November Sparklers 2012

[gaiagirl]

Sleep is still up and down, he had two amazing nights and now two not so great again. Who knows. I'm hoping the fact that he even HAD two good ones in a row for the first time since February is a good sign. Naps are good, I've been much more relaxed about them but still really like him having at least 2 hours of nap a day.

I stopped swaddling too so that's been pretty good, but he's needed a bit more help with staying asleep for naps and evening in his crib unswaddled. It was time though!

Still cosleeping when I go to bed, just either wait for next wake up or take him to bed if he wakes around when I am going to bed anyways. No plans to change that really, DH and I are both happy with it. We still have time alone in the evening and we all sleep better that way!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Thanks ladies. I do hope the illnesses r done for a very long time!

I sign with lil man. I went to school to be an interpreter, not that I ever did end up doing that lol so I know quite a bit. We taught it to my stepson to and it's true it really helps to decrease the crying fits out of frustration for not being able to express what they need/want.

I hope sleep continues to improve for u gai!

 

[daddiesgift]

Charlie- still co sleeping with Dominic! He hasn't slept in his room in awhile. I asked my husband how he really feels about it and if he feels it hurts our husband wife bond. He says as long as he's moved by 3 it's fine and he feels it doesn't hurt our bond but strengthens our family bond. Dominic sleeps between us and usually stays there. He had a phase of being all over bed but he's good now! I would like to move Anthony earlier than 3. But I don't see it happening now lol.

I hope in the next few months to stop the pacifier. He's doing fine during day without it and waking less at night for it. I've just learned the longer you wait the harder it is to stop! And I don't see how he'll sleep alone if he keeps spitting it out and crying for it. We'll see

Dominic LOVES the signing videos. He's been on a major roll today! He's said so many new words and animal sounds today and signed bird!

I wish we had cool places to take kids here but there's NOTHING! No signing class, barely any play groups just blah! I enrolled Dominic in pre preschool he'll start in August. Ill be glad to have him getting his social time as well as spending time out of the house.

Anthony has become a chew machine! I wish I could upload stuff on here from my phone lots of cute pics and videos! He chews on everything possible!

My foot surgery is Tuesday getting nervous for me but husband too! Stay tuned for how him playing mr.mom goes

I'm also starting training soon to be a child care provider! Have I lost my mind? Possibly! I just have classes three times a week for three weeks then they come and inspect my house then I'm open for business since we live on a military post they have to do a ton of stuff to approve you and they will assign kids to you based on their rules. Example: I can't watch more than two kids under 2 including mine so ill only be watching over 2 year olds. I'm really excited! Maybe I will teach them signs too

 

[Cridge]

I was wondering when the best time to start signing was. I'll definitely have to check out those videos, daddies! I'd love to find a class around here too.

Tomorrow we have a baby massage class we're going to and I'm really excited about it. I didn't do anything like that with #1, so I'm happy to be able to do it this time around.

We were at my parents house all last week, and while ninja did better than I thought at sleeping in their pack n play, he shortened his night stretches back to 3-4 hours. So I'm back to forcing him to stretch out. The last couple of days he was doing the thing where he hardly ate anything during the day and was up all night eating. Boooo!! So last night I forced him to go 6 hours and he did much better eating today. So the sleep thing for us is up and down and all around as well. Naps are still pretty unpredictable, but I just go with it. I'm just happy he naps at all since #1 didn't.

I've been doing solids here and there as his tongue thrust is completely gone (oatmeal, sweet potatoes and peas - yum!), but I'm not in a hurry to be feeding him every day yet. He's 3 days away from 5 months saywhat, and I don't want to be too focused on that until 6 months. Ideally, I'd like him to be sitting up completely on his own before I start getting serious about solids. He actually hasn't seemed too interested in the times he's been given solids. It wasn't until the last time (2 days ago, I think), that he was showing any interest in even opening his mouth to take it in. #1 thought food was so yummy that there was no stopping him once we started, but ninja just doesn't seem too interested yet.

 

[daddiesgift]

Had time to get on the computer and upload some pics Love showing off my pride and joys!

