Breaking the Cycle - Day Four

Hopefully this is my last "breaking the cycle" entry!!!


Last night was great! It's so weird, I am getting more sleep in a row that it makes me feel like a new person!

Anywho - the night began a little rocky. Mr. Man was to go down for a nap at 4:30, but instead he wanted to play in his crib - which is perfectly fine! He whined a bit for a while, but I wanted him to learn that this is nap time, so I left him in there till about 5:30. He essentially didnt nap since 2:30 - so I thought I was in for a rought bedtime, but he was great!

At around 6:30 I fed him his oatmeal and sweet potatoes - which for some reason he made the icky face, but ate them anyway....:o) It was incredibly cute! I have to remember to get him naked (well, he will wear a diaper and short sleeved onsie) before we feed him because the sweet potatoes get everywhere because he has to wipe them off his face with his hands, and then wipe his hands all over his clothes - funny boy! He is pretty resourceful though, i hand him a wet paper towel and he wipes his own face. One of these times I will capture it on video to show you!

Any who, after I wiped him clean we sat down to read a story. I don't even think I got one page read when he started to get sleepy. I nursed him to sleep and laid him down at around 7:00.

He slept really well till about 10:45. He woke up to let me know he was hungry....(cindy, you were right - there is a difference between "hungry cry" and "sleepy cry"!) I think his Tylenol also wore off (oh yeah, forgot to mention - his gums are really bothering him....that little tooth that broke the surface is emerging and it hurts his little gummies :o(..He gnawed on my hand yesterday and it hurt me so bad! That tooth is sharp!!...) So I nursed him and gave him some more Tylenol and he was fast asleep in no time! He woke up again at 3:00 to eat and for another does of Tylenol. Poor guy, hope these teeth come in soon!!

I then had to wake HIM up at 6:30 for school! I can handle only waking up once or twice a night....this is great! I did hear him russle around a bit since I forgot to turn down the baby monitor, but I ignored it (even though I really wanted to go in to cuddle....I miss cuddling with him at night, but I make up for it during the day!) and he went back to sleep!! Yay!!

Breaking the Cycle - Day Three

I am so glad I didn't count my chickens before they hatched!!!

Last night wasn't too bad, in fact it was better than most nights, but not as good as Saturday night. Let me explain.....

We started off on the wrong foot....Dane took a late nap from 6:00-7:00....it threw everything off kilter. I stuck to the same bedtime routine hoping it would signal to him that he has to go right back to sleep.....bath, oatmeal/sweet potatoes, story time, cuddle/nursing time, then bedtime.

Nope....didnt work....Poor little guy was WIDE AWAKE till 10:45!!! Luckily Darren said he would stayed up with him so I could go to bed at around 9:00. What a guy Darren, thank you!! I woke up at 11:00 to nurse Dane a little and cuddle and try and get him sleepy. He went to sleep almost right away and slept till 12:00....he awoke and was just whining a little. Darren went in and hummed for a little bit and pat his tummy. Dane kinda fell asleep for about 2 minutes, but then awoke screaming and coughing and we could tell this wasn't a tired cry, it was a "I AM HUNGRY" cry! So, I fed the poor child and he then slept from 12:30 until I woke him up for school at 6:30!

It seems like the 2:00 and 4:00 wake up times have gone away! I can handle that.....I turn the monitor on really low so his rolling around and fidgeting doesn't wake me up (I used to hear him and go in to him to snuggle, but now that I don't hear him he just probably goes right back to sleep because I am not waking him up to cuddle! ....I know, I know....bad mama....I just love cuddling!!) and we both seem to be sleeping so much better! AND - he still loves me in the morning even though I let him cry a little....


GOOD NEWS!!! Dane has a tooth!!!! You can't really see it, but boy can you feel it! It's on the bottom right front. When he was sucking on my finger I could feel it and it is a sharp little thing! He didn't really even teethe or get sore gums....of course, that could be coming. The tooth already broke the surface but it still has to emerge......Yay!!! I hope he doesnt become a biter.....ouch.....

