Wade's New Talent

So, this week Wade has discovered a new form of entertainment! I want to thank all of you who have spent your hard earned money on toys and such for the Wadester. But it appears they are unnecessary. His lips bring hours of enjoyment!!



In other news, Wade has been strengthening his neck and arms by huge leaps and bounds. We've got him a membership to the Y and his personal trainer is really working him hard. Actually the truth is, he's been sleeping on his tummy. For the first 2 months I was not so disciplined about tummy time- mostly because Wade hated it so I didn't force the issue. Well, about 3 or 4 weeks ago I started putting him on his belly for naps. Then last week at my mom's I tried him on his belly for the whole night. He did great and has been a stomach sleeper ever since. Now tummy time is actually enjoyable. He can hold his head and chest up with his arms.

I think we're going to start rice cereal today. For those of you without babies of your own, I don't mean Rice Crispies...snap, crackle, pop. Rice cereal is the doctor reccommended introduction to food for babies. I'm sure we'll have some entertaining pics to come.

Also, we are in the process of saying bye-bye to the pacifier. Dr. Wiley said it's totally fine to keep him on it until one year. But I've just gotten so tired of what we refer to as "pacifier duty". Basically when we would put him to bed we'd give him the paci. Then he'd lose it so the one "on duty" would have to go up and replace the paci. This would sometimes go on for up to 20 minutes. He's found his fingers just fine (see slide show of Florida pics) and I don't mind if he ends up sucking his thumb. So far the separation is going great. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night crying and wouldn't settle down by just patting his back (and I was kinda lethargic) so I broke down and gave it to him. Aside from that we haven't given it to him much at all! Woohoo!

I hesitate to mention this next bit because it's not a total done deal yet. But I think I can share without getting too overly excited. Thursday we put an offer on a house! Our offer was accepted and now we just await the inspection next week. Pending all goes smoothly with that, we'll close on the 26th. Here's a little photo for you. I'll tell you more about it in detail once the deal goes down.




Well, we are off to go swimming at the Y today. Wade got a taste of the swimming pool at my mom's but it was too chilly to really enjoy it. There's a warm water indoor pool at our Y so we're going to start his Olympic training!

Florida Photos

Fun in the Sun

Today was recovery day. Recovering the bottom of my laundry basket, recovering my coffee table, recovering my kitchen sink. Somewhere in there should be some self recovery but it didn't end up that way. Actually I'm tired now from working all day but my trip was so relaxing that I don't feel the need to recover like I usually do.

So the trip...was awesome. Actually, it was "cool" (mom, how many times can I use that word in this post? start counting). Wade could not have done any better on the flights. He took a bottle as we took off and fell asleep shortly after. Each time he woke up when the pilot would come on and say "ladies and gentlemen we are beginning our inital descent into ____."

Grammy was so excited to see her only grandchild. And CJ was so precious to watch playing with Wade. He says he's never having kids but I don't know, there's some real natural talent there.

Wade met his great aunt & uncle, 2nd cousins and mom's childhood friends, swam in a pool, swung in a swing at the park, started sleeping on his tummy, fell in love with ceiling fans, spent most every day in only his diaper, felt sand between his toes and rode in a big boy carseat...I'd say it was a pretty big 10 days of his little life!

All in all it was a wonderful visit and we can't wait to see Grammy again.

One trip down, two to go!

Ok, I've got to start with a story from the trip prep. I'm learning to pack early (mom is so proud!) so last Thursday I was ironing our clothes for the wedding. Andrew decided to wear a pair of slacks that are somewhat tricky to iron. You know the kind that when you iron and up around the pockets they always leave weird marks. So, I got a brilliant idea to iron them inside out which would totally solve the weird marks problem, right? After ironing them meticulously including a crease down the leg (some of you just realized where this is going) I turn them right sound out to admire my work. No weird marks by the pockets. The problem was the creases down the legs. Since I had creased them inside out I now had inside out creases (aka butt cracks) all the way down the legs! You can imagine my frustration as I sprayed with water and re-ironed the creases. I did consider just leaving them but just couldn't do that to my precious husband. Thankfully the weekend did not follow suit.



Wade did great in the car. It's only a 5 hour drive so it works well to stop in Knoxville splitting it in half. Once we got there the weekend flew by at 90 mph. After we finally figured out where everyone was sleeping- a thing that's becoming more complicated as we have more kids on the scene- we hit the sack. Saturday Connie was helping with wedding prep stuff most of the day, David & Andrew were working on the list she'd left them and Anna, Cheri and I chased kids. Pam & Stan came over to babysit and we headed to the wedding which was at a beautiful historic home. Sunday we got up to go to church but realized we hadn't had any time together so decided to just go to brunch. Brunch turned into lunch when Cheri's car wouldn't start. After lunch we headed back home. Forgot to mention that we had a flat tire awaiting our arrival at the house. Andrew managed to get it changed before the wind blew him away.



The other interesting thing that happened this weekend was the rash that Wade developed. It started in the diaper area and began spreading up his chest. Monday we went to see Dr. Wiley who suggested Hydrocortizone cream and prescribed another ointment in case any yeast was growing in his "area". The good news is it looks so much better after just 24 hrs. of the creams. A perk of going to see Dr. Wiley was getting weighed and measured. Wade is up to 14lbs. 13oz. and he's 25 1/8 in. long. Still hovering around the 75/80th percentile.



