We've seen a lot of sand this week! Two trips to the beach and a couple visits to the park. I've just about had it up to here with sand in my bed!!!
For those of you following the Sean saga, I'll have a full update soon. For now, things are going great and hopefully we'll have him sleeping through the night REALLY soon.
Have a great weekend!
Most of you probably already know the sleep issues we are having with Sean. I have just about had it with the frequent night wakings (and nursings) that occur each night. Sometimes as many as 7 or 8 times a night!!! In desperation, I started searching the internet for some sort of guidance. I came across a website with a questionairre about your child's sleep, so I just thought I'd fill it out and see what they would email me back. I don't know if it was the fact that they personalized the email by including Sean's name in the form letter, or the fact that it sounded like they were speaking to me, but something in that email nudged me to just let him tough it out.
So last night, I changed up his bedtime routine a bit. I nursed him about 20 min before bedtime and made sure he stayed awake, instead of the usually nursing him to almost asleep. We read books after the nursing, instead of before, then it was into bed he went. He cried for all of 1 minute, and then silence. It could not be this easy!
Well, after Caityn went to bed, she cried out for Daddy, and that woke Sean up. Such a light sleeper he is. I picked him up out of the crib, reassured him that all was okay, waited until he was calmed down, and back in the crib he went. No nursing. He cried for a total of 2 minutes. Are you kidding me? Who is this baby? Not mine!
I was feeling quite hopeful for the night to come, but of course he woke again around 11pm. I tried the same thing, but after putting him back in bed, he screamed like he's never screamed before. I was worried that all his screaming would disturb Caityn, so after 5 minutes of screaming we went in and took Caityn out of the room to sleep in our bed. Sean cried (well, screamed) then for about 10 more minutes. Okay...not too bad.
I tried to go to sleep myself, but then he kept waking up every few minutes, would cry and then fall back asleep. This happened several more times before he started up the bloody murder screams again. I could see this was going to continue for quite some time. He really is persistant. So I went in to take him out of the crib, and he fell asleep on my chest while I was holding him. Not wanting to have him scream again, I decided to sleep with him in Caityn's bed. He woke a few more times during the night, cried a little each time, but after comforting him, adjusting his bed covers, rolling him over, etc. , he would go back to sleep. No nursing...all night long...cold turkey!
The saga continues tonight...
This weekend we had absolutely gorgeous San Diego weather, so we got out and enjoyed it. Saturday we met up with some of our Fab friends at the San Diego Children's Museum. The kids had a great time exploring the place. Caityn said her favorite part was the bubbles. Sean was just happy to toddle around and get his hands on everything.
Then on Sunday, we went to Mission Beach to enjoy the warm sunshine. We walked up to the park by my grandma's house and just had a relaxing day by the bay.
And who can resist a naked baby butt picture!
No trip to Disneyland would be complete without a visit with Disney's most famous princesses. We decided to splurge a bit and have breakfast with the Princesses at Ariel's Grotto in the California Adventures park. Caityn was in awe of all the princesses in their beautiful dresses. The royal announcer definitely had Sean's attention too, every time he rang his bell to announce the arrival of another princess. Luckily, we were the first to arrive, the first to be seated, the first to be served breakfast, and the first to meet and greet with each princess. That worked out well, because Sean had had enough by the time the last princess made her way to our table.
Caityn and Princess Ariel (aka Little Mermaid). I was worried that she might flip out seeing LM without her mermaid costume on, but Caityn expertly explained to me that she wasn't wearing that because she wasn't in the water. Duh Mom!
Waiting for more princesses to arrive!
Daddy and Sean being silly.
Caityn and Cinderella
Caityn and Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty)
Caityn, Snow White, and one of the dwarves
One of the things we definitely had to do while at Disneyland was visit with Tinkerbell. She had recently become a favorite of Caityn's and she was very excited to meet her. But each time we walked by Pixie Hollow, the line to meet and greet Tinkerbell and her fairy friends was REALLY long. The guy at the entrance told us it was about a 40 min wait. Yikes!!! We kept thinking that at some point the line should die down and we wouldn't have to wait so long. Well, the line never got any shorter, so on our last trip back into Disneyland, it was the first thing on our list of things to do. We all waited the whole 45 minutes just to see Tinkerbell and get some photos with her.
