So it's been a while and there is much to report. First of all, I am still working with James a little with sleeping. He was doing great. Really great. Then he got his 4 month old immunization shots. He woke up that night and would NOT stop crying until I fed him. And that continued for a few nights (Thursday - Sunday) and then we were at Lake Powell (yay!!!) and I couldn't let him go crying at night. At all. It would wake up everyone on the whole houseboat:)
So he was eating once a night at Powell and going to sleep just great. The first night back here in Logan I didn't feed him and he went back to sleep after about 15 minutes. But then he woke up again at about 5:30 and HAD to be fed, NOW. So we did that for a few days and now here we are. Last night he went to bed at 9 p.m. and I didn't hear from him until 7:40 a.m.
Perfect. I hope tonight goes as well. :)
Lake Powell was fantastic. It was definitely very busy for both me and Zach with two little kids but we had a great time. Naomi loved the water. But not so much going down the slide or jumping in. That would require getting her face wet. She would be swimming along side Zach and holding on to him a little, getting towed a bit, and he would go deeper or under water and she would too! She was holding on so tight that she didn't realize she should let go and down she went! She stopped doing that after the first couple of dunks:)
She wore a SuperSoft life jacket, it's the vinyl yellow ones- it was perfect. Ginger brought it for us to use and it was perfect.
Backtracking a second. Before we left for Powell we spent the weekend before with Zach's family. Talia and Wes came up for the weekend too and we all had tons of fun. We all went to the new Batman movie, the boys went golfing, and Naomi, Dylan and Trey played and played. Zach's brother Chad had his farewell on Sunday. He is now in the MTC, one week tomorrow! He's going to be a great missionary.
We left Sunday night at midnight and drove all night to Lake Powell. I am now officially a fan of night driving. It was cooler and no traffic and Naomi and James slept basically the entire drive. Naomi had a tougher time of it than James by far, she's not one to love sleeping in her car seat for extended periods. James only woke up once! We rolled into the Page Wal Mart at 7:30 a.m.
So our time here in Utah is coming to an end. We flying out of here Saturday morning, back to Silver Spring, MD. or "DC" as I tell people who want to know "where are you living now?"
I'm scheduled to have surgery on the 12th and hopefully have a quick recovery:) Zach will be home with us, being everything to everyone. I'm hoping to do a few fun things before I'm down and out and then be feeling good again soon enough before he starts school so that we can go and sight see a little. There's so much to do and see in DC. Lets just say I'm getting excited to get back "home."
I have loads of pictures to post. Maybe I'll get the motivation to get my camera and load the latest pictures:)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Mean Mom or Good Mom?
Well, I've been delaying writing about what's been going on with James for the past week and 1/2. And that must be because I'm feeling a little bit guilty, or maybe insecure about my decision. But then again, I wouldn't have acted the way I did if I didn't think it was for the best.
So, with that weighty introduction, here's the story.
James has been sleeping "through the night" since mid May, so for two months now. What I mean by that is that he has been eating his last meal at 7:30 or so and sleeping from 8 p.m. until about 7 am. Give or take a little. But he was waking up on average twice a night and needed me to put his pacifier (binky:) back in his mouth for him to get back to sleep. He always went right back to sleep. He was in our room in a pack 'n play until we got here to my parents house, he's in his own room, so I have to get up and out of bed to get to him. Also, he was dependent on being swaddled (as well as sucking on a binky) to get to sleep. But he was consistently getting his arms free and waking himself up that way as well as losing the binky.
So I made the executive decision (since I'm a CEO of the family:) that he should be weaned of the binky and swaddling. We did this same thing with Naomi at 6 months and she adjusted really quickly and we never looked back. She has been a great night time sleeper since.
Last Monday, a week and a half ago I put James to bed after feeding him the last time. He was sleepy but awake and I didn't swaddle him or give him a pacifier. I think that if he can't have a binky, he needs access to his hands.
He cried for almost an hour. Not hysterical, but sometimes very sad.... I went and comforted him twice and he was out for good after about 45-50 minutes. He woke up again at 3 am and cried for another 45 minutes and then slept until 7. That was night one.
