Day 4 of Operation No-Swaddle was very different from the past few days. Once again he was swaddled with his left arm out. His first two naps were 35 and 30 minutes. Not long. His third nap was in my arms, since he unexpectedly fell asleep while he was nursing and I didn't want to wake him up by transfering him into his crib completely unswaddled. This nap occurred about 40 minutes earlier than it normally would have, but he conked right out. He looked completely adorable with his head back and his mouth hanging open, and I loved the snuggle time. This nap was 50 minutes long (I know, weird amount of time).
His fourth nap was completely different again. He was swaddled with his left arm out, but he was arching his back and crying. I tried everything in my arsenal, but after a couple of minutes I realized nothing was going to work. When that happens I do one of two things: a) I take him out of his room and lie him down on our bed in the bright light to distract him briefly and reset his system, or b) I lie him down in his crib to cry alone for a couple of minutes and then he appreciates my attempts at soothing him when I come back.
I went with option B. I left him to cry for a few minutes. When I returned his soother wasn't in his mouth, but as soon as he saw me he quieted down. I tried giving him his soother but his eyes remained wide open. I picked him up and sat in the rocking chair where we quietly rocked, but he showed no signs of falling asleep. I stood up and started bouncing him, and he started arching his back and crying again. So I returned him to his crib for a few minutes.
When I came back he was crying but he still had his soother in, amazingly. His eyes were closed, so I decided to try not picking him up. I just pinned his legs down with one hand (he kept slamming them down on his mattress), pinned his left arm down with the other hand, and kissed his cheek. Within about 45 seconds he was completely still and calm (how sweet is that??:), so I left the room. That nap lasted 45 minutes.
I'm still waiting on that long nap to tell me I can move forward with the swaddle weaning.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Operation No-Swaddle, Day 3
Day 3 of Operation No-Swaddle consisted of four 35-40 minute naps, which is a completely average thing for Noah to do. But that's also the exact amount of time that it takes for a sleep cycle to change, and it's how long a child often sleeps when they're being weaned off the swaddle. It's hard to tell how much this is affecting him.
Noah's arm squirms a lot less now when I put him in his crib than it did that first day (and some of the second). In that way he seems to be getting used to having it free. I'm not exactly sure what my next step will be. Should I keep one arm out but switch arms? That way he'd get used to having the other arm free. Or is that just prolonging the process because then he'd probably get used to having his left arm pinned again?
I think I'm going to wait until he sneaks in a long nap before I try both arms unswaddled. He did have that nap on Day 2 that was about an hour long, but I think I'd like to see him go to an hour and 20 minutes (for sure 2 sleep cycles) until I undo both arms.
Nighttime sucked last night. I couldn't fall asleep until after 10, then I got up at 2:45 for the bathroom. Noah woke up at 3 to eat, and it takes me hours to fall asleep when I get up in the middle of the night, so I was still awake (but getting really drowsy) when he started randomly crying at 4:30. I went in and looked at him and it was clear all he wanted was something to suck on. I gave him his soother (while loathing myself), and went back to bed. I then didn't fall asleep until sometime after 6, and then Noah woke me up at 7. I was awake from 2:45am until at least 6:15am. I guess I should be thankful for 5 hours of sleep, total, but somehow, I'm not. Catch me when I've been awake for more than half an hour and I might change my tune.
I hate his soother. I wish I had never let my mother introduce one to him. I was very hesitant to do it because then I'd have to wean him off of it, but she acted like it would be no big deal. And for awhile it wasn't. Having to use a soother to fall asleep isn't that big of a deal.
But waking up in the night and crying for a soother is not cool. He never used to do this. It's weird that he does now, because he never got his soother at night. He only got it during the day. And then suddenly he just started to wake up and cry and only want to suck. It happens more nights than it doesn't.
I've tried leaving him to cry himself back to sleep, but the crying escalates. And when he wakes up at these times, any soothing I can do without a soother makes no difference. All he wants is his soother.
Noah's arm squirms a lot less now when I put him in his crib than it did that first day (and some of the second). In that way he seems to be getting used to having it free. I'm not exactly sure what my next step will be. Should I keep one arm out but switch arms? That way he'd get used to having the other arm free. Or is that just prolonging the process because then he'd probably get used to having his left arm pinned again?
I think I'm going to wait until he sneaks in a long nap before I try both arms unswaddled. He did have that nap on Day 2 that was about an hour long, but I think I'd like to see him go to an hour and 20 minutes (for sure 2 sleep cycles) until I undo both arms.
Nighttime sucked last night. I couldn't fall asleep until after 10, then I got up at 2:45 for the bathroom. Noah woke up at 3 to eat, and it takes me hours to fall asleep when I get up in the middle of the night, so I was still awake (but getting really drowsy) when he started randomly crying at 4:30. I went in and looked at him and it was clear all he wanted was something to suck on. I gave him his soother (while loathing myself), and went back to bed. I then didn't fall asleep until sometime after 6, and then Noah woke me up at 7. I was awake from 2:45am until at least 6:15am. I guess I should be thankful for 5 hours of sleep, total, but somehow, I'm not. Catch me when I've been awake for more than half an hour and I might change my tune.
I hate his soother. I wish I had never let my mother introduce one to him. I was very hesitant to do it because then I'd have to wean him off of it, but she acted like it would be no big deal. And for awhile it wasn't. Having to use a soother to fall asleep isn't that big of a deal.
But waking up in the night and crying for a soother is not cool. He never used to do this. It's weird that he does now, because he never got his soother at night. He only got it during the day. And then suddenly he just started to wake up and cry and only want to suck. It happens more nights than it doesn't.
I've tried leaving him to cry himself back to sleep, but the crying escalates. And when he wakes up at these times, any soothing I can do without a soother makes no difference. All he wants is his soother.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Operation No-Swaddle, Day 2
Today was Day 2 of Operation No-Swaddle. Noah's left arm was free during all four of his naps (he woke up before 6:30am and went to bed at 7:30pm, so 4 naps were necessary). His first nap was at home and lasted an hour, which was great! His other three naps were at my parents' house. The first one was 45 minutes (pretty good, for him), and the last two were barely 30 minutes each.
I don't necessarily attribute the very short naps to the arm being out of the swaddle. He did have two decent naps with the arm out. Sometimes Noah just sleeps for a really short period of time. And he wasn't in his own crib in his own room, so that has an effect as well.
The good news is that he fell asleep really easily for all of his naps, even though his arm was free. He even stayed asleep with minimal squirming when I transfered him into the crib for all except his last nap. He woke up when I put him down for that nap, but I just leaned over and kissed his cheek over and over until he fell asleep after about 45 seconds.
He loves when I kiss his cheeks and forehead while he's falling asleep. That's been his thing for the last few weeks. It's so sweet. He'll start fussing while I'm bouncing him, but when I start kissing his cheeks and forehead he almost always calms down and falls asleep within 10 seconds. It is so adorable.
I think we'll do another day of napping with one arm out. I'm pretty sure neither of us are ready for two free arms.
I don't necessarily attribute the very short naps to the arm being out of the swaddle. He did have two decent naps with the arm out. Sometimes Noah just sleeps for a really short period of time. And he wasn't in his own crib in his own room, so that has an effect as well.
The good news is that he fell asleep really easily for all of his naps, even though his arm was free. He even stayed asleep with minimal squirming when I transfered him into the crib for all except his last nap. He woke up when I put him down for that nap, but I just leaned over and kissed his cheek over and over until he fell asleep after about 45 seconds.
He loves when I kiss his cheeks and forehead while he's falling asleep. That's been his thing for the last few weeks. It's so sweet. He'll start fussing while I'm bouncing him, but when I start kissing his cheeks and forehead he almost always calms down and falls asleep within 10 seconds. It is so adorable.
I think we'll do another day of napping with one arm out. I'm pretty sure neither of us are ready for two free arms.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Operation No-Swaddle
So, as if cutting two teeth at once wasn't big enough, I have decided to start weaning Noah off the swaddle. Both of us are majorly addicted to it for several reasons:
A) It's a great sleep cue for Noah.
B) He doesn't "startle" anymore, persay, but he's VERY squirmy, and when I try to put him down unswaddled his squirming wakes him up almost immediately.
C) He needs his soother to fall asleep (unless I want a battle), and if his arms are free he immediately plucks his soother from his mouth and unsuccessfully tries to get it back in.
Justin is done training clients and has the next week off before going back to teach. I figured now was as good a time as any to try and break the swaddle addiction, since Justin is around to relieve me of my duties if I get frustrated trying to put Noah down and having him wake up everytime. Also, he got out of his swaddler twice last night. This could be because he was only wearing a onesie underneath (he seems to free himself easier when his arms are bare than when he's in a sleeper). Or he could be trying to tell me something.
So today was Day 1 of Operation No-Swaddle. My original plan was just to go cold turkey. It has evolved since then.
Nap #1 - Noah falls asleep on the boob. I try to put him in his crib. He has no soother in his mouth. He starts to squirm. He immediately wakes up. I leave him for a few minutes to see if he will soothe himself back to sleep. He does not. I go back in. He smiles and kicks excitedly when he sees me because he thinks he just had a nap. He has not. I give Noah his soother and rock and bounce him back to sleep. This takes several minutes. I put him carefully back in his crib. He squirms quite a bit. I wish I had 4 arms instead of two so that I could put him down while pinning all of his limbs to the mattress. Sadly, I don't. I manage to stop him from fully waking up. Noah has 30 minute nap.