Caityn was very excited the whole time as the anticipation of meeting her idol grew. When it was finally almost our turn, we were up at the front of the line and we could see Rosetta, Tinkerbell's friend taking pictures with another group ahead of us. Caityn could peek through the trees and see Tinkerbell on the other side. It was very exciting! Finally...our turn to see Rosetta...and she bursts into tears and runs back to the stroller! What!!! Oh no...we did not just wait 45 minutes for you to change your mind! We were getting our picture taken with Rosetta whether she smiled or not! Poor Rosetta couldn't understand why Caityn was so upset.
Then after visiting with Rosetta we got to go around the corner and see Tinkerbell. It took Caityn a bit to realize that it was really her. Then she ran up to her and gave her a great big hug, and she was all smiles! I think she was extremely disappointed that we had waited so long (did I mention it was 45 minutes!!) and she thought she was only going to get to see a fairy sidekick and not the real deal. Boy, was she happy to finally meet Tinkerbell herself. We all got a good laugh out of that. Unfortunately, the pictures taken with our camera came out really dark, but we were able to copy the photos that their photographer took from the photo pass website. Shhhh! Don't tell Disney!
After Tinkerbell, we waited in yet another long line to go on the Autotopia cars. Caityn got to go twice. Since Sean was too little, they gave us a rider switch pass that allowed Abel to stay with Sean while I went on the car ride with Caityn. Then when our turn was over, Abel got to go with her again without having to wait in line. Good deal for Caityn! Then we ate an overpriced dinner, rode the rockets one more time, and said farewell to Disneyland. I should have taken a picture of Caityn's meal. It was a teeny, tiny cup of rice with even tinier bits of chicken in it and a cup of applesauce. The cookie that came with her meal was bigger than the dinner itself! That's okay...we were going to have a great big Princess breakfast in the morning.
We're back from our first family trip to Disneyland! So many pictures and stories to share, I'll have to break up the posts. We left for D-land on Mon afternoon right at naptime, hoping they would both nap in the car and be ready for fun when we got there. Well...Sean slept the whole way. Yay! But Caityn never even looked sleepy. She must have been too excited to sleep. After checking into the hotel, it was close to 3pm, so we headed into the park.
We decided to get the Southern Calif Annual pass since it was cheaper than buying two single day tickets, but the wait to process the passes was crazy long. Abel waited in the line while I took the kids for a stroll down Main Street and into Fantasyland.
The sight of the castle brought a few more smiles!
Caityn tried for several minutes to try and open this little door marked "Mr. Rabbit". 
If I had known it was going to take 45 min!!! to process the annual pass, I would have taken them on a ride, but we waited for Daddy before going on the first ride. It seemed really crowded in the park, but according to workers, there was hardly anyone there. I'd hate to go on a crowded day! We went on the Pinnochio ride first, because it had the shortest line, but I think that was a mistake. Caityn hated it!!! It was was too scary for her, and then she didn't want to go on any ride that was indoors. She only liked the outdoor rides, like Dumbo and the roller coaster in Toon Town. 
It was freezing (by So Cal standards) that evening, so we didn't stay very long. As we headed out, we saw Minnie Mouse, and the line to take pictures with her was surprisingly short, so we got a few quick photos with her. Caityn liked her quite a bit more than some of the other characters we saw that day. 
Jumping on the hotel beds was just as much fun as a Disneyland ride. Sean thought his sister was just hilarious!
The next morning, Aunt Abbey and Uncle Tore joined us as we headed back for more fun. That was a pretty rough morning. Everyone was kind of in a grumpy mood. Caityn didn't want to go on many of the rides. Maybe it was the lack of quality sleep? Those hotel beds were great for jumping, but not so great for sleeping!
Caityn and Mommy on the Dumbo ride.
We are heading off to Disneyland this afternoon for a couple of fun-filled days at the Magic Kingdom. This will be both Caityn's and Sean's first time at the happiest place on earth. We'll be back on Wednesday with some great photos and stories of our adventures. See you all then!
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