Nope....not gonna do it!!

Dane sure is a stubborn little fella!

I had the ladies at daycare start to feed him cereal during the day right before he gets his bottle and he will not open his mouth for them either! I feel kinda good about this because I thought maybe it was something I was doing, but since he wont open his mouth for them either it makes me feel better! I know for sure it's the cereal, he just doesn't like it. Doesn't matter if it's rice, oatmeal, apple flavored rice, or banana flavored oatmeal...he wont eat it.

He does however LOVE love LOOOOVE applesauce! I gave him his first taste of a fruit last night (up to this far he has only had veggies) and he ate the whole darn jar! He opened his mouth just like he is supposed to and moved his head towards the spoon...so I KNOW he knows how to eat, he is just stubborn when it comes to cereal!!!

He still loves his apple puffs (they melt in his mouth) and strawberry yogurt bites and really enjoys chewing on his biter biscuits....(they taste like graham crackers....yummy!)

Sleeping is still going great!! He only wakes up once a night now and it's usually close to 4am....

I however have been woken up by our motion alarm twice each night for the past two nights. We have this sensor pad that attaches to the crib and if it doesn't sense motion (i.e. Dane stops breathing) it sets off a really loud alarm. Well, Dane somehow manages to always sleep somewhere in his crib that his breathing wont register on the sensor - so it keeps going off and I dash into the nursery and all is well...(thankfully!)...it's funny, the alarm is incredibly loud and Dane sleeps right through it! All we have to do is change the sensitivity on the sensor pad and all will be good, but I only remember to do that after he is already in his crib sleeping.....ha!

Back on Track!!

Dane is back on track with his sleeping schedule after it being uprooted whilst he was sick! Yay! For the past two nights he has slept 9 hours in a row! He sleeps from around 7pm till around 4am, then he eats and goes back to sleep till I wake him up for school at 6:30am. I kinda wish he could make it till 5am because that is when my alarm goes off, but hey - I'll take what I can get!!

I feel like a new woman and am so happy I decided to do this sleep training bit. WHY didn't I do it before? Oh, I know...because I didn't think I could live without cuddling with him every two hours....but I did survive and we both are so much better for it! He has always been a happy baby, but he is a SUPER happy baby now that he is sleeping well. Yahoooo!!!

6 Month Check Up

Whoah!! Dane sure is growing!!

He weighs 18.7 lbs (was 15.1 lbs at his 4 month check up) and is 27 1/2 inches (was 26 inches at his 4 month check up) Whoah!! He is in the 50-75 % for his weight and 75-90% for his height. No wonder he doesn't fit into 6 month and some 9 month clothes!

The doc said he is right on track with everything. He commented on his two bottom teeth and how nicely they are coming in, and even showed me that his four top teeth are soon ready to pop through (NO!! We finally aren't dealing with drool....not ready for all that drool again!).

Apparently I am not feeding Dane enough solid food. He should be eating solids 2-3 times a day. Ooops! Breastfeeding is just so darn convenient (and not to mention free and no cleanup!). I should also be giving him yogurt bites and baby cereal (it literally melts in your mouth) so he can practice putting food in his mouth. He did pretty well! He even new to chew!

Poor little man got four shots today too...he was a champ though! He only cried a little and I started making funny faces and noises and was able to get him to laugh and get him mind off of the ouchy. I am learning that if I run to him and sooth him when he falls or whatever he cries more than if I just act like nothing has happened and try to "change the subject". I think babies look to us for our reaction and if we act like "OH MY!!!!" then so will our babes....yah know?!

Anyway, enjoy the photos. The one to the left here is the first time we gave him strawberry yogurt bites and they are a little sour...ha!

Bloody walls and a stash of chocolate

Cora and Chai had a visit to the vets this weekend. Originally it was only supposed to be Chai's yearly physical and shots. I called to see if Cora could tag along too because one of the cysts on her back seemed to be inflamed. (For about 2 years now Cora gets this sebaceous cysts on her body. They will get big and and eventually fall off - gross I know) Poor Darren....he agreed to take Chai to the vet for me since I was going away that afternoon and didn't want to be away from Mr. man twice in one day - but now he had to take both of precious pups! He didn't complain (too much) and did a great job. Of course he met with the most annoying high pitched vet in that office (she is about 5 feet tall and I swear she sucks in helium right before she enters the room). $300 dollars later here are the results...

Cora: 111 pounds....we thought she was losing weight. We drastically cut back on her food consumption, but she weighs exactly the same. We now have to cut back even more, but instead of feeding her twice a day we have to feed her three times a day. The vet cut off the infected cyst and Cora is on 1250 milligrams of Cephalexin and some sort of pain killer. She was bleeding pretty bad and we've had to put a warm compress on her. It looks like someone was murdered in our living room because Cora sat up against the wall and now our wall is all bloody! Hot soapy water should do the trick. Now that isn't bleeding anymore......