Nap #2 - Noah cries quite a bit while I rock and bounce him to sleep. He is not a fan of freedom. He eventually falls asleep. I walk over to the crib. Noah's sixth sense tells him I'm about to put him down, even though I haven't even bent over. Noah starts crying again without opening his eyes. Back to the rocker. Noah falls asleep again. I carefully transfer him to the crib, pinning his arms and legs down as best I can. In total I spent over 20 minutes trying to get him in the crib. He sleeps 20 more minutes. He rolls onto tummy. He can't roll himself back. He starts to fuss. I rescue him.
It is at this point that I realize I am no longer going cold turkey. I decide to keep him unswaddled for naps, but still swaddle him at nighttime.
Nap #3 - I cradle Noah in my arms and give him a soother. Noah immediately starts crying. I try to calm him. After a few minutes of crying I realize I have made a huge mistake. Going cold-turkey was a terrible idea. (New plan: gradual swaddle-weaning for naptime. Full swaddle at nighttime.) I swaddle Noah tightly with his left arm free. I give Noah soother again. Noah continues to fuss for a minute until I discover what will calm him this time (jiggly walking and shhh-ing in his ear). Noah shuts up and falls asleep as soon as I start this. I transfer him into his crib. He hardly moves, except to curl his left arm onto his chest. Very cute. Noah wakes up crying after 35 minutes. I bounce him back to sleep, which takes about 15 minutes. Noah wakes up crying after 35 minutes again. I try to bounce him back to sleep. It doesn't work. It's been almost 3 hours since he's eaten. I sit down in the rocker to feed him. He sleeps and nurses for the next 50 minutes. There's no clock, so I don't know how much time is passing. It feels like hours, but I want him to sleep long enough that he won't need a fourth nap and won't be up for 3 1/2 hours before bedtime. I finally decide it's been long enough. I get up and check the time. It's 4:20. Good enough. We're up.
So as of right now, the new plan is to swaddle with one arm out for naptimes and swaddle as usual for bedtime. I'm not sure where to proceed from here. There are many options. I can continue to keep him fully swaddled at nighttime and work on progressing to no swaddle during naps before I start to wean him off the nighttime swaddle. Or I can wait until he's used to one arm out at naptime and then try one arm out at nighttime.
I'm pretty confident that after he's used to sleeping with one arm out I'll swaddle him around the chest with both arms out. He's used to the pressure while he sleeps, and it will also confine his legs a bit. He has crazy legs when he sleeps. And I think once we're swaddle free we'll move on to a sleep sack. It'll keep him warm (since he would never keep a blanket on), and it'll also cue him that it's time for sleep.
Noah naps for such a short period of time that it's hard to know how affected his sleep is during the day. That's one reason why I'm choosing to start with naptime - since he naps so little, it won't affect the amount of sleep he gets that much, but he's still get used to being put down with free arms. However, it also means that it's hard for me to know if not being swaddled will affect the amount of time he sleeps, since he rarely sleeps longer than 40 minutes. (I know in my 5 month post I said that I can almost count on one good nap of an hour to an hour and a half each day, but that's no longer the case.)
I guess we'll just play it by ear, like we do everything else. Wish me luck!
A) It's a great sleep cue for Noah.
B) He doesn't "startle" anymore, persay, but he's VERY squirmy, and when I try to put him down unswaddled his squirming wakes him up almost immediately.
C) He needs his soother to fall asleep (unless I want a battle), and if his arms are free he immediately plucks his soother from his mouth and unsuccessfully tries to get it back in.
Justin is done training clients and has the next week off before going back to teach. I figured now was as good a time as any to try and break the swaddle addiction, since Justin is around to relieve me of my duties if I get frustrated trying to put Noah down and having him wake up everytime. Also, he got out of his swaddler twice last night. This could be because he was only wearing a onesie underneath (he seems to free himself easier when his arms are bare than when he's in a sleeper). Or he could be trying to tell me something.
So today was Day 1 of Operation No-Swaddle. My original plan was just to go cold turkey. It has evolved since then.
Nap #1 - Noah falls asleep on the boob. I try to put him in his crib. He has no soother in his mouth. He starts to squirm. He immediately wakes up. I leave him for a few minutes to see if he will soothe himself back to sleep. He does not. I go back in. He smiles and kicks excitedly when he sees me because he thinks he just had a nap. He has not. I give Noah his soother and rock and bounce him back to sleep. This takes several minutes. I put him carefully back in his crib. He squirms quite a bit. I wish I had 4 arms instead of two so that I could put him down while pinning all of his limbs to the mattress. Sadly, I don't. I manage to stop him from fully waking up. Noah has 30 minute nap.
Nap #2 - Noah cries quite a bit while I rock and bounce him to sleep. He is not a fan of freedom. He eventually falls asleep. I walk over to the crib. Noah's sixth sense tells him I'm about to put him down, even though I haven't even bent over. Noah starts crying again without opening his eyes. Back to the rocker. Noah falls asleep again. I carefully transfer him to the crib, pinning his arms and legs down as best I can. In total I spent over 20 minutes trying to get him in the crib. He sleeps 20 more minutes. He rolls onto tummy. He can't roll himself back. He starts to fuss. I rescue him.
It is at this point that I realize I am no longer going cold turkey. I decide to keep him unswaddled for naps, but still swaddle him at nighttime.
Nap #3 - I cradle Noah in my arms and give him a soother. Noah immediately starts crying. I try to calm him. After a few minutes of crying I realize I have made a huge mistake. Going cold-turkey was a terrible idea. (New plan: gradual swaddle-weaning for naptime. Full swaddle at nighttime.) I swaddle Noah tightly with his left arm free. I give Noah soother again. Noah continues to fuss for a minute until I discover what will calm him this time (jiggly walking and shhh-ing in his ear). Noah shuts up and falls asleep as soon as I start this. I transfer him into his crib. He hardly moves, except to curl his left arm onto his chest. Very cute. Noah wakes up crying after 35 minutes. I bounce him back to sleep, which takes about 15 minutes. Noah wakes up crying after 35 minutes again. I try to bounce him back to sleep. It doesn't work. It's been almost 3 hours since he's eaten. I sit down in the rocker to feed him. He sleeps and nurses for the next 50 minutes. There's no clock, so I don't know how much time is passing. It feels like hours, but I want him to sleep long enough that he won't need a fourth nap and won't be up for 3 1/2 hours before bedtime. I finally decide it's been long enough. I get up and check the time. It's 4:20. Good enough. We're up.
So as of right now, the new plan is to swaddle with one arm out for naptimes and swaddle as usual for bedtime. I'm not sure where to proceed from here. There are many options. I can continue to keep him fully swaddled at nighttime and work on progressing to no swaddle during naps before I start to wean him off the nighttime swaddle. Or I can wait until he's used to one arm out at naptime and then try one arm out at nighttime.
I'm pretty confident that after he's used to sleeping with one arm out I'll swaddle him around the chest with both arms out. He's used to the pressure while he sleeps, and it will also confine his legs a bit. He has crazy legs when he sleeps. And I think once we're swaddle free we'll move on to a sleep sack. It'll keep him warm (since he would never keep a blanket on), and it'll also cue him that it's time for sleep.
Noah naps for such a short period of time that it's hard to know how affected his sleep is during the day. That's one reason why I'm choosing to start with naptime - since he naps so little, it won't affect the amount of sleep he gets that much, but he's still get used to being put down with free arms. However, it also means that it's hard for me to know if not being swaddled will affect the amount of time he sleeps, since he rarely sleeps longer than 40 minutes. (I know in my 5 month post I said that I can almost count on one good nap of an hour to an hour and a half each day, but that's no longer the case.)
I guess we'll just play it by ear, like we do everything else. Wish me luck!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Reaching for Mama
Noah is 5 months and 1 week old
In the past couple of days Noah has started reaching for people when he's being held by someone else. It's sooo cute. A couple of times today Justin was holding him (he adored his Daddy, by the way) and when he saw his Mama he smiled and reached out an arm to me and kind of leaned toward me like he wanted me to hold him. So I did.
Yesterday my friend came over, and when Noah saw her glasses while I was holding him he smiled and her, reached for them and leaned toward her. So into Auntie Squires' arms he went.
It's a really cute little thing he does. I love watching him grow up.
In the past couple of days Noah has started reaching for people when he's being held by someone else. It's sooo cute. A couple of times today Justin was holding him (he adored his Daddy, by the way) and when he saw his Mama he smiled and reached out an arm to me and kind of leaned toward me like he wanted me to hold him. So I did.
Yesterday my friend came over, and when Noah saw her glasses while I was holding him he smiled and her, reached for them and leaned toward her. So into Auntie Squires' arms he went.
It's a really cute little thing he does. I love watching him grow up.
Correction: Cutting TEETH
Yesterday Noah's left bottom tooth broke the surface of his gums. You could feel the sharp little dagger, but not really see it that well. Also yesterday his bottom RIGHT tooth started to break his gums apart, so apparently they are going to arrive at the same time. You can feel the tip of that one a tiny bit, but not like the left one.
It's been a challenge keeping Noah content. He's very cuddly and doesn't want to be left alone to do anything - except in his jolly jumper. He doesn't want to be alone on his playmat or chewing on toys or in his exersaucer. He wants to be held quite a bit, and obviously is biting hard on everything (but like I've said before, that is normal for him). And he basically just wants attention all the time. I love paying attention to my little baby, but it makes it so that I have to run around like the energizer bunny to do all my chores during his short little naps, and then he's up again. I'm not getting any time to just sit and recharge for 10 minutes. It's fine though. I just have to keep going, because as soon as I sit down for a minute I have a hard time getting up again. This evening I sat down on the floor next to Noah to fold laundry. Then I had to get up and put it away and start dinner, but I had the hardest time getting up because I was so exhausted. Of course, I've basically been awake since 2:50am, so that makes sense.
