Thanksgiving was a BUST!

Charlie's first Thanksgiving....

Poor Chloe had her first real trip to the nurse's office on Monday. She came home sick for the first time from school. We originally planned to have Turkey Day at our house with Ann, Josh and Adrianne over. Unfortunately, Chuck came home from work sick on Wednesday so we postponed until Saturday. Good thing, because Charlie got sick the same day. As karma would have it, I got the 'bug' on Friday. No festivities at our house. Now what am I going to do with this 7 pound tainted turkey breast? I went ahead and cooked on Thursday, since everything was thawed and ready to go. Charlie ate a little and I made Chloe choke down a bite of everything. Chuck ate a roll and a bite of turkey.

Now, on to our goal of Charlie sleeping in his bed. The score as of today is Charlie 5, mom and dad 0. With everyone being sick this week, it just didn't happen. After day 3, we decided to try again another time.

On Friday (before I got sickie) we went downtown St. Charles for the parade of Santas with Amy and her nieces.

http://www.stcharleschristmas.com/

Night 1 of Ferberization... FAILED

I have almost a week off for Thanksgiving, so I thought that this would be a good time to train Charlie to sleep in his own bed. He started off in his crib last night, but ended up with me. I used the excuse that Chloe had been sick the evening before. She was sent home from school early for an upset tummy. I'm not really sure how that relates to where Charlie slept, but this morning at 1 AM it made sense.

We have been trying sign language with him. The theory is that if he knows a few signs, he can tell us what he wants. Thus eliminating the screaming! We started it over the weekend, and I have learned quite a few signs. Charlie has not. Probably the most common sign that I use is: BRAT!
http://www.dictionaryofsign.com/main.php?g2_itemId=6096&g2_myThumb=

Dr. Richard Ferber

We have got to do something to get Charlie to sleep all night... and stay in his bed! We started this mess by bringing him into our bed in the middle of the night because it was so much easier to nurse. I could fall back asleep andhe could take care of business as needed. Then it got to be habit. He then got to come into our bed to 'keep the peace'. We all slept better when there wasn't a piercing scream breaking the silence at night. Now my newest bed partner is going on 10 months. He still wakes up at night and can't fall back asleep without nursing. I have tried just using a pacifier- no go! Someone suggested I give him a bottle of water when he wakes up- apparently he was highly offended and insulted by that. It just made him cry harder.

In comes Dr. Richard Ferber. Dr. Ferber is director of sleep disorders at Boston Children's. He has suggested a method called FERBERIZATION.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferberization
Ferberization is essentially letting your baby 'cry it out' while checking on him at certain intervals. This guy is a genius! Not for his method of sleep training, but for his marketing skill. He took a theory that has been used probably since the beginning of time, put his name on it and has most likely made millions. Man, why didn't I think of that?

Regardless of the origin, we need to try it on my son. Unfortunately, Chuck has already said he will be spending the week in a hotel when we try this. I predict that it won't be pretty.

No matter how wonderful they taste, margaritas are BAD for me

So, someone at work proposed a "Happy Hour" yesterday. Sounds great, right? Well, I know that there is no such thing. It is always at least a "Happy 3 or 4 Hours". Yesterday was no exception. Also, as usual, I made a complete fool out of myself. The event started off fun enough. It was me, a couple friends and a pitcher of Jose Cuervo's best. I knew the evening was going well when I developed this profound love for everyone. I had to announce my love of those that knew, as well as complete strangers in my 'not inside voice'. The best decision at this point would have been to cut myself off . Unfortunately, this was not the decision made. I then began to suffer from verbal diarrhea. I made sure everyone knew my true feelings on every subject imaginable. I was certain that everyone at the table shared my extreme opinions. A bit of advice... don't try to discuss politics while under the influence. It just makes you look more stupid. I also had the false belief that I was the ultimate comedienne. Wow, I need to do some Mia culpa's when I go back to work. By the time I left, I had probably offended 2/3 of the 20 or 25 people that ended up coming out. WAY TO GO, DAWN! Luckily, I work with a fantastic group of people and most of them will forgive me. Hopefully one of them will give me a ride home after the other few slash my tires :}