Our Weekend

Just a glimpse of what we have been up to:

Friday: Went to Des Moines for a fun night out with Chrissy and Jon. We ate at Taki, which is always delicious, and then went to play some Wii at Chrissy's house. Roman was very excited. He kept saying "Chrissy. Jon. Toys." Those are the main things that bring him joy, so good night for him. :)

Saturday: I spent the morning hanging out with Roman while Joe slept a little bit. We watched Veggie Tales, talked about the zoo, and read some books. The usual. :) Then we went to lunch at Dutch Oven Bakery with my friend Brooke. So good to catch up! Roman was exhausted when we came home, but if you haven't heard, he's been on a bit of a "sleep strike" lately. Good times. Basically, what this means, is that once he actually falls asleep, he's good to g0 - will take his normal 2 hour nap or sleep his normal 12 hour night. It's the falling asleep that's really giving us trouble. You see, as of about a week ago, our naptime and bedtime routine went something like this:

read 2 books, sing two songs, read a Bible verse, say prayers, lay down

Now, Roman would sometime whine a little bit when I left the room, and he certainly didn't go to sleep immediately - he usually talks to himself/sings for a while before falling asleep.

No more, friends. No more.

We have not had any interruption in our routine, but for whatever reason, about a week ago, he just started screaming when we left the room - and will basically persist in hysteria until someone comes back to keep him company.

I have tried rocking him until he falls asleep or laying with him until he falls asleep. The problem with these attempts is that he doesn't ever actually fall asleep. Super. I laid on the floor for an hour with him the other night (keep in mind I am 29 weeks pregnant). Feels good on the hips at this point. :) But, still after an hour, he wanted to chat with me, and screamed when I left the room.

I have tried leaving the door open and the hall light on. I have tried complete darkness. I have tried to just give up on the nap - but by 4:00 he is screaming because he's so tired anyway. I have tried everything I can think of.

On the bright side, he usually goes to sleep a little bit better for Joe. Joe says he can talk to him "man to man"...that they understand each other. I say "whatever works". But, let's just say, I'm a little nervous for nap time tomorrow while Joe is at work. :(

If anyone has any ideas...PLEASE share.

Anyway, after the naptime fiastco, and Joe finally getting Roman to sleep, we went out to rake the leaves that have been in our yard since August. Yep. Good homeowners, I know. But, remember, we moved in November, so about a week later there was snow on the ground and the opportunity has really not arisen until now. Tony has been AMAZING help with everything around the house - I am so thankful!!

After Joe and Tony yelled at me for being pregnant and bending over to pick up leaves, they finally just sent me back into the house. They are so funny - they think I'm handicapped or something - although I wasn't going to question their decision to exclude me from yard work. :) So, I went to Wal-Mart and bought paint so that we could get Roman and Judah's rooms painted one of these days. Very exciting.

Later in the afernoon, my family came over - Grandma, Mom and Bob, and Chelsey and Carter. Roman was SUPER excited to see everyone. He and Carter had a fantastic time playing peek-a-boo, "sharing" (more like stealing) snacks, practicing their crawling skills, and laughing at each other.

When my family first came over, Joe and Tony were finishing the raking. I left the room to get something and I came back to everyone laughing. Chelsey says "Tony just threw a bag of leaves on the roof". I look out the window to leaves raining down. It was so funny. He thought he could throw the bag all the way over the house into the pile with the rest of tha bags. Definitely didn't even clear the roof, so nice effort. :) He's hilarious.

Sunday: This has been a rather lengthy post, so I'll give you the quick version. Went to church, went to lunch at Applebee's with Anna, got to chat with Mike and Joyce for a bit, went home. Got to skip horrendous naptime screaming because Roman fell asleep on the way home - and does pretty well transitioning from car to crib. I taped Roman's "big boy room" so that Joe and Tony could paint. They got the whole thing finished and it looks AWESOME. Such good men at my house. :) Agape (my small group of high school girls). Dinner with some of the girls from my small group. Youth Group.

Such a productive and fun weekend. I only have about 2,957 more things to do before Judah is born. :)