Breaking the Cycle - Day Two

Could it really have only taken one night to break the cycle? Now, I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched, but we had a great night last night!!!

We started it off with a bath at 7:00...then a massage....then I fed him oatmeal, which he was not interested in until I mixed it with Natures Best Organic Sweet Potatoes...and OH MY GOODNESS! He gobbled it ALL up! He ate all of his oatmeal plus almost half the container of sweet potatoes....piggy! Around 7:30 I started to read him a story....at 7:45 I nursed him to sleep and by 8:00 Dane was in dreamland.

He awoke at 11:30 and Darren went in and just stood there and hummed for about three minutes and Dane was fast asleep again (Go D!).

For some reason from 11:30 - 12:30 my brain would not shut off (dagnabit brain...I could have had an extra hour!!) but I finally drifted back to sleep at around 12:45.....

Dane awoke at 1:15 for a feeding - thank goodness because my boobs were very full! (sorry if TMI, but if you ever breastfed you know how uncomfortable it is!)

He went back to sleep around 1:25 and slept until...wait for it...........wait for it........7:00!!!!! Holy moly!! We just had almost 6 hours of sleep in a ROW!!

Now, not to be pessimistic (OK, i am always pessimistic, so this is status quo) but I certainly hope this isn't a fluke....I could really handle waking up once a night!

We will see how tonight goes!!

Breaking the Cycle - Day One

I am breaking down Dane's sleep cycle and building it back up so we both can start sleeping better. I think I am biting off more than I can chew with this task, but it has to be done or we are both going to go crazy!

The night started off at 7:00 when we just got done giving Dane his oatmeal and I nursed him. We went upstairs, put on his jammies, and I read him a story till about 7:45. He was not tired at all....earlier in the evening he slept from 2:00 - 5:00 - so I knew going into this that he wasn't going to be tired for his normal 7:30 bed time. Anyway, Darren came in and we layed Dane on the floor and quietly played with him and a stuffed animal. We didn't want to get him too excited, but we wanted him to wind down a bit and burn off some energy. Around 8:15 he started yawning and rubbing his eyes, so I swaddled him up and nursed him and rocked him to sleep. He slept pretty well in his crib till about 11:30 (which is a normal time for him to wake up, and this is a time I want to erase from his pattern). I let him cry until about 12:00...it was SO HARD to do! I ended up bawling and Darren stood by the nursery door so I wouldn't go in. Then I kept thinking, well maybe he is hungry? It has been 3.5 hours since the last time he ate, so I went in and picked him up and fed him. He ate like he never ate before!

I put him back in the crib around 12:15 wide awake and he whined a little bit but fell asleep after about 5 minutes. I thought - yes! I can go to sleep for at least another three hours and life will be good! Nope...not the case. Dane woke up at 1:30 and SCREAMED his little head off till about 2:30. He was still swaddled, so he was kicking his feet and ended up moving his body into the top right corner of the crib. Obviously this wasn't comfortable and he wasn't happy. SO, I went in and un-swaddled him...I didn't pick him up (go Nicki!) and just put my hand on him, and he started smiling and cooing. He wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, the kid was wide awake!

I gave him a stuffed doggie and he was playing with it till about 3:30. He started to yawn and rub his eyes and whine...I let him cry for about 15 minutes, but then it has been about 3.5 hours since the last time he ate - so I fed him and again, he ate like he never ate before!

I put him in his crib half asleep at around 4:00 and he fell asleep right away. Yay! Maybe I can sleep for about 3 hours!! Nope....not going to happen. He woke up again at 5:30....At this point I am utterly exhausted, so I caved and grabbed him and put him in bed with me. We slept like...well...babies till 8:45....


Maybe tonight will be better? At this point I'd rather get up when he fusses and feed him because at least then I am only up for about 10 minutes....but I know in the long run this is good for both of us. And he still loves me today and doesn't remember that I let him cry last night....

Gimme Gimme Gimme!!

Dane has now reached the mentality that if he knows he wants something, he cries till he gets it!

