Thankful Thursday

1. Jadon sleeping in his crib at night.
2. Jadon taking at least one 2 - 3 hour nap.
3. Baby swing.
4. Josh loves to give Jadon a bath and change his diaper.
5. My dad getting a job in Nashville.
6. Working Internet!
7. Bowflex Treadclimber
8. Time to read.
9. Listening to Jadon fill his diaper - always makes me laugh! Who knew such a little thing could make so much noise!
10. Time spent in Florida visiting friends.

Co-Sleeping

Co-sleeping is one of those topics that people are strongly for or strongly against.  My midwife suggested co-sleeping during my prenatal care.  I decided that I would have our pack'n play right next to the bed and use that instead of having the baby in the bed with us.  Remember what they say about best laid plans?  Well, mine flew out the window and Jadon began sleeping with us.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I just can't co-sleep anymore.  Jadon was an active, noisy sleeper who would somehow scoot himself sideways and put his head in my back and his feet in Josh's.  Or he would scoot right up against me, pushing me to the edge of the bed.  How in the world could this little thing take up so much of the bed?!  My sleep really began to deteriorate - I was crabby and my body was sore. 

I came to the conclusion that I do not like to cuddle while I am sleeping and that I need my space to be able to move around.  I talked to Josh about getting a King sized bed, but I don't think that would have helped.  Jadon would have scooted right over next to me anyways. 

As I thought about a solution to this, I felt guilty.  How could I not like cuddling with my son?  (I really do, just not when I am sleeping.)

About that time we took a trip to Florida.  Where we stayed had 2 twin beds. One night Josh said that he would sleep with Jadon and wake me up when he got up so I could nurse him.  It was music to my ears.  I slept so good that night. 

When we got home a few days later, I decided to try putting Jadon down in his crib at night.  At this point he was 11 weeks old and sleeping a good 6 hours at a time consistently. He immediately took to sleeping in the crib and only wakes up once during the night for a diaper change and to nurse.  Had he not taken well to to sleeping in the crib, I would have kept him in bed with us for a bit longer and tried again in a few weeks.

If anyone would ask me about co-sleeping, I would tell them to give it a try and see how it goes.  I did really like it the first few weeks and it made nursing every 2 to 3 hours easier.

Revamping Old Volleyball Drills

As this past club season ends, it is time to start preparing next club season.  I have been using USA Volleyball for up to date coaching theory and practice ideas as well as reading John Kessel's Grow the Game blog.  Lots of great information in the Grassroots section of the USA Website for coaches, players, parents, and club directors.

Over the years I have compiled many drills to use with my teams.  Recently I went through them because I wanted an easily accessible "drill book" to make practice planning more efficient.  As I looked at the drills I asked myself the following questions.

1. Is the drill gamelike? Yes - keep, no - throw out of adapt.
2. Is the drill coach centered or player centered? I want my players to serve, hit, etc. at eachother, not me.
3. Is there a type of scoring that can be used?
4. Does the drill incorporate at least 2 skills (pass-set, set-hit, etc.)
5. Will the drill teach players how to "read" the ball?
6. Does the drill use the net?
7. Does the drill involve all players or at least very little wait time?
8. Can I use this drill in my "Competitive Cauldron?"
9. Will all players develop skills other than what their position calls for? (Middle Hitters just might have to set during a match!)
10. I also kept in mind John Kessel's article, 25 Questions for Volleyball Teachers and Coaches.

I ended up throwing out a lot of the drills that I had.  With some drills I was able to make a few changes to make them fit my criteria and other drills ignited my imagination to create new drills.  Oh, and by the way, I stopped calling them drills.  The drills have evolved into games with various scoring methods, so now they are called GAMES (thanks John Kessel). Since I am using different scoring methods, you don't waste time setting up a new drill/game.  You can take a 5 on 5 pattern and change the scoring to focus on different aspects of the game.  This way you don't have separate "drills" for hitting, passing, etc. 

