Adjusting

Yes... that is a good title... because this can't be the "new normal" quite yet because I'm exhausted! I'll blog about our trip later tonight... or tomorrow... but right now I feel the need to let you know about our first 24 hours of officially living in Arizona as a whole family. Ugh... I guess to catch you up I might have to rewind a tad bit further...

Tuesday night... late... 11:45 I believe... Derrik caught a bus from Harrisburg, Pa (where he was visiting his family) to Boston to meet Ryder and I for our flight back out to Arizona. Thank God my husband came out to be there for me because yesterday was LONG! We had two three hours fights to make it out here with about an hour layover in between. Ryder was good... not bad... not great... just good. I was very pleased, but really wished I had a fast forward button yesterday! He never really cried, but let out a good loud scream a couple times each flight if we didn't obey what he wanted at a fast pace! We managed to juggle toys, drinks, snacks, bathroom breaks, singing songs, smashing the window, snuggling with his blankies, and sucking on his pacifier just long enough to make it to landing on the last flight. Our trek from the runway to the gate on this second flight is when he officially lost it! I mean we were six hours into flying and three hours past his bedtime on East Cost Time... so I was proud of him. We quickly grabbed our bags and got to the car. Ryder crashed on the way home at about 7:15 our new time.. and was in bed about 7:30 our new time (which was his bedtime back home..7:30 that is not the 10:30 it actually was back home!) I was thankful to be putting him down then hoping he'd decide to sleep the same amount of hours. Of course not though... he has that internal 7am alarm clock! 7am Eastern time is 4am our time! As soon as I heard him just after 4am I rushed in a bottle, tip-toed out, crawled back into bed, and prayed so hard for silence... and it happened... until 6am. Good Enough! We'll take it for the first night of adjusting!

The first few hours of our day went decently smooth. Ryder got acquainted with our new home and re-aquainted with his toys again. We have three huge tubs of toys, a ball pit, a play table, a push cart... wouldn't you know it... within minutes he had that bull-dozer in his hands broom, broom, brooming around the condo with it! That boy loves that thing!

We had lots to do today... work, lots of work, unpacking, laundry, getting Ryder's room together, pick up the dog from the kennel, a grocery store trip, dishes to clean, lint roll all the spots the cats slept on while we were gone (yes this is a long task with two cats... one white and one dark hair), and try to keep up with a baby who is completely off schedule and cranky! I unfortunely have the type of personality that has to have all of this stuff done as quickly as possible and get very cranky until it is that way. I like things to be done, I like things neat, I like things clean, and I most certainly don't like feeling like my life is a mess... which it did! Luckily my husband knows this, ignored my attitude this morning, and we survived. It is now just before 8pm, baby is sleeping, chores are all done except laundry (there is a load washing as I type), and we're both on our laptops in our happy place watching the first football game of the season :)

So okay all of the adjusting for the stuff I just typed about takes like a day... the part I'm worried won't take a day is our precious little man. He was very very cranky today. I promised myself once our always moving, birthday partying, grandparent visiting, traveling across the country days were done, and we actually got to live in one place for nine months that the pacifier and bottle would be gone! Usually babies are attached to one or the other, but Ryder LOVESSSS both! I tried to stick to my rules today and at least keep the pacifier and bottles for nap time and bed time, but honestly we need to wait another week... I won't break my promise to myself after that! My little man just needs time to adjust to his new home, new time zone, and just simply needs his paci, ba-ba, and blanket to survive this all. I made him a doctors appointment for the 21st to get his one year old check-up... so once we go there and get some questions answers I plan to really follow through with all of this!

Now that leads to some questions for any moms out there. How do you calm your baby down in public without a pacifier? The bottle isn't a big deal since we only use it before his nap, before bed, and on a rare occasion that we aren't home for a nap and it's been a very long day! At home I let him throw a tantrum without giving him my immediate attention, put him in his crib for a minute if he needs to get a grip, and try to tell him no and move onto something else. That is all great at home, but in public I don't really have these options. An example would be today... In Wal-Mart... We are trying to do our grocery shopping and Ryder is yelling in the cart. He wasn't screaming really loud, he wasn't screaming long, (he never really actually cries unless he's hurt), but he kept letting out loud squeals to get our attention. You could tell he was just fustrated and didn't want to sit in the cart anymore. He was fresh up from a nap and had just had lunch. All of his need were being met, but he simple wasn't digging the grocery trip (heck who was?!). I see three options 1. give him the pacifier, 2. keep telling him NO in a firm tone and have him keep screaming, or 3. give him food to pre-occupy him. I know it differs for every parents because I feel like all three are right and all three are wrong. I didn't give him the pacifier today because I was still holding my ground at this point. I told him no repeatedly and he didn't listen at all. How much does no sink in at twelve months old? He gets it sometimes, but not always. I don't feel like he is purposely rebelling against me, but at what age are they? I did at a certain point break open a bag off freeze-dried apples to try to hold him over, but I felt like I was bribbing him and he wasn't into them anyhow because he was full from lunch. Anyhow... What am I suppose to do in this situation? Help me out... I know it was just a day of adjusting to lots of things, and I'm tired, and this too will pass as all things do, but I just feel very over-whelmed with my little guy. I think we all just need sleep :) I'd appreciate any help though!!! Let me know what you think mommies!