Lost and found for good!

Dad found the horse! I think he is OK and they brought him home tonight. I don't know any more than that, but glad that he was found.

And for more good news, Kadyn went down tonight without even a wimper. This new method of leaving the door open is starting to work. Last night she slept through the whole night; that is a first in a week. I just hope this new improvement continues when the kids are here tomorrow and they all go down for their naps. Liam, the other toddler, always cries for 10-15 minutes before he falls asleep, and that seems to egg Kadyn on, so we'll see. At least for now I feel so much better that she isn't pitching fits anymore about going down. The worst it has been all weekend was just a couple wimpers with me having to go in and remind her to lay back down a couple times. So needless to say, looks like this week is off to a better start.

Kadyn is really starting to try to say all kinds of words these days. She now will try to say house, moon, car, flower, Boo (Brutus), up, down, more, help, mama, dada, and her all time favorite apple. She says apple a lot. They are all so adorable when she says them and she practices them quite a bit, especially at the dinner table. They are far from perfect and perhaps her father and I are the only ones that can translate them, but at least we are starting to communicate.

I have also taught Kadyn how to pray. We pray before every snack and every meal. She knows that it is always expected before we can eat and seems to respect that. I just melt when I see her fold her hands, bow her head, and mumble in complete jibberish along with me as I pray outloud. I have even forgot a time or two and she took the initiative to remember for me. Oh, such sweet times!

Another new thing for Kadyn has been timeouts on a time out rug. For awhile we were doing time outs in the crib, but with all these sleep issues I decided I needed to try something else just in case. I have tried to do the rug before but I think she was too young to understand the whole concept of it all. However, she seems to comprehend it now and is starting to get the hang of it. She does not like it by any means, which means it is working. She only tried to get up the first two times I have used it and since then, stays there until her 2 minutes are up. I am so thrilled it works. Her latest offenses have involved stealing toys and pushing the other toddler. I'm so embarassed that my kid has to be the daycare bully; we are going to nip this in the butt as soon as possible.

So here's to a new week of new methods that are working.....for now.

Lost and found....well almost!

Last night was a bit unnerving. At about 7:30 p.m. I got a phone call from my sister. Apparently my dad (who probably wouldn't want me to write about this) was riding his horse in the bookcliffs alone and got lost; my mother was with a friend out of town for the day. To his credit, the area he was riding in was VERY easy to get turned around in and it's not like my dad to get lost. It was dusk Colorado time and the weather was starting to get a lot cooler with a little bit of rain. He had enough juice in his phone to call someone and tell them he was lost and then his phone died. He had a little bit of a water and a sandwhich and a poncho and nothing else.

Once word got out a search team of 100 people went out to look for him. Around 11:30 I got another call that he had been found, very tired, freezing cold, and almost too weak to even walk. The horse was loose and was on foot. This morning I heard that he was back in the cliffs with a gentleman who is very familiar with the area looking for the horse on horseback, which apparently is the only way to get to where he left him. The worry is that the horse will be too weak to get out or even injured, that is if they can even find him. There is no food or water for the horse in the canyon and the only way to give him water or food is to carry it in on horseback. If the horse has made it out of the canyon on his own, he should be able to find some food and water and perhaps some of the other wild horse herds in the area. According to the gentleman who has gone back into the canyon with my dad, there are only 3 ways to get out of this canyon and a helicopter lift isn't an option for the area.

So if you are reading this, please pray for my dad and the recovery of this horse. I know it's kind of a weird request to pray for a horse, but it means a lot to my dad, and I'm not sure how well he would take it if something happened to this horse. My dad sees this horse like we see our dog, he's part of the family.

Jeff's new blog

I think Jeff got jealous or motivated! He now has another blog site up and running. Take two for Jeff! To all you music buffs, enjoy. If interested clink on my link on the side of the page.

And the saga continues!

Warning! This blog is a bit wordy. It's been an emotional day and I need to think out loud (or type in this case) to clear my head and collect my thoughts. I guess you can say it is therapeutic.

It has been 5 days since my last post about Kadyn and her sleep issues. What a week. We have had some days where it took her 5 minutes of screaming before sleep, some days of 10-15 minutes, and today an hour. Every night she has woken up crying at least once if not two or three times which thankfully only lasted 5 minutes or less each time. This morning she woke an hour before she normally wakes and it was still dark outside. I decided to wait it out and see if she would go back to sleep. Forty five minutes later she was still crying and it was time to get up. Now I was facing the option of getting her up for the day and sending the message that if you cry you'll get what you want, or making her stay in the crib until she calmed down, regardless of the fact that it was now time to get up. I chose the latter because I had parents showing up and really didn't want them witnessing Kadyn's little fit. Then surprise, surprise! Nap time took an hour for her to go down, the longest time since Monday. Perhaps I should have made her stick it out. I'm so tired of the crying. It really gets to you after an entire week.

