D-day #2

Today marks a big day in the DuFrene house hold. Nathaniel has started daycare! With Malachi we waited until about 8 weeks, but our daycare gal will be gone on a vacation at 8 weeks. We want him to get acclimated with the daycare environment before she is gone (she has someone coming in to cover her time away). This will also help get him on the routine that will have been established by the time of said vacation. It has been an okay day for mom. With Malachi it was a little harder-the first kiddo is always a bit tougher, but I still did okay with him so knew today was going to go smoothly. The issue with today wasn't that it was the first day that stressed me out with him going, it was the general chaos of the day. We, in Hutch, have a ministry that is called Release time. The middle school students have an opportunity to come to our church 1 day a month to hear God's Word. It is state law that if a religious organization has a program 1 time per week that students are allowed to attend during school hours without being counted absent and the teachers cannot teach anything new. To be respectful of the chaos of teaching the same subject 6-7 times a day and being required to not teach anything new during the time students are away, we only have it 1 time a month for Middle School (we do have it weekly for Elementary students). Today happened to be the day that this release time fell this month. The boys had to come with to it, because of what time of the day it is held for MS students. It is earlier than they normally would go to daycare. But here is why it is extra chaotic, the youth directors have a monthly meeting (after this program) each month. It is hosted at my church on months that have release time....meaning I run across town with the boys, gave the schpeal on how Nathaniel is, and run back for the meeting.

But overall I know he will have done fine, we told Malachi this morning to make sure none of the "big" kids pick on Nathaniel. Knowing full well that Malachi might be the one that wants to lay on him, carry him, take care of him, etc.

Above is a photo taken on Saturday of the boys "talking".

7 and a half hours!

Nathaniel and Malachi have been sharing a room for just over a week! They are doing pretty well. Malachi has been putting a fight up for a few nights. Last night was one of them, and one time last week. But that is not the main issue. We put the boys down right around 7p.m. I start Nathaniel with his bottle about 6:30 to keep with Malachi's routine of bedtime. Nathaniel gets a slightly bigger bottle at that time than he does the rest of the day. I know this is super enthralling to all those who read this :).

Last night, even with Malachi putting up a bit of a fight, Nathaniel went down without much of a hitch! He then proceeded to sleep 7 and a half hours! By my calculations that is classified as through the night! Of course it wasn't mom and dad's "sleep through the night" but it is significant progress! He woke up for his first feeding at 2:30a.m.! Malachi, who was as I mentioned fighting sleep last night, also woke up. He helped mom and watched Duck Dynasty with her while Nathaniel ate. Dad took the second feeding (which always comes much quicker in the night) and then slept with the boys. Unknown to mom, both boys fought going back to sleep after this second feeding. Dad snuck down and got a blanket from their bedroom and went to sleep with the boys-letting mom sleep. He is a rockstar! If you are friends with Mike on facebook or in real life :) you should send him a text, message telling him he is a rockstar!

Soup master!

Enjoying Duck Tales!

We have started potty training!

So here we are, almost 6 weeks into our new life as a family of 4 plus Thiessen and we are working our way towards a "mom and dad" sleep through the night! I would say we are making significant progress! We covet your prayers as Nathaniel will start daycare a week from today! Our daycare gal is going on vacation the beginning of April, when we intended on him starting, so we want him to get acclamated to daycare prior to her leaving. We want him to feel comfortable with the place and the routine before we change that, and Amy needs to get back to work before our daycare gal returns. Nathaniel is a great co-worker but makes it hard to get a lot of things done at work, both because of his needs but mostly because of his cuteness factor that everyone who stops in chats and wants to see him (causing work to stop). So, digressing from that tangent, we covet your prayers for next week that the transition will go smoothly. Also that Malachi will continue to transition nicely into a big brother-he has been doing great thus far! And finally that as we get closer to that sleep through the night on mom/dad's standards that we can be refreshed and better parents for it!