Night two he took about 20 minutes to get to sleep and woke up twice, taking 20-30 minutes each time to get back to sleep.
Night three he went to sleep after about 15-20 minutes and slept until 5 am and had a very hard time going back to sleep.
Then he got the hang of it. He started going to sleep with 5 minutes or less or no crying at bedtime (and naps). He only woke up at about 3 am or so and just talked back to sleep.
The last two nights he hasn't woken at all until about 6:45-7 a.m. to be up for the day!!!
So success! Crossing my fingers here that he sticks to it.
I felt so sad the first few days and nights. I was used to him not crying ever, seriously ever. But he's just as happy, if not more so. He's sleeping all night and so am I!
Naps have been a little bit of a struggle. He has a tendency to wake up 45 minutes into a nap, which for Naomi when she was this age, was as long as she would ever nap. But James wakes up and is so tired still. So I often will go and comfort him and try to get him back to sleep. Most of the time it works.
He's napping about 3 times a day. Morning and afternoon naps that are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and then a cat nap in the late afternoon to tide him over until bed time.
I'm hoping he can continue to do so well at night as we travel to Lake Powell next week and then transition back to our apartment in DC. I'm really hoping to be able to put Naomi and James together in her bedroom. Right now they have the same bed time, about 8 p.m. and wake up within 20-30 minutes of each other, you never know who's going to get up first:)
So. Mean mom or good mom. I feel a little mean for not waiting until he was ready to just stop waking up at night on his own, but I have plenty of friends who's children don't do that until age two.... and then I also feel like a good mom because now he sleeps all night with uninterrupted sleep, so he's more rested- I feel better when I sleep all night, I'm sure he does too. And then there's the selfish part. I obviously did this for my benefit, but I am a better mom when I am well rested. I have more patience and energy.
So there you have it. James is now sleeping through the night. And I am really happy about it!
So, with that weighty introduction, here's the story.
James has been sleeping "through the night" since mid May, so for two months now. What I mean by that is that he has been eating his last meal at 7:30 or so and sleeping from 8 p.m. until about 7 am. Give or take a little. But he was waking up on average twice a night and needed me to put his pacifier (binky:) back in his mouth for him to get back to sleep. He always went right back to sleep. He was in our room in a pack 'n play until we got here to my parents house, he's in his own room, so I have to get up and out of bed to get to him. Also, he was dependent on being swaddled (as well as sucking on a binky) to get to sleep. But he was consistently getting his arms free and waking himself up that way as well as losing the binky.
So I made the executive decision (since I'm a CEO of the family:) that he should be weaned of the binky and swaddling. We did this same thing with Naomi at 6 months and she adjusted really quickly and we never looked back. She has been a great night time sleeper since.
Last Monday, a week and a half ago I put James to bed after feeding him the last time. He was sleepy but awake and I didn't swaddle him or give him a pacifier. I think that if he can't have a binky, he needs access to his hands.
He cried for almost an hour. Not hysterical, but sometimes very sad.... I went and comforted him twice and he was out for good after about 45-50 minutes. He woke up again at 3 am and cried for another 45 minutes and then slept until 7. That was night one.
Night two he took about 20 minutes to get to sleep and woke up twice, taking 20-30 minutes each time to get back to sleep.
Night three he went to sleep after about 15-20 minutes and slept until 5 am and had a very hard time going back to sleep.
Then he got the hang of it. He started going to sleep with 5 minutes or less or no crying at bedtime (and naps). He only woke up at about 3 am or so and just talked back to sleep.
The last two nights he hasn't woken at all until about 6:45-7 a.m. to be up for the day!!!
So success! Crossing my fingers here that he sticks to it.
I felt so sad the first few days and nights. I was used to him not crying ever, seriously ever. But he's just as happy, if not more so. He's sleeping all night and so am I!
Naps have been a little bit of a struggle. He has a tendency to wake up 45 minutes into a nap, which for Naomi when she was this age, was as long as she would ever nap. But James wakes up and is so tired still. So I often will go and comfort him and try to get him back to sleep. Most of the time it works.
