Tebow isn’t sleeping through the night. This doesn’t bother me because at this age, Fuller didn’t sleep through the night either. And really, I’m not upset he isn’t sleeping through the night. What is irking me is the song and dance we go through each night just to get Tebow to sleep.

Fuller went to bed rather easily. So we are kind of at a loss on how to deal with getting Tebow to go to sleep for the night. Tebow, he fights it. And he gets a little violent. I have bruises on my leg to prove it. He arches his back, he kicks, he twists, he cries… and it gets worse when you put him in the crib. Sometimes we get lucky and he falls asleep in the crib after a few minutes of crying. But then he wakes up 20 to 30 minutes later, screaming.

We quit swaddling because he was sleeping fine without the swaddle. And then he stopped sleeping fine. I swaddled him a few nights ago and he went to sleep, only to start screaming and wriggling out of the swaddle 20 minutes later.

Our dance usually begins around 7 p.m. when it is obvious Tebow is tired. And sometimes he will go to sleep then, only to wake up an hour later. And then he cries and arches and fights the sleep. So I rock him until he drifts off again. Sometimes I nurse him. Then I put him down. And ten minutes later he is crying and I am rocking him. Repeat process until about 9:30 or 10 when he is down until about 2:30 a.m.

During this time, Fuller is trying to go to bed. He does his night time jobs, he gets a story read to him, a good night kiss, and then he is off to dreamland. Since they share a room, Fuller seems to be affected in someway by the crying in the night. Nightmares have crept in. Restless sleep plagues Fuller.

We have Things to Try and Ways to Get Him to Sleep, but until we can figure out some sleeping arrangements where Fuller’s sleep isn’t disturbed, we are going to have to keep dancing.

This post was sponsored by Kmart. All the opinions are mine.

In case you were not aware, Chattanooga is practically in Georgia. Why is this relevant? Well, because starting yesterday, Georgia began their tax free holiday weekend. (It seems to me the “weekend” gets longer every year.) And this is awesome because people can save money on things like clothes, school supplies, and computers.

Will I be shopping tomorrow? That is yet to be determined. While technically none of us are going naked, returning to school, or in need of a new computer, if something is a good enough deal, we might be tempted to swipe the check card.

Which is why, when you add to the tax free holiday great deals already found in stores, and you get Awesome Deals. And in this case, the deals are going to be found at Kmart. Yes, Kmart. This is because tomorrow, August 1, Kmart is bringing back the Bluelight Special.

What are Kmart Bluelight Specials? Through out the day, the store will offer things like jewlery, grills, patio furniture, clothes at specially reduced prices. If I recall correctly, when an announcement was made in the store (“Attention Kmart shoppers, we have a Bluelight special on aisle 4″) an actual blue light would flash on the aisle of the item, so you knew where to go to get the goods.

If you follow @kmartdealsnnews on twitter, you can see previews of the deals to be had.

To be clear, the Bluelight Specials are not just in stores in Georgia. But the tax free holiday makes it even more tempting to drive over to Fort Oglethorpe to see what I could get*. Bluelight Specials are available at all Kmarts. In fact, there should be 40 or more total. And if you can’t get to a Kmart, check online, because the deals will be there too!

*Make sure you check out the Georgia Tax Free Holiday website to see what qualifies. Jewelry, grills, and patio furniture don’t qualify. But if they are at a great price, and you are looking for those anyway, then I would check out Kmart.

There is this game on the PBS Kids Island website called ABCD…Watermelon. It helps kids with letter recognition and order. Fuller is pretty good at it and it translates into a fun game you can play together- with out a computer! Fuller is very serious about his ABC song skillz. Check him out:

The AB…Watermelon game from mrscrumley on Vimeo.

Ever played ABC Watermelon? Well, Fuller and I did.

Tebow turned 5 months old over a week ago. I still have to make his well baby appointment, so I don’t have official stats, but when we weighed him over the 4th he weighed 19 pounds. I’m sure he’s up to 20 now.

People always comment on his size, usually focusing on the delicious rolls of his thighs. I tend to reply to people, “Well, we keep feeding him.”

And feeding him we are. Until recently he was mostly nursed. We started adding formula to evening feedings and a few weeks ago he started rice cereal.

I’m pretty sure by Tebow’s six month birthday he will be getting more formula, since I’ll be weaning him from nursing. Which then brings up the question- what formula to use? Right now, his evening bottles are made with the free stuff we have stockpiled- Similac and Enfamil. But I know purchasing those brands is expensive.

When Fuller was “on the bottle” he got the Parent’s Choice brand because my SIL told me something amazing about it- when you made it, there were no bubbles in the bottle. I don’t know how it happened, but no bubbles made it a better formula for Fuller. He had a much less upset tummy when he was on Parent’s Choice.

Now I have another reason to choose Parent’s Choice- cost. If you check out this baby formula savings calculator, Parent’s Choice is always cheaper. If we start Tebow on 100% formula feedings from six months until a year old, we would save anywhere from $59.99 and $56.94 a month.

This kind of savings has the attention of Consumer Reports which is recommending Parent’s Choice (and other generic brands) because of their lower cost and still meeting the FDA required nutrition specifications.

So we have my SIL recommendation, our past experience, the Consumer Reports strong suggestion, and significant cost savings… I’m pretty sure, Parent’s Choice will once again be our family’s formula of choice.

I think we are recovered from the fun of last week’s VBS. Every morning he woke up and was asking and asking when we would leave for VBS. Every day we went home (usually walking) and Fuller was talking and talking about the fun he had. Every day I would watch Fuller move from activity to activity with his group and see him participate with gusto. Every night at dinner he would tell Damon what he did that day, recounting every activity with details that made us smile.

Friday, the last day, the kids put on a program to show off their drama and music skills. Some of the art work they produced was hung around the sanctuary (the rest was in a paper bag portfolio ready to come home). I took pictures from the back, but inside I was beaming at my little boy who was singing (complete with hand motions!) and obviously enjoying himself.

But he is glad to be done, in the carefree days of playing as he likes and just having Mommy to boss him around.

When I am approached by someone or a company to review a travel item, I usually pass on the airline specific products. Simply put, our family mainly travels by car. Airline travel is rare. But, as they say, timing is everything.

Travel with Me wanted to showcase their line of Jethead Disposable Pillowcases and made contact a week before our trip to Texas back in April. I replied with the statement that if they could get it to me by Tuesday, I would be happy to take it with us on our trip. They complied and sent me two packages of the disposable pillowcases, each package containing two pillowcases.

What they are: Jetheads Disposable Pillowcases are meant to be brought onto a plane by the traveler and put on the small pillows provided by the airline for those looking for small comfort when traveling through the air.

What’s the point? The packaging explains: “Protect yourself and your children from previous passenger’ germs!”

The product was introduced soon after a LAANE study (pdf) indicated airlines do not change the pillowcases between flights. The possibility of a traveler using a germ infested pillow was very real (the big culprits being lice and MRSA), so Travel With Me developed a product the public could use to protect themselves.

I was happy to pack one package in Fuller’s carry-on for our Texas trip. It didn’t take up much space, so it didn’t take up precious room where a box of crayons or set of cars would go. However, there was a problem. And it wasn’t Travel With Me’s fault.
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