We are currently teaching him how to drink water from a cup ( he is doing really well with this by the way) and we are using a silo cup (beer pong anyone?) until we go to the store and buy a cup with handles....anyway, when he would drop the cup - he would cry and whimper till we picked the cup up and gave it to him. It was cute at first, but after a while it got annoying, so to teach him that he can't have everything he wants when he wants it (I know, mean mommy!) I wouldn't give him the cup right away, and he wasn't too happy, but got over it....Once he stopped whining for the cup I gave it to him and he was happy!

So, now that I know he is old enough to know that crying gets him what he wants, it's time to start letting him cry it out at night. We are still not sleeping through the night, and when he cries and I go to him and nurse him, he barely even eats which tells me he isn't crying because he is hungry, he is crying because he wants to snuggle. He falls asleep within a minute or two and I place him back in his crib. It is going to break my heart to hear him cry because I know he is crying because he wants a snuggle - but it's for his own good. He needs to learn to sleep through the night or he is going to be a teenager still getting up every 2-3 hours! Besides, I really need to start getting some sleep or I am going to break down!!

I got some scary news today from daycare, another infant in Dane's class was confirmed with having H1N1. The teachers assured me that they sanitize everything, but you know how kids are at this age....everything goes into his mouth...and they could have missed sanitizing the ONE thing that he put in his mouth...So, I am taking the poor kids temperature like every 5 minutes (OK, not really -but I am taking it quite often). I heard that the H1N1 flu is not as bad as the media is making it out to be, and with him being a breastfed baby he has a leg up since breast milk has a ton of antibodies along with the probiotics i give him everyday. I will still keep my fingers, eyes, and toes crossed that he doesn't catch it. :o(

He is doing really well with his cereal! We started him on it last weekend, and last night was the first time he actually figured it out! I put the cereal in his mouth and he swallowed it right away! It didn't dribble right out of his mouth!! Yay!! *sigh*...my little man is officially growing up....:o)

Where's Waldo!!

Dane decided to help me with the laundry last night....hee hee! I buried him under this huge pile and he was content to just lay there...(or he couldn't move...one or the other)... He got the giggles, so this might be a new game we play on laundry day!! Where's Waldo....er....Dane!!

We started little bear on oatmeal this weekend (so now you can stop bugging me Cindy...hee hee)...he seems to like it a lot better that the rice that's for sure. He wanted NOTHING to do with the rice, but at least he is making an actual effort when it comes to the oatmeal. I posted some pics of the event on our smug mug - go take a look!!! (click on the link to the right "our pics and videos")

Dane can almost roll over the right way (from back to tummy)..He can get his upper body to go over, but he forgets about his legs....if i just gently push with the tip of my finger he ends up rolling over, so any day now i expect him to be a roly poly!

He is almost sitting on his own too...I put him down to sit and as long as he doesn't go to the side he can sit up...well, kinda...he bends forward to where he almost has his nose on his toes - but hey it's a start!

No teeth yet!! His gums aren't even red and sore, but the boy can sure drool!! And he has the bite of our german shepherd! He bit down on my finger the other day and I swear he could crush bone with those jaws!

If the weather cooperates we are going to try and go to a fall festival this weekend....fun! I love fall, it's my favorite season!!

Go ahead, make my day!

I (well Dane) got the nicest compliment yesterday from Miss Jenn at daycare...she said that no matter how bad of a day she is having, all she has to do is look at Dane and with his HUGE smile he just brightens up her day! It's so true! I could be in the worst of moods, or just uber tired and not wanting to do anything but curl up on the couch and nap (which I haven't done in about 5 months, not sure I even remember how to!) and then I just look at my son with his big toothless smile and all the stress and ickyness just melts away! His smile is so contagious!

Rolling Over and 9 months already?

Mr. Man learned to roll over yesterday! He can roll from his tummy to his back....Yay! I walked into daycare yesterday and Miss Jenn asked me if he has been rolling over at home, of course I said no. She said the reason she asks is because she thought she put him down to play on his tummy, and when she came back to get him he was on his back - so she didn't see him roll over. Well, Immediately when i got home last night I grabbed the video camera (sorry it's dark, apparently they IS a light on the camera to help with that...who knew?) and away he went! I am so proud of him! I am sure this is the first of many milestones to come. What's funny is when I was saying "roll over, roll over" Chai was next to Dane rolling over! She kept looking at me like "where's my treat?" haha!