First pic is my boys after church Easter Sunday
second pic is Anthony after carrot dinner and chewing on daddies wrist
third pic is Anthony with the awesome wubbanub
Fourth is Dominic..since I talk about his so much His new favorite thing is waving "HI!" so I caught him doing it.

Love my sweeties!!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Cridge-anytime is a great time to start signing!! The earlier the better. Then u get in the routine of signing while you're talking and lo will be watching u do it and then one day when they're ready they'll pick it up!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Daddies- awesome pics! Your boys r so cute!

 

[Cridge]

cute pics daddies! Anthony has lost all his hair! My LO has a mohawk cause he's lost most of his hair everywhere but right on top.

Thanks lilbean! I started signing "milk" a couple months ago but I'm not very regular with it. I definitely need to get used to doing it but I only remember a few words from when I did it 10 years ago with #1.

 

[Cridge]

I just signed us up for a "sign & sing" class starting at the end of this month!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Cridge-that class sounds fun!

 

[charlie15]

Great pics Daddies, both boys are very cute! Love the first one of them with their dad. I must post some of S, she's grown and become a chubby LO, well not as chubby as a proper chubby baby but seeing as she was pretty lean a month ago and now has a lovely belly and chunky lovely legs to me she's a chubster now! Still has a lot of hair, she lost some but it's all grown back apart from a wee bald area!

Yey for all the baby signing! I can't wait to get started.

I have had my first proper night off, so I'm in our double bed in my own and OH is with S in her room doing the night duties. I didn't sleep like I use to, I was a very deep sleeper, but oh my I am still tired but feel much much better. I really was at my wits end yesterday with sleep deprivation and felt like a total fail as a mum as I was really not coping when S cried yesterday. Luciky OH has a few days off, so he's doing night duty for a few days so I can get a proper break. I hope by Sunday or Monday to feel like a new woman and better mum again!

 

[morri]

we also start baby signing ,Has been a tough week here first, I was sick on monday, then lo, then me again as I got a breast infection. Tuesday I went to her doc to check her(she had a vacc appointment anyway)so forwarded that. I come home and I had a temp of 39.6 C fever. luckily oh came home early. He also got me to the doc and watched lo and took off work for me. lo was not happy as the boobs weret producing much milk over the spell and screamed bloody murder at the boobds, got some water and electrlytes fr over night and got some new formula so she gets somehing in her stomach.
the one not affected by the breast affection is working normal again but the other one is still a bit shaky in supply, .
also she has the excema and it is so hard to get appt close in time. it has cleared up but she does like to scratch herself a lot. it is hard to keep those nails short they grow quickly and even if they are short they are still sharp. shes got some mean scratches shes done to herself on her belly and neck and her legs. the skin is so sensitive it just takes a scratch from her to make her bleed .

she wont be starting solids any time soon, her doc said to continue to breastfeed her (shes high risk for allergies (although oh hasnt got food allergy but i have against seafood)but she has no oral interest at all anyway apart from nipples or fingers .

oh and she is so moany atm. it is like somebody turned a switch on my contented little baby that makes her ms master moany .

Ohh dont remind me about poo, especially when she was sick or ays after she had vile smelling poo. one curiously smelled like curry although I havent had any . lol.

 

[gaiagirl]

Charlie - I am so glad you got a break! I know you were feeling totally overwhelmed and a few days rest can make a huge difference. Curious - did S wake up as often for DH? I wonder about F waking up when he's next to the milk

Morri - What a trying week! That sounds awful but hopefully you are on the road to recovery and don't face illness again for awhile. My LO had a crazy week at 16/17 weeks. It's the stormiest period of their wonder week phase and honestly, he was like a different baby. I had two huge public meltdowns and was scared to even take him out for a week. He is NEVER like that! I'm sure it'll pass and your LO will be back to themselves soon.

As for us, not much new. Those two nights were flukes I think, he's back to 1-3 hour wake ups, usually 2 hours. I'm kinda over stressing and worrying and because we cosleep it doesn't really have a huge impact. Bedtime can still be annoying sometimes though, some nights he goes to bed easily and stays asleep, sometimes it's a constant battle for the first 2 hours of the evening...

