A Comment, A Bump on the Head, and Naptime....

1) Several posts ago, I posted a bunch of photos from my (and Luke's) walk through town. Then, just a couple of days ago, I was in Wal-Mart, doing some grocery shopping. I was browsing over the variety of yogurts when a woman (whom I did not know) came up to me and said, "Aren't you the cute gal who walks all of the time with your baby in the jogging stroller?"

I said, "Yep -- I walk all of the time with our little guy."

She replied, "You always look so cute when I see you."

*****

I think I had mentioned at one point in time that we live in a small town, but it's not that small -- around 17,000 - 18,000 people. Apparently, people do watch what you're doing.

I only had to post this as a message to my husband -- he always has to BRAG a bit when somebody notices him or calls him cute, or etc......So, I merely am pointing out that people do notice me as well :) I Love You, Marc!!!!!

2) The other day, Luke got his first "goose-egg" on his head. He's not a real risk-taker; therefore, we haven't had too many falls yet (we figure that if God blesses us someday with another child -- that child will be the risk-taker and will completely make up for Luke's conservative nature). Anyways, it's amazing how fast after a fall, in the midst of the all of the crying, that a goose-egg will form.

This photo was actually taken the day after -- the swelling had gone down substantially. But, there is a nice bruise. Fortunately, Luke hasn't seemed bothered by it since the initial accident.



3) Marc and I feel extremely blessed to have a child who sleeps sooooo wonderfully. We actually think we've done a good job of "training" Luke to do so. He first slept through the night at 8 1/2 weeks old. I actually haven't had to physically pick him up out of his crib at night in almost a year now -- yep, almost a year. And, there have only been a hand-full of times that I've even had to get up at night to check on him -- since he first slept through the night. He routinely sleep 12 hours at night, and he doesn't get up early.

O.K., O.K. -- I'll stop talking about that. Our next child may be the daredevil as well as the "non-sleeper." Who knows?

We'll love them all the same.

Anyways, moving on -- Luke, up until the last 6 weeks or so, has also been a fairly decent napper. All of a sudden, about six weeks ago, that drastically changed. We figured out that he was ready to move to just one nap a day. That transition didn't come easy, but it's slowly, but surely, getting better.

Then, he started only sleeping roughly 30-60 minutes the entire day -- WHOA!!!! That is definitely not enough for a 13 month-old, and our evenings with him were proving that point. Our late afternoons and evenings because not so very fun in the Friesen Household -- all because of Luke's short naps. Can we just say "Mr. Cranky Pants" was with us?

I started talking to other moms. Various pieces of advice were offered. Change his nap time; Purchase a white noise machine, etc. etc. etc.

Marc and I experimented around with naptimes (what time we put him down). That didn't seem to help.

I then purchased this....



A white noise machine -- I know, I know -- a fan will do the same thing, but I wanted something with some real volume control.

That helped a bit, but it didn't help enough. Finally, I started watching some things a bit closer -- like his window.

I don't yet have a curtain in Luke's room, but we do have some new blinds that we put up shortly before he was born.



I realized that there was still a hint of light -- even with the blinds closed (I'm not sure how well this photo looks on this blog, but you'll have to just trust me on this one).



So, I made his window ugly -- just to see if it would work. I hung up some dark fabric as well as a dark towel.



Now, even during the day, his room is DARK with the lights out. It worked for two days. He slept for 2 1/2 - 3 hours each day. We're now on day 3. As I'm typing this, Luke is still asleep, and he has been for close to 2 hours.

Marc and I refuse to believe this is the answer until Luke does this for at least 5-6 days in a row. If this does solve the nap dilemma, I will work diligently to find some VERY DARK curtains.

Do any of you experienced mothers or grandmothers out there have any other suggestions?

I'm praying for answers on this one....

Thanks.