Weekend Rewind

Friday morning, Cole & I went to visit my friend Jacque, see her daughter Elizabeth and meet her new son, Jacob. Jacob is a few weeks older than Cole. I met Jacque in prenatal yoga when I was pregnant with Eli. It was so great to catch up a bit and hang out with her. The rest of the day was spent doing stuff around the house and hanging with Cole. He's fairly consistent with his afternoon nap (no napping in the morning) so I was able to make some turkey meatballs and simmer then in sauce for dinner. They were so yummy. I've been able to cook dinner a few nights lately and I think Tim is getting spoiled. =) He's usually the chef in our house and I've found myself being more and more domestic lately.

Friday night was VERY rough for us. Eli decided that he didn't want to go to sleep. As much as we tried, he didn't want to go to sleep. He ended up screaming and crying from 7:30p - 9:30p. All I could do was sit downstairs and cry myself. It broke my heart. It also hurt that he was screaming for Daddy. He kept saying "Daddy come here". His night time routine has gotten out of hand lately (i.e. takes 1 to 1-1/2 hours to get him down) so we are trying to get it back under control. It's hard with Cole here to do that long of a routine, plus he needs to learn how to put himself to sleep again. That's the trouble with the bed...he can get out. He can't with the crib so it was easier. Now he wants to get up and out of bed and turn lights one. Well, we survived the night but not without an emotional toll on all of us.

Saturday morning Tim & Eli went on a bike ride and then Ryan came over to give Eli's new bounce house a test jump. We were quite happy with our purchase. It's not as huge as we thought it would be, blew up very quickly and easily and Tim said it seemed to be decent construction. Eli & Ryan jumped for a while and then played in the rest of the yard, even taking a few trips down the slide. After lunch, Ryan went home and we tried to settle into nap time. Eli took a pretty short nap which, after feeding Cole, didn't allow us time to snag a few "z"s. Then it was pool time. Eli had fun playing with Owen at the pool and running around with his big dump truck. I went out with Cole for a little while and Kara had brought Faye as well. It was nice to see our friends and hang out. Saturday night's bed time went much better but I think it was because Tim put Eli down. For some reason, he's just not into Mommy right now. Not nearly as much fussing, screaming or crying - which was good because another night would have killed me.

This morning, Eli & I went on a bike ride. Whew....that was hard!! I think I picked the hardest first bike ride back, 4 weeks after having a baby you could ever imagine. Considering, I'm about 35 pounds heavier than when I used to race, pulling a 33+ pound toddler and the bike trailer, I was probably lugging around an extra 75-80 pounds. It makes me tired just typing that!! Eli seemed to have a good time. I felt much better when it was over and figure that each bike ride from now on just has to get easier!! Then Tim & Eli headed to the man store (i.e. Lowe's) and picked up some things for the yard. Eli seemed to have fun and came home all happy and excited. It was a pretty rainy morning / early afternoon so we figured no pool today. Eli did take a decent nap which allowed us all to get a little sleep. That was very much needed! This afternoon we visited with our neighbors and just hung around the house. Bed time tonight was another Mommy battle. I gave Eli a bath and all was going so well. We read some books, sang some songs and then it seemed like he was asleep. About a half hour later, he was out of bed, at the top of the stairs crying for Daddy. I'm not sure what I need to do. Hopefully we'll get past this phase and he'll get better with me putting him to bed. Otherwise, Daddy has his work cut out for him for the next 16 years!!

Overall, we had a good weekend. We don't get as many chores done these days as we used to but we do spend a lot of time together as a family. We may get on each other's nerves from time to time but in the end, being together is what matters. Being home on leave this time with Cole, I try to whittle the "to do" list down to the essentials of what matters to keep our life moving along. I haven't been trying to add too much but rather enjoy this time.

Hope everyone else had a fun weekend as well!