bed will be in Gaines' room....PHEW...I wrote all of that without taking a breath (not sure why). Clay doesn't know it yet, but this is all being done this weekend. I've kind of given him hints and have received no comment on the back-end of the hint giving. But, it has to be done ASAP! In my opinion there is no point in delaying the inevitable anymore and I'm ready to start getting some consistent sleep.

With this big move, I will need to use Lola's bedspread in Gaines' room and get another one for her room. I found this adorable bedspread from Urban Outfitters that I'm super stoked about. I think it will be adorable in her room!

Since our room will be highly visible to all visitors (now that it will be the first room to the right off the entry when you walk in our front door), I would love to spice it up too but that's not going to be on my "To Do" list anytime soon!

With all the changes, our house has become even more hectic. I actually didn't know this was possible but guess what?!?!?! IT IS!!! Evenings are very interesting around here to say the least (thinking room change situation will help some of it). However, I'm happy to announce I've seemed to develop a pretty strong threshold for all the craziness. As I continue my way through this parenting "journey" (Yes, a very obnoxious word I know), I find that my patience is getting much better...I could maybe even call it good. Clay's been working a ton and he's even traveling this week and I've yet to have any feeling of a potential nervous breakdown on the horizon. This is happening despite the crazy work days and sleepless nights. YEA!!! I must say...I'm pretty proud of myself. I found the key to all of it (or actually most of it because clearly we still haven't figured all of it out..i.e. sleep situation) is to keep em' busy. Considering I'm a busy-bee myself...that's very easy to do. I guess you just get better with this whole parenting thing with time. Now maybe we can consider a third...HA!!!