Tuesday, August 28, 2012

"C" is for Child #2 (cont.)

John and I shared in June that we were expecting our second child (see "C" is for Child #2), and now we're happy to announce that the new little one is a girl!   
Marian Clare Cockerham should be here in time for Christmas.  She is named after her late paternal great grandmother, Mary Ann, and we both just liked the name Clare.  I didn't feel like there were a ton of names that went well with a three syllable first name, but Clare worked out perfectly for us.  She is doomed like her brother, John Tully, to be called a first name that she doesn't really go by at doctor's offices and schools for the rest of her life.  Sorry, Clare...mommy and daddy still love you.

I've already started on Clare's nursery, and although it is NOTHING like I originally planned, I'm still excited.  At first I wanted yellow/gray/cream, but I found bedding that is exactly like Tully's from the same local baby boutique, except it's pink, so I couldn't resist custom bedding that was also coordinated.  Here is a sneak peak of Clare bedding from the JBF consignment sale, along with all of Tully's clothes for the winter.  Her stuff is in the sack on the bottom of the rack.  We were almost half way done shopping at this point.  We had to move all of Tully's stuff to a bin and use the hanging rack to start all over for Clare.  Shopping for the two kids took my mom and me over 12 hours, but they're set for the next 6 months!!!


Finding Clare's bedding while consignment shopping also convinced me to reuse Tully's bedding and accessories in his big boy room instead of buying new things.  We moved Tully to his new room over the weekend, but I haven't done the finishing touches yet.  It's smaller than his old room, so I'm still shuffling furniture around and trying to hang things on the wall.  If I get really motivated I'll take pictures of everything to document on the blog.  I have a feeling that might go as well as my plans to start taking baby bump pics at 5 months too.  I think the bump pics are going to start at 6 months instead.  Better late than never, Miss Clare!

Monday, August 27, 2012

"C" is for Crib


Last night marked the first night of Tully sleeping in his big boy bed.  He got booted out of the iron crib to make room for his future sibling.  Here is a summary (to the best of my foggy recollection) of our successes and failures.

Success - 8:00 PM  mommy rocked Tully to sleep and put Tully in big boy bed
Fail - 9:45 PM - Tully awake
Success - 9:46 PM Tully back to sleep without crawling out of bed
Fail - 12:00 AM Tully crawled/fell(?) out of bed
Success? - 1:00 AM Tully slept on floor until daddy brought in meds (T currently gets a dose of ibuprofen in the middle of the night for ear pain)
Fail - 1:30 AM Tully, mommy, and daddy awake.  Daddy goes to bed.  Mommy stays up with Tully.
Success - 2:45 AM mommy rocked Tully to sleep and put Tully in big boy bed.
Fail - 2:48 AM Tully awake/crying/walking around room/losing blankies and binkies/mommy can't see what's going on with stationary camera monitor/total chaos.
Success - 3:15 AM Tully finds a binky and blanket, puts them in bed, and lays down with them. 
Success - 3:30 AM Tully and mommy go to sleep in their own beds.
Fail - 6:00 AM Tully and mommy awake.  Mommy watches on monitor.
Success - 6:?? AM Tully and mommy go to sleep in their own beds.
Fail - 7:30 AM Mommy and daddy oversleep.  Tully kinda awake but still in bed.
Success - 8:30 AM Daddy makes it to morning meeting on time.  Mommy takes Tully to school on time, and there are no tears!

Dear Sleep Gods: Please, please, please let nap time go well and tonight be better.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

"C" is for Confessions

The girl working the drive through at Braums is on to me.  I visited three times last week for a chocolate mix with oreos.  I'm thinking I should tell her I'm pregnant and that ice cream is high in calcium.

I've been coughing since June 20.  I thought it was a virus, since John got sick first, then Tully, then me.  John asked me last week, if I was ever going to stop coughing.  I should probably go to the doctor to confirm it's allergies and not some rare Canadian cough bug I picked up on vacation.

I set up my work laptop last week.  It took nearly seven hours and three restarts before it was fully updated and ready to run.   I am reminded why I absolutely despise PCs and Windows operating systems.