I think our little monkey has gone through a major growth spurt as well. Last week he fit into his 6 month khaki's and jeans, but I can't even get them on him at all this week! I sent Darren to the store today to pick up some 9 month pants - YES, 9 MONTH PANTS!! He is only 5 months old (Omigosh...he is 5 months old, where has the time gone????)! Ha! Sheesh...

I found another item I need to remove from my diet - Soy! I was on a soy milk kick for a while and it caused Dane to be constipated and extremely gassy. I stopped drinking it and viola! He is cured! Amazing.....


Enjoy the video!! (if you turn your sound up real loud you will hear him toot in the very beginning, ha!)

Happy Anniversary!!

I want to take the time to say "Happy Anniversary" to my one and only! Darren, you have made my life mean something. From the moment I met you my life has changed for the better. You are such an intelligent, interesting, humorous, sincere, amazing man. I am so glad you chose me to share your life with! Thank you for giving me such an amazing life - and an amazing son! I couldn't be any happier and I am looking forward to many more years with you! I love you!!

20 Weeks already?

I remember posting the same title to this blog when I was 20 weeks pregnant with my little man! Now he is 20 weeks old! Oh my, time sure does fly by!!

He is such a giggler and is really enjoying sticking his tongue out. I am trying to teach him to "blow raspberries" and he can almost do it...it's so cute to watch him try! I end up getting slobber all over my face from him, but it's OK! Once he conquers this I plan on teaching him how to do a "fish face"...that one is going to be tough!!!

We still don't have rolling over quite achieved....he's almost there but not quite....probably a few more days of practicing and we might get it!! Like I've said before though, no hurry to learn this because then I have to REALLY make sure he is strapped in the changing table! Argh! And on top of that I don't think he can be swaddled once he learns to roll over, so putting him to sleep is going to be a challenge since he loves to be swaddled....So - maybe we won't work on rolling over...hahaha!!

Darren and I are celebrating our 4 year anniversary on Thursday - can you believe it? FOUR YEARS? wow....again with the time flying by.......

"4 hours" SOLD to the lady with black hair and bags under her eyes.....

Well......I know one day I say one thing and then it changes (welcome to motherhood) but for the past week or so we stopped giving monkey rice cereal, applesauce, formula, N E Thing but breast milk and he has actually been sleeping much better!! He sleeps almost consistently 3-4 hour stretches instead of the 1-2 he has been sleeping....I think it has a lot to do with the fact he doesn't have gas pain waking him up anymore!! Also, when he does wake up to eat I force him to eat from both sides so he is getting really, really full (it's not like I have to force him, it's just I have to wake him up to switch sides...it IS the middle of the night and I too fall asleep while he eats sometimes!) and I think that is helping him sleep longer too. The only downside is that when he was waking up every 1-2 hours to eat, we would only be awake for about 5 minutes...but now that I am feeding him from both sides we are awake for about 15-20 minutes....ahhhh!! Because I am feeding him this way I am not pumping then at night either (YAY! that was annoying!) but I then have to not only pump twice at work but then pump once at home to get 12 ounces (2 - 6 ounce bottles) for him at daycare....I might start thawing out some of the frozen milk I have stored up (last time I counted I have about 180 ounces...haha!) to help me out......

Enjoy the pics of Dane and Cora - they are buddies!! I am not too sure if Cora really found this entertaining, but she was a good sport about the whole thing....of course now she is hiding.....ha!

Dane's First Painting

As promised, here is a picture of Dane's first painting! He sat in a highchair to do this! Miss Lera showed me a picture of him (making his "typical Dane face" and they call it) and it is so cute! Once she prints the picture out I will post it for you all to see.

Miss Jen told me that out of all the babies that participated in painting, Dane was the only one that showed interest in it. He actually played with the paint and "studied" it, trying to figure out just what it was! Too cool!! My little Einstein!!