William at 3 months

William turned 3 months old last this past Tuesday.  Here are some stats about him:

1. He loves to sit up.

2. He has started talking to us.  Just noises, of course, but he sure likes to express himself.  Mostly he is happy, but sometimes he grumbles.  (Just ask Vickie.  He was complaining up a storm when we went trick-or-treating at Phil's office.  Apparently it clashed with his feeding schedule.)

3. He spits up all the time.

4. He likes to nurse, he likes his binky, and he doesn't like bottles (but he's going to have to learn to like them when I go back to work on Monday).

5. Sometimes he sleeps really well at night.  Sometimes he sleeps in his crib all night.  (Usually this depends on whether I nurse him in the rocking chair, or take him back to bed with me).

6. He loves his sister.  Especially her hair.

7. He likes to grab: sister's hair, clothes, and his binky.  Or someone's hand holding his binky.

8. He recently learned to suck his thumb.  This usually also involves lots of chewing on him hands, looking for his thumb.  Or, he sticks his thumb into his cheek a bunch.

9. He weighs over 20 pounds (probably, since our scale isn't necessarily super accurate).

10. He fits in 12 month tops, 9 month pants, and 12-24 month socks.

2 months

William is now 2 months old.  Has the time flown by for everyone else?  It feels like its only been a couple weeks since he came home from the hospital. Perhaps because I don't do well when sleep deprived. 

But, that's changing, since William now sleeps through the night.  Well, if he ever decides to go to sleep.  Last night, I fell asleep with him wide awake next to me, happy even though it was dark.  As long as he has his binky, he's usually pretty happy.  Once it's dark, and he falls asleep, he'll stay asleep until morning.  Or, if he does wake up, he goes back to sleep as soon as his tummy is full.  Which means I get lots of sleep, and I'm starting to function again.

Plus, I've started reading my scriptures (more) regularly, which helps me not get so irrationally angry.  I'm almost through the New Testament.  I'm pretty sure I started the New Testament about when I got married; at least, I know I'd started the Bible.  I started it before Dan and I started dating.  So, over 6 years ago.  And, I'm getting close to the end, so maybe by the end of the year, I'll be finished.

Emily is talking all the time.  It still surprises me when she comes up with things on her own; when did she stop being my little toddler?  She has a pretend bunny that shows up all the time.  Sometimes I am asked to carry it.  Last week at her tumbling class, I offered to hold it since Emily was going through the exercises with her hands looking like she was pretending to hold something.  Another thing we've heard from Emily is "The Wizard did it."  Apparently, the Wizard is a little girl.  She does bad things.  We've asked Emily to talk to the Wizard about her behavior.

Emily is posing.

New Things

This week has been one of new things.

Emily got a new haircut.  It now hits at about her shoulders.

Tabitha tried a new food: bananas.  She likes them.  She's doing much better eating; she no longer pushes her food out with her tongue, which is nice.  Also, Emily helped feed her bananas.  Tabitha loves to grab the spoons, so she helped feed herself, too.  You may notice three spoons in the picture above.  It was a spoon-palooza.

Also new, Tabitha tried out her bouncer again, and liked it.  She is holding her head up more steadily, and she likes to stand.  AND, she recently started showing interest in toys and starting to grab them.  All of this combined to a couple happy half hours in her bouncer.

Tabitha has started rolling over.  She rolled over once in Pennsylvania, from her stomach to her back.  Today, she rolled over a couple times across the floor.  (We are not counting the countless times she has rolled over while on an incline, which she's been doing since she was a newborn.  Including yesterday, when she rolled down my legs when I was sitting on the floor next to Emily's bed.  She thought that was great fun.)

And finally, last night Emily was going to bed (in her pajamas that match Tabitha's above, thanks to Aunt Jeanie) and she insisted on putting her blanket on herself, and then she told me she was going to sleep.  All by herself.  And she did.  I didn't know what to do with myself.

Luckily, her sister started fussing, and then I got to nurse her to sleep.

