Let it snow!

Today was a nice mellow day! Robbie was up at 6:00 and was asleep again by 7:00 and decided he wanted to have a power nap for over TWO HOURS! wow! He's been sleeping really well at nights, he seems to be up twice a night for a feeding & he's really easy to put back to sleep afterwards (no crying, just fussing & talking) Getting up in the middle of the night isn't as hard as I thought it would be, I enjoy the quality time that we get when there's no one else around (including dogs)

Grammy & Grampy came by and dropped off a snow suit they bought for Robbie (thanks guys!) so we thought we'd give it a whirl and see how he likes it. So we strapped him into the suit and put him in his sled that he got for Christmas and we went around the block. Like Colin says, I think I enjoyed it more than he did (not that he didn't like it.... I was just having a ball!) He seemed really cozy in it, as long as the snow stays on the ground, I'll be taking him out in it quite regularly.

I realized that I haven't been using my nursing pillow anymore and I thought it might help Mr. Robbie with sitting... it's fantastic! It prevents him from falling over but still allows him to work on the tummy muscles to help lift himself up!

Words cannot describe how much I love my family.

5 Months Old

Well I wanted to hold off on posting until I could give you a full update on the sleeping issue, but because my little boy is one month away from being half a year old.... I have to update!

Food - Robbie has been having rice cereal for 2 days now. Right now he eats 2 Tbsp each serving, he could easily eat more but I don't want his tummy to work too hard to digest it and I hear he can get constipated if he has too much. We've been giving him cereal in hopes that it stays in his tummy longer so that he sleeps for longer periods of time.

Sleep - Monday night I hit rock bottom. I knew that his sleeping habits had to change & the sooner the better as he's starting to get more & more mobile. On Tuesday we tried the pick up/put down method... what a crock! It sounds so easy in the book but it's so hard (physically and emotionally) You're suppose to pick up once he starts crying & then put him back down as soon as he settles, no swaying, no rocking, nothing! So, needless to say, my back started acting up. As well, it's so hard to hold your child while he cries and to know that all he wants is to nurse and this fussy baby will be happy again. I crumbled within 10mins and nursed him. That night he was up a hand full of times before midnight. Once midnight hit he was over tired & wouldn't take to the breast. Colin turned on the light and tried giving him gripe water (for gas), formula, changing his diaper... nothing worked! So I said just leave him, there's nothing physically wrong with him... lone behold, he simmered down and FELL ASLEEP on his own! What was the trick? The lights! It makes perfect sense and I don't know why I didn't clue in... he's sooo much easier to put down for naps and that's because of the daylight! That was officially our turning point.

Last night we did our normal routine (with the addition to cereal) and left the lamp on... he cried & cried. So we gave the Ferber technique a shot, you go and check on the baby briefly. It's all about timing it, once he starts crying wait 5 mins, then 10mins, 15mins and 20mins and then keep checking up on him every 20mins after that. It's to let the baby know that crying doesn't amount to us picking him up but it lets him know that we're there. He cried for an hour last night and put himself to sleep (YAY!) He woke up an hour afterwards (he's been doing that for over a week now) and we let him cry, it took about 10mins and he was asleep again! He did wake up about 10-20mins afterwards so I went in and fed him, I made sure he didn't fall asleep on the boob as I want to continue with this technique... he was quiet when I put him down & played with a stuffed animal until he fell asleep. He woke up once last night (YAY AGAIN!) at 1am, I gave him both boobs & put him back in his crib, he didn't even let out a peep. I was so happy that he was letting dad get a full nights sleep! He woke up at 6 this morning =D

So here we are the following day and I've just put him down for his first nap. I put him to bed at 7:38 and he fussed for a little bit and then was out at 7:54! I'm trying to not get too excited over this.... but I'm almost looking forward to bed time now!

On a side note, look at how well he sits up!

There's a new video that's in the process of being uploaded as well as pictures.

Enjoy!

A new routine in the making

We already have Robbie on a fairly good routine: wake up, play, eat & sleep. After reading the Baby Whisperer we're going to switch things around a little bit. Wake up, eat, play & sleep... Our main concern, like it's always been, how do we get Robbie to fall asleep on his own? (seeing as though I'm going to nurse him right after he wakes up) The author suggests a pick up/put down technique. If fusses, squirms, etc to let him do so but as soon as his fuss turns into a cry to pick him up until he's settled and then immediately put him down again.... and repeat. By the sounds of it people do this about 40 times the first time it gets introduced to the baby. I'm also going to nurse him in his room at night and then put him back to bed, instead of bringing him into our bed. (that's going to be the hardest part for me seeing as though I'm horrible during the evenings) Wish us luck!

Our boy's growing again.... we've got about 10 more size 2 diapers and then we're onto size 3! Pampers Swaddlers only go up to size 2 ,so we had to choose a new diaper, Colin brought a pack of Pampers Baby Dry's home so we'll see how they work!

Also! When we go to pick him up he lifts up his arms! He's such a smart little guy. He watches us drink from glasses/bottles and motions that he wants to try it too... we got him some sippy cups and filled it with water to see if he could master it, he did once but only for a couple sucks... he'd prefer the adult cups.

