Teeth and Sleep

Oh sweet boy, you are in so much pain with your two front teeth coming in. I can't imagine you are comfortable with those trying to break through the gums. You are not napping well which I am hoping is just because you are in pain.

Speaking of sleep, I have to say the way you sleep is adorable. I don't think I posted a picture of it before so I am going to do that now. SO. CUTE. Love that your butt is up in the air. I have no idea how that is comfortable! Nana said I did the same thing when I was a baby!

7 Months

Once upon a time, I had endless amounts of free time. For some reason I thought this would continue after you arrived. I thought you would nap for hours (people say babies sleep ALL the time. Apparently, they were lying.) When you do nap, there are endless amounts of things to do. Especially since we are about to put our house up for sale. Also, your brothers, this house, and your Dad keep me very busy! I thought I would be able to write on this blog every day, or at least a few times a week. Here we are, almost 2 months since my last entry. Ugh! Thankfully I am able to write things down on my iPhone that you do. I record what new foods you eat, the cute things you do and the milestones you achieve.

So here we are, it being almost March. This means that you are almost 8 months old. Seriously, I can't believe how much you have grown and how fast time is going by. It seems like I was just pregnant with you but now you are a big, happy boy who brings so many smiles to those you come in contact with. So many people love you! Strangers stop me and tell me how handsome you are and how they love your big blue eyes. You truly are adorable!

The past few nights you have slept 11-12 hours straight. I am SO thankful for this as you have only done this a handful of times in your short life. It is making Mommy feel more human again. I really hope this is the start of a consistent pattern! You are sleeping in your crib and you are doing pretty well with your naps. You usually take a decent morning nap, a short afternoon nap, and then a longer afternoon nap. In the next few months you will be down to two naps which will hopefully be two really good ones!

You enjoy oatmeal and peaches. You sometimes like sweet potatoes, but other than that, you are not really digging anything. I am worried you inherited my eating habits. When you don't want something, you turn your head, seal your lips, and sometimes you even smack the spoon away! You are stubborn like both of your parents. I need to get you back on the veggies but I am worried how you will respond to them. You threw up peas ALL day the last time you had them. You seemed ok with carrots but then you screamed for 2 days and broke out in a rash around your mouth. You are one confusing little boy!

You are trying to sit up on your own and you can do it for a little while before you fall over. You are also in the beginning stages of crawling. You lay on your tummy and kick your legs. I really do not want you to start crawling yet, but I know it is bound to happen soon. I would appreciate it if you stop growing up. Please.

I love how excited you get when you see me. When I go to get you from the crib, you give me that big smile with those two bottom teeth. It makes everything all better. Your top two teeth are coming through which is making you crabby, but I understand how that must be painful. Your hair is all sorts of crazy. Daddy has been giving you mohawks which is ridiculously adorable.

I am finding it very hard to continuously entertain you. You love your saucer, but I worry you are in it far too much. The funny thing is, you act as if it is something you have never seen before. You are fascinated with all the gadgets. You really love getting the blue tray, chewing on it, then throwing it across the room. You love your activity gym and you SCREAM at the sight of the light up star. A happy scream-as if you are just seeing it for the first time. You make me laugh!

You are a sweet baby boy and I love seeing how your personality is developing!

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe 2012 has come and gone. It was a good and crazy year filled with lots of memories, and of course, your birth!  You are almost 6 months and I am taking in every single second I can with you. Time is fleeting and I am going to miss these days. You are adorable, so much fun and the sunshine in my days. I love you so much! I can't get over how cute you are. Maybe I am biased since I am your mom, but I don't think so since people stop and tell me how adorable you are all the time! Even your brother Torrin has started saying you are the cutest baby he has ever seen!

You are doing great in your crib! It was a very hard transition for both you and me, but you have the hang of it and are taking better naps, and sleeping better at night!  On December 30th you slept from 7:30-6:30. It would have been glorious if your brother Torrin had not gotten up at 2 am that night complaining of something in his eye!