Kids Update

Tabitha is just over two months old, almost two and a half months.  She sleeps most of the time still, and when she is awake, and not eating, or crying about her diaper or the fact she isn't eating, she likes to smile at people.  Or the light.  She also smiles at the light.  And really, she doesn't cry that much.  We are very lucky to have such a great baby.  She is also busy growing, but I don't think she's growing as fast as Emily did.  Maybe.  She was 13 pounds, 4 ounces, and 23 inches long at her last doctor appointment, last Tuesday.  She is wearing 3-6 month clothing.  She seems less distressed when Emily showers her with attention now.  Perhaps because she is bigger, and Emily isn't.  Her hair is growing, except for around the sides, where it is wearing a little thin, and is shorter.  It is a little curly on top, but that is probably because I try to comb it backwards.  She is really good at sleeping already; a couple nights ago she slept through the night, only eating once, at about 6:30.  Emily slept too, so I was basically in heaven.

Emily has been working on her language.  She speaks in two word sentences, usually "I" followed by a word, like "I princess", which means "I'm a princess;" or "I chocolate" which means "I want chocolate."  And yes, those are some of her favorite words.  Although, chocolate has usually meant chocolate milk lately, because that is how we get her to take her meds.  Emily has tonsillitis.  And, a yeast infection.  AND, possibly, hand foot and mouth disease.  She was supposed to start swim lesson at the local high school this week, but we've rescheduled them for a couple weeks, since I don't think the other moms want us to infect their children.

Emily is pretty convinced she is a princess.  We recently rented princess movies from the library, because she has princess stuff (like dolls and diapers and her potty seat), which she loves, and she had never seen the movies with those characters.  She also likes to run around in her tutu I made her when she was about 7 months old (I made it REALLY big).  Sometimes, like this evening, she also puts a baby towel on her head--the kind with the hood in one corner, which is a princess hat.  Later she found a dress and had me help her put it on.  Maybe that is why she likes dresses so much.  Because she is a princess.

Sleeping babies and lots of cuddles

Tabitha is a sweet little baby.  She loves to sleep.  Mostly, she loves to sleep next to, or on, Mommy.  After she's been asleep for awhile, then we can set her down.  Usually.  Not yesterday, and not so far today, but she is sweet.  And fairly tiny.

She's mostly out of newborn clothes; her sister only spent just over a week in newborn clothes, as well, so I wasn't too surprised.  We went to the doctors on Saturday, and she was almost back up to her birth weight.  She doesn't eat as often as I remember Emily eating, but she's still growing.  And filling her diapers.  So we know she's eating.

Emily loves her little sister.  She often says "I want it," or a couple nights ago around 1, "I want more."  She's gotten more used to waiting until Tabitha is done eating to hold her.  She loves to find the baby's feet, and give her kisses.  She tries to wiggle her ears and cheeks; I've told her no face, but 2 year-olds don't always remember.  She also likes to give her sister stuffed animals or dolls to hold.

And I've gotten used to nursing Tabitha AND snuggling with Emily at the same time.  Because, sometimes they are both tired, and they both need their mommy.  And it's terribly sweet with they are both asleep and cuddled up on or next to me.

Sleep Cycles

At about 6:30 this morning, I was in bed with Emily and Dan, wide awake.  Emily wanted her pj pant legs pulled down to her ankles and her shirt sleeves pulled to her wrists.  She was wide awake as well.  About 20 minutes earlier, I had decided I needed more space than 18 inches on the edge of the bed, and had taken Emily back to her bed and dumped her into her bed, not too gently, waking her up.  I stuffed her monkey by her head, told her I had to go potty, and left.  About when I was washing my hands, she had found me, and we went back to my bed.  Now her monkey was stuffed under my chin (she also made sure the monkey got lots of blanket) and she was tossing and turning, and making sure "her" little pillow had been rescued from Daddy and stuffed back between our pillows.

About 4 AM she had woken up and climbed into bed with me.  I had put her to bed about 11, after she had woken up about 10:30 and climbed into bed with me & promptly fallen back asleep.  About 9 PM we had started rocking her to sleep, first me, and then Dan (after he took her upstairs for a bedtime snack).  About 10 PM she was snoring soundly, and I had tucked her into bed.

