Sleep Time

Let me start at the beginning. Reid has always been a good sleeper and he has always been swaddled since he was born. He was such a good sleeper that he would not stay awake or alert enough to breastfeed. I would try everything including ice on his feet and his back to try and get him to wake up. Nothing ever worked so after two weeks I stopped pumping and we went with all formula. We have always had to wake Reid up in the middle of the night to feed him. So when we were at his 2 week doctor's appointment I asked the doctor when I could stop waking him up to feed. She said 4 weeks. So since Reid has been 4 weeks old he has slept through the night. When I say he has slept through the night; that doesn't mean we didn't still get up to give him his paci when he would whine, but as far as any crying spells or wouldn't go back to sleep; or having to pick him up we haven't ever had to do that since he was 4 weeks old. Believe me I know how fortunate we are.

Fast forward to 7 months old; Reid is still swaddled at night, but he is so big and strong now that he is pulling his arms out of the swaddle all through the night and it wakes him up each time; so again we are going in and re-swaddling him and giving him his paci each time, because his arms are not free, he is unable to get his own paci.

This had been going on for awhile and I knew we needed to break him of this swaddle so I did some research and some said to try the sleep sack and sew the arms holes up so his arms are more free, but they are still confined enough that it doesn't wake him up. In our opinion this was wonderful because now we would only get up maybe once a night and most nights none because he was in the sleep sack and he didn't need to be re-swaddled, but he would just need his paci.

When he hit around 9 months he had this thing where he would go to bed like normal around 5 or 5:30, but after sleeping an hour he would wake up and we would have to pick him up and cradle and rock him for about an hour to get him to go back to sleep so we could lay him back down. This went on for about 4 weeks and we said we have to stop this.

So we decided no more sleep sack and no more going in and picking him up or giving him his paci; he was old enough now that he needed to go to bed and sleep all night and if he needed his paci then he could get it his self, because now his arms were free for the first time since he had been born. We continued the 5:30 bedtime and each night for THREE WEEKS we would put him to bed and he would cry for over an hour until he would finally fall asleep and then he would sleep all night.

Reid has never been a crier so the thought of him in his bed crying for over an hour was killing me. It was the hardest thing I had to do since he was born. It was heart breaking.. if it had not been for Justin I would have broken down and went and picked him up. I kept saying over and over; I could just let him sleep with us and none of this would be happening. It was so hard and so bad that after the 4th day; I start leaving at bedtime. I couldn't stay home and listen to it. I would drive around or go and just sit in the Walgreen's parking lot and call and talk to friends and wait for Justin to text me to say he is asleep you can come home. Some nights I had things to do like church, Mom's meetings and bunco, but on the nights that I didn't I would go and visit friends or drive around. On some nights I would just go in my room and close the door and work on my bible study lessons so I wouldn't hear the crying and Justin would come get me when it had stopped. It was killing me.

Also naps were a problem because prior to this he would nap fine because he had his sleep sack and he would go down with no problem or I would let him lay with me during nap time and we were just fine.

For the first few weeks when we were doing this new routine; I still let him sleep with me at nap time because I knew if I was here alone and he cried in his bed; I would not be strong enough not to go and get him. So at nap time I just let him sleep with me and all was good with the world ha.

Until Justin said you have to stop doing that; he has to learn to nap in his bed. So for three days in a row we put him down at nap time in his bed and he cried for an hour and that was my limit at nap time. So we went and got him so he did not nap any of those days. Well, of course that made for a miserable day when your baby doesn't nap.

Here we are on week 4 and for the past 4 days in a row Reid has gone to bed at 6:30 and he has not cried a minute. We lay him down and he whines and then he puts his head down and goes to sleep. Same thing with nap. I pray to God that Reid has finally figured this out that we are not going to come and get him.

I just kept telling myself he has to learn and I think breaking him from the swaddle and sleep sack was one of the hardest part's for him. I know in hindsight that if there is ever a second baby we will not swaddle as long as we did Reid. We just kept thinking well it is working; he is such a good sleeper and napper we didn't want to break him, but when he got to be 10 1/2 months we new the time had come.

Since Reid was no longer swaddled or in the sleep sack we had to go and buy him some pajamas. He had been sleeping with just his diaper on, but now he needed some pjs. The way he rolled around and cried in his bed we knew there was no way a blanket would work. So here is a picture of our sweet boy in his pj's before bed.



A few more picture of my baby. He is getting around these days by crawling backwards. He moves one knee back and then lays down on his stomach and then gets up on all 4's again and does it over and over until he has moved across the floor. Maybe one day soon he will learn to go forward. He sure is a cutie though.

Wordless Monday

10 Months Old

I can't believe my baby boy is already 10 months old. Time is flying by so fast. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love him. It is the most wonderful feeling I have ever had. I don't think anyone truly knows what love is until you have a baby. I am so in love with him and I love that he makes me laugh every day.