I've tried Teething Tablets, Motrin, Tylenol, and Orajel to try and make him more comfortable. It's hard to tell if any of it worked, since babies can't exactly tell you how they're feeling! He doesn't seem to like anything cold. I've tried giving him cold teething rings before and he was not impressed. Today I tried a frozen baby washcloth - he seemed okay with it for a couple of minutes and then started crying. I don't know if the crying was due to the washcloth or because he was tired (it was right before we started his bedtime routine).
Overall he seemed better this afternoon than he has been for the past 3 days. Poor little guy.
It's been a challenge keeping Noah content. He's very cuddly and doesn't want to be left alone to do anything - except in his jolly jumper. He doesn't want to be alone on his playmat or chewing on toys or in his exersaucer. He wants to be held quite a bit, and obviously is biting hard on everything (but like I've said before, that is normal for him). And he basically just wants attention all the time. I love paying attention to my little baby, but it makes it so that I have to run around like the energizer bunny to do all my chores during his short little naps, and then he's up again. I'm not getting any time to just sit and recharge for 10 minutes. It's fine though. I just have to keep going, because as soon as I sit down for a minute I have a hard time getting up again. This evening I sat down on the floor next to Noah to fold laundry. Then I had to get up and put it away and start dinner, but I had the hardest time getting up because I was so exhausted. Of course, I've basically been awake since 2:50am, so that makes sense.
I've tried Teething Tablets, Motrin, Tylenol, and Orajel to try and make him more comfortable. It's hard to tell if any of it worked, since babies can't exactly tell you how they're feeling! He doesn't seem to like anything cold. I've tried giving him cold teething rings before and he was not impressed. Today I tried a frozen baby washcloth - he seemed okay with it for a couple of minutes and then started crying. I don't know if the crying was due to the washcloth or because he was tired (it was right before we started his bedtime routine).
Overall he seemed better this afternoon than he has been for the past 3 days. Poor little guy.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Cutting a Tooth
(Noah is 5 months and 1 week old
Noah is cutting his first tooth!
I put an exclamation mark there, but I'm not really very excited about it. He can sometimes be a biter when he's nursing, and sharp little baby teeth won't be a welcome addition to that equation.
Anyway, his two bottom teeth have been sitting just under the surface for a few months now. I can feel the little tooth buds, but they've been staying the same for 3 months. Then today he was being especially fussy, so I rubbed his gums to check (I do this almost everyday) and they felt different. The tooth buds felt even closer to the surface.
I checked out his gums and the one tooth is starting to break the gums apart. The actual tooth isn't poking through yet, but the gums are splitting to make way for it. You can see the left bottom front tooth is right there ready to make it's appearance.
The poor baby was so uncomfortable today. He needed lots of cuddles and hugs and lots of things to bite on. Well, that last part isn't any different from normal. He always has an incredibly intense need to have things in his mouth - much more so than other babies his age that we spend time around. His desperation today wasn't that different from normal. I gave him a couple of doses of teething tablets. I'm not sure how well they worked, but the first dose did seem to calm him down.
I wonder when the tooth with actually rise above the surface of his gums...
Noah is cutting his first tooth!
I put an exclamation mark there, but I'm not really very excited about it. He can sometimes be a biter when he's nursing, and sharp little baby teeth won't be a welcome addition to that equation.
Anyway, his two bottom teeth have been sitting just under the surface for a few months now. I can feel the little tooth buds, but they've been staying the same for 3 months. Then today he was being especially fussy, so I rubbed his gums to check (I do this almost everyday) and they felt different. The tooth buds felt even closer to the surface.
I checked out his gums and the one tooth is starting to break the gums apart. The actual tooth isn't poking through yet, but the gums are splitting to make way for it. You can see the left bottom front tooth is right there ready to make it's appearance.
The poor baby was so uncomfortable today. He needed lots of cuddles and hugs and lots of things to bite on. Well, that last part isn't any different from normal. He always has an incredibly intense need to have things in his mouth - much more so than other babies his age that we spend time around. His desperation today wasn't that different from normal. I gave him a couple of doses of teething tablets. I'm not sure how well they worked, but the first dose did seem to calm him down.
I wonder when the tooth with actually rise above the surface of his gums...
Monday, August 23, 2010
New Stuff for Mom and Dad
It's been over a month, but our insurance claim from the lightning strike is almost completely dealt with. As of today we finally have all our stuff replaced. We ordered a bunch of stuff online last Wednesday (so we wouldn't have to drag Noah around shopping). Today it all arrived! Two new laptops, computer speakers, a set of cordless phones, 2 printers, and a new HDMI cable. It is wonderful to not be sharing one laptop anymore. And I love my new laptop. It's weird to be using Windows 7 instead of XP though.
Yesterday was also a day of new stuff for me/us. The three of us went into town and went shopping! I got 4 pairs of pants, 5 t-shirts, and 3 tank tops. I was in desperate need of new clothes. I haven't bought clothes in so long. Besides maternity clothes, that is. And most of my pre-pregnancy clothes are too big because I am at my lowest weight since I was in, like, grade 9. I'm almost 5'10" and I weigh 135lbs right now. After I lost almost 40lbs in the 2 weeks after giving birth I started eating everything in sight so I wouldn't lose any more weight. I still lost at least 5lbs after that, but I've been holding steady now for a couple of months. I have to say, I'm fully enjoying this requirement of eating whatever I want whenever I want so I won't melt away.
Now I need to pack up my closet of all the clothes I don't wear. I was saying to Justin yesterday morning how I need to go shopping because I don't have any clothes and he was like "Ummm... look in your closet. That's like me saying I don't have any t-shirts" (he has at least 100 t-shirts). I realized that I wear maybe a third of the clothes that are in my closet. I don't have the guts to actually get rid of them, though, so I'll have to buy some rubbermaid containers to store them in for now.
THEN we went and bought a new bed. We've been sleeping in seperate beds for a few weeks because I'm such a horrible sleeper and it's not worth it to me to bother trying to sleep in the same bed anymore. So we went out and bought a king-sized, pocket-coil, pillow top mattress. It should cut down on the movement I feel and give us so much more room to stretch out than our queen. Plus it's sooo comfy. Our current bed used to be amazingly comfortable, but the pillow-top has, like, flattened. When you lie on our new bed it feels like it's surrounding you in pillowy-goodness.
Anyway, we knew the woman selling us the mattress because Justin trains her kids. So she gave us her employee discount and a ton of extra stuff. We ended up getting Simmon's best mattress in KING size, with the box springs, the best bed frame, the best mattress pad, and a set of 400 thread count sheets all for $1200 (taxes included... and taxes are 13% here).
I'm so excited to have this new bed. I'm really hoping it will solve the sleep issues I have that are related to Justin. I have many issues that are NOT related to Justin, but the bigger, nicer bed should make me more comfortable and able to spread out, and the pocket coils should decrease the amount of movement I feel when he moves. He'll also be farther away from me so I won't hear his breathing as much... I hope. Man, I wish I was a better sleeper.
The bed gets delivered Friday. I'm very excited.
Yesterday was also a day of new stuff for me/us. The three of us went into town and went shopping! I got 4 pairs of pants, 5 t-shirts, and 3 tank tops. I was in desperate need of new clothes. I haven't bought clothes in so long. Besides maternity clothes, that is. And most of my pre-pregnancy clothes are too big because I am at my lowest weight since I was in, like, grade 9. I'm almost 5'10" and I weigh 135lbs right now. After I lost almost 40lbs in the 2 weeks after giving birth I started eating everything in sight so I wouldn't lose any more weight. I still lost at least 5lbs after that, but I've been holding steady now for a couple of months. I have to say, I'm fully enjoying this requirement of eating whatever I want whenever I want so I won't melt away.
Now I need to pack up my closet of all the clothes I don't wear. I was saying to Justin yesterday morning how I need to go shopping because I don't have any clothes and he was like "Ummm... look in your closet. That's like me saying I don't have any t-shirts" (he has at least 100 t-shirts). I realized that I wear maybe a third of the clothes that are in my closet. I don't have the guts to actually get rid of them, though, so I'll have to buy some rubbermaid containers to store them in for now.
THEN we went and bought a new bed. We've been sleeping in seperate beds for a few weeks because I'm such a horrible sleeper and it's not worth it to me to bother trying to sleep in the same bed anymore. So we went out and bought a king-sized, pocket-coil, pillow top mattress. It should cut down on the movement I feel and give us so much more room to stretch out than our queen. Plus it's sooo comfy. Our current bed used to be amazingly comfortable, but the pillow-top has, like, flattened. When you lie on our new bed it feels like it's surrounding you in pillowy-goodness.
Anyway, we knew the woman selling us the mattress because Justin trains her kids. So she gave us her employee discount and a ton of extra stuff. We ended up getting Simmon's best mattress in KING size, with the box springs, the best bed frame, the best mattress pad, and a set of 400 thread count sheets all for $1200 (taxes included... and taxes are 13% here).
I'm so excited to have this new bed. I'm really hoping it will solve the sleep issues I have that are related to Justin. I have many issues that are NOT related to Justin, but the bigger, nicer bed should make me more comfortable and able to spread out, and the pocket coils should decrease the amount of movement I feel when he moves. He'll also be farther away from me so I won't hear his breathing as much... I hope. Man, I wish I was a better sleeper.
The bed gets delivered Friday. I'm very excited.
Sleep Regression
I haven't really posted about this because I've been hoping it would turn around, but for the past month and a half Noah's nighttime sleeping has been going through a regression. From 2 months to 3.5 months he was an amazing sleeper. 8-10 hours straight EVERY night (I'd even venture to say it was more like 9-10.5 hours straight every night). 12 to 13 hours total each night. It was great.
