10 Months Old

  So, I am happy to report, Collin goes to bed most nights at 7pm and sleeps through until about 6am. He gets up and nurses and goes right back to bed until about 8:00am. So the answer is yes, I do believe that the 'sleep training' did the trick and yes, if we didn't do it we would still have a midnight to four sleeper and a cranky baby. Now, don't get me wrong! He does not do this every night, there are still nights when he wakes crying at midnight and four am, but the majority of nights, this is the pattern, and I will happily accept it! :)

Foods are also going pretty well. Still making most of his food myself, but also using the Ella's Kitchen or Happy Baby foods when I go out as they are easy, convenient and organic. We just started lentils and Collin seems to really like them (who would have known?! I didn't know what a lentil was until fairly recently!!) My main goal with my food decisions for Collin are to expose him to healthy, non processed foods with the hope that his taste buds will know and enjoy these good-for-you foods, and when he is old enough to make his own food choices, he will eat the good stuff along with the crap I know he will someday eat. I hope for him a life free from the eating/weight struggles that I have. I guess we always want better for our kids, huh?

So Mr. 10 months already is not quite crawling yet but he gets around fairly well. He sits on his bottom and uses his legs to spin around, then he uses one knee to push one way or the other - quite resourceful I think lol! He is still in early intervention because he's not crawling and he is using his leg muscles instead of his trunk muscles to sit up, but we are working on that and I feel that he will be just fine. So does his pediatrician. 

We also had is eye rechecked and that visit went a-ok also. No need for any type of surgery which was great to hear, and he gets rechecked in 2 years! :)

So all in all, Collin is doing very well and so are the rest of us. Chelsea starts college and Ryan starts 5th grade this week. The time just flies by! 

Enjoy every moment!

The Sixty Sixth Night through The Seventieth Night

What a life!

So instead of laying out all the days and nights, I'll just give a summary.

Collin has been going to bed at night pretty well. He does sometimes still cry for a while but most nights he cries/fusses for about 15 minutes before he goes off to sleep.

Naps are pretty good too. If we are home all day, He will take 3 naps. The first one of the day being the longest at about two hours and the last one being the shortest at about an hour. If we are out and about, he will sleep in the car and then want to take a long nap when we get home, so I try to make sure he doesn't nap past 5:30pm, as I want him to be in bed for the night by 7:30pm.

Now, where is the problem? The problem is with wake up time! He was sleeping 11 hours a night, which was great - down about 7:30pm and up about 6:30am. I was happy with that, but lately, he has been getting up between 4am and 5am! Not good, not good!!

We visited the pediatrician the other day (wanted to rule out an ear infection as he was pulling at his ears - it's his teeth - like he needs more teeth, right?) and mentioned the early wake up time. She said her kids were getting up early also and she believes it is because of the light. Hmmm... our sleep expert felt this had nothing to do with sleep at all but we figured we would try it.

We blocked out the bedroom windows last night and guess what?

Collin was up at 3:00 am!!!!

Humph, now that had the opposite effect that we wanted it to have!!!

Ugh. Well, we will just keep plugging along and see what develops!

The Sixty First Night through The Sixty Fifth Night

I'm sitting pretty well !!!

So. We have had an odd few days.

On Night #61, Collin refused his dinner and was pulling on his ears. No temp though and I am guessing it's teeth (like seven aren't enough!) He has NEVER refused a meal, nor has he ever pulled on his ears... :(

I put him down that night at 7:50pm and he cried for a couple of minutes, but mostly made 'Ahhh Yaaa Yaaa' noises until 8:10pm. I didn't go back in to comfort him because he wasn't crying. Sometimes when I go in there after the seven minutes and he's not crying, it makes him start crying again, so if I don't hear anything, I turn the monitor on to check if he's making noise before I go in.

The next morning, Collin was up at 5:30am and I figured that was normal, as he didn't eat dinner so he must be hungry, right? But he didn't eat any more than usual. He napped from 7am to 8:30am, 11am to 12:15am, 1:30pm to 2:00pm (woke up sooo cranky from this nap!) and 4:30pm to 5:10pm. I put him to bed (Night # 62) for the night at 7:40pm and he cried until 8:10pm - I went in every seven minutes (yes, I know I should make it ten minutes by now, but I just can't do it.) I figured since he got up early, he's be off schedule, I just didn't yet realize how off he would be.....

The morning of night #63, he woke up at 5:10am. He was on his belly (he can roll both ways, so I wasn't sure why he was so upset about this) so I rolled him back, gave him his wubanubs, rubbed his belly and tried to go back to sleep. He wasn't hearing it and I ended up getting him up and changed and fed. He napped from 6am to 7:45am, 9:40 to 10:10am, and a little here and there from a stroller ride and a car ride. I put him down at 7:20pm and he cried until 8:10pm. I'm putting him to bed at the normal time and he's eating good and not pulling his ears, nor does he have a fever, so he should be getting up at a normal time, right???

*sigh* Want to guess what time he was up on the next morning? 4:10am!!!!! WHAT!? I tried everything to get him to go back to sleep but he refused until I fed him at 4:50am. He went back to sleep at 5:10am until 8am! So in theory, shouldn't he be sleeping through till 8am?! If it wasn't for this one waking up episode each morning? Grrrr! So, on the 64th night, he napped from 9:10am to 10am and we were out most of the day, so he did allot of car sleeping. I put him to bed a little earlier than usual. He was cranky and I was trying to keep him up until 7:30pm but my Daughter pointed out that no matter what time I put him down, he's still getting up early, so my theory was blown to bits - why torture myself trying to keep up a cranky baby? Humph. She was right. So he went down at 7:00pm and cried for only SIX minutes!

Now, I would like to say that he didn't get up until at least 6am the next morning, but I would be lying. He was up bright and early - well, it's not yet bright then, so just early, at 4:20am! Whhhyyyyy!!!???? I again ran the gamut and tried everything, wubanubs, diaper change, holding, belly rubbing, nothing worked until I nursed him. After eating, he went back to sleep until 8am. Wahhhh... I just don't get it - he's gone months now without getting up to eat in the night/morning!  He napped from 9:30am to 11am, 1pm to 2:15pm and slept in the car in the afternoon. I put him to bed for the night at 7:50pm.

