Rainy Days...and Fridays

How will I ever be able to say "No!" to these eyes???

I have just realized that Camden will be 5 months old next week. How could time go by so fast? The first three months were literally a blur with the colic and no sleep, but it seems like that last two months have gone by even faster! Camden is still sleeping from 9:30 to 7:30, so I am going to go ahead and call our mission accomplished. Of course I say this, and he'll probably wake up in the middle of night tonight... It has been a rainy week here in Bville! I really don't mind it because I love thunderstorms, but Gracie has to go out and jump in the muddy puddles, and I'm getting tired of cleaning her paws. Camden's Grandma Terre, Aunt Sara, and Aunt Leah came up to visit him yesterday. He was so wiped out from the fun that he napped for 3 1/2 hours that afternoon! College basketball is playing on our TV again. I'm super excited because I totally messed up the first round and was ranked like 75th in the bracket contest, but last night I picked A&M to lose and Ohio State to win. Apparently this was not a popular choice because I am now 6 points behind the winner. Wahoo! This is super exciting because first place gets $600. That's just enough to buy plane tickets for a much-needed vacation. I'm still in 6th place in Aaron's family bracket, and the prize is a Grandma Jeanette pie, winner's choice. If you've had Grandma Jeanette's Peaches and Cream Pie, you would know that it is just about as good as getting $600.

Anyways, that is just about all that is happening right now. I rocked Camden to sleep the other night for the first time!!! It was so sweet! He had his chubby arms around my neck, and I rocked and sang to him. It took quite awhile to get him to sleep though. I think I got through most of the second act of Les Mis before his eyes started to close, but he finally gave in and fell asleep. He fell asleep the same way last night too. Of course, he did leave me a little present before falling asleep. Understand that my child will still not take a pacifier, but he still needs to soothe himself. Apparently he decided to soothe himself with my arm because I have a hickey... yes, a HICKEY! He only sucked on my arm for a second but little man has game because I now have a hickey on my arm. Despite my "love bite", the rocking to sleep is still HUGE because he is typically a "walker". I have to walk him to sleep normally, which would be fine but he is getting out-of-control heavy. I was still using his magic papoose to get him to sleep because his weight would be transferred a little more. My arms and back were killing me, and I was physically exhausted by the end of the day!

Using the magic papoose is a little embarrassing (more so than being 27 years old and having a hickey on my arm) because he outgrew it in January. It's one of my little dark secrets that I know every mom has once in awhile (whether they admit it or not). Some moms are still giving their 3-year old child a pacifier, some kids are still in their parents' bed, and I even saw a mom on TV that was giving their child a bottle at bedtime, and he was in the 1st grade! There is still no judgment here though because I was getting my 4-month old child to sleep with a newborn sling.