Family Visits

September brought family and that made me happy.  Darcy came first in the middle of the month.  We enjoyed a lazy afternoon and then prepared for nachos and watching the Bears vs. Packers game that night.  The game was terrible, but the company was great ;)

On Friday, we all squeezed (and I mean squeezed) into the Civic for an all day outing to the Outlet mall in Aurora.  We first drove through Batavia so Darcy could see where Ryan will now be working.  Ryan was also able to get his TB test done so he didn't have to drive back to Batavia a different day.  The outlets were great!  We scored several good deals and just had a great time shopping for the kids.  We learned on this visit, though, that Reagan's feet require EXTRA WIDE shoes!  His fat little feet make me smile!

I read Holly's facebook status about going to a U-pick apple orchard and I thought that would be a fun thing to do!  So, Saturday morning, we again squeezed into the Civic and drove up to Heinz Orchard and picked a peck of apples.  We had a really nice time.  Reagan actually ate a whole apple while walking through the orchard!  He was really into it :)

The rest of her visit was very low key and absolutely wonderful.  It was really hard to say goodbye, as it always is.

My mom came two days later and I was so excited to see her!  This was a very different trip than in the past.  She came as a big favor to us because Ryan and I were going on a camping trip with our small group for the weekend.  We needed a babysitter, so my mom helped us out!  I tried to take advantage of the short time we had before Ryan and I left.  Thursday afternoon was low key before we headed to P.F. Chang's for dinner.

On Friday, the kids didn't nap on the same schedule, so it was a little difficult to get out of the house.  Katie came over in the morning to visit (mom always wants to see her when she's in town).  After Katie left, it was time to feed Reagan and get him down for a nap.  When he finally got up, we made a quick trip up to Babies R Us to pick up a lamp for Kyleigh's room.  Unfortunately, the wrong lamp was put on hold and we left with only a few pairs of socks!  Before I knew it, we needed to get home and ready to leave for the trip.  I was packed up and just needed to feed Kyleigh before we met the group at Photo's for dinner.

I was incredibly nervous that Kyleigh wasn't going to eat and that she's cry the whole weekend and make it a horrible time for my mom.  Everyone kept telling me that she would be fine.  She wouldn't starve herself and she would eventually eat from the bottle.  I wasn't convinced, but then again, what could I do?  Ryan insisted that we needed this weekend together and everything would be okay.  I knew he was right.  So, off I went with the rest of the small group.

Camping was fun - cold, but fun.  It was nice to just get away for a little bit and be with adults and have a conversation without worrying about swaying back and forth to keep Kyleigh happy or picking Reagan up because he wants something!

It was pretty cold this weekend.  I climbed into my sleeping bag Friday night and really hoped I wouldn't have to pee because I didn't want to get back out of it!!  I must say, though, I slept really well Friday night.  On Saturday, we went canoeing.  I wasn't sure I still wanted to do this because it was chilly, but I went anyway.  I'm glad I did.  The day was beautiful (no rain as forecasted) and canoeing down the river reminded me of floating down the Deschutes River.  We had a few scary moments on the river.  Anita got caught on a log and her kayak flipped.  We barely missed hitting her head as we floated by.  The Oakley's were also trying to miss her and got caught on the same log.  Their canoe completely flipped.  And of course, this happened at the deepest and narrowest part of the river.  Despite the very cold water, everyone was okay and we continued on our trip.  Saturday night brought yummy dinner and s'mores around a great fire!

Greg gave a great devotional on Sunday morning after we ate breakfast.  We then packed up and headed home.  Again, I was very thankful to get away.  It was great time come home, see the kids, and give my mom some relief!  Even though she said she'd do it again, I know it was a tough weekend for her.  Reagan woke up at 3:45a Sunday morning and wouldn't go back to sleep.  Needless to say, she was tired when we got back Sunday afternoon.  We went to a different Babies R Us Sunday afternoon and then came back to Lou Malnati's for dinner!

Unfortunately, Monday morning came and it was time for mom to head back to CA.  The visits from family are always welcome, but it is always hard to say goodbye.  I am doing my best to enjoy each moment they are here.

Thanks mom and Darcy for your visits this month!  I love you!

Sleep Training

At Kyleigh's 3 month checkup, Dr. Breen mentioned that her development and personality seemed more on par with a 4 month old.  Because of this, she suggested that we can begin sleep training now (developmentally, she could handle it), or we could wait until she was 4 months old, which is the normal time Dr. Breen would suggest sleep training.  The decision was up to us, but the longer we wait, it could potentially get more difficult.