I would guess at a growth spurt but he's not eating any more than usual, just earlier. Any suggestions?

The Sixtieth Night

My favorite part of mealtimes?
Chewing on the spoon!

Sixty nights! wow! :)

We were out late, visiting my Mom and didn't get home until a little after 8pm. (Funny that I now refer to 8pm as late!) He fell asleep at my Mom's house about 7:15pm and slept until we got home. He woke when we were going from the car to the house and wasn't a happy camper. I went through our normal bedtime routine but omitted the story, as he was wayyyy too cranky for that!

I laid him down at 8:20pm. I went in every 7 minutes as normal, but this time was a little different. Collin would stop crying when I came in, immediately roll to his side where I would rub/pat his back, and he would be as quiet as a mouse. The moment I moved my hand away, he would start to wail! BROKE my heart!!!!!

He did that every time I went in (hmmm... maybe now is the right time to go to 10 minutes?) and finally fell asleep at 9:10pm. Poor baby! Poor Mommy! He did sleep until 6:15am, which is a fairly normal time for him, but it did shorten the number of hours he was asleep, so I have a feeling we will be taking some decent naps today (hopefully!!!)

The Fifty-Ninth Night

Four top teeth!

Collin is SEVEN months old today! I just don't know where the time is going?!

I think yesterday's naps were making up for the shorter sleep time the night before. He took his normal 1 1/2 hour nap about an hour or so after he got up, but also took a nap at 10:30am that lasted 4 hours!!!! WHAT?!

Then he took a short 40 minute nap at 5:00pm and was rubbing his eyes at 7:15pm, so I put him to bed. He cried longer than usual, lasting about 50 minutes. :(

He's off schedule again, plus he's getting yet another tooth, so I guess a bit more crying than usual is to be expected?

Now that we have the basics down, I am going to finish to the Sixtieth day and then start posting every fifth day - to keep everyone in the loop but not to bore everyone to death. :) Thanks to everyone who sent me comments and advice - it's been a HUGE help knowing I've had that support out there!!! :)

The Fifty-Eighth Night

My SEVENTH tooth is coming in!!!

So yesterday's naps didn't go so well again. We were only out for a little while but it seemed to knock him off schedule anyways. Hmmm... I can't stay home everyday just so his naps work out! lol!

We had our awesome neighbors over last night for dinner and drinks, which was great!! and Collin got put to bed at 8:10pm. No crying, no protest, He went right down. I thought he would be up at about 7am, since he went to be about 8pm but he was up at 5:40am!!! WHAT is with that?

My husband got up with him, as it was his turn :). He did go back to bed an hour later, at 6:45am and slept until 8:15am. I wish he would have slept through that 5:40am wake up till 8:15! Now THAT would have been nice! :)

Also, Collin won't eat solids for my husband. Bill said he tried to give him his apples and cereal but he only ate a couple of bites. Hmmmm... does anyone else have this issue?

I did get to sleep until 9am, which was pretty nice. It was broken sleep but it was better than no sleep at all, right?! :) He does seem to be eating allot more than normal today - are we in yet another growth spurt? He's just growing too fast!!! :)

The Fifty-Seventh Night

The Boyz :)

Yesterday was the busiest 'errand' day I've had in a long time. I had so many stops to make and was out the majority of the day. Collin was just great!
He flirted with the ladies at the hairdressers, coughed* at the cashiers everywhere we went and giggled at the guy at Home Depot giving me a price on a rototiller.
I was so impressed! It was so hot and Collin was so great! I couldn't believe how good he was! It'll probably never happen again, but that's OK  ha-ha!

There were only five to ten minute naps between stores so I was quite concerned that Collin would give us a really hard time going to bed. He seemed really tired by 7:10pm so I laid him down and he cried for about 5 minutes then fell off to sleep. Even with the landscaper going at it right under his window! Yeaaaa Collin!!!

*Collin has been sort of 'fake coughing' and I'm starting to wonder if that his own way of communication, as he isn't babbling at all. Anyone else's babies doing anything like this?

The Fifty-Sixth Night

Thanks Auntie Lori for all the books! 

So. We had a pretty good night.

Naps were not as rock-star as they've been but we were out for part of the day and that always puts a small wrench in things. Collin almost always falls asleep in the car, so he gets all these little naps - 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there and those aren't good, deep sleep naps. Those little naps sometimes make for a cranky baby. I did put him down for an afternoon nap which he seriously protested but took anyways - only about 40 minutes though.

Bedtime happened at 8:00pm. And it was a great bedtime! We went through our routine (My Aunt sent us some great books! We now have a decent collections of bedtime stories to read and we read 'Goodnight Moon' last night. That bowl full of mush is going to attract ants!! Anyone else notice this yet?!) and I laid him down, gave him his wubanubs (he almost never uses the pacifier part of them anymore) and he rolled to his side and was sound asleep in moments. There was no crying, no fussing, no complaining, not even a hum! And he slept through until 6:30 this morning! Yippie! :)

The Fifty-Fifth Night

Sitting up!

So. Last night, at 7:20pm, Collin fell asleep in my arms. Instead of just going and putting him down, I held him for a while. He won't be this young for long and it felt so nice, holding him while he wasn't wiggling. :)

So at 8:10pm, I went to put him down for the night, and half way down the hallway, those adorable eyes popped open! So.... I just continued along like he didn't just take a 50 minute nap, and got him ready for bed.

At 8:20pm he was in bed, crying. :(

He cried for half an hour then finally fell asleep. I did go in every seven minutes and the last 10 minutes or so wasn't hard crying, it was more humming and crying together... VERY sad sounding, and he was asleep by 8:40pm.

This morning, he woke up at 6:30 and was just hanging out in his crib, not crying. I got him up, changed him, nursed him and he went back to sleep. We will be out and about today, so i'm glad he'll be getting in this nap. Yesterday's naps were pretty good - 2 hours in the morning, 1 1/2 hours early afternoon but he didn't take a late afternoon nap which is what messed him all up I think.  We will see how today's naps go.....

Also! He sat up all on his own yesterday for the very first time! Lasted a whole 30 seconds before he toppled over!!! :) SO exciting!!! :)

The Fifty-Fourth Night

Tummy time foiled again!

