Sleep Training: Day 4

Morning Nap


Today I moved my chair beside the nursery door. Evidently this made Nicolaus think it was time to play games. It took 40 minutes for his to finally fall asleep.

Afternoon Nap

What a struggle! He does have a fever this afternoon, but I was ready to give up! 1 hour total

Bedtime

15 minutes total and no emptying of the crib. Thank God!

Sleep Training: Day 3

Afternoon Nap

My monthly MOMs Club meeting met this morning, so in order to preserve his nap, Nicolaus and I ran some errands beforehand. He slept the entire time in the car for about an hour. He was tired a little earlier in the afternoon due to a shortened/different morning nap and activity at the MOMs meeting. He emptied his crib only once and was asleep in 20 minutes.

Bedtime:

No emptying of the crib! Elapsed time from story to slumber: 30 minutes

Sleep Training: Day 2

Morning Nap

After much internal debate, I decided I needed to be consistent with our sleep routine at naptime. So when Nicolaus started looking sleepy, we went into his nursery, I read him a story and put him in his crib and sat in my rocker. He threw out his blanket and Buddy three times, but then snuggled up with his Buddy and fell asleep. From the time we strated his story to when I was walking out of his nursery, 30 minutes passed. Much better than the hour and 15 minutes it took last night!

Afternoon Nap

There were several more antics this afternoon when I put Nicolaus in his crib, and boy was it hard to keep a straight face when he was standing on his head or trying to put his Buddy around himself like a cape. But finally, he decided it was time to lay down and he very swiftly closed his eyes and drifted off. Total time was about 35 minutes.

Bedtime

When it was all said and done, he emptied his crib three times, but when Nicolaus finally fell asleep 45 minutes had elapsed since we started his stories. Thats progress for bedtime!

Sleep Training: Day 1

Since we stopped night feedings, Nicolaus has been a great sleeper. Once he goes to bed, he is down for the night sleeping nearly 12 hours. His parents are the issue. We have let him become accustomed to being rocked to sleep each night. I do not think anything is wrong with this practice, and I love every minute of holding my baby in my arms, especially right when he has just fallen asleep and is so content and snuggly. But it must stop. First of all, as I am getting bigger in this pregnancy, it is becoming increasingly harder to hold him on my lap and rock him to sleep for a half hour. Second, when his baby sister comes along, I just will not be able to spend as much one on one time with him, especially thirty minutes to an hour each night putting him to bed. Knowing this and actually implementing sleep training are two very different things. Ironically, March's issue of Parenting magazine includes an article on gentle sleep training with a method proposed by a child and family therapist from Annapolis MD (http://www.sleeplady.com/). So I decided this would be the week. Tonight our nighttime routine started at 6:30 pm after his bath. We read a few stories, said "Night-night, time to turn out the light," darkened the room and sang him one song. On any other night I would continue to sing or hum until he slipped off into dreamland. Tonight I layed him down in his crib. Immediately he stood up and threw his Buddy, blanket and pacifier out of his crib. He messed around in his crib for a while and when he really started rubbing his eyes again, I put everything back in his crib, laid him down and told him it was night-night time. This cycle repeated a few times until finally he collapsed on his blanket and decided to go to sleep--or so I thought. I started to creep out of the room until I realised his eyes were wide open! When he saw me move, he sat up, looked at me for a bit and then laid back down. This repeated several times until I was finally able to slip out unnoticed. When I walked downstairs the clock read 7:45 pm. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

Next Iron Chef America?

3rd Trimester!

Where are the weeks going? Wasn't I just announcing on this blog that Nicolaus is going to be a big brother? Now we are 3 months (maybe less) from meeting our little girl. I thought it would be fun to compare how I looked when pregnant with Nicolaus at the start of the home stretch. With him it seems I was bigger all around!

How far along: 27 weeks

Total weight gain: 16 lbs

Maternity clothes: A must! alot of the same clothes I wore with Nicolaus fit so differently too.