No swaddle still, which does make putting him in his crib trickier but he now sleeps on his tummy in his crib mostly. We have the Angelcare so I'm ok with it, but still a tad weirded out!

 

[charlie15]

Sorry Morri, it sounds like you have been through it with you LO! I hope things settle for you soon. We had a tough time around the 4 month mark too initially with teething then S had a never ending cold and fevers! got through it in the end but it's tough when they're poorly and so hard when you are...mum's don't get sick leave!

Thanks Gaia, yes it would be interesting about Sophia's wakings with OH instead of me. TBH though feeding is fine with her through the night, she normally has one feed only but that could be at 10pm or 4am!! lucily last night i lucked out with a 10.30 pm feed so i knew she wouldn't need another until the morning, so a good break for me The problem with S is she gets restless after about 2am, we have the dummy issues where she can't put it back in, this goes on and on until she's often wide awake and wants to chat and play at 4am!! it's pretty random though some nights are AWFUL other so so, others great!! but the great one are when the dummy has stayed put so it's REALLY frustrating as i know that she can go through the night quite happily but mostly doesn't as she's so reliant on that dummy!! the worst are when the dummy or recrrent lack of wakes her up to the point of a party in the night and you can't do a thing when this happens, it's crazy as you can be up with her for 3-4 hours!! last night my OH said she did have a few issues with restlessness and the dummy but eventually settled. He's staying in with her for the next few nights to give me a proper rest! i so need it. He has offered in the past, but it's only recently that i feel happy as she needs less feeds in the night now, whereas before it wasn't worth it. But to be honest i think it was easier when she was waking up for regular feeds as at least you can do something about it, feed her and she fell asleep easily!! now it's just frustrating and you kind of can't do much! but i'm going to work on the napping problem and once she's use to having regular naps then we'll tackle the dummy! i'm not really a routine type of person as i when working i do shifts, so have never been that keen on routines, but i am beginning to think that S needs a routine. She's such as live wire that cannot switch herself off very easily so i think a regular routine at home will help her to have a break.

Sorry your nights are back to the old way, hopefully those 2 good nights will start happening gradually more over time. Even with co sleeping it's tough, just less intrusive than if you have to get up!! Is there anyway that you can try to swap sides with your OH when he's off work and see if that leads to less wakings?? might be worth it. i think if that happens with S it would make me think about me moving out of her room.

On a brighter note, as in NOT sleep!! Sophia rolled over from tummy to back today for the first time!!! however of course i had my back turned looking for a muslin cloth at the time, typical, i thought of you Cridge straight away!!! so 1st roll over the day she turned 5 months! she did do it again for is though, twice in fact so i know it wasn't an accident it's so exciting when they do these little things, now I'm waiting for her to sit up. She sits with minimal support, without support for maybe 30 seconds, so i hope before she's 6 months she'll be sitting up more unsupported.

right gotta go, i hear crying!

 

[Cridge]

Charlie - yay for the break!! How wonderful! I love your new avatar! So darling!

Morri - I'm so sorry things have been so crazy! My first had eczema and once he started on solids, I started putting flax seed oil in his cereal, and within 3 weeks he was cleared right up. As long as I kept putting the oil in his food, he stayed nice and eczema free. I know you won't be starting solids for awhile, but just a thought to file for future use.

Gaia - my LO definitely does the 2 steps forward, 1 step back thing with sleep. Although, it seems more than just a step back. He'll have a night or two of improved sleep, and then it will be another month or more before he does it again. I've been pretty successful at stretching him out with the use of a pacifier though. Does that work for F?

Speaking of pacifier drama Charlie... This afternoon I put ninja on the floor with a couple toys and his pacifier while I took a shower. I came out to find him asleep with his pacifier in. Yippy! Three times today he found his pacifier and put it in properly (before he would just chew on the sides or whatever he was able to get into his mouth ). So I'm very hopeful that it won't be long before he is able to re-pacify himself during the night. Oh what a blessing that would be!!