We had doors installed in my office, but they have semi-transparent glass.  I actually crawled on the floor to hide from Tully when I saw him walking toward the room one time.  I need to put up some curtains or shades, so he can't see in.

I had a complete meltdown last week when Medco charged me nearly $400 for prescriptions due to a mistake on the doctor's part.  First and last time I'll let them make that mistake.

Tully is doing well in school.  Drop offs are tearful for him, but he is recovering quickly and doing great in the classroom.  (He's even telling the teacher when his diaper is wet and actually sat on the potty yesterday!!) I jammed some Skrillex on BPM full blast when I dropped him off today.  Mommy freedom!

I got a notice in the mailbox where USPS tried to deliver a package, so I filled out the form and gave instructions to leave the package on the porch.  The mail man tried to deliver the package again, and instead of leaving it on the porch, left me a final notice.  I went to the post office and gave the lady working the counter a piece of my mind.  Obviously she's not a mail carrier and doesn't do routes, but I told her I wasn't happy to have to drive there to pick up the package when they should have left it at my house in the first place.  Recently I noticed there is highlighted text on the label with our names inside the mailbox that says "LEAVE PARCELS".  Guess someone relayed my message?

Thursday, August 9, 2012

"C" is for Conflagration

For those wanting to help regarding the wild fires, especially near Cushing, OK:

1) WARM BODIES: Love INC of Greater Cushing is looking for volunteers to work in the office and warehouse receiving and organizing donations at 203 W. Moses.   Their goal is to operate from 9-4 every day, instead of only a few hours each week.  Call (918) 225-1125 to volunteer your time.

2) GOODS DONATIONS: You can drop off household items at 203 W. Moses.  Love INC is working with local fire departments, churches, the American Red Cross, and directly with victims to get supplies where they are needed.  For a list of needs visit the Love INC of Greater Cushing FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/134836895410/

3) MONETARY DONATIONS:

a) When Love INC cannot meet a specific need or item request, they can go out and purchase goods directly.  They need funds to fulfill these requests.  Call (918) 225-1125 or stop by 203 W. Moses to donate.

b) The Tulsa Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is also taking donations to help local area victims and firefighters.  To donate online visit http://www.tulsaredcross.org/redcross/ and click the DONATE tab.

If you are a victim of the wild fires or know someone who could use help from the American Red Cross, stop by the Senior Citizens Center at 203 E. Cherry in Cushing to start paperwork.  The Red Cross shelter in Sand Springs is also open.

There are many, many churches and local groups stepping up to help, but I hope the list above provides others some direction in how and where to give.

Friday, August 3, 2012

"C" is for Confessions

This is my second post in the Wednesday Confessional series started by Courtney.  My first confession? I'm late for this week's confessions.

I brushed my teeth the other night before bed and then promptly went into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal.  (Mommy brain?)  I had to brush them again.

I took a bunch of boxes out to the curb for trash pick up on Thursday night.  Trash pick up is on Monday.

I drove to the store to buy chicken (and chicken only) to make dinner, and I came home with chicken, chocolate hostess donuts, and a box of brownie mix.

I ate most of the bag of hostess donuts on the drive home.  The only thing that really stopped me from eating all of them was that they were melty and getting all over my fingers.

Tully's second day of school was terrible.  He cried when I left, cried when I got there, cried on the way home, and did the end of cry/hiccup like breath while sleeping when he got home.  World's worst mommy for sending him to school yesterday.  Poor, poor Tully Bear.

To add to Tully's already terrible second day of school, he had a major diaper blowout.  I failed to mention this to John the day it happened, and when I told him this morning, he said I HAD to put it in writing somewhere, so he could remember to tell Tully's future dates that he pooped his pants the second day of school.  John just got his first nomination for Daddy of the Year.

I had someone tell me today that I didn't have much of a baby bump and that it looked more like I had just eaten a cheeseburger.  Compliment or insult?  You decide.

I got a spam comment a day or so after lecturing everyone last week for having CAPTCHA enabled.  It was easy to delete, so I have not turned it back on, but still...you can all say, "I told you so!" now.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

"C" is for Child (cont.)