So. Yesterday's naps stunk because we were out and about a big portion of the day. My awesome neighbor, Liz, did get him to finally fall asleep in the shopping cart but he only slept for about half an hour. Oh well, someone's got to do the grocery shopping, right? :)

I put Collin down to sleep at 8:20pm. It was a late bedtime only because time just slipped away from me - not to mention it took me forever to put all the groceries away!

AND Collin was being just adorable. lol. He was giggling and blowing raspberries, and being totally social and cute, so I was paying no attention to the clock at all.

Like I said, he went down at 8:20pm and made not a peep. I laid him down in his crib (after our bedtime routine, of course) and he rolled to his side, stuck his face in his fluffy white blanket and started to hum. He was sound asleep within minutes. (LOVE nights like that!!)

He was up at 7:00 this morning, which is when I would like to be getting up each morning, so it all worked out very well. I think an 8:00pm bedtime may be the new goal. The only issue with that is sometimes he's a tired mess by 6:30pm. What do I do on those nights? Hmmmm.....

The Fifty-Third Night

Collin and Marcia!

Wow! Yesterday's naps - can you say ROCK STAR!? I can't believe how well he napped yesterday! 1 1/2 hours at 8am, 2 hours at noon and 1 1/2 hours at 4pm! I can't count how many times I checked on him to make sure he was still breathing!

The sleep expert always told me that the better they nap, the better they will sleep at night. I don't get why that is but I see it now, as after all those naps, Collin went down at 7:30pm with no crying at all and he got up this morning at 7:30am! That is the very first time he's slept 12 hours!

I did hear him at 4:30am and 6:30am, both times I got up to check and he was still sleeping, just making noises. So I didn't disturb him.

It will definitely be interesting to see if he takes rock star naps today and how long he sleeps tonight. Hopefully, this wasn't all a fluke! :)

The Fifty-Second Night

Handsome Guy!

So. Collin's morning nap lasted TWO hours yesterday! What is with these long naps?! Is he making up for going to bed later? I am so taking a nap when he does today! (Watch it be a regular 40 minute nap, right?!) haha!

We went out to dinner last night with my parents in-law, in Rockland, MA and we didn't get home until 8:40pm. Collin slept on the hour and change ride home. When we got in, I nursed him even thought I don't usually feed him after 7pm anymore, I felt that he didn't get as much nursing/solids as he usually does and wanted to avoid him getting up at 5am hungry.

We put him to bed right after feeding him and he made one little humming noise and was out. He didn't get up in the night at all and I heard him humming back to sleep about 6:15am - 6:30am which is his normal wake up time.   So he slept a little later than usual as he got up at 7:15am. Not too bad for knocking him off schedule for the third night in a row! :)

The Fifty-First Night

Daddy's doing breakfast today!

So. Collin took a THREE hour nap yesterday! WHAT!? Why didn't I get the memo that he had that in the works, cause I would have LOVED a three hour nap!!!! :)

That was at 10:30am. He napped again at 5pm for a few minutes and we put him down at 8pm. He cried for a half an hour :( and then he was out until 6:30am. Then he ate and fell back to sleep until 9:00am which was very nice!

I so wish we knew what determines the length of sleep! Then, if I knew that i'd be rich, right? *sigh*

I also wish we knew what makes them cry out in their sleep. He doesn't do it often, but sometimes he lets out this absolutely heartbreaking wail. He sounds so very sad! He is definitely asleep when he does it and I don't know why. Does anyone else's baby do that?

The FIFTIETH Night!

We've come a long way, baby!

Wow! Fifty nights!

Well, we went out to eat as a family with the baby for the very first time!!! Well, that would be the first time we made it through a dinner without having to leave because of the baby! :)

We went to Uno's about 6:40pm and didn't get home until 9pm!

Of course, we put him down at 9 and he did cry for 20 minutes and then was out. He got up at 6:30am to eat and went back to sleep until 8:30am!

I was really nice, having a dinner out with all of the kids!!! :)

The Forty-Ninth Night

Nom Nom Nom

So. Not so great a night, but ok. Haha.. I know that sounds kind of strange, so let me explain...

I put Collin down at 7:40pm and he cried for half an hour. :( I have found that I can deal with ten minutes or less of crying, no sweat but anything longer and I fret, terribly. *sigh*

Thirty minutes is not nearly as bad as it has been in the past or could have been last night, so I should not complain. BUT, yesterday was a rough day all the way around.

And sometime in the middle of the night, I stepped in dog poop (my little Harley got into something she should not have!) and after cleaning it up I was so annoyed that I could not fall back to sleep, so I was up for about 2 1/2 hours when I should have been sleeping. Thankfully, the baby did not wake up through my grumbling and the turning on of the big light.

He did get up at 5:45am though, which I find way too early. 15 more minutes and I would have not minded but there's something about getting up before 6am that my whole psyche finds revolting. Strangely, I didn't mind so much when Collin was an infant and had to nurse every two hours.

Anyways, he is currently taking his morning nap, so I am going to try and sneak a few zzzz's along with him.....

The Forty-Eighth Night

See my teeth?

So. Third night in a row! Collin went down at 7:40pm and cried for less than ten minutes. He didn't make a peep all night and got up at 6:30am!

I am amazed! I'm thrilled! It took almost fifty nights but we did it! :)

He is even napping fairly well during the day. He takes the longest nap in the morning, he goes down about an hour to an hour and a half after he gets up and sleeps for about one to one and a half hours.

In the afternoon, it varies. Sometimes he naps once sometimes twice, sometimes he naps for 20 minutes sometimes 40 minutes. Hmmm... maybe I need to continue working on afternoon naps......

The Forty-Seventh Night

Collin and his friends, Sydney & Julia!

TWO good nights in a row!!!!

He went down at 7:20pm, cried for 10 minutes (I went in once to comfort him) and was out like a light - ALL night!

I can't believe we had two good nights in a row! This is very exciting!! Again, I let him nurse as long as he wanted before bed, not putting a time cap on it and not bothering to even look at the clock. A longer nursing session was a suggestion from our friend Michelle, thanks Michelle! It seems to be helping!!!