He is such a big boy and growing now like a weed. It is so disappointing that you have so many clothes and he never gets to wear them. Or the latest thing is I have started putting some of his 12 month outfits on him and they are already too small. Some of the outfits are monogrammed also. Talk about make you sad. I have saved them thinking summer gets here he will start growing into them. Nope not the case half of them are already to small. It is so weird because some 9 month things still fit and then some 12 month things are too big. So before we leave for church he is dressed and undressed several times trying to find something to wear. I am glad he is a good sport about it.

He has two bottom teeth that have come all the way through and one top tooth that is half way through. Today I saw he has three more top teeth about to break the skin. I can't believe how fast his teeth are coming in now.

The only thing he says so far is Da-Da.. he says that for everything. If he wants out of his high chair he screams da-da... if he wants you to pick him up off of his belly on the floor he screams da-da.. if daddy walks in the door from work it is da-da... We are still working on him saying ma-ma.

He is in size 3 and sometimes size 4 diapers depending on the brand. He weighs 24lbs. He only drinks two 7 ounce bottles a day and 2 7 ounce sippy cups a day. I hope this means since he likes his sippy cups that he will be easy to break from the bottle when the time comes.

We still haven't given him much table food, he eats rice cereal with mixed fruit in the mornings and then a vegetable and fruit at lunch and dinner.

He gets up on all four's and rocks back and forth and sometimes tries to crawl backwards, but he still hasn't figured out how to crawl. He manages to move all over the floor though by rolling around.

It is almost impossible to talk or text on my cell phone; if he sees it he wants it. I have even given him his own cell phone, but it doesn't light up like mine does.

We go swimming every week and he has been putting his face in the water, but he always sucks the water up and comes up choking. It scares his daddy every time. His favorite thing to do is splash and kick his legs.

He still hates going into the church nursery each week. It is such a struggle for me knowing he is unhappy and crying the whole time. He begins to cry when other babies cry or when other babies squeal or talk. A lot of the parents have told me it is common for babies to get upset over this especially when they don't go to daycare. He is just not use to it. Thank goodness we have had some sweet ladies in the nursery that take him out of the room and just love on him and try to keep him calm.

Sleeping... that is a long story that I will save for another post. I ask that anyone that reads this just say a prayer for Reid and his mama every night about 6 pm because we really need it.

Reid is so shy just like his daddy. Each week when we are at Walmart people stop and try and talk to him and he will look and smile at them for a minute and then he just puts his hands up to his face and then leans forward and puts his face in my chest and puts his arms around me. He just seems to be so timid around people he doesn't know.

I have already started planning his 1 year birthday party. I can't believe it is already time to start thinking about it. Time is flying by and I love being his mommy and I thank God everyday for my wonderful family.

Here a few pictures of my sweet baby.....

Memorial Day

I know this post is so late, but I just haven't been able to sit and work on the blogs. I actually have three more to write. In our bible study at church we started Beth Moore's study Esther and I have been trying to spend more time in the bible than on the internet.

Anyway, for the Memorial weekend we went to Gulf Shores with Lance, Victoria and Claire and we had a great time. I am so glad we went when we did. There were no signs of oil on the beaches at that time. We had a great time and Reid really enjoyed the sun and the water. He wasn't so sure about the ocean at first. He seemed like he was afraid on the noise at first and then I am not sure if he thought the water was to cold, but it took him awhile till he finally seemed to enjoy it.

We can't wait till next year when we will be chasing Reid and Claire up and down the beach. We would spend the mornings on the beach and the afternoons at the pool. We purchased this sun dome that would provide just enough shade that we would give the babies their morning naps in the shade and then we would go to the pool and spend the early afternoon at the pool. We would then go up and give them lunch and let the babies have an afternoon nap.

Reid did not sleep well in his pack n play.. it was actually pretty miserable for all of us so we ended up putting Reid in the bed with me and Justin slept on the couch. This was the first time I had ever slept with Reid and I LOVED it. Justin was so afraid that when we came back home Reid would still want to sleep with me, but he didn't. He readjusted back to his bed with no problem.

I was so paranoid the whole time that Reid was going to get sunburned, so I put lots and lots of sunscreen on him. I think it actually broke his face out some. So in some of the pictures you can tell his face looked chapped.

We all said that Reid looks like an old man with his sun hat on and that he looked like he is ready to go and play some dominoes ha ha.

Beware: Never plan to leave Gulf Shores Memorial Day.. the traffic was awful.. it normally takes us like an hour and a half and Monday it took 3 hours to get home. We learned our lesson, maybe it will be a good excuse to stay an extra day next year.

Enjoy the pictures from Reid's first trip to the beach.....