I kind of have mixed feelings about this because Kyleigh has been SUCH a great night time sleeper since she was 6 weeks old.  Seriously, what mom is lucky enough to get a full nights rest (literally, 8-10 hours straight) at 6 weeks old?  I didn't really understand the sleep training part until I thought about HOW we get her to sleep.  Since birth, she was always very tightly swaddled and held in someone's arms until she was asleep.  There were times when Ryan or I would need to hold her for up to 45 minutes AFTER she fell asleep before we could lay her down because she would just wake up again screaming.  The process to get her to sleep was long, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating.

Upon reflection of this process, I realized it would be a good idea to start sooner rather than later.  So it began on Sunday, September 9, 2012.  This was her first official night of sleep training.

We are now 10 days into this and it has been a huge roller coaster.  Some days, I can lay her down for a nap and there is a moment of fussing (not even crying) and she'll fall right to sleep.  Other days, she will scream and kick until my ears hurt.  It breaks my heart to have her cry as much as she does, but I also know it's best.  We sleep trained Reagan and he's a fantastic sleeper.  He rarely cries or protests when going down for a nap or bedtime and he generally wakes up happy.

Shortly after we started (I think it was Tuesday, 9/11), Kyleigh found her thumb!  This was huge, as the sucking on her thumb would calm her down significantly.  It's just become a matter of FINDING her thumb each time :)

I'm hoping the days get better because right now, they are terrible.  It takes such an emotional toll on me.  I know we can get through this, I know we can.

Big Changes!

I guess the cats out of the bag...big and exciting changes for the Hust family.  And for any of you wondering, NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!!

Ryan officially resigned from Trinity last week and will be starting a new job on October 1st :)  I am very excited for this new opportunity for Ryan.  He will be the Facility Manager at a retirement community in Batavia.  I am not thrilled about his new commute (35 miles and 1 hour each way), but other than that, we are really excited for this job.  It was a difficult decision to leave Trinity because Trinity has been Ryan's life since we moved here 5 years ago.  I'm sure his last day is going to be really tough.

Related to the new job, we also bought a new car on Monday!  Whoo hoo :)  This was quite the process, though.  First we were going to get Ryan the new car, then I was getting the new car and Ryan would take the Civic, and then we finally settled on Ryan getting the car.  Ultimately, we decided on Ryan getting the car because should we decide to have another kid in the future, we'll need to get a minivan and neither one of us wanted a minivan now if it wasn't necessary.  So, bottom line is we bought a 2009 Subaru Legacy.  It's brown (eww), but has very low miles, is in great condition, and is a stick shift, which was a must for Ryan!

Lastly, we made some cosmetic improvements to the house over Labor Day weekend.  This made me sooooo happy!!!  We bought some art for both the living room and dining room and it's made such a difference!  It's been a long time coming, but we finally agreed on the artwork and I love it!  We also finally hung the drapes in both of the kids' rooms.  Overall, these few minor details gave a major facelift to the rooms and I couldn't be happier about it ;)

Freezer Food (Enchiladas) Update

This week, I decided it was time to eat the enchiladas I made a few weeks back.  OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!!  These were the best enchiladas I've ever had.  I was a little nervous to actually eat them because of all of the reviews I read.  Everyone kept commenting that these enchiladas were so tasty, I was afraid they wouldn't live up to the hype.  I was wrong!  They were absolutely delicious.  I can't wait to make them again.

Since they can be frozen, this will be an awesome small group meal whenever I host.  I'm always so stressed about finding a good meal and getting it completed in time.  Now, I can do all the prep ahead of time and know that our friends will like the food!

Yay for enchiladas.  Thanks, Annie, for sharing your delicious recipe.  I'm off to eat the leftovers for lunch...my mouth is already watering ;)

Rookie Mom

That's what I feel like.  A rookie mom.  Even though I have two kids, I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.  Since I was home with Reagan for only 10 weeks before returning to work, I didn't really need to figure out a schedule for him.  He was still a baby.  I just took the ebbs and flows as they came and knew he would eventually get into a schedule.

This time around, it's different.  Although it wasn't all the time, when Reagan had days where he fought naps or he cried more than he didn't cry, I wasn't there the whole day to experience it.  Katie (bless her heart) dealt with those really long days.  When  I would ask her how the day went and the answer was "It was a long day" I didn't know the true meaning behind it.  Not until now, that is.

Kyleigh has been very difficult the last week.  She still sleeps great at night, but naptime is a different story.  Once she finally falls asleep (in my arms, of course, because where else would she sleep?), within minutes of laying her in the crib, she's screaming.  The poor girl was exhausted last week because she simply would not sleep during the day.  I don't know if it's a growth spurt or just her nature, but boy has she been a little pill!  I'm allowed to say that, right?

Ryan had to remind me that she's just three months old.  Things will get better; she will nap when she's tired enough.  And maybe, just maybe, she'll tire me out enough that we'll take a snooze together!