Still alive, but definitely worse for the wear

Hello.

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Not much...how 'bout you?

Oh wait, we aren't singing anymore.  Yep, it's been awhile.  Sorry about that.  I've missed you as much as you've missed me--probably more.

Things have been hectic around here, to say the least.  On August 13th, I started back to work full time and that means Baby Boy started to go to the sitter.  Work has been incredibly busy and life at home definitely hasn't slowed down, either.  Add to that the fact that Blogger doesn't work well on the iPad, which is my only connection to the outside world when I'm at home, and I just haven't been able to blog much.

Honestly, I'm still busy, but wanted to make a few minutes while I'm pumping to write up a few things.  That means that this will be a bullet point post.  I'd like to give you more, but this is all I've got right now.

• My Baby Girl is growing up super fast.  This morning she got dressed entirely by herself.  She took off her pajamas, went potty, washed her hands, put on her panties, shorts, shirt, and shoes ALL BY HERSELF.  What a big girl.
• My Baby Boy is also growing up too fast.  Over Labor Day weekend, he became a master at rolling from his back to his belly. He *can* roll from belly to back, but not as well as back to belly.  Sometimes he gets on his belly and wants to go back to his back and forgets how.  
• In spite of being able to roll, he's still sleeping on his side at home.  Apparently he's rolling to his tummy at the sitter to sleep, which is fine with us.
• The day I came back to work was the day Baby Boy came down with his first cold, complete with a stuffy nose and cough.  It took him awhile to get over it, but he didn't ever lose his charming personality.  He actually still hasn't stopped coughing entirely, but we started using a humidifier in his room and it's helping him sleep a bit better.
• Speaking of sleep, there's very little of it happening in our house.  Baby Boy is up at least 3 times per night and has been for the last week and a half or so, with the worst nights being over this past weekend.  He has been napping and starting the night (more on that in a moment) in his crib since not long before I went back to work, I think.  The transition was fine.  
• We are sort of unofficially co-sleeping.  When Baby Boy wakes for the first time (which is now happening around 11...when we actually went through a phase of it being closer to 3), The Hubby brings him to me to nurse.  He usually tries to get the baby back to sleep, but quickly concludes that he needs to eat.  I usually nurse him laying down if I'm already in bed and then we all end up falling asleep.  Then it's a vicious cycle--baby rolls toward me, fussing with his mouth open like a baby bird, I nurse him, we all fall back asleep again until The Hubby's alarm goes off in the morning.  It's exhausting, honestly, because I don't get a good night's sleep at all anymore and my back hurts really bad because I'm sleeping on the edge of the bed and have to contort myself some when I nurse him laying down.  I'm hoping to tackle this soon because I think everyone will sleep better once he's in his own bed more.
• Baby Girl has started waking up at night.  She lays in her bed, going to sleep, and wants one of us to come in later.  If we don't or we come in after she's sleeping, she wakes up sometime in the night, thinking it's still early and that she's still waiting for us.  I'm not sure how to remedy this...it's the first she's woken in the night since she started sleeping through the night at 16 months.  Even sickness never woke her in the past.
• We had Baby Boy's 4 month appointment.  I'm not sure if I've avoided posting about it because it makes me anxious or if it's due to the busyness mentioned above.  You see, he didn't grow as much as we'd anticipated.  He'd been in the 90th+ percentile for weight and 75th for height.  At his appointment he was 50th for weight and 30th for height.  I keep telling myself that he was getting ready for a growth spurt (which might explain the sleep issues as well) and that he just grew right after his appointment.  Who knows if that's actually true.  He handled the shots really well. After the first one, he just looked at the nurse as if to say, "Why are you touching me?", but then cried a bit after the second.  He did get a fever for a couple of days afterward, but never got cranky at all.  
• This morning Baby Boy reached for someone for the first time--our sitter.  I'm happy he likes her, I truly am.  But I'm a *little* sad that he doesn't reach for us yet.  It was still cute.
• We went through some eating issues at the sitter.  He went through a couple of days of only eating 7 ounces or so while I was at work, which seemed to be just enough to get him through until we picked him up.  Then he was up every 2 hours or so to eat.  The sitter got him to take a more normal amount (usually around 13 ounces--whatever we give her that I pumped the day prior) by laying him on his side as if he was nursing.  Whatever works! 
• Baby Boy sleeps well at the sitter.  He takes a short (30 minutes or so) morning nap and then a longer (2.5 hours or so) afternoon nap while the big kids are sleeping.  She just lays him down and he sleeps.  Bliss!
• Baby Boy actually puts himself to sleep for us at home, too.  We do a little shh/pat (a la The Baby Whisperer, which is what we used when Baby Girl was younger) if he seems restless, but otherwise he'll just snuggle his lovey (a silky elephant blankie), roll onto his side, and go to sleep.  He does sometimes use a binkie to go to sleep, but not always.
• We also got out the Exersaucer a couple of weeks ago.  We've already had to raise it to the 2nd level and could easily move it to the highest setting.  He loves it and it's really fun to watch him in it.  
• Baby Boy also still really loves his bouncy chair, but unfortunately it's going to have to go away really soon.  His tushy is almost on the ground.  I'm glad the bouncy chair has gotten use this time around since Baby Girl just wasn't a big fan.  He loves to play with those dangly critters and is now strong enough to rip them down.

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head right now.  If you have any questions, let me know!  Hopefully you'll hear from me before the end of *this* month, but we'll see what life is going to throw my way in the next few weeks.  You never know!