wonderful whirlwind weekend

the greatness of this past weekend more than made up for the not so greatness of last weekend. we left on friday afternoon to drive to Covenant to visit Nelson's sister and brother. The car ride was not so great (important to mention because it plays a factor into the later part of the weekend). Tripp cried pretty much the whole ride down and did not sleep much at all. But as soon as we got to Lookout Mountain, the drive was already worth it. We had a great time on Friday night and Saturday just hanging out with John and Ginny. We got to meet some of Ginny's friends, see her room and just hang out. We got to see John's apartment, get Tripp's pictures taken professionally by him, and shared some meals together. It was a great time. But we still had the looming drive back home ahead of us. Nelson and I were just not ready to have to listen to Tripp cry again, especially after he had been kinda fussy all weekend and after just having had to listen to him cry this past weekend when we had to get rid of the pacifier. So we had a great idea- Tripp and I would fly back. Flying out of Chattanooga was way too expensive so then we thought Nashville since that was on the way home. But that was really expensive too so then we thought Birmingham! There was a relatively cheap flight out of Birmingham on Monday morning. Perfect! The only contingency was that I had to convince my brother to come pick Tripp and me up in Chattanooga (so Nelson would still only have a 7 hour drive by himself instead a of 10 hour drive- 2 hours to B-ham then 8 hours home). So thankfully James was game for a drive to pick us up and then take us back to Birmingham. And we had a great time there too! We got to go to one of their friend's daughter's soccer games and then church on Sunday night (where Tripp went to the nursery for the first time)! We also enjoyed some Golden Palace (awesome Chinese take out). Then we left this morning for a cry-free journey back home. It was so much better. The only negative is that we have not solved the crying in the car issue, but that can be solved later. For now, the firstborn gets spoiled and gets to fly around the country :) And the weekend was great, so worth going, even if it was short. Short and crazy is better than nothing!

new entrance


yes, there is a building behind the fog


Tripp loving an early morning walk


breakfast at Cracker Barrel


Nelson, Gin and Tripp


Gin and her room


little pumpkins


Tripp ready to do his school work


Tripp ready to snooze in Aunt Ginny's bed


Tripp getting squishing by all of Aunt Ginny's purchases


dinner at Lupi's


Ginny and John


John's apt


John's bed


Tripp watching the football game at John's apartment


Chinese food at James and Steph's- the before


the after

pacifier free family

Unfortunately, Tripp's sleeping through the night while we were in Dallas did not translate back to St. Louis. He went back to waking up about 5 or 6 times a night wanting his pacifier put back in (which is what he was doing before we went to Dallas). So when we went to the pediatrician for his four month check up, the dr. asked me how his sleeping was and how long his longest stretch without waking up was. I kinda laughed and told him the situation. I also told him about his 45 min nap problem- often he would only sleep for 45 mins because his pacifier had fallen out and so he would not go back to sleep unless we rushed in there at the slightest sound of a peep and tried to put his pacifier back in. He then told me that that was not good and that we needed to do something about it. His solution-take the pacifier away. Deep down, I was happy to hear this because I knew it would make things better. However, I was not so excited about the process that it would take to get there. It required letting him cry it out. I am not against it at all (obviously since that is what we did) but I knew it would be hard on us as parents. I just did not know how hard. So come that Friday night, we put him to bed without his pacifier. He actually fell asleep fine but then came the first wake up in the middle of the night. And he cried. For a long time. And Nelson and I almost died. We went and checked on him at the allotted intervals and after an hour he was back asleep. Till the morning. So then came nap time and we did the same thing. Naps were a little more rough on the going down. He cried for a while but eventually fell asleep. But then he kept waking up at 45 mins. All weekend long. So we were pretty discouraged, I felt sick to my stomach and got all nervous every time we had to put him down to sleep. But by Sunday night, he only cired for a few mins before going back to sleep. On Monday I called the dr.'s office and said I did not think it was working. The nurse told us to hang in there. I wanted to tell her that she should come over and listen to him cry with us and then tell us to hang in there. Our families told us to hang in there. Innocent bystanders on the street told us to hang in there (ok joking about that one). Tripp was with my mom during the day on Monday and when I dropped him off, I told her sorry and good luck. But he took two rock star naps at her house, no waking up at 45 mins. And then Monday night came, and it was a break through. He went to sleep and didn't wake up all night long. Or if he did, he didn't cry, he just put himself back to sleep. He took great naps on Tuesday and slept great on Tuesday night. Same with yesterday. Yesterday afternoon when he was with his great babysitter, he woke up at 45 mins but she let him fuss for a little bit and he went back to sleep for another hour and a half. It is awesome. We are truly so proud of our little guy! and I love getting 8 solid hours of sleep (except now I feel more tired because I think my body is realizing what I was missing out on). And we are so glad we stuck with it. It was probably the worst weekend of our lives to date, but it was totally worth it come about Monday. I know some people don't agree with letting their kids cry it out, and I don't either when they are tiny babies. However, he is a big boy now and it has helped him so much. He is happy, we are happy and I am pretty sure the world is now a better place. Ok that is an exaggeration, but still, we are all good. and here is our happy boy.



p.s. Aunt Steph- do not worry and think the pacifier clip you got us will now go unused. Quite the contrary! Tripp's toy is now clipped to it for his car seat so he can play with his toy a lot better now!

four month check up

Today we went for Tripp's four month check-up. The doctor said he is looking great and doing well. He got two more shots and a oral vaccine. He was not a happy camper- the appointment was right during his morning nap time so he was so tired and then had the two shots. He cried and cried but fell asleep in my arms on the way home (yes I broke the law and just held him in my arms on the way home- my mom was driving and we went to her house which is less than a mile away from the dr.'s office. There is nothing like the feeling of leaving the pediatrician's office and not putting your child in the carseat right after he stressed to me the importance of car seats, rear facing ones, etc. oops.).
His stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 7 3/4 ozs (73 percentile)
Length: 26 inches (72 percentile)
Head Circumference: 16 1/2 inches (41 percentile)


me and my little bud


he loves him some curious george


so into the story


going a little crazy in the swing (i guess we should buckle him in...)

the weekend of firsts

We went to Dallas for Labor Day and Tripp experienced many "firsts." His first boat ride, plane ride, official sleeping through the whole night, and even watched his first pre-season Cowboys football game. He also turned four months old! He is growing up so fast! We had a wonderful time and loved every minute of it!


NBS Sr and NBS III hanging out watching the football game


Fun with Uncle Phil


cousins!


loving the boat


adorable little Weston