He also napped really well yesterday and the day before, so I think the combination of the good naps and the longer nursing session is doing the trick. I could be wrong and it could all fall apart tonight, but let's hope not! :)

The Forty-Sixth Night

What a good night!!!! Collin went to bed at 7:40pm, after nursing for 45 minutes instead of the usual short feeding at bedtime. He didn't fall asleep until 8:10pm BUT I didn't set the timer or go in there at all! Why? Because he wasn't crying! He was making noises and humming but NOT crying!!!! :)

He did NOT wake up all night either!
I didn't hear him at all until 6:00am!

Now, that makes for a little less than 10 hours of sleep, not his usual 11 hours so it will be interesting to see what kind of naps he has today. I wonder if he will make up for it or if he will be beyond tired by 5:30pm?

Now, I can do 7:40pm - 8:10pm as a bedtime. That's fine by me. And although 6am is a tad early, I much prefer it to 5am!

So the question of the day? Was last night a fluke, or will we repeat it?!
Stay tuned... lol

The Forty-Fifth Night

*gasp* Really?!

So. Yesterday was our seventh wedding anniversary and we went out to dinner to celebrate. Chelsea watched the boys for us and put Collin to bed.

She said he did great - went right down without complaint at 6:45pm. A little earlier than I would like but she said he was really sleepy so that was fine. I left a bottle of milk for him as an extra feeding, hoping that it would help him sleep through the night but he only ate about half an ounce and was sound asleep.

We had a wonderful dinner and were home, in bed, by 10pm! Haha... can you tell we have a young baby?

Collin woke me up at 2:30am. TWO THIRTY! That's even worse than 4:30am!! I gave him his wubanubs, comforted him, fixed his blanket and went back to bed. He made noise (loud noise but not real crying) for about 45 minutes before he finally fell back to sleep. Then he was up at 5:30am! ugh!

So now it's 7:30 am and he's already taking his first nap!!! HOW do I get him to bed later if he's up so darn early?!?! Ahhh!

The Forty-Fourth Night

6 teeth and you can't see any!

So. Last night,  I got to go out for a much needed girl's night and my husband was in charge of bedtime!

He started the bedtime routine about 7:00pm and Collin was asleep by 7:45pm - he did about 15 minutes of crying. Not bad!

Guess who was up again at 4:30 this morning?!

I've been putting it off but it is definitely time to call the sleep expert again. I have tried soothing him, giving him his wubanubs, even changing his diaper and putting him back to bed, giving him some water, all sorts of stuff but he keeps getting up and nothing will get him to back to sleep except feeding him!

Any suggestions would be happily taken!!! I can't think of what else to do with him at 4:30am! He just gets more and more upset until I finally give in and nurse him. Then he goes back to sleep for another couple of hours Hmmmm....

The Forty-Third Night

One of Mommy's favorite pictures!

So again, Collin went down at a good time - 7:45pm and he went right down, no fuss, no crying. :) LOVE that! 

He also didn't get up in the middle of the night, which was awesome! LOVE that too!

But... he was up at 5:45am. Grrrrr.... that's too early!! NOT loving that!

He did eat and go back to sleep thought (at 6:40am), which I took full advantage of and slept until 8am. 

Again, I thought pushing the bedtime forward would in turn push the wake up time forward? What happened to that? *sigh* Why am I keeping him up later if he isn't sleeping later? Right?

I think it is time to contact the sleep expert again. 

The Forty-Second Night

I love that smile!!

So. Last night, I was thrilled to put Collin to bed at 8pm!

He cried for less than seven minutes and I seriously thought that since he is 'done' waking up in the middle of the night, he would be up about 7am, which sounded GREAT to me! :)

At 3am I heard him (I did think it was 5am for some time, until I actually put my glasses on and looked at the clock!). He fussed and fussed for a while, then I got up and gave him his pacifiers, rubbed his belly, etc... but it wasn't working. He was still fussing.

My husband thoughtfully suggested that it was dry in the room, so maybe turning on the humidifier and offering Collin some water might be a good idea. I did both things but the bottle with water it in seemed to tick him off. It wasn't milk. *sigh* WHAT is with these middle of the night feeding sessions?! If it was a growth spurt, wouldn't that be followed by in increase in eating during the day?!

So up I was at the 3am hour, feeding the baby. My husband got up to get a drink and thoughtfully said to me, "Happy Birthday!" I politely said thank you in return but was thinking more like yeah, happy my butt. :)

As soon as he was fed, my little cherub went right back to sleep and when he woke up at 7am (!!!!) my husband was kind enough to get up with him and let me sleep an extra hour. (Thanks Honey!)

I did try to nap today and fell right to sleep when Collin did at 4pm. At 4:20pm, I was woken up by my cranky baby. That was not the refreshing nap I was hoping for!! *sigh*

Better luck next time I guess :)

The Forty-Second Night

Yes, computer's on the fritz again.

So Collin just refused to stay up any later than 6:45pm. There was just no keeping him up as he was falling apart. Which of course, ment that he was up at 5:45am. That is just so early!!!

I do know that I should be really thankful that he sleeps eleven hours a night and stop complaining but I would like to be able to stay up until at least 10pm and not be utterly exhausted each morning. Unfortunately, as of now, I need to go to bed by 8:30pm at the latest to feel good the next morning when we are getting up at the five o'clock hour. I am just not sure how to get him to stay up later.

The good news is that when he's that tired, I put him in his crib and he just rolls to his side, rubs his face in whatever he can reach - wubanub or blanket - and says, 'ahhhhh...' and falls right to sleep. There is no crying. It makes bedtime really simple. Hmmmm.....

The Forty-First Night

Awwww...... those cheeks!

So. We had a pretty good night!

Collin got very cranky by 7:00pm and I stretched out the bedtime routine as long as possible, putting him down at 7:30pm. He cried, pretty hard, for about 10 minutes and then he was out.

At 3:45am, I heard him. Now, 4:30am was early enough, but 3:45am was just unacceptable! He outgrew the need to eat at that hour months ago and there was just no way I was going back! I don't care what kind of growth spurt he was having, I just wasn't going to do it. Nope. No way.

So, I fixed his blanket, gave him his pacifiers and a kiss and back to bed I went. He cried (lightly) for about a half an hour. But it was not a hungry or upset cry at all. (If it had turned into that, no matter what I say, i'd have fed him, wimp I am!) But he fell back to sleep and didn't get up until 6:30am!

So we did 7:30pm to 6:30am! That is so very close to my goal of 8:00pm to 7:00am! Yippppie!!!