At 3.5 months we went on vacation. It was 40 degrees with no air conditioning, so we couldn't swaddle Noah. Understandably his sleep regressed during that week. Since then, it hasn't gotten back to where it was.
It's not like it's horrible. He still only gets up once in the majority of nights. But in about a third of his nights he gets up twice. And now he usually gets up after 6-8 hours. A 10 hour straight night is a rarity. I'm very thankful when he makes it to 8 hours or more. I'm also very thankful when he only gets up once.
Furthermore, he only sleeps about 11.5 hours a night, now. He almost never makes it to 12 hours, and sometimes it's as little as 10.5 hours. He's also having more awakenings in the early part of the night (before 10pm) where he's not hungry and he doesn't want to cuddle. He's not even fully awake. All he wants to do is suck. We'll leave him to cry for 5 minutes to se if he'll put himself back to sleep. He sometimes will. But it often becomes clear that he will not be going back to sleep without intervention. I try just comforting him, but it doesn't work. The majority of these times, all he wants is a soother in his mouth.
Everytime I put that soother in I feel guilty. I don't want Noah to become dependent on a soother to sleep at night. He's already dependent for naptime, and cannot go to sleep without one. But I don't want to start having to regularly get up in the middle of the night to go put a soother back in his mouth.
But what else am I supposed to do? Nurse him everytime this happens? That's a lot more disruptive than sticking a soother in his mouth, and it could teach him to not go to sleep without nursing. I think a soother is the lesser of two evils there.
Before you suggest that he learn to self soothe with his hands, I'll address that. His hands soothe his need to have something in his mouth, but they do not soothe him back to sleep. We let him try that for a full week, and it doesn't work. In fact, if I even try to put him down unswaddled he will immediately wake up and not go back to sleep. And if I give him a soother when he's unswaddled he immediately goes for it with his hands and starts playing with it instead of keeping it fully in his mouth and sucking on it. He likes to touch the things that are in his mouth.
I'm not really sure what to do. I really don't think Noah is ready to be broken of his swaddle addiction. Besides, his hands don't put him to sleep. And if he's not swaddled, a soother won't work, either, because he'll just pull it out of his mouth and try unsuccessfully to get it back in.
I think I'm stuck. Hopefully he'll just fix himself. He was the one who made himself such a good sleeper in the first place.
At 3.5 months we went on vacation. It was 40 degrees with no air conditioning, so we couldn't swaddle Noah. Understandably his sleep regressed during that week. Since then, it hasn't gotten back to where it was.
It's not like it's horrible. He still only gets up once in the majority of nights. But in about a third of his nights he gets up twice. And now he usually gets up after 6-8 hours. A 10 hour straight night is a rarity. I'm very thankful when he makes it to 8 hours or more. I'm also very thankful when he only gets up once.
Furthermore, he only sleeps about 11.5 hours a night, now. He almost never makes it to 12 hours, and sometimes it's as little as 10.5 hours. He's also having more awakenings in the early part of the night (before 10pm) where he's not hungry and he doesn't want to cuddle. He's not even fully awake. All he wants to do is suck. We'll leave him to cry for 5 minutes to se if he'll put himself back to sleep. He sometimes will. But it often becomes clear that he will not be going back to sleep without intervention. I try just comforting him, but it doesn't work. The majority of these times, all he wants is a soother in his mouth.
Everytime I put that soother in I feel guilty. I don't want Noah to become dependent on a soother to sleep at night. He's already dependent for naptime, and cannot go to sleep without one. But I don't want to start having to regularly get up in the middle of the night to go put a soother back in his mouth.
But what else am I supposed to do? Nurse him everytime this happens? That's a lot more disruptive than sticking a soother in his mouth, and it could teach him to not go to sleep without nursing. I think a soother is the lesser of two evils there.
Before you suggest that he learn to self soothe with his hands, I'll address that. His hands soothe his need to have something in his mouth, but they do not soothe him back to sleep. We let him try that for a full week, and it doesn't work. In fact, if I even try to put him down unswaddled he will immediately wake up and not go back to sleep. And if I give him a soother when he's unswaddled he immediately goes for it with his hands and starts playing with it instead of keeping it fully in his mouth and sucking on it. He likes to touch the things that are in his mouth.
I'm not really sure what to do. I really don't think Noah is ready to be broken of his swaddle addiction. Besides, his hands don't put him to sleep. And if he's not swaddled, a soother won't work, either, because he'll just pull it out of his mouth and try unsuccessfully to get it back in.
I think I'm stuck. Hopefully he'll just fix himself. He was the one who made himself such a good sleeper in the first place.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
5 Month Old Pictures
Bare bum time at 5 months old:
It's very exciting!!
Hey Mom!
I peed and puked on this towel
But I'm just so cute, Mommy doesn't care.
My little stringbean...
Whatcha doin back there, Mom?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
5 Months Old
Noah is 5 months old... here's where he's at!
-He's just under 17 lbs, which is about 60th percentile (it's between the 50th and 75th lines).
-He is 28 inches long, which is 100th percentile.
-For weight for length, he is just over the 5th percentile.
-He wears 9 month clothing for the most part. There are some 6 month things he can squeeze into, and some 12 month clothing that fits.
-He wears size 2 Pampers Baby Dry diapers during the day, and size 3 Baby Dry's at night (I started the size 3's at night when he was 4 1/2 months). He's on his last month of size 2's and then we're switching to size 3's all the time.
-He is still exclusively breastfed. No bottles or solids.
-He has become very distractable while nursing. He always pops off to try and watch the TV (so I can't watch TV anymore) or smile at Justin... or look at whoever is there. If I want it to go faster and easier I just need to take him to a quiet room.
-He generally eats about every 2 to 2.5 hours. We did have one magical day where he ate every 3 to 3.5 hours and had great naps, too.
-In total he eats 6-8 times in a 24 hour period.
-He is awake for about 2 hours at a time during the day, except for the period before he goes to bed, which is anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3 hours and 45 minutes (we usually don't experience that end of the spectrum, but it has happened a few times!).
-He's still swaddled at night time and for all of his naps.
-He has been napping better for the past two or three weeks. I can pretty much count on at least one good nap a day (a good nap meaning an hour to an hour and a half), and he has had a few days where he has had 2 or 3 good naps. He seems to be working his way down to 3 naps a day instead of four 30 minute naps.
-He sleeps about 12 hours at night, getting up once to nurse. His first chunk of sleep lasts anywhere from 6.5 to 10.5 hours, usually landing somewhere around the 8 hour mark.
-He's a rolling machine from his back to his front.
-He has started to growl. He rolls himself onto his tummy and then growls like a tiger. It gives me endless entertainment!!
-He loves to coo and talk. He's not really "babbling" at all though (ie. bababa dadada).
-He has recently started to enjoy peek-a-boo, and gives big smiles when his face is uncovered (this started at about 4 1/2 months).
-He gets really hyper and shrieky when he's tired... especially when he's in the jolly jumper. It makes it hard to make myself put him to sleep when he's so giggly. He acts like he's going to burst with joy.
-He is getting even better at scooting. He can move forward about a foot with just one scoot when he gets his feet planted well.
-He can move himself around in circles on both his back and his tummy.
-I'm still waiting for him to figure out rolling from his front to his back.
-He is on his way to sitting unassisted. He can do it for a few seconds at a time before he bends completely in half or topples to the side.
-He is very coordinated at grabbing for objects.
-He reaches for me when I reach to pick him up :)
-He needs to have something in his mouth almost all the time. He'll often get upset if he doesn't.
-He doesn't really love his exersaucer because he can't put the toys in his mouth. He'll lean forward as far as he can to try and "mouth" the toys, but usually ends up frustrated. He recently started spinning himself around in there, though.
-He loves his jolly jumper.
-He chews on his tongue.
-He does much better when we're at home in our own routine with no one extra around. If he wakes up somewhere that isn't his crib, he gets weirded out. If he gets up from a nap and there are extra people around, he gets weirded out. He's not bad, he's just not as smiley. He's a creature of habit, like both his Mom and Dad.
Noah's routine is similar to what it has been for the past few months. He's on a 2 to 3 hour schedule depending on the day and how long his naps are. We generally go Sleep-Play-Eat-Play. This works better for us than Sleep-Eat-Play, since he can usually be happy for about half an hour after he wakes up (sometimes less, sometimes more, but he rarely feels hungry enough to really concentrate on eating right after he wakes up), and the closer I feed him to his naptime, the more likely it is that he will be able to sleep longer (if he feels so inclined).
He is an absolute joy to have around. I have never enjoyed my life as much as I enjoy it now. Being Noah's mom has brought me more fulfilment than I have ever experienced. I love watching him grow and learn new skills. It feels like everyday there's something new - he's changing so quickly! I love him to pieces!
-He's just under 17 lbs, which is about 60th percentile (it's between the 50th and 75th lines).
-He is 28 inches long, which is 100th percentile.
-For weight for length, he is just over the 5th percentile.
-He wears 9 month clothing for the most part. There are some 6 month things he can squeeze into, and some 12 month clothing that fits.
-He wears size 2 Pampers Baby Dry diapers during the day, and size 3 Baby Dry's at night (I started the size 3's at night when he was 4 1/2 months). He's on his last month of size 2's and then we're switching to size 3's all the time.
-He is still exclusively breastfed. No bottles or solids.
-He has become very distractable while nursing. He always pops off to try and watch the TV (so I can't watch TV anymore) or smile at Justin... or look at whoever is there. If I want it to go faster and easier I just need to take him to a quiet room.
-He generally eats about every 2 to 2.5 hours. We did have one magical day where he ate every 3 to 3.5 hours and had great naps, too.