Needless to say I end today very tired myself and a little emotionally drained. Why is my little girl struggling with this? By the time all the kids were picked up for the day and Jeff came home, I finally broke down and cried. Kadyn look so concerned and just wanted me to hold her. I think she knew I needed comforted.

She had a doctor's appt. for her 18 month check up Tuesday where the doctor confirmed that we were doing the right technique going in every 10 minutes or so and telling her to lay back down, but so far I haven't seen any significant results. It seems to differ everyday. I was really expecting to see a more steady improvement by now.

What makes it worse is that when I lay her down for her nap she may cry for awhile and then calm down, but as soon as I put another child down for a nap and that child starts to cry, Kadyn gets stirred and starts crying again. It's almost like they fuel each other. And to top it all off, she has a cold and might be teething again. Therefore, I'm not even sure I'm being fair expecting an improvement knowing she's ill. However, I really don't think this behavior has anything to do with a cold or teething. Read on to find out why.

Today I tried something new just because I was desperate. When I went in after she had cried for 10 minutes, I left the door open as I left. Then she started to cry and I went in IMMEDIATELY and told her to lay down and left again; again door stayed open. The minute I would step through the door she would lay down without even being told and be quiet. I did it maybe 4 or 5 more times and at last.....silence. That sure took a lot less time and crying out of the equation. So tonight I did the same and got the same results. Took maybe 2 or 3 minutes tops. Maybe I'm on to something. Everything I've read says that at this age they can mentally picture you in their minds and it's no longer out of sight out of mind. That sometimes they think that you've really left when you walk out of that room; it's called object permanence. So....perhaps by leaving the door open and popping in the moment I hear her start in, I'm reassuring her that I haven't gone anywhere. The only thing I don't like about the door being open is if there is a loud noise, she wakes. Therefore, I'm closing the door as soon as I know she's asleep. However, if she wakes tonight to a closed door, I'm sure there will be more crying. Hmmmm....what to do, what to do. I guess I'll play it by ear.

Well anyways, I suppose I should end this blog session, Jeff is bugging me to get off so we can watch some TV together and tells me that all my blogs get a bit wordy and he doesn't always have the patience to read them. So....if you have made it this far, congrats. You don't have ADHD. Thanks for reading my lengthy rant. I feel much better now. Here's to another week of less crying, hopefully. I'll keep you posted.

Toodles for now!

Sleep training.....again?

As you should know from my last post Kadyn is going through some sort of clingy/separation anxiety issues, a new phase have you. Anyways, this weekend it all came to a head. I really thought I would never have to sleep train my daughter again. We have had our set backs here and there, usually from illness, but lately I find myself on a whole new turf. Kadyn used to go to bed for naps or nightime without any problems what so ever. In fact, until the middle of last week she would even smile, blow me kisses, tell me she loves me in sign language, and I would walk out the door and never hear a peep until she woke. But half way through last week it suddenly changed. She freaked when I left the room and wanted me there right by her side to fall asleep. This is really impossible when I have other kids at my home daycare to watch. The first day it started it took me and hour to get her to fall asleep. That evening she would wake several times in the middle of the night for me, "mama, mama, mama."

So Saturday rolled around and she literally cried for an hour and a half when I put her down for a nap. I kept going in every 10 minutes, laying her back down, and telling her to go to sleep. She would scream at the top of her lungs in her crib and stomp her feet. Obviously, she was throwing a fit. After about an hour and a 15 minutes, Jeff looked at me and asked how much longer I was going to let her cry. I really didn't know. Hmmmm what to do, what to do? As a mother you want to run in there and comfort her, but as a parent you know that doing that could potentially make the situation more difficult for next time. Your mind starts to play tricks on you making you think that you are permanently physicologically damaging your child's emotions and feelings all the while telling you that if you go in there and whisk her into your arms and give her the attention she's wanting, she has won and the battle; that you have only taught her that if she cries long enough and hard enough, she can have her way. Your mind is also telling you that there is no end in sight, that she will never stop crying and 3 hours later you will have no choice but to give in.

So what did I do? I prayed and waited and kept going in and telling her to go to sleep every 10 minutes until at last an hour and a half into this process there was silence. She was out. Desparate to know if I had done the right thing I made Jeff take me to the bookstore and buy the supernanny book which seemed to support my stance. Thank goodness. At least one expert agrees with me. That night I was pleasantly surprised that it only took her 5 minutes of pitching a fit to go down. The next day the same for her nap and bedtime. We are by no means back to where we were, and I anticipate some days may be worse than others. However, I do see an end in sight and I am glad that I stuck with my guns.