Operation Teething

Is it that time? Possibly.

For the past two nights he's been getting up anywhere from every hour to three hours, last night he decided that he wanted to party for an hour... seems like I was the only one invited, even the dogs RSVP'd "no". On Thursday night I thought it was because I had eaten a little bit more sugar than I usually do (started tearing apart the gingerbread houses) but he followed the same pattern Friday night. He was so hard to put to sleep last night, every time I put him down he'd wake up and start whaling at the top of his lungs. I even pulled out that exercise ball to see if that would do the trick... nope! =( I ended up bringing the canopy (so that he's not looking around and focuses' on sleeping) into the living room and nursed him to sleep (he was latched on for about 20-30mins... he's feedings usually only take 5mins!!) So I hope this is his teeth coming in and not sleeping issues, I guess time will tell. When I tried to put him back to sleep @ 4 he wouldn't nurse to sleep like he usually does so I put him in his crib to try and soothe himself. He let out some soft moans and groans for about 5mins and then silence, I went to check on him and he had his thumb in his mouth and was sleeping.

Robbie's been really busy lately, always wanting to have whatever you've got and has a two second attention span. Makes for a pooped out mom! His sitting is going really well, he's almost 90 degrees... he just has to work on the balancing. He's starting to roll over with less effort now.. he hasn't gone from his back to his tummy but is mastering tummy to back. All in time! =)

Photoshop

Shari inspired me to learn how to use photoshop, I've just started playing around with black and white/colour feature... here's what I've come up with:

Here's the link to the pictures I've done. Check back later... I'll see if I can master any more techniques!

Mushy Post

So last night I was nursing Robbie to sleep and I started thinking (that's all you can really do when you're in a dark room with a tired baby latched onto your boob =P). I am so lucky! I was looking at my engagement/wedding bands and looked back on our awesome wedding, then I started to think about my better half (Colin) I am so lucky to have such a caring, thoughtful, and personable man. He gets along with my family so well. Then I started thinking about his family and I'm so lucky that they've welcomed me with opened arms into their family... we are so blessed to have so many people love us. And then, of course, there's Robbie... this little guy can't even say "hi" yet, but when he smiles at you it's contagious and you find yourself in a smiling war. He is my perfect baby: he's always known the difference between night and day, he loves to be smothered in kisses, he loves to be challenged, and most importantly... he loves his parents!

Look at him:

First picture ever taken.......................... Most recent picture

Amazing!!

Welcome to 2007!

Another year gone and another new year full of unknowns ahead. I can't wait to see what 2007 has to bring to this family!

My birthday was really nice, Robbie and I spent the day with Grammy. We went out to Airdrie to check out a new baby store and then went to a kids friendly cafe. We had so much fun! The cafe had exercaucers, bumbos (the baby chairs that allow them to sit up unassisted) and for the older kiddies there was a massive jungle gym, slides, costumes, puppets, etc etc It's a really good way to casually meet other parents and their kidlets. Afterwards, all the family (including "Uncle" Steve Parr) was over in the afternoon to wish me a Happy Birthday. Grammy, Grampy and Stuncle Paul stayed at our place to watch Robbie for us while Colin took me out for a nice dinner at The Keg! I splurged and had a strawberry daiquiri before the meal.... it tasted soooo good! I wanted another one, but the baby feeder in me told me no. It's a good thing I didn't have another one, we came home to a crying baby that had been inconsolable for a while. I grabbed him from Grammy and he immediately stopped crying (that made me feel so good, to know that he recognizes me and that I can automatically comfort him) We gave him some gripe water and then fed him, within minutes he was out like a light. My poor parents tried everything: Tylenol, Bath, Walking, etc. He's been having some wicked gas lately so that must have been it.

Grammy offered her services on New Years Eve as well, so Colin & I decided to go see a matinee at 330. At 6 we got a call from Grammy saying he hasn't eaten since we left & hasn't slept much. So we left the movie (got to see 90% of it, so not a big deal) to take care of the monster. My mom seems to think that he's going through a phase where all he wants is me. He hasn't been overly possessive and he's really good when daddy spends time with him, so I think he might be playing strange to some people that he doesn't see on a daily/weekly basis. Who knows!

On a more positive note, he's been doing well with his sleeping habits. He has about 3 or 4 naps during the day for about 30-60mins, in the mornings he can even put himself to sleep! (I think he prefers it to falling asleep while eating) So I think in the weeks/months to come he'll put himself to sleep in the evenings too... hopefully! *crossing my fingers and toes*

Robbie has officially discovered the dogs. He reaches out for them when he's sitting in his bumbo. The dogs will come up to him and will walk by him so that he can pet them. Robbie was pulling on Emma's ears this morning and was pulling on Tonka's jowls yesterday, it didn't even phase the dogs! I knew that they'd be very passive with him... I just wish I had a leash for their tongues! The dogs have this freaky radar, as soon as Robbie spits up they're right there trying to lick it up (gross, I know!) The thing is they try & lick it off his lips... needless to say, I don't allow them to get that far. I think with time they'll learn what areas they can and cannot kiss.