Time for another Tully update.  He is 16 months old and has 16 teeth.  All four eye teeth have pushed through and are on their way in.  Next up?  Two-year molars!

Words: hot, hat, ball
Signs: hot, hat, cat, airplane, more, please, where is it? (palm up, questioning look on face, usually in reference to the ball)
Sounds: vroom (car/truck), moo

Signing/saying duck and mama have pretty much stopped.   He still gets really, really excited about the puppy, but sometimes he just points, yells, and smiles instead of signing.

He has learned to fake laugh.  He knows when the time to laugh is, but he makes it really loud and obnoxious.   Like he knows what he is doing is funny, so he repeats the action and fake laughs at himself.

He knows where his nose is and will sometimes point to ears, if asked, too.

He is following simple commands (put the ball in the basket, bring your shoes to mommy).  I'm hoping this continues and he is helpful when the new baby comes!

When I tell him it's time to go, he follows me out the door to the garage and goes to the car door where his car seat is located.  For the longest time I always had to carry him to the car, and I was starting to wonder how I would possibly get both kids, my stuff, and their stuff loaded in a reasonable amount of time.  Life is much easier with him walking and following simple commands, since it gives me two free hands.

The baby gate was secured to the staircase on one end with zip ties (classy, I know...), and they popped off.  We didn't get the gate put back up right away, so it has stayed down.  It's awesome because we don't have to open and close it every time we go up and down the stairs, and Tully really only goes upstairs or downstairs when we do.  He's always been a good, steady climber too, so I've never really worried about him falling.  I think we'll leave it down for a while.

He is on a fantastic sleep schedule.  Also, we're able to put him in his crib before bedtime, and he goes to sleep on his own without a peep.  We never really "sleep trained", but we did slowly move away from nursing to sleep or rocking to sleep, so he could go to bed on his own.  He transitioned from two naps to one (12-15 months), so here's how our day looks now.

7:15 - 7:30 awake,  he "reads" small board books in crib, sits and talks quietly to himself
7:30 start day
11:35 read book to him, wind down
11:45 in crib
11:45 - 12:00 he falls asleep
1:30 - 2:30 awake, he "reads" small board books in crib, sits and talks quietly to himself
7:15 give him a bath
7:35 read book, wind down
7:45 in crib
7:45 - 8:00 he falls asleep

Tully weaned sometime after 15 months.  I could write an entire post on what an emotional roller coaster that has been for me, but after having him squirm out of my lap and vigorously shake his head "no" a million times, it's safe to say he is finished.  I've dealt with nursing strikes before, but this time was definitely different.  Although I'm sad (understatement of the year), weaning has provided some freedom.  We have multiple trips to Texas planned, along with my work trip to DC, so Tully will be spending quality time at Grammy's pool this summer.  We're stacking on all of the Tully-free trips we can before the next baby comes!

Tully started half-day school this fall.  Here he is at 16 months ready for his first day.  (Good job hiding mommy's almost 5-month bump with your knee, T.)  Grammy was here to share in the excitement and take some pictures.


Pick-up was scheduled for noon, but they called me just after 11 to let me know he was melting down.  He had a fantastic morning playing, but it was getting close to lunch and nap time, so I got him early.  After a quick diaper change and lunch in the car, he went to sleep at his normal time as soon as we got home.  I'll probably have to pick him up at 11 for a few weeks until he adjusts to the new school schedule.  He is definitely the youngest in the pre-primary class (2-3 year olds), but I think he is fine, developmentally.  He just needs to catch up to the big kid schedule of taking a nap at 12:30 or 1, and I'm sure school will be less overwhelming and tiring as the year progresses.  Today was a big, big day!

Below is the picture the teacher, or guide, as they call it, sent me today of Tully doing "work".  Part of the way they teach at the Montessori school is for the kids to choose their own "work" from a shelf.  They take it to a table or the floor to practice a skill (moving objects, counting, matching, etc.) and then clean up that project before picking another.  Tully runs around like a mad man at the house from one toy to the next most of the time, so it's always good to see him sit down and focus on one thing.  Way to go, little guy!

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