Chai: 14 pounds......she gained a pound from last year! Ack! We cut her food back too! I don't get it. Either the people at work are feeding her without me knowing, or she has a chocolate stash somewhere......The vet asked Darren if Chai thinks she is a german shepherd because when she took Chai into the lab to take her blood Chai started to growl and bark at a really big dog that was back there too. Ugh, this little dog certainly thinks she is a big dog!! This behavior is exactly why we were kicked out of puppy training class! Ha!

We are going to be more adamant about getting these dogs on the treadmill or taking them for walks. Its just so hard when you have to time it right with Dane's eating and napping schedule. If I would feel comfortable taking Dane in the stroller and walking Chai and Cora at the same time I would, but I can just see it now - Chai wanting to chase after the biggest dog in the neighborhood and Cora trying to protect us from the scarecrow in the neighbors yard while I am being pulled along and hanging on to the stroller for dear life! Ha!

Kisses!!!

Our little squirt has learned to kiss! I am sure he has figured it out because I am CONSTANTLY kissing his cute pudgy cheeks, hands, toes, tummy - well, lets just say I love to kiss my little man! A couple of days ago I heard him making this noise that was pretty distinctive of the kissing noise. He would look at me and make that noise and pucker up! So, I decided to hold him up to my face and kiss his cheek - and put my cheek right in front of his lips and he leaned in and kissed me! We do this all the time now, it's pretty cool!

He has been feeling a lot better. Thursday afternoon his temperature finally broke and ever since then he has been back to his bubbly self! He is still a little stuffy but only when he first wakes up in the morning. Thank goodness I decided to switch him to Motrin. I think he started feeling better once I made the switch from Tylenol.

While he was sick I did not work on sleep training. When he cried I went to him and most every night he slept with me in bed. All bets are off when a little one is sick in my opinion. They need all the TLC you can dish out! Well, because of this I was pretty hesitant on starting up the sleep training again. I was thinking that all the sleep training that we went through before he got sick went right out the window, but I was wrong! Last night monkey slept 4 hours in a row then another 6 hours! He did wake up an hour after I put him down but that was because he flipped himself over and was in a really weird and uncomfortable position. I flipped him back and he calmed down. Yay!

Tomorrow is his 6 month check up - YES - he is 6 months old already! I can't believe all that he has accomplished so far. I looked up "6 Month Milestones" online and here is a list. Dane is able to check them all off!

- Turns towards sounds and voices
- Imitates sounds
- Rolls over in both directions
- Is ready for solids foods (Dane has been eating solids for a few weeks now)
- Sits without support
- Mouths objects (ummm, everything is going in this child's mouth!)
- Passes objects from one hand to the other
- Lunges forwards and starts crawling (he does lung forward, but not a crawl yet)
- Jabbers and combines syllables
- Drags object towards himself
- Able to bear his weight when put in standing position (he has been able to do this for quite some time now)
- Able to hold own bottle
- Teething (his two bottom teeth are so cute!! they are getting bigger and bigger!)
- Makes sounds to mirrors and toys (he is always talking to his animals)


I am excited to see how much he has grown since his 4 month checkup. I know he already weighs around 18 pounds from our doc visit last week, but i want to see how tall he has gotten. He doesn't fit into any 6 month pants or sleepers anymore and even some of the 9 month pants and sleeper are too short! He takes after his momma with these long legs!!

Sick little boy :(

My Mr. man has been sick for the past few days :( It started off this past weekend with just a stuffy nose and coughing and a low grade temp (99-101). He was having a hard time nursing because of his stuffy nose but we made it through.

On Sunday night I had him sleep in bed with me because his temp was going up and he just wanted to cuddle...When we woke up on Monday his temp was 102, so I decided to keep him home. He slept pretty much all day and I kept him pumped with Tylenol.

On Tuesday he seemed to be doing better, so I let him go to daycare. The ladies said he seemed tired and out of it, but all in all was in good spirits. His temp was steady at around 100. He didn't really nap at all Tuesday after I picked him up and was uber cranky. I wasn't able to put him down without him screaming for me to pick him back up and cuddle, so cuddle I did!!

Wednesday is a different story....Since Darren has been in Chicago I've had to take Dane to and from daycare. I took his temp in the morning and it was 100, but I decided he could still go to daycare. He was laughing at Blue's Clue's (his favorite show BTW) just like any other morning. He fell asleep on the ride to daycare and when we arrived he was shaking. I attributed it to being cold, so i cuddled with him a bit before i left for work and he seemed fine. 2 hours later I get a call that he is shaking uncontrollably and his temp is 103! I raced to pick him up and took him right into the peds office. They looked at his ears (clear) his throat (clear) his chest (clear) his CBC (good) and WBC (good). Basically I have a healthy child that is sick....ha! The doc said to not worry unless his temp goes above 105....and to expect a lot of puking (because he is swallowing the mucus because he doesn't know how to blow his nose yet) and possibly diarrhea (because of the mucus again) but to just keep him pumped full of Tylenol and give him lots of TLC.

