Weekend in Review

We had an okay weekend--Saturday morning was great, but Sunday evening was enough to bring the weekend rating from "great" to "okay". More on that in a little bit.

Anyhoo, Brad had volunteered with the Coast Guard Auxiliary on Saturday. Jess's birthday was Sunday, and her hubby had to work all weekend (nights), so we decided to take the kiddos to the zoo. They could only stay until around noon, but Garrett, Summer and I stayed until 2:40.

We went to the petting zoo and Garrett and Xander brushed the pot bellied pig. There was also some really beautiful Macaws there. Garrett thought the Elephants were pretty cool--he tried to give them his graham cracker. "I give them treat," he informed me. Luckily, I was able to retrieve the cracker--I am pretty sure that isn't on their approved diet list.



We fed the giraffes. All three boys thought that was pretty darn cool. Garrett and Xander did it all by themselves, and even little Logan (who will be a year old in a few weeks, can you believe that??) got a kick out of it. Garrett kept taking the lettuce to them and saying "Here you go, and here you go . . . " He gave them a TON of food, and was still bummed when it was gone. The picture of him below is when the giraffe actually licked his hand, he was pretty surprised, but not scared, by that one. For some reason, though, when telling Daddy about it later, he said "I feed dragons!" Go figure.


After the Shuman clan headed off to take their naps, Garrett played at the splash park for a while, which is where the picture at the top of the post came from. We then went to a very packed Diego show, which he LOVED. I wish I could have taken some pictures, but Summer woke up so I had to nurse her and keep an eye on G-man instead. She was awesome for the entire time--she either slept in the wrap or the stroller pretty much the whole time, except when she was nursing. Our zoo recently started offering camel rides, and Garrett REALLY wanted to do that. Of course, that wasn't going to happen with Summer there and me with no help, so I told Garrett next time we go, Daddy would take him. Ever since, Garrett has been saying "I want to ride those ole candles." For some reason, he can't QUITE say "camels". We told him we would try to go next weekend, with Daddy, so he keeps saying "I go see Diego and candles at zoo next weekend!"

The rest of Saturday was uneventful--Garrett napped in the car on the way home and slept until almost 5, Brad didn't get home until late, and garrett was a pain for bedtime--he didn't get to bed until almost 9. That, of course, set the stage for his worst meltdown yet, which occured on Sunday. I've whined ad nauseum about his sleep problems at night and how he refuses to nap. When he gets really overtired, and I mean really overtired, his behavior gets unbearable. That was what happened on Sunday night. We're talking complete, utter meltdown, with him hyperventilating from crying so much, trying to hit and kick Brad and I, etc. etc. etc. Brad was finally able to get him calmed down, but I had to cuddle with him to get him to go to sleep (this was at 5pm, keep in mind!). Downside--you can't cuddle your 2 year old in a toddler bed and nurse a 3 week old baby. So Brad had to keep Summer while I got Garrett to sleep. And of course she was hungry during that time. So he had to give her a bottle. Which made me cry . . . it's completely irrational, she's a great nurser so its not like its going to hurt anything, but I was NOT ready to give her a bottle yet. But Garrett definately needed me more, so on some level I know it was necessary. But it still sucked. So, basically, Sunday was pretty crappy.

On the upside, Garrett was up only once, to go potty, and then slept until 6. Which for him is a really good night of sleep. He is still refusing to nap today, but what else is new. Summer slept well too, and was up only a couple of times. A good night of sleep has gone a long way today! I hope we can get somewhere with Garrett's sleep troubles soon though. He becomes this completely different (and completely AWFUL) child when he is overtired.

Sorry for the INCREDIBLY long post!