The Fortieth Night

I have learned 'Ptthhh!"

The Fortieth Night! That's a lot of nights! :) We certainly have come a long way but we are not yet where we want to be. 

Last night I put Collin down at 7:55pm and he cried for about 20 minutes. (Still going in at 7 minute intervals when he cries) He stopped and fell asleep right before the timer went off for the third time. 

Not bad, as about 8pm is the time I am looking for but he was yet again, up at 4:30 am! I did give him his pacifiers and tried to let him fuss for a while, but his fussings were getting louder and louder and were almost a full out cry when I finally gave in and picked him up, nursed him and put him back to bed. He slept until 7am after that, which is the goal time! 

But what is with these new early morning feedings?! We stopped doing that on the first night! Why are we all of a sudden doing it again now? I am not sure how I am going to fix this situation yet. He sleeps in our bedroom, so it is a bit difficult to let him cry when we are in there, trying to sleep. I did let him fuss for a good 20 minutes before I got him up though. *sigh* 

Well, I have about 7 1/2 hours to come up with a plan! :)

The Thirty-Ninth Night

So. Mother's Day. How did yours go? Mine was very nice! We had Lobster & Steamers at my Mom's house and Collin took a TWO hour nap and let me eat my dinner!!!! How neat is that?! I was thrilled! :)

We were out late, well, late for Collin that is, and ended up putting the pipsqueak (I love this word - I don't know why) to bed at 8pm! This is the time that I am shooting for so I was really excited to see what time he would wake up in the morning. Can you guess?

FOUR THIRTY! Yes, you read that correctly - Collin who usually sleeps 11 hours each night, went to bed at 8pm and was up at 4:30am!! Ahhhh! WHAT is THAT!?

Now, I did nurse him and put him back to bed and he did sleep until 7am!! So how do I get through that 4:30am waking? I'm pretty sure he's getting plenty of food and nutrients during the day.... suggestions?

The Thirty-Eighth Night

So serious!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!!

So. We had a really good night!

Collin made it until 7pm and was put into his crib at 7:15!! (instead of the usual 6:45pm) He again went right to sleep with no crying!! Not too shabby!!! :)

This morning, I was supposed to sleep in, it being Mother's day and all. Collin got up at a few minutes past 6am (MUCH better than the 5am hour!) and my husband got up with him and fed him a bottle i'd left for him. Of course, he cried while waiting for the bottle to warm, as he's not used to having to wait for his food. I fell back to sleep once the bottle was doing it's job and all was quiet.

By 7:20am, Collin was crying again. I just couldn't sleep through that. So I got up and of course by now, I am full full full. So, I feed him and then I give him the solids I prepared the night before so my husband didn't have to and I put him down for a nap. *sigh* so much for even going back to sleep, as now i'm hungry, thirsty and have to pump, and I may as well shower now while I have the opportunity, right?

I will have to be satisfied with the excellent evening - that must be Collin's Mother's Day gift to me! :)

The Thirty-Seventh Night

Thanks Auntie Lori for all the clothes!

So. Yesterday, naps were pretty good. Morning was about an hour and afternoon naps were short but frequent.

I planned on putting Collin to bed at 7:15pm but there was so much going on at bedtime and he was making sleepy noises, so I ended up putting him to bed at the usuall time - 6:45pm and he went right down.
There was NO crying at all!

He went from my arms, rolled to his side, hummed once into his wubanub and was out like a light. That was it. No level of drama, no feeling bad walking out of the room while he was crying, nothing. It was like the perfect bedtime except that it was too early. *sigh*

Yes, he was up by 5am. You know, It doesn't matter what time I have gone to bed, 5am is still just too early for me to be starting my day. I really don't know how to keep him up a little later without throwing everything off and having him cry. :(

Maybe i'm stuck with this 5am wake up time for a while? Do I really have to resign myself to 5am?!

The Thirty-Sixth Night

Messy Boy!

So. Last night was probably not the best night to start something new as Collin got 2 shots at the Doctor's office, BUT the timing was perfect so I thought I would give it a try. Besides, he took the shots well and was in a great mood up until bedtime! *sigh*

I laid him down at 7:11pm (about 20 minutes later than normal) and he cried until 8:07pm. We haven't spent an hour crying in quite some time. Yes, it sucked. :(

I thought the theory went - if you put him to bed later, he will get up later? Collin was up at 5:15 this morning! That is what I am trying to avoid!! So we got up and nursed and he fell back to sleep from about 6am to about 7am and then my Husband (!) got up with him and let me sleep another 45 minutes!!!! That was VERY cool!!!!

Ok, I put him to bed later but he didn't sleep later. What now? Do I just continue trying to get him to bed later? What if he ends up loosing that sleep and not making up for it in sleeping later or in naps and then he's all sorts of cranky? Hmmm... What do you all think?


PS.
A lot of people have been asking me if Collin gets up in the middle of the night at all. The answer is - not really. What I mean by that is I do hear him, humming in the middle of the night, sometimes I hear him a few different times, but I don't need to get up to feed or soothe him, he puts himself right back to sleep. We haven't had a middle of the night feeding since before The First Night . That was one of the first things we did after seeing the sleep expert was to limit his feedings to only occur between 7am and 7pm. He was big enough in weight to be able to do that and was getting enough nutritionally during the day where we knew he wasn't in need of it. He did fine with that change right from the start, as his late night and middle of the night feedings weren't really for nourishment, they were for comfort.

The Thirty-Fifth Night

One Cool Dude!

Ahhhh... so much easier to type on my computer! :)

So, yesterday I seriously learned a new appreciation and understanding for people with twins or more. My daughter had her tonsils removed on Monday and by last night, I was just exhausted from taking care of her and Collin. (Not to mention Ryan, the dogs, the cats, laundry, etc... etc....) I literally was sound asleep by 8:30pm.

Not that this blog is about my sleeping (haha) but oh my goodness, I could not imagine having multiples. I would absolutely HAVE to hire help! No doubt about it.

So last night, Collin was a cranky wreck by 5ish and to be totally honest, I forget what time I put him down at. I do remember that he went right down to sleep. He cried for less than 5 minutes. (Thank heavens for tiny miracles!) He didn't nap all that well and he was up at 5:30am which I am sure contributed to his 5pm crankiness. He repeated that early wake up time this morning. *sigh*
Thank goodness I went to bed as early as I did!!!