Take some time to check out the USA Volleyball Grassroots Page and go through your drills to see what changes can be made to make your drills more effective games.

Thankful Thursday

1) Parents moving to Nashville area - this will be the closest I have lived to them since 1999.

2) Healthy two month old.

3) Photbucket and Snapbucket ~ still learning how to do this, but so happy that I don'thave to plug my iPhone into the computer to upload pictures anymore!

4) Morning run/walk with Jadon.

Jadon Snoozing
While I Sweat!

5) Baby swing for nap times!

6) Time to read volleyball articles/blogs.

7) Healthy, strong nails.  I have never been able to grow my nails.  I had acrylics for years.  Since having Jadon, I have to keep up with trimming them!

8) Playing games, etc. on my iPhone during nursing.

9) Upcoming trip to Florida to visit friends and teach at a home church meeting.

10) That I am able to run a mile (up and down hills and pushing Jadon) and still have gas in the tank!  I completed 3 of 5 workouts this week!

First Doctor Visit

I got to the office and had to fill out new patient paperwork ~ Jadon started crying,

• Nursed, checked phone for information, and filled out 5 pages of paperwork at the same time!

Talked about vaccination schedules.

• Decided to follow Dr. Sears' Alternative Vaccine Schedule with possibly a few of my own changes.
• I was scared about Jadon getting a shot ~ he did great! Hardly cried at all!
• Realized that I will be at the doctor's office once a month for the next 5 months. 

Vitamin D for Jadon was suggested since I am exclusively breastfeeding.

• Shook my head that I understood, but it wasn't brought up again.

Asked about where Jadon was sleeping and was told that he needs to learn how to go to sleep on his own.

• Still unsure how I am going to do it.  I will use the swing more - he falls asleep on his own in it and if he wakes up he will go back to sleep.
• Biggest concern is not creating problems down the line.
• Sometimes I just love holding him while he sleeps and other times I want to get things done.

Dr. Lavine was caring and friendly.  I look forward to developing a relationship with her as Jadon's pediatrician.  The nurse was quick giving Jadon his shot and let me take my time to nurse him afterwards.  All in all it was a good experience and I feel comfortable going back again. 


Well Baby Visits & Vaccines

Jadon will be going to his 2 month check up at Kennesaw Pediatrics.  While I was pregnant, a friend was looking for a pediatrician and asked for suggestions on Facebook.  I looked up all the pediatricians suggested online.  Whoever designed KP's website did an awesome job with the design!  They used their marketing know how and totally sucked me in.  I went through their site and found lots of helpful information.  I love that you can make appointments online as well as office hours on the weekends for sick babies!  They have 3 waiting rooms - infants, well visits, and sick visits.  I also heard from a friend that they are flexible with vaccines.  Plus they are located about 10 minutes from where I live. 

Josh and I went for a tour to see the office and ask some questions.  A lot of the answers were somewhat vague, but it was a group tour.  The doctor giving the tour said that they look at each individual patient and develop a plan from there.  Even though answers seem vague (probably due to legal reasons since none of us were patients), I really liked the individual consideration.

I have heard a lot of families not taking their children to many doctor vists.  I agree somewhat ~ if it is not broke, don't fix it.  I don't go to the doctor unless I am sick enough to need antibiotics, and that is a rare occurance.  However, I don't see doctors as the enemy and the right one can be very helpful.

I have to be honest, I decided to take him for his well check up for these reasons:

1. To be established at the practice, just in case of ,,, (fill in the blank),
2. Confirmation that he is developing normally.
3. Discuss vaccinations ~ which vaccines are the most important, which once can I delay, can I have a shot only visit.
4. To find out how much he weighs and how long he is.  Mommy wants to know!

Side note on vaccines ~ at first we weren't going to vaccinate, but as I did research I thought, how would I feel if my son caught a disease that I could have vaccinated him from and had consequences from that disease? 

Food for Thought