Who's Who?

You think my kids look alike?  Me too!

Patrick, March 2009

Katie, December 2010

Patrick 2009

Katie, 2011

Patrick 2009

Katie 2011

My Sweetie

Babywise

So I have drunk the Kool Aid and read the Babywise book, in an attempt to work with Katie to get her sleeping through the night and on a regular schedule.  I'll be heading back to work in about 3.5 weeks, so I really want to make sure she's going to transition to "school"/ daycare easily, and turned to Babywise to help prepare her.

But I'm sooooooo over it!  The basic tenets of the Babywise theory are ensuring that a child gets enough to eat during the day to sustain them overnight and helping to regulate their internal clock with a predictable routine.  To accomplish this, parents should direct feedings about every 2.5 - 3.5 hours and ensure that a complete feeding is accomplished.  Also, a routine of eating, activity, then back to sleep helps regulate the baby's internal clock, giving them the wonderful gift of regularity and security.  Makes sense and sounds easy enough, right?

Not for my kiddo!  Trying to direct her to eat full meals every three hours makes her GASSY and uncomfortable, and I end up getting up with her about 25 times a night to help comfort her.  Wasn't the goal to help her sleep through the night?  Babywise says that 95% of babies using this method can sleep 7 hours through the night by 9 weeks, and Katie will be 9 weeks on Monday.  I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen for us...  Between acid reflux (she's on Zantac, but it doesn't seem to be helping) and being impossible to burp sometimes, I think her little tummy is just too sensitive for this authoritarian method of parenting.  I've tried implementing this method 3 times now and each time, I end up spending the worst night of my life and cursing that *#@!&^%* book the next day.  (Can you tell I'm having one of those days today?!)

Let's just hope that baby girl can hack it at school, where routine is a given.  Given that Babywise is going so horribly now, I need to figure out a new approach to help her get ready for this big step!  Wish me luck... I don't have much time left!

Yawn.

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Scenes From the Mer Show Household

It used to be party pics and travel shots.  Now it's a rambunctious toddler and baby girl sleeping, growing, and pooping (repeat)...  This is why I haven't had time to return so many phone calls to about 100 people I'm dying to talk to (I apologize, but I'm catching up slowly)!

If you're wondering why there are so many photos of my son running around naked, he LOVES running around the house for a few minutes before getting in the bathtub!  I always announce that it's time for "NAKED BOOOOOYYY"... and he runs around like a maniac.  One night I grabbed my camera and documented 'naked boy time' - hilarious!  He's also obsessed with shoes right now... can you tell?

Love, Mer

P's First Haircut

Katie's Newborn Photos

Whew!

Well, it's been a MONTH since I last posted... I guess that's a pretty good indicator of what's been going on around here.  We've had lots of grandparents and family visiting, Christmas, Sheridan home from work (yay for vacation - he needed some down time!) and Patrick home from school for the holidays.  The visitors are gone, the holiday decorations have been put away, and the boys are back to school and work.  Now it's just Katie and me, and time to tackle of the projects that I want to complete while out on maternity leave.  We'll see how much gets done... as of today, I just want to sit in my bathrobe and cuddle my baby after a crazy few weeks.

I've had a lot of people ask me how Patrick is doing with the transition of becoming a big brother.  I have to say - the kid has done phenomenally well!  At first, he showed absolutely NO interest in Katie; he would glance over at her occasionally, but it seemed as though he figured she was just a visitor.  I think he understands the concept of "baby" and "sissy" now, though, and realizes that she's here to stay.  He found one of her pacifiers this weekend and ran over to put it back in her mouth.  Too bad she was sleeping soundly at the time!  I typically have a "no waking up a sleeping baby" rule in our house, but this time I let it slide...  ;)

Our first Christmas with two babies was extremely special!  Although Katie slept through most of our Christmas party, Patrick understood the concept of Santa, presents, and having fun with family much more than last year. Santa brought Patrick his very first bike, and he LOVES it!  Even more than Patrick, I think Sheridan is super excited to be teaching P something about his very favorite pasttime - it's awesome. My parents came in from Houston, as well as my brother, and we cooked like crazy, ate like crazy, played like crazy, and I can't believe the holidays are over and 2011 is here!

2010 was a banner year for the Mer Show family - I started my new perm job at Dell, Sheridan was promoted at Apple, Patrick learned to walk, talk, and grew like a weed, we settled into our new home, and most notable - Katie joined our family!  I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store.

Here are a few shots from our 2010 holiday season.  Enjoy!  Love, Mer