-In total he eats 6-8 times in a 24 hour period.
-He is awake for about 2 hours at a time during the day, except for the period before he goes to bed, which is anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3 hours and 45 minutes (we usually don't experience that end of the spectrum, but it has happened a few times!).
-He's still swaddled at night time and for all of his naps.
-He has been napping better for the past two or three weeks. I can pretty much count on at least one good nap a day (a good nap meaning an hour to an hour and a half), and he has had a few days where he has had 2 or 3 good naps. He seems to be working his way down to 3 naps a day instead of four 30 minute naps.
-He sleeps about 12 hours at night, getting up once to nurse. His first chunk of sleep lasts anywhere from 6.5 to 10.5 hours, usually landing somewhere around the 8 hour mark.
-He's a rolling machine from his back to his front.
-He has started to growl. He rolls himself onto his tummy and then growls like a tiger. It gives me endless entertainment!!
-He loves to coo and talk. He's not really "babbling" at all though (ie. bababa dadada).
-He has recently started to enjoy peek-a-boo, and gives big smiles when his face is uncovered (this started at about 4 1/2 months).
-He gets really hyper and shrieky when he's tired... especially when he's in the jolly jumper. It makes it hard to make myself put him to sleep when he's so giggly. He acts like he's going to burst with joy.
-He is getting even better at scooting. He can move forward about a foot with just one scoot when he gets his feet planted well.
-He can move himself around in circles on both his back and his tummy.
-I'm still waiting for him to figure out rolling from his front to his back.
-He is on his way to sitting unassisted. He can do it for a few seconds at a time before he bends completely in half or topples to the side.
-He is very coordinated at grabbing for objects.
-He reaches for me when I reach to pick him up :)
-He needs to have something in his mouth almost all the time. He'll often get upset if he doesn't.
-He doesn't really love his exersaucer because he can't put the toys in his mouth. He'll lean forward as far as he can to try and "mouth" the toys, but usually ends up frustrated. He recently started spinning himself around in there, though.
-He loves his jolly jumper.
-He chews on his tongue.
-He does much better when we're at home in our own routine with no one extra around. If he wakes up somewhere that isn't his crib, he gets weirded out. If he gets up from a nap and there are extra people around, he gets weirded out. He's not bad, he's just not as smiley. He's a creature of habit, like both his Mom and Dad.
Noah's routine is similar to what it has been for the past few months. He's on a 2 to 3 hour schedule depending on the day and how long his naps are. We generally go Sleep-Play-Eat-Play. This works better for us than Sleep-Eat-Play, since he can usually be happy for about half an hour after he wakes up (sometimes less, sometimes more, but he rarely feels hungry enough to really concentrate on eating right after he wakes up), and the closer I feed him to his naptime, the more likely it is that he will be able to sleep longer (if he feels so inclined).
He is an absolute joy to have around. I have never enjoyed my life as much as I enjoy it now. Being Noah's mom has brought me more fulfilment than I have ever experienced. I love watching him grow and learn new skills. It feels like everyday there's something new - he's changing so quickly! I love him to pieces!
Monday, August 16, 2010
I Let Myself be Bullied
Yesterday we went to Ancaster (2 hours away) for a family pool party. Originally I wanted to go, because I usually enjoy these pool parties that my extended family has every summer. Then Saturday night when I was talking to my mom I was realizing that it might not be very easy. Noah is taking better naps now. In fact, on Saturday he took 3 naps of an hour to an hour and a half.
If I took into account when we we supposed to be there and when he needs naps and when we'd need to be home by, we were going to be spending 4 hours of his awake time DRIVING. I felt like it was very mean to a baby to spend 4 hours awake in a car in one day.
So I was starting to wonder if we should go at all. My mom basically guilt tripped me into it. She was like, "I just made my kids work around my schedule." and "I'm not going to be mad at you, but if you don't go just realize that you are one of those parents who lets their baby run their life and stop them from doing things..."
Frankly, I don't care if I'm one of those people. When you have a baby you have to EXPECT that they stop you from doing certain things (really, they stop you from doing most things... or at least for me, because I nurse exclusively and he won't take a bottle). I don't believe in "parent-led" schedules. You shouldn't make a tiny baby adapt to YOUR schedule. You should give them what THEY need. Parenting wasn't designed to be convenient for the parent.
But with my mom saying the things she did, I felt like everyone would be thinking I'm one of those loser mothers who can't handle leaving the house or something (I can handle leaving the house). I don't know why, but I let that feeling make the decision for me. And it totally screwed Noah up yesterday.
We tried to leave earlier so that he would sleep during the first car ride. Unfortunately, he only slept for half an hour of the two hour car ride there (so much for the good naps he'd been having). And then he only slept for half an hour on the way home. So he spent 3 hours awake in the car. And because he wasn't in his crib, he just had 2 short catnaps of 30 minutes at my aunt's house. And since we left to go home at 5:30 (because dinner was late), he ended up being "up" for 13.5 hours and only had 2 hours of naps the whole day!!!
He had such a hard time settling down at bedtime. I felt so bad for him. And then he only slept for 10.5 hours instead of his usual 12 hours because he went to bed later than usual, but when he does that he still gets up at the same time.
All in all, it's not like it was horrible for him or us, but honestly, I don't think it was worth it. The members of my family that were there were not my favourite people. A lot of people I would have liked to have seen weren't there. So I just don't think it was worth it. If all my siblings had been there, and if my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew hadn't been late (we were only there for an hour and a half together) and if my parents hadn't been late, it would have been more worth it. Instead it was some cousins I don't really have anything in common with and don't really talk to. They're jealous of me because I'm married to a wonderful guy and live in a nice house and have an adorable baby... I basically have what they want. So they ignore me. Whatever, I really don't care. But it just wasn't worth the time and effort, and it wasn't worth getting Noah off schedule.
I don't know why I let my mom "bully" me into these things. She does it gently, but it's still bullying.
If I took into account when we we supposed to be there and when he needs naps and when we'd need to be home by, we were going to be spending 4 hours of his awake time DRIVING. I felt like it was very mean to a baby to spend 4 hours awake in a car in one day.
So I was starting to wonder if we should go at all. My mom basically guilt tripped me into it. She was like, "I just made my kids work around my schedule." and "I'm not going to be mad at you, but if you don't go just realize that you are one of those parents who lets their baby run their life and stop them from doing things..."
Frankly, I don't care if I'm one of those people. When you have a baby you have to EXPECT that they stop you from doing certain things (really, they stop you from doing most things... or at least for me, because I nurse exclusively and he won't take a bottle). I don't believe in "parent-led" schedules. You shouldn't make a tiny baby adapt to YOUR schedule. You should give them what THEY need. Parenting wasn't designed to be convenient for the parent.
But with my mom saying the things she did, I felt like everyone would be thinking I'm one of those loser mothers who can't handle leaving the house or something (I can handle leaving the house). I don't know why, but I let that feeling make the decision for me. And it totally screwed Noah up yesterday.
We tried to leave earlier so that he would sleep during the first car ride. Unfortunately, he only slept for half an hour of the two hour car ride there (so much for the good naps he'd been having). And then he only slept for half an hour on the way home. So he spent 3 hours awake in the car. And because he wasn't in his crib, he just had 2 short catnaps of 30 minutes at my aunt's house. And since we left to go home at 5:30 (because dinner was late), he ended up being "up" for 13.5 hours and only had 2 hours of naps the whole day!!!
He had such a hard time settling down at bedtime. I felt so bad for him. And then he only slept for 10.5 hours instead of his usual 12 hours because he went to bed later than usual, but when he does that he still gets up at the same time.
All in all, it's not like it was horrible for him or us, but honestly, I don't think it was worth it. The members of my family that were there were not my favourite people. A lot of people I would have liked to have seen weren't there. So I just don't think it was worth it. If all my siblings had been there, and if my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew hadn't been late (we were only there for an hour and a half together) and if my parents hadn't been late, it would have been more worth it. Instead it was some cousins I don't really have anything in common with and don't really talk to. They're jealous of me because I'm married to a wonderful guy and live in a nice house and have an adorable baby... I basically have what they want. So they ignore me. Whatever, I really don't care. But it just wasn't worth the time and effort, and it wasn't worth getting Noah off schedule.
I don't know why I let my mom "bully" me into these things. She does it gently, but it's still bullying.
My Little Stringbean
I got Noah weighed and measured today because he turns 5 months in two days.
-He was just under 17 lbs, which is about 60th percentile (it's between the 50th and 75th lines).
-He measured 28 inches long, which is 100th percentile.
For weight for length, he is just over the 5th percentile. He is such a little stringbean!!
He has started to growl. It is hilarious. He rolls himself onto his tummy and then just growls like crazy. I was on the phone with my mom and he was doing it and she was laughing her head off. She got my dad to get on the line to listen and then he was laughing his head off. It really sounds hilarious.
He is getting even better at scooting. A couple of days ago he moved forward about a foot with just one scoot! And he can move himself around in circles on both his back and his tummy. I'm just waiting for him to figure out rolling from his front to his back. And to figure out that when he pushes off of his knees or feet, he can also push off his arms.
-He was just under 17 lbs, which is about 60th percentile (it's between the 50th and 75th lines).
-He measured 28 inches long, which is 100th percentile.
For weight for length, he is just over the 5th percentile. He is such a little stringbean!!
He has started to growl. It is hilarious. He rolls himself onto his tummy and then just growls like crazy. I was on the phone with my mom and he was doing it and she was laughing her head off. She got my dad to get on the line to listen and then he was laughing his head off. It really sounds hilarious.
