Sleep and other important things

It's been a busy couple of weeks. We took another trip to Missouri - this time with Chris - to visit family. The trip went really well and it was great to see everyone again. Carson was baptized with his cousin Grant by his Grandpa which was really special. We also had a small family baby shower for Chris' youngest sister's baby girl who is due to arrive in March. It was a real celebration of babies!

Since our return we have implemented a sleep through the night schedule for Carson. Carson had a tough go the first two nights we just let him cry and didn't give him a bottle at 2am, but he seems to have adjusted well. Now if he does wake up at night he only cries for a few minutes and then falls back asleep. He now sleeps from 7pm-7am most nights. Thank God. The ironic part is that I am now having to learn how to sleep through the night again too. I've gotten so used to feeding him at 2am that I automatically wake up and am AWAKE. So I've had to try my own "self-soothing" techniques to get my brain to shut back down and fall back asleep.



The other big change around the house has been the installation of baby gates. They are truly wonderful - getting up and down to re-direct Carson every time he started crawling towards another room was getting old really quick. Since we couldn't afford the fancy baby gates that mount on the wall and swing open like a real gate, we are constantly having to step over the barriers. Which isn't too big of a deal, except when you are trying to balance a baby on one hip and carry a glass of ice tea in the other - it's a real balancing act. But I'm getting the hang of it. Lichen is also having to adjust to the new obstacle course. We still have to coax him (and bribe him with treat occasionally) to get him to jump the gates, but he is getting the hang of it. And he has to, because his food and water dish are now safely located on the other side of a gate now too.

And in other news, I'm going to start teaching again. I'm set to teach a General Biology Lab course on Saturday mornings at Hartnell College (Jr. college in Salinas). So far I have 10 students enrolled. I'm going to miss my Saturday mornings with Chris and Carson, but this way we don't have to worry about paying for childcare - which would have taken most of my paycheck. It's not really about the money, mostly I just need to make sure that I don't have too many gaps on my resume during these baby care years, but the extra income will still be nice. I'm also looking forward to talking and thinking about science again- even if it is just General Biology.