So at 6 AM I was out of gentle tuckings into bed, and into bed she plopped.  And woke up, not that she minded terribly; no loud crying ensued, just a wriggle out of bed with her monkey and off to find mommy.

Not every night is like this; sometimes she sleeps in her bed all night, or nearly all night, only coming into our room in the early morning.  And she is used to falling asleep in our bed--when we first moved to Michigan she refused to sleep in her room.

I feel like I've written a post similar to this a couple times.

She is almost two, and her baby sister will be here in a few months.  So, realistically, she won't be able to claim the middle of our bed forever.  We'll get back into a routine, and Emily will stay in her bed (maybe) and we'll start all over again with her sister.

Or maybe I'll just sleep on the floor in the nursery, since that keeps Emily in her room, and the new baby will want to eat every two hours anyway.  Ha ha, just kidding.  Maybe.

Emily Asleep

So, still no pictures because I don't know where the camera cord is.  On the other hand, my house is much cleaner than it used to be, in part because of Phil, my awesome father-in-law, who comes to my house and washes dishes.

The real reason for this post is that Emily took a 2 hours nap today.  Because I let her sleep on the couch, instead of taking her upstairs.  She would wake up every once in a while, and move around.  I was watching hulu in the same room, and I think she liked that.  But would she stay asleep if I wasn't around--that is the real question.

"The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley

We've had trouble getting Emily to sleep (check out my post from a few months ago).  Recently I put some books about how to get your child to sleep on hold at the library.  In the meantime, Dan read an article in one of my baby magazines, and we tried the let Emily cry it out method again.  Which worked better this time, and she is sleeping better.  And, she is sleeping in her crib, instead of between Dan and me.

One of the books I had put on hold was "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" (since we were having problems with Emily NOT falling asleep if we just left her in her crib--and the idea that she wouldn't be crying herself to sleep appealed to me).  Since she is still not napping, I checked out the book.

The author is the mother of 4 kids, and believes in not letting your child cry.  She is also a co-sleeping fan (but doesn't push that idea, just supports it, in her book) and she is a breast-feeder.  But her book is for all parents, and she describes different methods to use depending on the particular habits of your child (co-sleeper or crib sleeper for instance).  At the outset of her book, she outlines the overall plan parents should follow--including learning about sleeping behaviors, and creating a plan to address the problems your child has.  And then sticking with it--her sleep solutions take weeks to change habits, but you don't have to let your child cry it out.  She also offers many different methods to consider, that you can tailor to your child and your family's needs.

I liked that she addressed both your own feelings about your baby's sleep patterns (do you enjoy the alone time, even if you get no sleep) and why you want to change (can you barely function, or does everyone else seem to think you need to change).  Also, she has a couple chapters at the end aimed just at the parent--on their sleep, and giving you a little perspective in the conclusion chapter.

The author has a great, personable writing style, and you can tell she's been through this, too.  She also includes quotes from the moms about their children's sleep or their application of her methods.  It's not a very long book (about 250 pages) and its not a hard read.  Perfect for a desperate mom who's just trying to figure out how to get junior to go to sleep so she can finally do so herself.  But without having to let them cry (or scream) themselves to sleep in a different room.

A lot of her advice was things we tried with Emily, or thought about trying, but didn't stick it out long enough for her to change her habits.  So, we still have naps to work on.  And I think we'll try some of the suggestions (helping Emily learn to like her crib, continuing to encourage her attachment to a lovey, and responding during the night to cries instead of letting her just cry--which as, the author pointed out, is a lot easier to handle once you get some sleep yourself.)

As an added bonus, here is a great quote from one of the last chapters:
"79 percent of women reported sleep problems during pregnancy.  (Personally, I think this figure is far too low--probably because the 21 percent who checked the "no" box in this poll were just too tired to understand the question.)"

How do you get a baby to sleep alone?