So, I have a new mission!! I would ideally like Collin to go down at  8pm and sleep until 7am. I feel like that is much more manageable than this 6 to 5 that we are currently doing. Now, when you say this to anyone, they will immediately respond with something like 'Just keep him up 5 minutes (10 minutes, 15 minutes, the time changes with the person you are speaking to) later than usual each night until you are at the time you want. Well, that idea is a GREAT idea - in theory. In reality, it's much much harder than it sounds.

BUT I've gotten this far, so i'm going to try.... tonight will be the first night trying this theory and it is already not going all so well......

The Thirty-Fourth Night

Ok, so my computer is still down, again I must deprive you all of a picture. :)
Collin didn't nap so well yesterday. He did nap but each nap was quite short. Even his morning nap which is usually his longest nap was short.

By 6:00pm he as 'Mr. Cranky-pants' as I think is possible for him to be and I didn't have much of a choice but to put him to bed early. I was very concerned that he would be up extra early because of it, but that was not the case. A little earlier than normal but not much. I'm quite grateful he sleeps so long as It was late when I could get to bed!!

I would ideally like to get him to where he is going down at 8pm and getting up at 7am. I'm just not sure how to get him to 8pm, as I often end up putting him down at 6 instead of 7 because he's so tired. Suggestions anyone??

The Thirty-Third Night

Please forgive the lack of an adorable picture,as I am writing this post on my cell phone instead of my computer (which is on the fritz) and can't seem to get that function to work. It was either no post today or a post with no picture - I opted for the second. :)

So. Let me tell you about last night. As most of you know, my 17 year old has her tonsills out yesterday, so the baby was with my Husband all morning until we got home at 2ish. He did nap twice in that time which was great!

Once bedtime came around, I wasn't sure how he would do because his schedule was a little off as far as eating goes - he refused to eat solids for my husband. He did the same thing with Chelsea when she babysat the other day. What is that about?!

So I put him to bed by 7pm and set the timer for the usuall seven minutes. When the timer went off, HE WAS ASLEEP!!!! I think I danced a jig!!!

The Thirty-Second Night

So last night, he cried for half an hour instead of the 15 minutes that he's done for the last few nights. I wonder what decides how long he will cry for? He fell asleep humming into his pacifier's edge (see picture) too cute!

He was up early too - at 5 am! What is with that?! Thank goodness I went to bed so early last night! These 5am wake up days are OK as long as I've gone to bed before 9pm! Any later and i'm a zombie!

What time are your kiddos going to bed and waking up at and are you happy with the length of sleep/times?

The Thirty-First Night

Just Rolled Over!

So We had another good night!
Collin was off a bit all day yesterday but seemed to work it out by the time bedtime came around. I put him down at 7pm and he cried for about 15 minutes (some of that was humming) and we didn't hear from him again until 5:45 this morning. (Which came seemingly early today!)

He turned 6 months old yesterday and rolled from his back to his front for the very first time! I can't believe we are already half way through his first year! Where does the time go?! I think he finally has bedtime down and his naps are improving by leaps and bounds!

The Thirtieth Night

Who?!   Me?!

So The Thirtieth night was an odd one.

Note: My husband and I went out at 5pm for a business meeting /dinner & drinks in Boston and we left Chelsea in charge of both Collin and Ryan. Also, Way back in the beginning of this journey, We instilled a cut off for nursing sessions, making them no longer than half an hour. For some reason,probably because I was going out for the evening, I felt the need to go back on that rule that I have been following for 30 nights and I nursed him for an hour at 4pm. 

It was tough to actually leave. Every horrific thought you can imagine was going through my head - what if we die in a car crash?  -what if the baby chokes on his food?  - what if he gets picked up and dropped by accident? I don't know why I torture myself by thinking like that, I certainly didn't think like that when Chelsea was little! *sigh* So we did finally leave and yes, I cried a bit. 

Needless to say, Chelsea and I sent texts back and forth for a good portion of the night and shared a couple of calls. I asked how he was at 5:30pm and she said he was fine. (I was worried as he has been showing some separation anxiety but he knows Chelsea so I was hoping all would be well in that department and it was)

She said at 6pm that she had tried to feed him his avocado and cereal but he took only 2 bites and started to cry, what should she do? I told her to wait and try again in half an hour or so. She did so and then a new message pops up - He seems content, what should I do? Now why is it so hard to answer this question? I so want things to go well, and if he was content, why rock the boat, right? So, my advise was to skip the solids and start the bedtime routine with the bottle I left. That seemed to to work, and by 6:53pm he was in bed and crying, but asleep by 7:15pm ! Yipppie! 

Then, as I was just starting to relax, at 9:30pm a text comes in and he's up crying (!!!) what should she do? Ummm... I haven't had to deal with him waking up after he goes to bed as he just hasn't done that. Once he goes to sleep, he's asleep for the night! So I told her to do the same as when she first put him to bed, go in, make sure he has his wubanubs, reassure him that your there, rub his belly and go set the timer for seven minutes. So she did, and he fell back to sleep, humming of course. *phew* crisis averted.

We got home at about midnight and all was well. We had a nice night (except for finding parking in Boston, on a Friday night at 7pm - yes, we ended up paying $35 to park!! mental note: do not opt to drive into Boston ever again) And off to bed we went.

Collin woke up at 3am crying and my husband gave him his wubanubs and he hummed himself back to sleep. Then he was up at 5:45am and Bill got up with him (the deal is we each get to sleep in one weekend morning and this weekend, I have Saturday and he has Sunday) So he gave him the 5 oz. bottle I left and Collin sucked it down and continued to complain. By 6:30 I was up feeding him. *sigh* So much for my morning to sleep in, although I did go back to sleep until 8am ish.

Collin slept in the swing form 7:45am to 8:15am and again, didn't want to hear it when he was offered his solids (what is that about?!) and now he's all sorts off schedule and all because I felt bad leaving him and nursed him a little longer! Ahhhhh.... 

Moral of the story? Stick to the darn schedule!!!!!

The Twenty-Ninth Night

Hi There!

So. I think we are on a roll!