 

[gaiagirl]

These babies are growing up wayyyy too fast!

No Cridge, he won't take a pacifier anymore! It was bizarre, he stopped taking one literally the same time he regressed with sleep. Typical!

Charlie, I could try harder to keep him in the cosleeper not beside me I guess, but I don't want DH sleeping with him. He's too heavy a sleeper and moves way too much!

 

[Cridge]

No Cridge, he won't take a pacifier anymore! It was bizarre, he stopped taking one literally the same time he regressed with sleep. Typical!

Ah - bummer! I kinda wish ninja would stop taking the pacifier. It would be nice for him to wean himself, but I have a feeling we're going to be having a hard time with that a year or so from now. He's a sucking maniac!

Ninja is 5 months today! I pondered on what I've accomplished over the last 5 months, as it seems like life has passed me by. I told dh that I've spent most of the last 5 months on the couch with my boobs hanging out. I'm tempted to pull out one of his newborn sized clothes and hold it up to him just for kicks, but I think I might cry.

I got him signed up for those (freaking expensive) ISR swimming classes today! I'm a little nervous that he'll have a bad experience like daddies, but dh dunked him in the pool last week and he did fine with that, so I'm hopeful it will be a good experience. We start the first week of June.

 

[daddiesgift]

Those classes are incredibly expensive! $750 right? I wish it was cheaper make it more accesible to everyone I'm sure ninja will do fine! Gotta start them early before they realize what fear is

Anthony slept overnight the last TWO nights!! Oh yeah oh yeah. He's only down that one other time in his WHOLE life! I'm thanking solids for that

I'm soo happy we've started giving him solids. He's done great learning how to "chew" and not spit it out. Even since the first time he's barely let a drop out, he loves eating hehe. He's now getting cereal once a day and whatever we have around for me to make him. Lately it's been avocado yum! He's spitting up waaay less, crying waaay less, sleeping better, not crying while pooping anymore and overall happier than before. I'm not 100% it's the food but I'm voting yes!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Thats awesome daddies! Hope it continues! Yay food!

We've started lil man n solids too, so far he's had peas,carrots and banana.
Yesterday I just made a whole bunch off purrees to keep in the freezer and have on hand. I love bein frugal! I made about 200ozs of food for $17! Sooooo much cheaper than buyin jars, and I get to know exactly what's in it, pure veggies!

Cridge- wholly those classes r expensive! Hopefully he gets a lot out of it!

I was a lifeguard for years so I plan to teach him myself until he hits the point of not learning so well from mom haha. But we love being at the lake and swimming so he has to learn! He loves water too, we've taken him swimming once and he loved it! He loves playing in his bath too!

 

[Cridge]

I know!! For some reason I just really want him to learn the safety swim thing early, so it's just barely worth the cost. I wanted #1 to take those lessons too, but we didn't have the money for it back then (and I had no idea how expensive they are!). I put #1 in swimming lessons for a couple years (from 3-5, I think) and he never did all that well. He finally learned how to swim the good ol' fashioned way of just playing around in the pool. But I want ninja to learn swimming as an instinct, which I feel is what they teach with ISR - since they're too young to know what's going on anyway. I don't know. Dh and I struggled with the decision, but finally just bit the bullet.

Yay for all night sleeping daddies!!! I feel like we're getting a step closer. 5 nights ago I stretched ninja for 6 hours and he woke 5 times during the night. Booo! 4 nights ago, he woke twice; 3 nights ago he woke once, and the last 2 nights he didn't wake at all during his long stretch. 2 nights ago it was 6 hours and last night he went 7. Yay!!! And his stretch before his long one is 4-5 hours, so we're definitely stretching things out! My next step is to "force" him to go 7 hours consistently, but he may just end up doing that on his own anyway. So maybe I'll go for 8.

That's great you're making your own food lilbean! I'd like to in theory, but I just don't have the motivation to spend the time doing it. I considered getting one of those baby food blender/steamers, but the decent one is $100 and I figured they're only eating purees for what, a couple months? I guess if you figure in how much you're saving by making your own, maybe it evens out.