Emily doesn't like sleeping alone. In the evenings, she will fall asleep nursing, or sometimes just because she is tired, and Dan or I will take her upstairs to bed. Ten or twenty minutes later, she wakes up and cries. We usually take her to bed a couple times, sometimes three.

Or, at night, if I am feeling somewhat coherent, I stay in her room to nurse her. There is a rocking chair, which is comfy, so nursing her for a little while isn't so bad. But then, after she falls asleep, and I put her in her crib, she wakes up and is very mad. Last night, she got really mad, and didn't want to be held. I finally had to swaddle her and jiggle her like a newborn--which I didn't think would work, since she hates blankets on her arms, but after a minutes of screaming, stiff bodied, she stopped. I got her asleep again, laid her down, and she woke up. This time I tried patting her stomach with my hand next to her head--so she could feel me--but it would only work as long as I didn't leave, and then after a while she was just upset.

Just let her cry it out, you might say. She'll fall to sleep on her own.

Hah. Emily is a very determined child.

I did try to let her cry it out last night, after the many attempts to get her to settle down. I went down stairs to use the bathroom (where you can't hear her scream) and then went back upstairs to my bed. She was still screaming. It was almost 6:20, so I decided I'd wait until 6:30, and if she was still awake, I'd go get her.

Around 6:25 Dan asked if I was going to get Emily. He hadn't said anything until then. I told him my plan. Then I mentioned maybe we should just let her cry it out. He didn't think it was a great idea.

At almost 6:30 she was crying in waves--loud for a bit, and then I couldn't hear her (through two closed doors). I thought, maybe she is falling asleep. But no, she'd start again.

So, at 6:30 I went and got her. She was standing in her crib (I'd left her flat on her back, wrapped in a blanket) and she stopped crying when she saw me. I carried her back to my room, were she was happy to see her Daddy. We turned off the lights, and after playing a little, she went to sleep with almost no effort on my part.

Obviously, she is supposed to spend early mornings with us, and she needs a mommy to flop all over to be truly comfortable.

Right now I am typing this while holding her, because if I put her down alone, she'll probably wake up.

What do I do?

Alone with a cranky baby

So, Emily is generally a happy baby. But not after we've sat in the library for awhile, and she is bored. Which, since I have been playing with my blog, we have. We don't have internet at home, so I have to do my blogging at the library. Which is nice because there is air conditioning (we have air conditioning in our bedroom, but that's it), but not so nice because Emily gets bored. Unless it is noisy, and she has lots of people to watch. But then I don't like it.

Dan is working (yea!) now, and he has school in the evenings, so if he goes straight to school from work, I don't see him for a long time. Which he did today. So, Emily and I went on a walk to the bank (which is about 1/2 mile away) and then to the library (which is less than a block away from my house). We got to the bank just before it closed at 5, and then came to the library. So we've been here awhile. Emily even took a nap for a little, which was nice.

Dan is being paid by his school to work at a non-profit that helps sickle-cell disease sufferers and also tests of diabetes. He is the assistant to the director, and he really enjoys it. Apparently he has made a good impression. He can only work 20 hours a week, though, but at least he is employed!

Emily manages to get around now. She isn't crawling, but she has learned how to roll over, and she can rotate in a circle (not sure how, she doesn't move very fast--we're talking minutes to move around, usually). She also sits very nicely. Sometimes she falls over. But I've left her alone for a shower, and finished without her crying (she used to get upset about being alone). So that's good. She has started to definitely prefer me, as well. If we are around other people, she wants to have me there. If she can't see me, all bets are off. Also, when she is lying in bed between Dan and I (like when it is early morning and she is hungry and I'm to tired to be upright and feed her) she will kick against him to get closer to me. This usually means that I end up right on the edge of the bed, because if I scoot a little away to give her a little room so I don't squish her, she scoots closer.

She is very cute.

Here is some proof. (Oh, and she is now very happy, playing with my camera. I took some pictures of her being happy, but I don't have the camera cord to upload them. I will (try to) post them next time. In the meantime, here is a video of her after she had some supper.)