Collin napped yesterday THREE times! From 7:40am to 9:40am, from 12:00noon  to 12:40pm, and from 2:30pm to 3:30pm. I was blown away! I even napped myself that last afternoon nap! What a great feeling!!! :) I can't remember the last time I napped! :)

Bedtime was similar to the last few days, and I really thought we would have a tough night because we took out the bassinet piece of the pack and play that Collin sleeps in and he was moving all over the place! He was great though, I laid him down at 6:45pm and by 7:01 he was out! The crying was loud and heartbreaking still but it lasted only 16 minutes, thank goodness!

Tonight will be a big test of the bedtime routine. My husband and I are going to get out for a few hours and are leaving my 17 year old with a list of instructions! :) I'm already a nervous wreck!! I'll keep you posted! :)

The Twenty-Eighth Night

All dressed up

Have we finally arrived?!

Yesterday, he took a great nap, a semi good nap and one mini nap:
6:50 am to 9:30am!
12:10pm to 12:50am
4:45pm to 5:10pm

By 6:20pm he was Mr. Crabbypants, so I started getting him ready for bed. I put him down in his crib, awake, at 6:50pm and he started to cry, but was sound asleep by 7:05pm!!!

Really?! Did that really happen two nights in a row?! I am so excited!! Can't wait to see how today/tonight goes! We are having company Saturday evening and I keeping my fingers crossed that it's that easy to put him down then too!  We'll see! :)

The Twenty-Seventh Night

I am almost too big for my swing!

Wow. I am impressed with my little one!

He took 2 naps yesterday, one nap in his crib (whoot! whoot!) and one in the stroller (thanks Liz & Gabe for walking with us!!!!!

And the picture? Yes, he took a 4 minute nap in the swing yesterday also lol.

Last night, I laid him in his bed at 6:50pm. Still doing every 7 minutes, guess how many times I went in?!

ONLY ONCE!!!!  :) He was sound asleep by 7:04pm! Yippie!!!

Let's look at this - 2 good naps equals little issues at bedtime?! Seems so, doesn't it? I'm thrilled! Now if we can only repeat this every night! Now that would be something to be celebrated!

We will see.... wish us luck!

The Twenty-Sixth Night

1st time in a shopping cart!

I laid Collin down, awake, in his crib at 6:47pm and he immediately started crying. I did switch back to every 7 minutes, which I found much more comfortable for me. He stopped crying at 7:21pm. So about 40 minutes, which was the norm there for a while. :(

I really do wish I had put the nursing at the beginning of the routine way back on the first night. I didn't realize what type of ramifications that would have. It not only affected bedtime but nap times also.

Speaking of nap times, they aren't going so well. Yesterday, I tried FOUR times to put him down and he just screamed and screamed. I give him between fifteen and thirty minutes (depending on the level of crying) and then I announce that the nap is over. I don't want there to be sleep issues later, with him associating sleep with crying. Needless to say, since he didn't nap, he was Mr. Cranky-pants in the evening before bed. We didn't even get though our usual two books because he kept hitting the books and crying. Well, off to try today's first nap.....

The Twenty-Fifth Night

1st time in a restaurant high chair!

So. Yesterday, being Easter, we were out most of the afternoon so Collin took his nap(s) in the car.
He was noticeably less smiley than usual and cried whenever I tried to hand him off to anyone else. I thought he may have been coming down with something but he seems fine today so far.

As I feared, making this change in Collin's bedtime routine has definitely set us back. He cried last night for forty-five minutes! I went in ever 10 minutes, but really feel like that is just too long for both of us and will be switching back to the every 7 minutes tonight. I may try 8 minutes and see how that feels. *sigh*

On a good note, he is showing quite an interest in the books I am reading him before bed. He tries to eat them now instead of ignoring them. :) hahaha. He does not try to eat the recordable books that my Mom and Bill's Dad & Step-Mom have made for us. He really loves those books! I have been doing one recordable book and reading one or two books, depending on the length of the books. If it's longer, I do one, if it is one of the really short ones, I will read two.

I do need to get more books as I am quickly tiring of reading the same ones every night. I did pick some up at the consignment sale I went to, but only a few. They were sold in bundles of like 4 or 5 books, and I got 2 bundles but the books in the middles of the bundles weren't all that great. So I am looking for maybe a children's book club, where the books are not $16.00 each! Any suggestions?

I do know about Kohl's Cares. Do you all get those books? They are great books and amazingly low cost! AND your helping out a great cause when you buy them. I think they change the set every quarter. I don't buy the stuffed animals, although they are very adorable but we just don't need them. :) I'm sure it will be tougher not to buy them once Collin is walking and talking! (I can't even imagine that at this point, but I know it's coming FAST!)

The Twenty-Fourth Night

The Easter Bunny came!

Happy Easter!

So it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
The minute we went into the bedroom, he knew what was coming and started to scream so much that he wouldn't nurse!  He had never done anything like that before,  so I went back out into the living room where he was all smiles! Little stinker! I started again about ten minutes later and he was much better.

I nursed him first and was worried that he would fall asleep as usual and i'd have a crying munchkin to change and read a story to but he didn't fall asleep (!). So we finished nursing, changed into pajamas, read 2 stories rocked through a lullaby and laid him down. He started to cry the moment I laid him down and kept crying for 28 minutes. Not as great as some other nights but not too shabby either. My husband and I took turns going in, at TEN minute intervals (waaahhh) and it passed quickly.

He was up at 6:15 this morning (better than 5:10!!) and my husband got up with him and kindly let me sleep in. I slept until 8am and feel GREAT!!

We are off to dinner. Can't wait to put Collin's little suit on him!!

The Twenty-Third Night

Brand new, holding my sister's hand.

So. The Twenty-Third Night STUNK.
We took a walk last night, from 6:30pm to 7:30pm and Collin slept the whole trip. When we got home, I was willing to let him stay up a little longer as it seemed to me that he had just had an hours nap but he was yawing and rubbing his eyes, so I proceeded to the bedtime routine (not the new one).

Everything went well until I put him in his crib, then all hell broke loose! He cried for an hour and ten minutes. :(   *sigh*

I am not sure if it was because of the nap, or the lateness of the bedtime or maybe a combination of both plus the fact that he was tired. We did do 10 minute intervals but they seemed so very long, that I think we will go back to the seven minutes that we were doing.