He is getting even better at scooting. A couple of days ago he moved forward about a foot with just one scoot! And he can move himself around in circles on both his back and his tummy. I'm just waiting for him to figure out rolling from his front to his back. And to figure out that when he pushes off of his knees or feet, he can also push off his arms.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Rolling Machine
Noah is 4 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days old
Yesterday was Noah's breakthrough! He is now a rolling machine. BUT, it's only from his back to his front. He still has only rolled from his front to his back completely independently about 5 times (without me moving his arm into the right place or something like that... it's those darn arms, he keeps them spread out and they stop the rolling!)
It was funny yesterday; it was like a switch flipped! He has been rolling from his back to his front occasionally for the past couple of weeks, but only occasionally. Then yesterday he totally mastered it and can do it whenever he wants now. The only problem is that he gets stuck there. Sometimes he'll be yelping or crying because he doesn't want to be on his belly, so I'll roll him onto his back and he will immediately roll onto his tummy again.
Silly boy.
We are totally at the point now where I can't leave him on an elevated surface. I had gotten careful about being quick if he was lying in the middle of my bed, but his rolls were very sporadic so I wasn't terribly worried. Now between his rolling and his scooting, he could fall right off the bed! You should see the ground he covers when I let him lie on the floor for 5 minutes. Not to mention the fact that he'll now do two 360's in that same amount of time!
I guess we're going to be making more use of the pack and play now!
Yesterday was Noah's breakthrough! He is now a rolling machine. BUT, it's only from his back to his front. He still has only rolled from his front to his back completely independently about 5 times (without me moving his arm into the right place or something like that... it's those darn arms, he keeps them spread out and they stop the rolling!)
It was funny yesterday; it was like a switch flipped! He has been rolling from his back to his front occasionally for the past couple of weeks, but only occasionally. Then yesterday he totally mastered it and can do it whenever he wants now. The only problem is that he gets stuck there. Sometimes he'll be yelping or crying because he doesn't want to be on his belly, so I'll roll him onto his back and he will immediately roll onto his tummy again.
Silly boy.
We are totally at the point now where I can't leave him on an elevated surface. I had gotten careful about being quick if he was lying in the middle of my bed, but his rolls were very sporadic so I wasn't terribly worried. Now between his rolling and his scooting, he could fall right off the bed! You should see the ground he covers when I let him lie on the floor for 5 minutes. Not to mention the fact that he'll now do two 360's in that same amount of time!
I guess we're going to be making more use of the pack and play now!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Good Night
Noah is 4 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days old
Noah had a great night last night. He had a very happy splashy bath, and started his last feed of the night at 7:55 (he had his last nap from 5:00 until 5:30, so went to bed a bit later than usual). He was asleep within 10 minutes, but he continues to dream feed and I always wait until I have a second letdown before I take him off. So he was in bed by about 8:25. He slept until 6:45! He got up, ate, was awake, but I put him back in bed because I thought it was too early for him to get up. He put himself to sleep with no fussing and slept until 8:30.
He hasn't done that long of a chunk in quite some time. For a long time he was sleeping 9-10 hours straight every night and sleeping 12-13 hours total, but for the past few weeks it's been more like 6-9 hours straight before getting up to eat and about 11-12 hours total.
It was glorious for me. I went to bed at 9:30 and slept decently well until 5:15. Then I only slightly dozed off and on until 6:45.
Noah had a great night last night. He had a very happy splashy bath, and started his last feed of the night at 7:55 (he had his last nap from 5:00 until 5:30, so went to bed a bit later than usual). He was asleep within 10 minutes, but he continues to dream feed and I always wait until I have a second letdown before I take him off. So he was in bed by about 8:25. He slept until 6:45! He got up, ate, was awake, but I put him back in bed because I thought it was too early for him to get up. He put himself to sleep with no fussing and slept until 8:30.
He hasn't done that long of a chunk in quite some time. For a long time he was sleeping 9-10 hours straight every night and sleeping 12-13 hours total, but for the past few weeks it's been more like 6-9 hours straight before getting up to eat and about 11-12 hours total.
It was glorious for me. I went to bed at 9:30 and slept decently well until 5:15. Then I only slightly dozed off and on until 6:45.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Bah
I'm having a rough day. Normally I love my days and have almost endless patience for those frustrating mommy moments. Today, not so much. I feel tired and droopy and frustrated.
It's all really revolving around naps. That's it. Noah just isn't going down for his naps well. And for whatever reason, I don't have any patience to spend half an hour rocking and bouncing a baby who is arching his back and acting like he's not tired at all. It really sucks when you have to do it 4 times a day, and then your kid is up within half an hour again.
For his first nap today I gave up rocking and bouncing him and sat on my bed in front of the TV giving him a little bounce and a bum pat. Magically, he went to sleep.
For his second nap I just couldn't do it. I tried for about 15 minutes, but I didn't have the mental or physical energy to really put my best into it. I gave him to Justin. He got him to sleep, and then left to go golfing.
For his third nap I was at the end of my rope. I eventually just wanted to leave him in his crib to cry, but I can't stand listening to that and it feels too mean, so I put him on the boob and he went to sleep.
For his fourth nap I tried AGAIN, this time for half an hour. Nothing. I finally put him in his swing because it was FIVE O'CLOCK.
I don't know why I can't do it today. I just need a break. But Justin's been gone. He's still not back and tonight he has a stupid football game, so I'm alone all evening, too. Hopefully bedtime goes better. It should, since he falls asleep while he's nursing.
I feel guilty. I don't know why I can't do this today. I slept decently well last night. I think I actually got 8 hours, which is very rare for me. I don't know why Noah won't just go to sleep today.
I'm mad that my husband just gets to take off and do fun stuff with no worry about his son. It's not fair. It's his one day during the week that he's off and can help me. Soon we won't even have that, because he'll be back at work. Granted, he would have preferred to stay home with us; this was something he kind of "had" to do. I almost called him to come home because I'm feeling insane today, but he was just with one guy, they had both paid for their rounds, and it was the first time they had hung out together alone (while me and Erin, his wife, hang out multiple times a week - they're our neighbours across the street who have a baby the same age as Noah). I felt like it's ridiculous that I would need him to come home from golfing because my ONE baby was making me feel crazy.
Alright, it's 5:20 and Justin just got home from golf. I told him about how I've been feeling crazy and have no patience today, and he asked me if I wanted him to stay home from football. I told him that, frankly, yes I do. So he's staying home. And tonight is an important game; if they win tonight they're in second place, and next week is semi finals.
I didn't have to coerce him or get mad at him, or even ask him to give up his game. He said that my sanity is more important than a football game. I'm so glad he realizes this now. 3 1/2 months ago it would not have been this easy! He's also going to pop a pizza in the oven for us for dinner.
I have a good husband.
(I also feel the need to say that even though I had a frustrating mommy day, I fully appreciate and love my son and my life with him. A frustrating mommy day sure beats any good day when I wasn't his mommy.)
It's all really revolving around naps. That's it. Noah just isn't going down for his naps well. And for whatever reason, I don't have any patience to spend half an hour rocking and bouncing a baby who is arching his back and acting like he's not tired at all. It really sucks when you have to do it 4 times a day, and then your kid is up within half an hour again.
For his first nap today I gave up rocking and bouncing him and sat on my bed in front of the TV giving him a little bounce and a bum pat. Magically, he went to sleep.
For his second nap I just couldn't do it. I tried for about 15 minutes, but I didn't have the mental or physical energy to really put my best into it. I gave him to Justin. He got him to sleep, and then left to go golfing.
For his third nap I was at the end of my rope. I eventually just wanted to leave him in his crib to cry, but I can't stand listening to that and it feels too mean, so I put him on the boob and he went to sleep.
For his fourth nap I tried AGAIN, this time for half an hour. Nothing. I finally put him in his swing because it was FIVE O'CLOCK.
I don't know why I can't do it today. I just need a break. But Justin's been gone. He's still not back and tonight he has a stupid football game, so I'm alone all evening, too. Hopefully bedtime goes better. It should, since he falls asleep while he's nursing.
I feel guilty. I don't know why I can't do this today. I slept decently well last night. I think I actually got 8 hours, which is very rare for me. I don't know why Noah won't just go to sleep today.
I'm mad that my husband just gets to take off and do fun stuff with no worry about his son. It's not fair. It's his one day during the week that he's off and can help me. Soon we won't even have that, because he'll be back at work. Granted, he would have preferred to stay home with us; this was something he kind of "had" to do. I almost called him to come home because I'm feeling insane today, but he was just with one guy, they had both paid for their rounds, and it was the first time they had hung out together alone (while me and Erin, his wife, hang out multiple times a week - they're our neighbours across the street who have a baby the same age as Noah). I felt like it's ridiculous that I would need him to come home from golfing because my ONE baby was making me feel crazy.
Alright, it's 5:20 and Justin just got home from golf. I told him about how I've been feeling crazy and have no patience today, and he asked me if I wanted him to stay home from football. I told him that, frankly, yes I do. So he's staying home. And tonight is an important game; if they win tonight they're in second place, and next week is semi finals.
I didn't have to coerce him or get mad at him, or even ask him to give up his game. He said that my sanity is more important than a football game. I'm so glad he realizes this now. 3 1/2 months ago it would not have been this easy! He's also going to pop a pizza in the oven for us for dinner.
I have a good husband.
(I also feel the need to say that even though I had a frustrating mommy day, I fully appreciate and love my son and my life with him. A frustrating mommy day sure beats any good day when I wasn't his mommy.)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Very Strange Bedtime
Last night, bedtime was very strange. Noah had woken up from his last nap at 5:05. I started his bedtime routine at 6:45. He always gets boob, bath, boob, bed. And he always falls asleep within 5 minutes on the second boob.
