Did I Mention He was a Big Helper?

My Constant Companion

Do any of you have one of these? You know, that thing that's always underneath your feet, following you throughout the house, even to the bathroom. Nope, I'm not talking about my kid. I'm talking about my sweet girl, Reagan. Actually, I don't really mind it. Even when she wants to sit in my lap on the couch, underneath the pillow which happens to be underneath my dinner.

Reagan's had a pretty rough week this week. Last Friday I took her to the vet for what I assume is the equivalent of a yeast infection in humans. Nice, right? The problem is, the vet blamed this on her being so fat! Apparently, fat rolls were preventing air from getting to certain places so things weren't drying out properly, which led to a painful, itchy infection. So, $280, daily antibiotics and one week later, I think it has cleared up. In addition, Bill and I have decided we have made it to third base with Reagan and have almost pretty much rounded to home because, oh yeah, we had to CLEAN IT three times a day and put ointment on it as well.

The moral of the story is, we now have Reagan on reduced calorie food, obtained from the vet no less, to try to get her weight down. I honestly didn't think her weight was that bad. Pugs generally should weigh between 14 and 18 pounds, and Reagan weighed in at 22 pounds last week at the appointment. I guess four pounds does matter, though, when you're talking about a small animal. I hate it that she's probably hungry all the time, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep her around for as long as possible. Even if I do find myself tripping over dog about forty times a day.

He's a Big Helper

Necessities of Desert Living

I finally broke down and bought Aaron a pair of sunglasses. I've always been against buying things for him just for the sake of cuteness (Stop laughing! I'm being serious!), but, holy crap, the sun here was giving me migraines after running because I had to be so squinty! So I finally broke down and bought myself some running sunglasses. After that, I figured I better get Aaron some sunglasses too!

How awesome does he look in them?!? The problem is, how do you keep him from taking them off after five seconds? Auugggghhhh!

Big Boy Bed!

It's here!
It's pretty tall...
Now if he could just figure out how to sleep on it the proper way...

Why It's a Poo

O.K., maybe the name of Aaron's pacifier requires an explanation. We call it a "poo" which is actually a derivation of "Pooh" as in Winnie the Pooh. My sister and I have called them this ever since my cousin Meghan was born back in 1986 and had pacifiers with Pooh Bear on them. That's how they got their name and it has stuck ever since. So hopefully we're not confusing him when we say "No more poo poo" because that could lead to constipation and that's never good.

Speaking of the pacifier situation, it's going pretty well actually. So far we have only had problems with naptime in the afternoon. It's hard to get him down and then he only sleeps for about an hour and a half. This is a boy who used to kick out three hour naps, no problem. So that's hard. However, it is now SUPER EASY for him to go to sleep at night due to the tiredness and he actually sleeps all night long. For the past couple weeks, Aaron has been waking up every night between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning. Every single night without fail, needing comforting before he'll lay back down. He hasn't been doing this the past couple nights, though, so that's good. I fear this is the beginning of the end of afternoon naps but I figure it's got to happen eventually anyway, so it may as well start now. Hopefully my nerves will be able to take Constant Aaron all day long! Until bedtime, at least.

So When Exactly Does It Start Getting Easier?

Today is the first day of "Operation Turning Three." There are three huge tasks that I wanted to accomplish before Aaron turns three next month. They are:

1. No more sleeping with a pacifier.
2. Move to a big, BIG boy bed.
3. Potty training.
   

Daddy left today for a conference and will only be gone a few days, so I thought I would take this opportunity to tackle #1 up there. I know what a lot of you are saying to yourselves. "What are you thinking doing this by yourself? Misery loves company, baby! You need to let Daddy feel that pain too!" The fact is, I can't do that to him. I feel too guilty. If Aaron keeps me up all night, the truth is he has to sleep sometime and I can sleep when he does. Daddy has to go to work in the morning, though, no matter how much sleep he got the night before. So call me the best wife in the world, or the dumbest, but I just thought it would be better to do it this way.

So this afternoon I put Aaron down for his nap and it was traumatizing. We have always referred to his pacifier as his "poo" and he kept calling for it and BAWLING. "Poo poo! Poo poo!" I finally went into his room and rubbed his back until he was halfway asleep. He only slept for about an hour and is now awake again and acting like I'm forcing him to go through heroin detox or something.

Pray for me tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

One hour of fitful poo-less sleep.

Did You Miss Us?

Well, hopefully you have Regarding Aaron in a reader or you just care enough to check that I'm actually posting here again after a long absence. Life has been so crazy the past few months. We moved to a brand new house on base, then drove halfway across the country again to visit Daddy while he was in training in Arkansas. But now everyone is back under the same roof again! Yay! Well, Daddy actually left today for a conference but he'll be back on Friday. No biggie!

Stay tuned for more posts!