Since he didn't actually fall asleep until 9:20pm, I did expect him to get up a little later this morning. That did NOT happen. He usually gets up between 6 and 6:30 but today he was up at 5:30! YUCK!

So today I am going to take the Doctor's suggestions and feed him solids 3 times, putting him down for a nap after each. I am also planning on starting the new routine (see The Twenty-Second Night) I'm quite worried and really just want to nurse last but know that is not what is best for him. I know that if I continue to do that, we will eventually run into an issue when we wean AND I am pretty sure his naps are so difficult to get him to take because I am not nursing him to sleep at naps like I am at night.

Wish us luck!

The Twenty-Second Night

Loving the Bjorn

AGAIN! No crying at all, not at bedtime and no earlier crying session! Yippieee! We have finally got it down, and now... we are going to shake it all up!
We saw the Doctor today. She said we are doing wonderful! We just have some tweaks to make. So here is our current bedtime routine, see if you can spot what we should change:

1. Change Diaper.
2. Put on pajamas.
3. Read a story.
4. Nurse.
                                                 5. Rock and sing a lullaby.
                                                 6. Put in crib, give pacifiers.

Can you guess?
It's the nursing. He's often falling asleep at the breast and not on his own, so we need to move that to the first thing and do the rest after. So I am kind of worried that this will trigger the crying all over again. So I can already tell you that the 23rd night is a mess, i'll be starting the new rule on the 24th night. We will see how it goes.

Also, just a side note, these suggestions that the Dr. has given us are for Collin specifically, not for anyone else as she does not know your child's specific situation.

The Twenty-First Night

Guess what we did last night?!?!?! We repeated The Nineteenth Night!!!
Yeaaaaahhhhhh!!!! SO exciting!

I put him down for 7pm and didn't hear another peep until 6am! No crying sessions and still not much in the way of napping, but still - it was great!

And I was asleep by 8:30pm! Double yeaaahhhh! :)

Tummy time is happening once, maybe twice a day which is better than what we were doing. He's still kind of cranky in the afternoons and could definitely use a nap but refuses to take one. A friend suggested the book, 'No Cry Nap Solution' has anyone read it and used it??

Yesterday, I got another dino wub a nub so we had one to stay in his crib and one to take places with us, also one to use while the other was being washed! I showed Collin both of them at the same time and he got sooo excited! Kicking his legs and squealing like crazy! It was so cute!!!

The Twentieth Night

Oh my goodness. Today I have had it. Maybe i've had too many good nights? I was due for a crappy one. *sigh* So Collin cried for about 45 minutes when I put him to bed last night and I just felt like we were doing so well and now we went so far backwards. I could have dealt with 15 minutes, but did we really need to go all the way back to 45 minutes? Grrr... so frustrating.

Of course, I HAD to stay up for the season finale of Parenthood which ended at 11pm (what was I thinking?! this is what the DVR is for!!!) I think I finally fell asleep at 11:30, thinking i'd be able to sleep until 6am when Collin woke me up, but nope. My husband woke me up at 1am because the stupid cat had peed in our bed! Really?! Are you kidding me?! So I was up from 1am to 2:30am doing laundry and plotting ways to kill the cat.

Collin woke up crying at 5am but did go back to sleep for another hour once I gave him back his pacifiers. So I got around about 5 hours of broken sleep last night and so far today, Collin has slept 0 minutes which has left him quite cranky. Not to mention the fact that both dogs have gotten sick in the house multiple times today and I have a very angry cat at the door screaming to get back in.

I know i'm supposed to be thankful for what I have and to count my blessings but frankly, i'm too darn tired and annoyed to do that. I can't wait for bedtime!!

The Nineteenth Night

So. The Nineteenth night was the very first night that Mr. Collin James went to sleep without having any type of crying session and also did NOT wake back up all night long!!!!! Woooo Hooooooo!!!!!!!!!

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit, I wonder if we are finally getting there?! I can't wait to see if that can be repeated tonight!! * stay tuned*

Naps still elude us. Some mornings he will nap for a whole 45 minutes but some mornings it's only 15 to 20 minutes. All afternoon naps are disasters. He will sleep in the car and sometimes the stroller, but that doesn't allow me to catch a nap! :)

Because of this lack of naps, he is usually pretty cranky come bedtime and I sometimes have to put him to bed a little earlier that I want to. I would rather he went to bed at 8ish and slept until 7ish. Right now he goes to bed at 7ish and is up at 6ish. I'm concerned about 'moving' bedtime a little later by a few minutes because I'm worried that if I wait too long to put him down, he'll be overtired and cry (and cry and cry...)

Has anyone successfully moved bedtime?

The Eighteenth Night

I am going to get this in my
mouth if it's the last thing I do!

Collin took 2 morning naps yesterday! Short ones, but 2 all the same! No afternoon naps at all and by 6:30 he was ready for bed! I put him down at 7:15pm and we heard nothing from him until 5:45 this morning!

Like The Fourteenth Night, he had a crying jag in the afternoon, (although not as bad/long as then) so I guess he didn't need to wake up and cry? Hmmm...

I am still working on tummy time and getting him tired enough to go off to sleep without having to yell and scream first and I think we are getting there, very slowly but surely.

Although naps still are rough. For the last 7 days, he has napped from about 8am to about 8:45 am but as I type, he is still crying instead of sleeping (and I KNOW he's tired!) and I've got the timer going. I really really really hate hearing him cry. It's bad enough at bedtime but to have to do it with every nap? I don't know if I can do that. Unfortunately, it seems to be the direction this is going. yuck.

The Seventeenth Night

My new mat, thanks neighbors!

This night was similar to the last few. He was cranky and tired about 6:30pm so I put him down and he woke up about 20 minutes later and cried for about 15 minutes.

Naps also were similar - he napped for 45 minutes at 8am but that was the only actual nap that he was put down for and actually slept. He did sleep a bit in the car though. Still working on those afternoon naps... The only difference is that in the morning, he gets bananas and cereal before he goes down, so maybe repeating that will work? I just need to pick a time and do it.
So. there is one, well actually two things that are different about last night! TWO TEETH! Now, Collin got his two front bottom teeth the day he turned four months old, and here we are at five and a half months old and you would think that his two top teeth were next, right? NOPE! I have a vampire! The two top 'canines' came in yesterday!!! What is that about??!!