Supernanny says separation anxiety peaks at 9 months and 18 months. Kadyn is 18 months. I'm guessing that is what brought this all on suddenly. She turned 18 months on the 20th almost exactly when this all started.

I am happy to report that I was able to drop her off at the church nursery and attend the entire service without being paged. I know she cried, but it was nothing like last week. So I am feeling more confident that I am still a good parent. To all you parents out there that second guess your decisions, know you're not alone. But usually if you follow your instincts and stand firm, you will prevail and your child won't resent you forever. It's super hard to do, but it does pay off.

I think I can, I think I can!

This weekend Jeff and I decided to trade in the ol' treadmill for some bicycles and a little cart for Kadyn to ride behind in. There are some really great bike trails around town and we thought that we should take advantage of what our community has to offer, not to mention that we really need the exercise. Yesterday we rode the bikes around our neighborhood (about 2 1/2 miles total) and looked at roof colors to help us decide what color our new roof should be. Today we rode about six miles round trip on a trail that begins in a park very close to our house. We didn't even get to the end of the trail which is around 8 miles, 16 miles round trip! We were huffing and puffing, to say the least, but I thought it felt so good to get out and move, a biker's high so to speak. Jeff felt otherwise. Apparently being exhausted from a good workout makes him grumpy.

Kadyn has finally returned to normal health after two days of high fevers, a mysterious rash, and horrible crankiness. Although I don't know how long it will last. She played in the church nursery this morning, and I forgot to have her wash her hands before lunch. Everyone knows how loaded with germs church nurseries can be. I guess I'm a bit of a germ phobe. But germs is the least of my problems right now. Kadyn freaked out at the nursery for the first time this morning. I was paged to come in and calm her down. It was her first time in our new church which may have been what scared her. However, I'm a bit nervous that she has started a new phase. Ever since we returned from our trip from Colorado she has been very clingy to me and very shy around strangers. My sister said both her girls went through this stage. I was really hoping we could skip it. She won't even hold daddy's hand when we go shopping these days, which breaks his heart. I really don't know what to do about it other than ride it out and make Kadyn spend more alone time with her daddy. I miss my independent little girl who loved to go to church nursery without even whimper when I walked out the door. It made me feel good to know that she felt confident enough to be without me for a couple hours. I also hate to see her be stand offish towards her daddy. She does still love to play with him, but when it comes to being comforted when sick, being in unfamiliar places, or holding someone's hand in public, mommy is the only one she wants anymore. So needless to say it is a bit more exhausting for me from day to day, but I'll love her through it. She's worth it!

When it rains, it pours.

What a week this is already going to be. Kadyn has had a fever since yesterday morning so no daycare today. The jury is still out whether I will have to cancel daycare tomorrow too. Then, today midmorning our sewer starting backing up into our sink as I was running the washing machine. Jeff came home for a thorough inspection before we called in the big guns, and the damage was worse than we thought. Our garage was soaked with water which included the entire drywall on the other side of the washing machine. So...I suppose a bottle of draino won't work. Bring on Mr. Plumber.

We found a spot on our ceiling that we had not noticed before. When we touched it, we discovered that it was damp. Our roof is leaking again (this after a 500 dollar repair last year)! Needless to say, we're scratching our heads now thinking, where do we start? This part of home ownership is for the birds! Anyone have some lucky lotto numbers we could borrow?

Kiss the moose goodbye!

We're back! It was a good trip. We did a lot of sight seeing and spending quality time with the folks. Kadyn was in hyper drive the first day. I think she was a bit over stimulated from the drive, flight (which she did really well on actually), and the new environment. It was fun to see her soooo excited. She warmed up to my parents more than in the past. Although as the days went by, she got more and more tired and therefore more and more clingy and grumpy. To be expected, I guess, of a 17 month old.

Overall, we had a good time and really needed the time away to refresh a bit. Some of pics attached show the views at my parent's house and there is also a picture of us resting on a large rock at Moab. The area where my folks live is really amazing. The landscape changes drastically depending on which direction you go in as little as a 10 minute drive. There is a lot of things to do, most we can't do until Kadyn gets a bit bigger. However, it's good to know we have a great vacation spot for years to come. I think my favorite part of it all was sitting on the front porch taking in the views every evening, having adult conversation, watching Kadyn lift a hundred rocks and deliver them to my mother as gifts from her rock garden, and watching Jeff ride a horse. That last one was humorous! I can't believe he got on, and it was his idea too.