So, now we've already begun packing for the next trip. Friday Wade & I will be flying to Florida to visit my mom for 9 days! We could not be more excited...well, yes we could, if Andrew were coming with us. But we know it will still be an awesome trip. Wade is so excited to hang out with his Grammy!

Here's a photo of our little family on our first Mother's Day!

So far, so good

Well, it is only 8:26am but the last 16 hours have been a huge improvement. I haven't made any changes aside from pumping a little before I nurse (to extract the foremilk which lactation consultant Suzy suggested he might be getting full & gassy on). Feedings have been going great. And I'm happy to report Wade slept from 9pm to 7am! Woohoo! I don't know that we're out of the woods yet, but I'm hoping it was just some kind of strange fluke.

The next month or so is full of travel. This weekend we're headed to Spartanburg, SC. Then on Friday Wade & I are flying (yikes!) to Tampa to hang out with Grammy for 9 days!!!! We are sooo excited. In fact, my mom is hypothesizing that Wade's recent strange behavior is because he is just SO excited to see his Grammy! After Florida we are heading to houston on June 7th for a week. Unfortunately Andrew won't be able to come on that trip either. We're pretty bummed about that but hopefully we'll get back to Houston in the not so distant future.

Well, I'm off to get started on packing! Enjoy your day.

Who is this child and what have you done with my son?

Ok, I'm not frustrated, rather confused. As many of you know Wade has been a very easy, good-natured baby. I'm sure I'll get my due come the toddler years but we're not there yet. Or so I thought.

The last few days things have been a little rough. He is not eating well- pulling away after just a few minutes of nursing with gas in his tummy (translation="colic like" crying). He's not getting much sustenance so becomes hungry not long after the attempted feeding. We are working on a solution for this but success is slow. I know what you're thinking and you're exactly right- sure, this is just fine and managable during the day but how is this effecting nighttime sleeping? Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Yes, my friends, it's the nighttime that's got me on the verge of frustrated. Remember how well I've been telling you Wade was sleeping. I'll remind you-he was consistently sleeping 9-10 hrs. He's still going down in the evening great. In fact, I'll brag a little - we are getting into a little routine (eat, read Goodnight Moon, pray, put in crib, sing Jesus Loves Me, kiss on forehead). Our routine is awesome cause it doesn't require us soothing him to sleep like we did the first couple months. Anyway, he's falling asleep on his own. But then waking up at least twice during the night. I'll let him cry a bit then stealth my way into his room to check the pacifier, replace if necessary and give him some more time to cry it out. Well, the crying isn't stopping. So I go in and pat him and rub his forehead for a minute or so then give him some more time. Usually we're up to about 20-25 min. by this point. Still crying, so I end up nursing him. Thankfully the nighttime feedings are going better in that he doesn't pull away with gas, etc. BUT when I put him back in his crib he fusses for about 15 more minutes. (When he used to nurse 2-3 times a night he would always go immediately back to sleep) Then his nighttime fast is broken (meaning just like us adults his metabolism speeds up) and he's ready to eat in another 3 hrs.

In all the books I've read the instructions for the first 2 months are that pretty much anything goes as far as soothing- nurse, rock, hold, drive in car around the block- do whatever it takes, you're not forming habits yet. Then the books say that by 4 months of age babies can self soothe. Hello, what about those 2 months in the middle- what do we do then? I think that's why I'm confused on the verge of frustrated. Had this been happening 6 weeks ago it would be no big deal. But I really, really don't want these middle of the night feedings to become a habit.

Ok, so what d'ya say? I know you moms out there absolutely love to give advice and share how it was with your babies. So, now's your chance. I'm actually soliciting your advice. Not guaranteering I'll take it but let's hear it.

Oh, and if you don't have advice (or even if you do) what I'd appreciate even more is prayers. Pray that Wade and I get this eating/sleeping thing straightened out. And pray that his little mind and body will totally forget the beginning of this habit. Especially since we traveling to Spartanburg this weekend then to Florida for 10 days next week then to Houston shortly after that.

Happy 3 Month Birthday Wade Curtis!!!

Water, water everywhere

Well, it's been a few days since my last post so let me summarize what's been happening in the Scharff Story


1. For those of you concerned about the Wadester's sleeping habits- he has returned to his "normal" 9-10 hrs. and has forgotten all about waking up at 4am to eat! Praise God!


2. A law I've discovered: when you go out of town with an infant you need one day to recuperate for each day you are gone. Seriously it took me almost 3 full days to get rested from our Nashville weekend (I suppose getting up early to watch the marathon added to it).

3. Last Thursday we had portraits done at JCPenney for the first time. Wade was very smiley and we got some good shots. You can view (and order) photos at https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTP80101023003JCP

4. A little shout out to my awesome husband...his region "competes" with other regions throughout the country each month. Well, Andrew pulled 1/3rd of the weight for his region this month (there's like 17 or 18 people in the region)!!!!!! Basically he deserves a HUGE pat on the back. Love you babe!

5. We've been spending lots of time outside enjoying this beautiful weather and our beautiful city. Yesterday we played at Coolidge Park with cousins Ian and Sydney.