Stretch marks: Still none...knock on wood

Sleep: Its a crap shoot. Crampy legs and reflux are always threatening

Movement: Stronger movement every day. She also seems to have changed postions. She is no longer transverse (laying side to side)

Food cravings/aversions: None to speak of...though in the mornings I usually can go for something sweet.
Other symptoms: Without going into details about rashes, etc., this little girl is already causing mommy stress. A lot more tired at the end of the day too.

Belly button status: Still an innie but getting more shallow

What I miss: Wouldn have loved to have a bottle of wine (or two) with John today on Valentine's Day

What I am looking forward to: Finishing the blanket I started for her and seeing her wrapped up in it

Milestones: making it to the 3rd trimester!

Nicolaus' reaction: Still ponders at the kicks and bumps he gets when sitting on Mommy's lap.

15 Months

* 23 lbs 12 oz and 31.5 inches tall
* 7 teeth
* Running!
* Newest words are Nanny, turtle and Buddy
* Enjoys longer stories at naptime and bedtime
* Back to 2 good naps during the day
* Still an iffy eater
* Loves his time with Daddy and copies what "Da-Da" says and does
* His personality is REALLY coming out. He is so outgoing and loves to put on a show when people come over. He gets frustrated when things don't work exactly how he wants or he cannot do something the 1st time. (Hmmm, wonder where he gets that)

Buddy

Nicolaus has a Buddy. Not a blankie or a lovey...those terms just didn't sem to fit the little guy he has latched onto and frankly seemed a little feminine. So Nicolaus has a Buddy. I spied him one day after a nap having pulled this hybrid chipmunk stuffed animal-blanket through the bars on his crib from a bin I have full of blankets on his floor. He held him up in the air, spoke something very kind to "him" and gave him a hug. He has gone to bed with his Buddy every night since. I have to search the web for another in case he gets really attached.

Update: Found more Buddies online at www.kashwereathome.com. They are called Kashwere Kreatures. Too cute!

More Snow

Two Feet at our house!

My handsome snowmen!

The snow sure makes everything beautiful!

99 Day Countdown!

Only 99 days until we meet our baby girl! And that's assuming I go to term. Given that Nicolaus was a big boy and almost 2 weeks early, going to 40 weeks is doubtful. How has nearly 6 months gone by so quickly? My first pregnancy seemed to take FOREVER! I certainly don't have much free time on my hands dealing with little man, that's for sure!

The Sweetest Thing

Nicolaus kissing Mommy's belly. Wonderful Mommy moment!

Sneak Peek

I finally get to start knitting things for our baby girl! I cannot believe in three months Carliegh will be wearing items handmade by her mommy!

Sweater Weather

Mr Groundhog did indeed see his shadow and boy is it COLD outside! In fact my area is bracing to get blasted by another snow storm expected to drop 2 more feet of snow. I admit I am tired of being snowed in and fighting off a constant case of cabin fever, but I am excited I still have plenty of time this winter to wear the sweater I just finished knitting. It is the first article of real clothing I have ever completed and the first item I have ever knit for myself. The Baby Alpaca Grande yarn is oh so soft and I love how the sweater hugs my shoulders and keeps me cozy.

Proud Mommy Moment

I will be the first to admit that in the short span of his life, my son has managed to wrap me around his cute little finger. I go to him when he cries, hold him when he wants to be held, give in to what he wants to eat and rock him to bed every night. With baby girl on the way, I have come to realize Nicolaus needs to get used to not always being the center of attention because, lets face it, he won't be. So I must grow a wee bit thicker skin. Anyway, this weekend I baked some homeade chocolate chip cookies. Somehow or another Nicolaus picked up the word "cookie." Mind you he has only had a total of one or two cookies if you add up the bites here and there so John and I are not quite sure where he learned the word. So this morning he is sitting on the floor in the kitchen and throws himself into a tantrum shouting "cookie, cookie!" and pointing to the cookie jar. I refused to give in to this first REAL tantrum and sat in the family room with toys surrounding me making sure he saw what a great time I was having. In an effort to get me to notice him, Nicolaus starts doing what can only be described as "the snake" on the floor, crying all the while. This continued for about 5 minutes when all of a sudden he stood up, walked over to where I sat, gave me a hug and started playing. It really does work to not give in to their tantrums!