Yesterday was New Years Eve and we only had you because your brothers were with their mom. Nana and Papa said they would watch you so Daddy and I could go to a movie. We went to see This is 40 and I have not laughed that hard in a long time. I so needed that!  After the movie we called Nana and Papa to see how you were, and they told us you had been crying. I heard you screaming in the background so we decided to come get you. You were not happy and you made Nana very sad! Its so hard not knowing what is wrong with you since you can't talk and tell us what is wrong. I'm assuming it was your tooth since that is something that has been bugging you for awhile. Your bottom right tooth is coming in and you are drooling and chomping on everything!  I felt your tooth and saw the top of it on December 23rd. If you take medicine you go back to being your happy little self, but until then you scream at the top of your lungs!

After we picked you up from Nana and Papa's, Daddy and I went to dinner with you. Thankfully you were all smiles and very well behaved. I never know how dinner out is going to go with you, but it all worked out. You really wanted Mommy's drink! Here are some pictures from last night:

You wanted to order off the menu!

This picture makes me laugh.

Our last picture of 2012!

When we came home, Daddy gave you a bath and read you a story. You went right to sleep and made it all the way to 4 am. I fed you 4 ounces and you went back to sleep until 8:15!  I worry that you are not on a strict schedule but you do eat every 4 hours and generally wake up and eat at the same time every day so I guess that is good. 

Before New Years Eve was your first Christmas! You are not sitting up yet so we held you and you watched us open your presents. I think you were confused!  I will write more about that soon! I love you baby boy! I look forward to 2013 with you!

Almost 5 months!

I can't believe you will be 5 months old on Monday. Where is the time going? You are so much fun and you bring so much happiness into my life. You smile all the time, you get so excited to see me when I get you up from sleeping or change your diaper. I love you so much!

You are learning new things. You hold your head up like a pro, you started rolling from your back to your tummy. You take naps in your crib but have decided you are a side sleeper, and lately-a tummy sleeper like your mommy!  You had only been taking 30 minute naps but some people said that is the sleep cycle for your age and if I let you cry when you wake up, you would go back to sleep. You know what? You have been!  This morning you have taken great naps! You have woken up after 30-45 minutes, but I let you scream (Im sorry) and you pass back out. It has allowed me to get things done and I really appreciate it!

You are obsessed with your first two fingers on your left hand. You suck on them before you go to sleep. You also found your thumb and I think you are pretty impressed with yourself. You also try and suck your thumb when you are eating your bottle. Silly boy!

You are growing more and more every day and it makes me sad every time I have to pack away your clothes that no longer fit. Stop growing up so fast sweet boy! You are my first and last baby and I want you to stay small forever. Thinking about you not wanting to snuggle and hold my finger as you eat anymore makes your Momma very sad.

I have only put you in your crib at night one time on Daddy's birthday. You lasted 4.5 hours which is good. I put you back down after you woke up to eat, but you were not having it. If you were on the same floor, I might be ok with it, but you aren't and I feel so far away from you. You are sick again and stuffy, so I have left you in the sleeper these past few nights.

This week was also the first time I was away from you at night. Daddy has been on trips before but this was my first time without you. You stayed overnight at Aunt Noelle's house and her and Nana took very good care of you. So good that you were not excited to see me at all. I think you knew we went to Disneyland without you. I am sorry we did that, but you are too little to remember it :) When you get older we will make sure to take you. We should get Nana and Papa to come too so they can be there for your first Disney experience!

You love laying under the tree and looking at the lights and ornaments. Last night you decided you wanted to eat the presents and continuously put the ribbons in your mouth. You had a lot of fun!  I have so many Christmas outfits for you, and since this is the only time you can wear them, I am putting you in one as much as possible. You have a Santa's Little Helper outfit but my favorite is this one:

Im trying to upload more pictures of you but this website is telling me I am out of photo storage. Guess I should go look into this.

Please continue to sleep as good as you have today. Mommy will then be able to update this without a month going by!

