Time really does fly when you have kids. It is hard to believe that in 4 months I am scheduled to go back to work. I am trying to figure out some options now so I don't have to go back full time. I would love to stay home with Tallet.
Tallet is growing in leaps in bounds. He is into 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes, most of which JUST fit. I am sure he will be in the next size in a month or two.
He is eating solid foods 3 times a day and loves it. We try something new every 3 days, and he doesn't always love it at first. I am making my own baby food. I am trying to do some baby led weaning but he doesn't get enough food that way and at this point he is used to getting a certain amount of solids, he cries in hunger if he doesn't get it.
I am also back to breastfeeding. The 2 week break combined with a routine of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and baking soda worked to get rid of thrush was the only thing that worked. I literally tried every single other option other than gentian violet. I am so glad the pain is gone, breastfeeding is wonderful now. I am SO SO SO glad I stuck out the pain for 5 months instead of giving up. Bottle feeding/ bottle washing was no fun. I pump every night before I go to bed for extra milk for when I need to leave him with someone.
He has moved to his crib for night. This means he is upstairs, which seems really far away. We do have a fantastic monitor that if I hold it up to my ear I can hear him breathing. It isn't one of those $300 monitors that have video and movement sensors (my friends decided that would make me too paranoid so they bought me this one) .
Anyways, his transition went VERY smoothly. We were using the Ferber method up to this point, and it was working ok. But I really didn't want to let him cry it out for 2 hours his first night in the crib so we (I) read the No Cry Sleep Solution and we are combining the methods. We have a bedtime routine : bath, change, eat, book, and then lullaby music/soother/teddy and getting rocked to sleep. If he wakes up after we put him down for night, he has to cry it out. He never cries more than 1 or 2 minutes at a time. The second night he was in his crib we tried picking him up and rocking him back to sleep when he woke up, but every time I would lay him down he would cry again. When I would pick him up, he was asleep before he hit my chest. Then I would lay him down and he would cry. I did this for an hour before I became so frustrated I just left him in his crib and walked away. Within 5 minutes he was alseep and he slept through the rest of the night. My life lesson from this is : the sleep methods you read about in books are great to give you ideas, but they do not work for every baby. My advice is to read as many books as your heart desires and then do what works best for you and your baby.
We are going to slowly phase out the getting rocked to sleep part of it. As long as we are consistent with the bedtime routine, he will learn that it is time to go to sleep for the night. Actually, I have found that he doesn't fall asleep in my arms completely. He kind of writhes around like he is uncomfortable and then once he hits the mattress he is out like a light. So he is kinda phasing out the rocking to sleep thing himself!
Naptime is a little more of a challenge, he doesn't fall asleep as fast as he does for nighttime. But he has improved napwise in the last week, so I am sure it will continue to get better. We have reduced the number of naps from 4 to 3 so I think that helped.
Enough about sleep, Tallet loves to play. He still enjoys getting books read to him, and will often calm right down if he is grumpy when you start to read to him. He can move around in circles on his mat quite well. He can get up on his hands and knees from time to time, so I am sure crawling isn't too far away. He has started to take steps when hold his hands, and will walk all the way across the room. Up until a week ago he showed no interested in that. He also likes to stand up "by himself" against the couch or coffee table or me. My hands are always there to catch him, but I am surprised how much balance he has gained in the last two weeks doing this!
Tallet's baby dedication was yesterday! It was such a special and meaningful time for us. A lot of family came out to support us. It is so important to us that our family and church commit to helping us to foster Tallet's relationship with God. I want nothing more for him than to live a faith filled life! After church we had family and friends over for lunch. It was such a great time, I just wish I had a bigger house to fit more people!
Well, this post has been long enough for one day! I just wasted a whole naptime typing this when I could have been sewing!
2 comments:
Happy Dedication Day to Tallet! I remember ours very fondly - what a special time that is. Your son's so beautiful! Love seeing all the new pics of him. Good for you on trying to get a consistent sleep routine going so early on. I agree with everything you're doing and I can tell you, it really pays off in the long run! I have an almost three-year-old who sleeps SO well, both at night and during the day. Of course we've had a few hiccups along the way but it's never too difficult getting him back on track. On the other hand, I have a couple of Mommy friends who haven't always been as consistent with their lo's and still struggle to this day..I personally think sleep training from an early age is so important. Sounds like you're doing a great job, Mama!
He's so cute!! I love the photos. So it was thrush the whole time with the breastfeeding?? I didn't realize! Well I'm SO glad it's not hurting anymore! Also I totally agree with mixing sleep ideas to tailor it to what works for you and baby - we found that we ended up with a mish-mash too after trial and error and figuring out what worked well and what we were comfortable with. It's amazing how detailed it becomes! Sounds like you guys are doing great :)
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