They don't test for the swine flu at my peds office....I am not sure why but I can only speculate because really it's a waste of money to test for it. It's just like any other flu and there isn't any particular treatment for it anyway. (The media has blown it way out of proportion in my opinion)

I am glad I did take him in because now that I know how much he weighs (18.1 lbs!!) I can give him the proper dose of Tylenol and/or Motrin (I was only giving him half as much as he needed, and I switched to Motrin because i think it works better)

Our little monkey isn't allowed back at daycare until he is fever free without Tylenol/Motrin for 24 hours....which means he wont be going to daycare tomorrow either......

I shouldn't point this out because it will only make me mad, but I've paid for a whole week of daycare and he was only there for 1.5 days!! Ugh...i wish we could pay for only the days he is there and not whether he is there or not....especially when the facility is actually closed for holidays. I don't think we should have to pay for holidays!!!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

It's been a while since I updated you all on our progress with sleeping and other fun things, so here we go:

Dane has been doing really great with sleeping! His body got into a routine for a couple of nights where he would wake up at around 10:30 and then again at around 2:30. I really wanted to break him of waking up at 10:30ish, so for the past two nights I've let him cry (it's not a harsh cry by any means, it's a whining cry) for about an hour, then I will go in and wrap him back up in his blanket (he has moved around so much in his crib that his blanket is at one end and he is at the other), put him back in the center of the crib, and pat his tummy and hum him a lullaby. I do not feed him as I want his body to get used to not eating at this time. He has been doing great! In fact, last night he fell back asleep until 4:15 - which leads me to my next update:

When I went to check on Dane at 4:15 this morning he was on his tummy in his crib playing with his stuffed animal! HE WAS ON HIS TUMMY! This means my little monkey can now roll over! Yay! I don't know if he did it on his own or he used the crib for help, but either way he was rolled over and that is a big step! He was just playing in his crib and probably could have gone another hour or two - but I really REALLY needed him to eat....he didn't eat anything since 7pm and I am used to nursing every two hours - and here it is 9 hours later and I hurt so bad! I was so full that little man couldn't suck fast enough! It was a messy endeavour but we made it through...hahah!!

I had to change him because there was milk just everywhere - and since he was wide awake i brought him and some toys into bed with me so I could cat nap till I had to get up for work at 5:15 and he could play....but he fell asleep right away! What a good little man....He let his momma sleep for another 30 minutes! Hey - I will take what I can get!

Another update - I packed away almost all of his 6 months clothes! He still fits into some onsies and pants if they are soft and stretchy, but for the most part he is wearing 9 months clothes! I just cant believe this because I just feel like I unpacked and washed the 6 month clothes!

And yet another update: Dane's teeth are popping up more and more each day! They sure are sharp and he has bitten me a couple of times. I tap him on the cheek and say "no!" and he stops biting....He hasn't bitten me in a while so maybe he learned?

And YET another update: Ha! Isn't this fun? Dane can sit on his own now! Every once and while he will topple over, so I keep the boppy around him - but for the most part he is sitting on his own! Yay! Go Dane!!

And the final update: He is eating about 2.5 tablespoons of rice cereal each night. He doesn't like the normal plain rice cereal, it has to be the apple flavored...and he will not eat the sweet potatoes anymore either....I think I have a picky eater on my hands!! After his check up next week we will probably add another meal into his daily diet - so he will get cereal mid morning at daycare and then again at night. "Yay" and "Boo" at the same time...."Yay" because he is getting to be such a big boy and "Yay" because then I don't have to pump as much at work....and "Boo" because this means less nursing time for us.....I plan on nursing him till he is around one year old, but I am already missing the one time a day he eats cereal....:o( But - it must be done and I am sure every nursing mom has gone through this feeling. I am just glad I have been able to do it this long and it has been such a great experience for both of us.

OK, I think I am done with the updates.....wait...one more....nope, nah - just kidding...I am done.

Why oh WHY didn't we ever think of this before???

We decided that enough was enough when it came to Cora's shedding....either we start shaving her, or we get her groomed....Well, luckily we decided to get her groomed! A shaved German shepherd wouldn't be too attractive, not to mention she'd probably be extremely embarrassed and really cold this winter!! SO, I called around to a few places for the best price and decided on the "furminator" package at Petsmart. Basically what they do is wash her with medicated shampoo, us a shedding conditioner to loosen all the hair, and then blow dry her while brushing her. Then they use a "furminator" (which is a fancy name for some type of brush) and brush her hair till no more hair comes out. She was there for almost 4 hours!!! I saw some of the hair that they got off of her (i only saw the hair they brushed out, not the hair that came out when they bathed and blow dried her) and I kid you not, it could have fit in a large garbage bag! She looks absolutely amazing! She looks younger and thinner. It's money well spent. Included in the package was ear cleaning, teeth brushing, and nail trimming. She walks around so proud because she looks great!!! I think this is definitely something we will splurge on for her (and us) a couple times a year. I used to hoo and haa about people taking their dogs to get groomed, but now I am a firm believer in it!! I now only have to vacuum once a week instead of twice!! Poor Chai feels left out I am sure, her day at the spa entails getting washed in the kitchen sink!! Ha!!

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.....