Last night he didn't fall asleep. After he was done eating, around 7:15 - 7:20, he stared up at me, smiling and cooing. He was being soo cute, it would have been really fun to unswaddle him and play with him. But I didn't think that would be the right thing to do in that situation. I'm always afraid that if I do something like that even once, he'll think that he can do that all the time.
First I laid him down on our bed, and he calmly lied there watching Justin and I sitting there. Then I tried rocking him and bouncing him. He just kept smiling and cooing. So I tried putting him down in his crib, but he eventually started fussing. I know my child well, and if he's fussing in hs crib and I leave him there, he will eventually get hysterical. So I picked him up and tried rocking again. He kept smiling at me (it really was adorable).
After 35 minutes I decided to try feeding him again, and he fell asleep after a few minutes. However, an hour later he woke up screaming. But it wasn't that slightly muted sleep cry he had doing for awhile. I tried leaving him for 5 minutes, but he didn't calm down at all. I went in and tried soothing him in his crib, but that didn't work. I tried picking him up and bounching him but that didn't work. So eventually I just gave him the boob again. He wasn't very hungry at all. He just wanted the comfort. He went down in a few minutes.
20 minutes later he woke up crying again. We thought that maybe if we tried bouncing the mattress right away he wouldn't wake up very much from crying and would go back to sleep before it got out of hand.
It didn't. Justin tried bouncing, rocking, and walking with him. I thought maybe his gums hurt from teething, so I rubbbed some Orajel on them. He just kept screaming. So I took him from Justin, put him over my shoulder, and hummed to him softly as I walked around the bedroom. He stopped crying pretty quickly. I was afraid to put him down again, but when I did he was fine.
By now it's 9:30 and I'm afraid to go to sleep in case he wakes up screaming again (I was planning on going to bed earlier than this). It's always very hard for me to fall BACK asleep. But at 9:45 I decided I might as well try to go to sleep, because there's no way for me to know if he's going to cry again and I'll be mad at myself if I don't go to sleep and he doesn't wake up again.
I had just fallen asleep, and at 10:15 Noah starts screaming again. Are you friggin kidding me?? I just lie there thinking about how I can't believe this is happening. But this time the crying only lasted about 45 seconds and then abruptly stopped. Very strange.
He didn't wake up again until 4:30. After nursing, he went back down until 8:15 this morning. Yay! So despite the crappy start to the night, I still got a decent amount of sleep. A little over 7 hours?
I wish I knew what his problem was last night.
Last night he didn't fall asleep. After he was done eating, around 7:15 - 7:20, he stared up at me, smiling and cooing. He was being soo cute, it would have been really fun to unswaddle him and play with him. But I didn't think that would be the right thing to do in that situation. I'm always afraid that if I do something like that even once, he'll think that he can do that all the time.
First I laid him down on our bed, and he calmly lied there watching Justin and I sitting there. Then I tried rocking him and bouncing him. He just kept smiling and cooing. So I tried putting him down in his crib, but he eventually started fussing. I know my child well, and if he's fussing in hs crib and I leave him there, he will eventually get hysterical. So I picked him up and tried rocking again. He kept smiling at me (it really was adorable).
After 35 minutes I decided to try feeding him again, and he fell asleep after a few minutes. However, an hour later he woke up screaming. But it wasn't that slightly muted sleep cry he had doing for awhile. I tried leaving him for 5 minutes, but he didn't calm down at all. I went in and tried soothing him in his crib, but that didn't work. I tried picking him up and bounching him but that didn't work. So eventually I just gave him the boob again. He wasn't very hungry at all. He just wanted the comfort. He went down in a few minutes.
20 minutes later he woke up crying again. We thought that maybe if we tried bouncing the mattress right away he wouldn't wake up very much from crying and would go back to sleep before it got out of hand.
It didn't. Justin tried bouncing, rocking, and walking with him. I thought maybe his gums hurt from teething, so I rubbbed some Orajel on them. He just kept screaming. So I took him from Justin, put him over my shoulder, and hummed to him softly as I walked around the bedroom. He stopped crying pretty quickly. I was afraid to put him down again, but when I did he was fine.
By now it's 9:30 and I'm afraid to go to sleep in case he wakes up screaming again (I was planning on going to bed earlier than this). It's always very hard for me to fall BACK asleep. But at 9:45 I decided I might as well try to go to sleep, because there's no way for me to know if he's going to cry again and I'll be mad at myself if I don't go to sleep and he doesn't wake up again.
I had just fallen asleep, and at 10:15 Noah starts screaming again. Are you friggin kidding me?? I just lie there thinking about how I can't believe this is happening. But this time the crying only lasted about 45 seconds and then abruptly stopped. Very strange.
He didn't wake up again until 4:30. After nursing, he went back down until 8:15 this morning. Yay! So despite the crappy start to the night, I still got a decent amount of sleep. A little over 7 hours?
I wish I knew what his problem was last night.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Noah is 4 1/2 months
When Noah was really little, Justin used to walk around with him and hum "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." I thought it was silly, but cute (Justin was a baseball player until he "retired" in 2006).
Today Justin was putting Noah down for a nap and Noah was being quite fussy. Squirming, crying, refusing to settle. Justin tried all the usuals: "shhh"-ing, bouncing, rocking, walking, etc. Finally I'm in the kitchen and I hear him humming "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Noah quieted right down. At first I thought he was just distracted by the humming, but he totally went to sleep. Good for Justin! I thought to myself. And I congratulated him when he came out of Noah's bedroom. (That nap ended up being an hour and 45 minutes, by the way! He woke up after 45 minutes, talked to himself briefly, and then put himself back to sleep!)
Well, I was just putting Noah down for another nap and he was upset again. Squirming, crying, refusing to settle no matter what I did.
So I decided to copy Justin. I started humming "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Within seconds Noah stopped crying and his eyes started to flutter closed. He was asleep within a minute or two.
What a weirdo:)
When Noah was really little, Justin used to walk around with him and hum "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." I thought it was silly, but cute (Justin was a baseball player until he "retired" in 2006).
Today Justin was putting Noah down for a nap and Noah was being quite fussy. Squirming, crying, refusing to settle. Justin tried all the usuals: "shhh"-ing, bouncing, rocking, walking, etc. Finally I'm in the kitchen and I hear him humming "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Noah quieted right down. At first I thought he was just distracted by the humming, but he totally went to sleep. Good for Justin! I thought to myself. And I congratulated him when he came out of Noah's bedroom. (That nap ended up being an hour and 45 minutes, by the way! He woke up after 45 minutes, talked to himself briefly, and then put himself back to sleep!)
Well, I was just putting Noah down for another nap and he was upset again. Squirming, crying, refusing to settle no matter what I did.
So I decided to copy Justin. I started humming "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Within seconds Noah stopped crying and his eyes started to flutter closed. He was asleep within a minute or two.
What a weirdo:)
Oh. My. Gosh.
The worst thing happened this morning. While I was burping Noah he did an enormous poop that I just knew was going to go up his back. I immediately held his sleeper away from his body and looked down the back of it. Sure enough within seconds there's a whole bunch of poop seeping out the top of the diaper. I'm trying hold him steady with one arm, hold his sleeper away from his back with the other hand, and I'm trying to undo the snaps at the front of the sleeper with my teeth so I can take it off before any poop ends up on it.
He proceeds to puke all over himself and me, but I can't do anything about it because all my hands are busy. I start knocking my elbow against the wall and yelling for Justin (he's in the garage on the other side of the wall that I'm knocking my elbow against). Justin comes in and helps me take off his sleeper. No poop gets on it. Yay.
I cover Noah's lower back with toilet paper before I lay him down on the change pad so that poop won't get all over IT. I put some toilet paper over his poopy penis so that he won't pee all over everything. Usually I use a washcloth for this, but I didn't want to get poop on the washcloth.
I'm not really paying attention to anything but Noah's bum. It was a HUGE poop. Like, a 9 wipe kind of poop. Noah is being really good, making happy noises and chewing on something.
His bum is finally clean and I say "You're such a good boy, Noah!" and look up to his face...
HE'S CHEWING ON HIS PENIS TOILET PAPER. WHICH IS COVERED IN POOP.
I immediately dug all the toilet paper out of his mouth and nursed him right away. It was really the only thing I could do. I was laughing my head off, but feeling like the worst mother! My kid was chewing on poop!
He proceeds to puke all over himself and me, but I can't do anything about it because all my hands are busy. I start knocking my elbow against the wall and yelling for Justin (he's in the garage on the other side of the wall that I'm knocking my elbow against). Justin comes in and helps me take off his sleeper. No poop gets on it. Yay.
I cover Noah's lower back with toilet paper before I lay him down on the change pad so that poop won't get all over IT. I put some toilet paper over his poopy penis so that he won't pee all over everything. Usually I use a washcloth for this, but I didn't want to get poop on the washcloth.
I'm not really paying attention to anything but Noah's bum. It was a HUGE poop. Like, a 9 wipe kind of poop. Noah is being really good, making happy noises and chewing on something.
His bum is finally clean and I say "You're such a good boy, Noah!" and look up to his face...
HE'S CHEWING ON HIS PENIS TOILET PAPER. WHICH IS COVERED IN POOP.
I immediately dug all the toilet paper out of his mouth and nursed him right away. It was really the only thing I could do. I was laughing my head off, but feeling like the worst mother! My kid was chewing on poop!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Randoms
Noah was awake for almost 4 hours before he went to bed tonight. It was kind of crazy. He woke up from his last nap at 3:15. He was cranky an hour later, so I tried putting him down for a nap, but he just wouldn't sleep. I rocked him for 20 minutes, and nothing. So I gave up, and he just decided to stay awake.