I'm Sorry

Oh Baby Boy, I love you so much but this transition to the crib is SO hard. Crazy hard. I have been rocking you to sleep but all the books say not to do that. You need to learn to self soothe. After much debate (with myself) and endless tries of putting you in the crib only for you to wake up the second your head hits the mattress, I decided to let you cry. You have no idea how hard this is for me. You scream, you wail, you sound like someone is cutting off your leg. I gave myself a time limit. You could cry for 30 minutes. That is it. Well, after 28 minutes, you fell asleep for your exact 30 minute nap you tend to take. For your evening nap, I decided I was going to try it again. 22 minutes of crying and now you are asleep. I really hope this continues and that you don't grow to not trust me. I just want you to get some sleep. You sleep so little compared to other babies and I worry about you. One really funny thing is Mickey will not leave your side when you are crying. He goes into your room and lays next to the crib. When I try and get him out, he won't budge. Although he is insanely jealous of you, he loves you! I am sure you will be buddies when you are older.

On another note, yesterday was your first Halloween!  You had several outfits on during the day because of two reasons. 1) You had a lot of cute things and 2) You kept puking. Here is a round up of the outfits.

#1: It's the cutest Monster outfit. There is even a monster on the bottom :)

 #2: A Tigger onesie, complete with hat and Tigger slippers. It's not a Halloween costume, but I thought it would be a good choice. You eventually puked on this outfit as well.

#3: A Buzz Lightyear onesie. Grandpa and Grandma got this for you at Disneyland. We always say Daddy looks like Buzz Lightyear so this outfit is perfect! So cute!

#4:  Your REAL Halloween costume. A giraffe! Daddy bought this for you. I loved that it had a tail and that the hat fit your head! You were not too fond of it. I bet it was really hot!

We went to dinner with Nana and Papa and then they came over and hung out with you. Daddy and I only took you to 2 houses. After all, we do not need the candy! We look forward to next year when you will be walking and we can go to more houses! Papa fed you, which is so nice! He kisses you all the time. So does Nana! You are so loved sweet boy!

30 Minutes

We are on the third full day of trying to get you to nap in your crib. It is so hard! I cant bear to listen to you cry so I have rocked you to sleep every time. So far you have napped in your crib exactly 30 minutes each time. Like clockwork. 30 minutes exactly. Its like you know you should wake up. All the books I am reading say not to rock you. I am supposed to put you in the crib sleepy so you can learn to soothe yourself. This does not work well. You scream. You scream as if someone is hurting you.

You are currently asleep in your crib now. I am trying to follow the method that says you get picked up when you cry, when you are calm you go back down. This can happen up to over 100 times the book says. I dont talk to you, I say shhhh or sing to you. A few minutes ago I put you back in the crib wide awake and sang to you and rubbed your head. I also took the mobile out. In the day you love it and get this huge smile on your face. When it is dark in your room, I think it scares you. After all that,  you fell asleep. So far you have been asleep for 20 minutes. Let's see how long you go.

I feel like your sleeper you have been in is like a Sleep Number Bed and now going to the crib is like sleeping on a rock. You are not a fan of swaddling. You want your arms to be free.

I know you need to start sleeping in your crib at night but I am doing this one step at a time. You are already growing up way too fast.

My Heart is Breaking

Oh sweet little boy, you are breaking your mommy's heart. I am trying to get you into a routine and on a schedule which means you need to nap and go into your crib. You sleep great when we hold you, and boy do we love to hold you, but that can't last forever.  You have started sleeping well in your car seat but when we are home you need to go in your crib. Today I began the transition. I am reading books on the topic and they say to develop a routine. I've noticed that about an hour after eating you get sleepy. You yawn, then you do the stare. Pretty soon you nod off.  I have started going into your room, sitting in the rocking chair with you, giving you a binky and singing to you. Sure enough you doze off within a few minutes. Today I put you in the crib. Currently you have been screaming at the top of your lungs for 30 minutes. It is breaking my heart. I want to go in there and snuggle you. Calm your fears, kiss your chubby little cheeks. But I can't and I won't.  I hope it will be like bath time. You hate, hate, hated it the first few times but now you love it. Sweet boy, I am sorry I am doing this to you. Mama is so sad :(