He's napping about 3 times a day. Morning and afternoon naps that are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and then a cat nap in the late afternoon to tide him over until bed time.
I'm hoping he can continue to do so well at night as we travel to Lake Powell next week and then transition back to our apartment in DC. I'm really hoping to be able to put Naomi and James together in her bedroom. Right now they have the same bed time, about 8 p.m. and wake up within 20-30 minutes of each other, you never know who's going to get up first:)
So. Mean mom or good mom. I feel a little mean for not waiting until he was ready to just stop waking up at night on his own, but I have plenty of friends who's children don't do that until age two.... and then I also feel like a good mom because now he sleeps all night with uninterrupted sleep, so he's more rested- I feel better when I sleep all night, I'm sure he does too. And then there's the selfish part. I obviously did this for my benefit, but I am a better mom when I am well rested. I have more patience and energy.
So there you have it. James is now sleeping through the night. And I am really happy about it!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Utah Summer 2008
I'm really enjoying myself here:) Last Saturday we went to Tony Grove for the day. We loaded the canoe up and floated out on the lake. James thought that was fun for about .5 seconds. So we unloaded and I walked the rest of the way with him in the baby bjorn. Babies hate life jackets.
We hiked up past the lake and found some summer snow! Naomi was in heaven. It was so beautiful up there. I just kept thinking how you can't find anything like that in DC or Charlotte. Sigh.
We've also been making good use of the backyard kiddie pool. Today Erica and Dave's son, Isaac came and swam/played with Naomi. She was SO sad when he had to go home! It was really cute.
Naomi loves water. A lot. And I always put sunscreen on her. 50 spf and she is so very brown already! And we haven't even been to Lake Powell yet! (That's next week:)
Zach's little brother Chad is leaving on a mission to Honduras next week as well. ( I can't believe he's so old already!!! I swear I was just 19...) So we are trying to do both. We'll be hanging out with the Champlin's this weekend and will be here for his "farewell" and then joining my family in Lake Powell Monday until Thursday.
So the fun just doesn't stop! We're definitely making the most of this summer vacation.
Tony Grove
That's my life jacket from when I was tiny!
4th of July fire works in the back yard
My sweeties
Boys... Zach, Chad and Luke
twins.... James and Uncle Chad
twins again! James and Grandpa Jeff
Dawson-Naomi-Isaac. Look at those EYES!
James and Grandma Linda
Naomi and Issac. Being "Mermaids"
We hiked up past the lake and found some summer snow! Naomi was in heaven. It was so beautiful up there. I just kept thinking how you can't find anything like that in DC or Charlotte. Sigh.
We've also been making good use of the backyard kiddie pool. Today Erica and Dave's son, Isaac came and swam/played with Naomi. She was SO sad when he had to go home! It was really cute.
Naomi loves water. A lot. And I always put sunscreen on her. 50 spf and she is so very brown already! And we haven't even been to Lake Powell yet! (That's next week:)
Zach's little brother Chad is leaving on a mission to Honduras next week as well. ( I can't believe he's so old already!!! I swear I was just 19...) So we are trying to do both. We'll be hanging out with the Champlin's this weekend and will be here for his "farewell" and then joining my family in Lake Powell Monday until Thursday.
So the fun just doesn't stop! We're definitely making the most of this summer vacation.
Tony Grove
That's my life jacket from when I was tiny!
4th of July fire works in the back yard
My sweeties
Boys... Zach, Chad and Luke
twins.... James and Uncle Chad
twins again! James and Grandpa Jeff
Dawson-Naomi-Isaac. Look at those EYES!
James and Grandma Linda
Naomi and Issac. Being "Mermaids"
Saturday, July 05, 2008
home again
Family-family-family cook outs birthday parties boating at Hyrum dam wake boarding fireworks at Romney stadium Bear Lake beach shopping Champlin Family 4th of July breakfast Howie lunch with the girls swimming at LAC sisters cousins old friends late movies date nights Sunday dinners parks farmers market cool summer nights
I love Cache Valley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