He was rather hilarious. He kept yelping and hollering. He wasn't crying, just yelling. It was quite funny. And when I was giving him a boob before his bath, he kept popping off and just yelling. With his eyes closed.
He had his bath and was on the second boob by 7. He was asleep a few minutes later, but kept dream feeding for 20 minutes (I had like, 3 letdowns in that time. It was very strange).
Oh, he also rolled independently from his back to his stomach, this morning. And he threw up a LOT today.
He was rather hilarious. He kept yelping and hollering. He wasn't crying, just yelling. It was quite funny. And when I was giving him a boob before his bath, he kept popping off and just yelling. With his eyes closed.
He had his bath and was on the second boob by 7. He was asleep a few minutes later, but kept dream feeding for 20 minutes (I had like, 3 letdowns in that time. It was very strange).
Oh, he also rolled independently from his back to his stomach, this morning. And he threw up a LOT today.
Scooter
Since I posted about it yesterday, Noah has started scooting all the time! If he could get enough traction with his knees and feet he could go far! And if he could just coordinate his arms with his legs he'd be crawling in no time!
I had kind of figured that Noah wouldn't crawl, that he would walk first. It's not that I think he's going to walk when he's 9 months old or anything, but a lot of kids these days walk before they crawl. And Noah has always had such strong legs (standing when he was 3 weeks old), and has been less motivated to do tummy things, so I figured walking would happen before crawling. I think he might prove me wrong, though.
I had kind of figured that Noah wouldn't crawl, that he would walk first. It's not that I think he's going to walk when he's 9 months old or anything, but a lot of kids these days walk before they crawl. And Noah has always had such strong legs (standing when he was 3 weeks old), and has been less motivated to do tummy things, so I figured walking would happen before crawling. I think he might prove me wrong, though.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Things I Don't Want to Forget
Noah is 4 1/2 months
-Noah scooted himself forward this afternoon! He was on his tummy and was getting frustrated, so he bunched his knees underneath himself and pushed off and scooted forward a few inches! I couldn't believe it. He never puts his knees underneath himself anymore. When he was younger and had tummy naps I always kept his knees bent and his bum in the air, and he almost never straightened his legs on his own. But now he refuses to keep them bent and straightens them right away. This was a first!
-Yesterday Noah got his second haircut. I did it alone, so there was no one to take pictures. A second haircut isn't as monumental as a first haircut, anyway, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Who would have thought my little one would need 2 haircuts by the time he was 4 1/2 months old? He could have probably used more than 2 by now, but I waited so long for the first one. Looking back at pictures and videos, I realize that I won't be making that mistake with my next child.
-Today Noah keeps getting stuck on his side. He rolls from his back or his front to his side and then his legs prevent him from going anywhere else. He can't seem to coordinate them properly. It's pretty funny. I wonder if he's getting any closer to being able to roll over whenever he wants.
-I'm teaching Noah to reach up to me when he wants to be picked up. Sometimes he almost seems to be getting it... in a spastic, uncontrolled way.
-Last night Noah was awake for 3 1/2 hours before he went to bed. He just never wanted to go down for his last nap of the day. He was a pretty good boy, though, considering that's a very long period of time for a 4 month old to be awake when he only has half hour naps to recharge his system.
-When he's in his exersaucer, Noah spends pretty much his entire time leaning forward trying to eat his toys, which are pretty much stationary. He's such a mouther!
-Noah is constantly getting distracted by the TV and Justin while he's nursing. It's getting to the point that I can't really watch TV while he nurses anymore because he keeps popping off and turning around to watch it! Or if Justin is sitting beside me Noah will pop off and arch his back so that he can smile at Daddy upside down. It's hilarious. But he really needs to learn to eat better.
-On that note, Noah is now consistently going 2 hours between feedings. I really think he has the potential to go longer if he would eat more in one sitting, but he just doesn't eat as much as I think he could if he would really pay attention to what he's doing. He often doesn't even drain one boob, much less make it over to the other side. It seems like as soon as the edge is taken off his hunger, he wants to go play instead. I've tried everything, but I also don't want to force feed him. Maybe he just has a small tummy.
-Noah scooted himself forward this afternoon! He was on his tummy and was getting frustrated, so he bunched his knees underneath himself and pushed off and scooted forward a few inches! I couldn't believe it. He never puts his knees underneath himself anymore. When he was younger and had tummy naps I always kept his knees bent and his bum in the air, and he almost never straightened his legs on his own. But now he refuses to keep them bent and straightens them right away. This was a first!
-Yesterday Noah got his second haircut. I did it alone, so there was no one to take pictures. A second haircut isn't as monumental as a first haircut, anyway, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Who would have thought my little one would need 2 haircuts by the time he was 4 1/2 months old? He could have probably used more than 2 by now, but I waited so long for the first one. Looking back at pictures and videos, I realize that I won't be making that mistake with my next child.
-Today Noah keeps getting stuck on his side. He rolls from his back or his front to his side and then his legs prevent him from going anywhere else. He can't seem to coordinate them properly. It's pretty funny. I wonder if he's getting any closer to being able to roll over whenever he wants.
-I'm teaching Noah to reach up to me when he wants to be picked up. Sometimes he almost seems to be getting it... in a spastic, uncontrolled way.
-Last night Noah was awake for 3 1/2 hours before he went to bed. He just never wanted to go down for his last nap of the day. He was a pretty good boy, though, considering that's a very long period of time for a 4 month old to be awake when he only has half hour naps to recharge his system.
-When he's in his exersaucer, Noah spends pretty much his entire time leaning forward trying to eat his toys, which are pretty much stationary. He's such a mouther!
-Noah is constantly getting distracted by the TV and Justin while he's nursing. It's getting to the point that I can't really watch TV while he nurses anymore because he keeps popping off and turning around to watch it! Or if Justin is sitting beside me Noah will pop off and arch his back so that he can smile at Daddy upside down. It's hilarious. But he really needs to learn to eat better.
-On that note, Noah is now consistently going 2 hours between feedings. I really think he has the potential to go longer if he would eat more in one sitting, but he just doesn't eat as much as I think he could if he would really pay attention to what he's doing. He often doesn't even drain one boob, much less make it over to the other side. It seems like as soon as the edge is taken off his hunger, he wants to go play instead. I've tried everything, but I also don't want to force feed him. Maybe he just has a small tummy.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sleep... Mine and His
I think I may have found a way to deal with my restless legs. For the past 3 nights I have stretched all my leg muscles and then Justin has givn my legs and feet a full rub down. It seems to have rubbed the wiggles out all 3 nights because I had a much easier time sleeping. Well, when I was allowed to sleep.
The laws of the universe seem to dictate that when I can sleep well, Noah doesn't, and when I can't sleep well, Noah does.
That certainly rang true for the first two nights. I was sleeping quite well, but that first night Noah woke up 4 times and ate twice (once at 2:30 and once at 5:30). The other two times he woke up we ignored him and he went back to sleep. The two times I fed him there was no way he was going back to sleep. He then woke up for the day around 7:45. The second night he got up to eat at 2:30 again and woke up for the day at 6:45am. By yesterday afternoon I was exhausted. (You need to remember that everytime he gets up I am awake for at least 2 hours because I have such a hard time falling back asleep, even if I would have been sleeping well if he HADN'T gotten up.)
Then LAST night was way better. He didn't wake up to eat until 5:20. Yay! I slept from 9:30 until a little before 5 (waking up about 5 times, peeing twice). Then I was able to fall asleep again shortly after 6:30 and slept until Noah got up at 7:30. I think I got almost 8 hours total!!
Noah's being a little dorky-pants about going down for naps today. He really doesn't want to for some reason and is throwing little hissy fits. He did the same thing for his last nap of the day yesterday. Justin just spent 15 minutes trying to put him down and everytime Noah hit the mattress he started crying again. Now it's 5:15 and I put Noah in the swing because if he has this nap too late (although it's already getting too late) he'll go to bed too late. I did the same thing for the last nap of the day yesterday.
Ok the swing didn't work. No nap I guess. He'll probably have a short one while he's nursing, next. Bedtime will have to be way earlier.
The laws of the universe seem to dictate that when I can sleep well, Noah doesn't, and when I can't sleep well, Noah does.
That certainly rang true for the first two nights. I was sleeping quite well, but that first night Noah woke up 4 times and ate twice (once at 2:30 and once at 5:30). The other two times he woke up we ignored him and he went back to sleep. The two times I fed him there was no way he was going back to sleep. He then woke up for the day around 7:45. The second night he got up to eat at 2:30 again and woke up for the day at 6:45am. By yesterday afternoon I was exhausted. (You need to remember that everytime he gets up I am awake for at least 2 hours because I have such a hard time falling back asleep, even if I would have been sleeping well if he HADN'T gotten up.)
Then LAST night was way better. He didn't wake up to eat until 5:20. Yay! I slept from 9:30 until a little before 5 (waking up about 5 times, peeing twice). Then I was able to fall asleep again shortly after 6:30 and slept until Noah got up at 7:30. I think I got almost 8 hours total!!
Noah's being a little dorky-pants about going down for naps today. He really doesn't want to for some reason and is throwing little hissy fits. He did the same thing for his last nap of the day yesterday. Justin just spent 15 minutes trying to put him down and everytime Noah hit the mattress he started crying again. Now it's 5:15 and I put Noah in the swing because if he has this nap too late (although it's already getting too late) he'll go to bed too late. I did the same thing for the last nap of the day yesterday.
Ok the swing didn't work. No nap I guess. He'll probably have a short one while he's nursing, next. Bedtime will have to be way earlier.
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