5 months - BLM

I feel like each and every day of this past month has been full of surprises and changes for our lil man. There is no predicting when it comes to the B man. Luckily, we have seemed to hopefully settle down into a bit of a routine, at least when it comes to sleeping at night. In the past week or two, I have really tried to get our guy addicted to the pacifier. I know that seems backwards to most people because usually by 6 months or so parents try to wean babies from it when I am just now getting him hooked on it. I saw what it did for Ryan, which was make him an awesome sleeper and we didn't have too much trouble taking it away, so I am hoping we can have the same results with B. We put him to bed by 7:30, he usually wakes up to eat around 1:30-2:30 and has been waking up consistently around 4 again which the pacifier has sufficed and we have been able to not feed him. He will then go back to sleep until about 6:30 or 7. Sometimes, I can feed him and get him back down for another hour or sometimes he is just up. I am hoping with the pacifier, his new lovey, and his recent change to sleeping on his side (since we took the swaddle away), will soon eliminate all of the extra wakings in the middle of the night. Maybe we can just do one feeding for a little bit longer and can skip the whole cry it out thing. We never had to do that with Ryan, he just started sleeping through the night consistently by 6 or 7 months, so I really don't want to have to resort to that with B if we can avoid it. The proof is in the paci.

As for naps, he is still not a great napper. We are still taking 4 short naps throughout the day that last about 30-35 minutes. On a really good day, he will get one long nap in, but that usually involves driving or being out and about.

We tried rice cereal and he does not seem to be a huge fan, so I haven't pushed it. I know I need to be more diligent with it, but life is so much more crazy with a 3 year old running around, that I forget a lot of times :/ I hope the saying "food before one is just for fun" holds true or else I will need to start setting reminders to feed him :)

For the most part, he does seem happier during the day. He does love to play, just not by himself. He needs someone to just be sitting next to him while he does whatever he does that makes him happy. He loves playing with his feet, sitting in his bumbo, playing in the jumper, kicking his piano, and just exploring. It makes it difficult to get much accomplished this way, but oh well. He is also pretty obsessed with standing right now and actually really working on sitting. Still not rolling from back to tummy so I am thinking he must just end up skipping it and going straight to walking, just kidding!

 I took him to meet MaMaw this past month and she loved getting to hold him. I think he liked her too :)

He will tolerate his tummy more these days. Unfortunately, he still spits up a bunch. We have tried Prevacid, but I don't think it makes much of a difference. I think he has a small tummy. He still only takes about 4-4.5 oz of milk at a time when he has a bottle, and I think he should be taking 6-7 oz. at a time. It's strange. When I took him in to discuss his spitting up, he weighed 16lbs. 5.5 oz which was 63% so he is still gaining weight, he just likes to snack all day basically.

We have been loving our frequent Friday park and lunch playdates with his little girlfriend, Lucia. He's trying to put some moves on her!

He's been nursing still about 7 times a day - every 3 hours during the day. About to outgrow size 2 diapers. In 9 months clothes. Still no teeth but he drools all day long and sticks about everything in his mouth to chew on. Absolutely loves bath time, which is great since the hour from 6-7pm is the witching hour and just about the only thing that will keep him happy.

Bradley is smitten with his big brother. I love watching the two of them together. Ryan will come up to him and just randomly kiss or hug on him all throughout the day. B will immediately turn toward him and his face just lights up. I can't wait for a few months from now when they can actually interact a little more with each other.

We love you lil Bradley bear. Happy 5 months!

Breakthroughs

Over the past two weeks, we have had major breakthroughs in our house.

All of a sudden, Ryan decided to become completely potty trained. He has been tinkling in the potty for probably 9 months now. Not consistently, but he has been capable of doing it since the end of last summer.  Between the remodel and not living at home for a while and then the arrival of Bradley, I decided not to push it with him. We have always had trouble with going number 2. He says it is hard and has had no interest in attempting it. Well, one day after school, he was already in undies because that is what he wears to school, he tried to go in the potty and thought he was successful. From then on, it was like it was no big deal and we have been in undies ever since! It has been such a huge relief because we knew we needed to make this happen here pretty soon, but I was dreading it because he was so adamant about going in his diaper. He would tell us things like we need to buy more diapers, or once he runs out that there were pull-ups in another cabinet. It was excuse after excuse, but I am so happy now that the problem just resolved on its own and we don't have to take any drastic measures :) We're going on 3 weeks of no accidents!

Love undies pics!

As for our other son, we have made somewhat of a breakthrough on sleeping at night. After trying just about everything, about a week and a half ago Wes suggested that we try and swaddle B. Now, he has never been one to like being restrained. He is so handsy and always moving, so he was never compliant when it came time to swaddle him up. So we gave up. Well, after 4 months, he decided it wasn't so bad. The first night he cried for about 5 minutes, and ever since then, he almost likes it! We have definitely made some strides in getting more sleep. Most nights, he will only wake up once in an 11-12 hour period which is fine by me for now. On the other hand, most parents stop swaddling by this age because of babies starting to roll, etc. So, I know this can only last for a few weeks, but I am hoping it will establish some good sleeping patterns (not to mention, he is in the crib full time!). Also, we went ahead and just started to do this for naps as well and it is working like a charm. He will even get one or two good 1-2 hour naps in each day which is a big step up from his 4 - 30 min naps a day. And I think we are done with the swing as well!! He looks so funny in the swaddle :)

They are really loving each other recently. Ryan is being just so sweet with him and Bradley is just so interested in everything he does. Hope this lasts forever (haha)!



 

4 months - BLM

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with what's going on with the boys. I feel like I just did Bradley's 3 month update yesterday. It has been a very interesting month for the B man. He spent his first few nights out at my parent's for the wedding we went to over Easter and then stayed with GiGi one night a week or so ago. The good news is, he can pretty much sleep just about anywhere which is nice to know. The bad news, he is totally regressing in his sleep habits. We had gone from about week 7-8 until about week 14 with consecutively getting 7-8 hour stretches each night. So we decided about 3 weeks ago to move him to his crib. He cried the very first time we put him down, but after that he was fine. For the first week, he didn't do too bad. He would sleep about 6 or so hours at a time before waking up and go right back to bed. Then, things changed and have not been the same since. He started waking up every 3 hours on the dot and now that he goes to bed earlier around 8:30, this was not working with our schedule. After a week, we decided to try a few experiments to see if he was really hungry because that seemed to be the only way to get him back to bed. After an hour and a half of rocking, looking at the mobile, trying the pacifier, and just plain crying it out, I gave in and fed him. So the next night, we tried him back in the bassinet just to see what he would do and he slept 9 hours. Well that was a fluke because now he's than he's ever been and waking up sometimes every two hours from midnight on. Wes has been in London, so I feel like I have just been sleepwalking through this past week. Unfortunately, Dr. S, our pediatrician, has said that since he has dropped in percentile on his weight that if he wants to eat, I need to feed him. Hmmpph. I'm just hoping he will outgrow all of this VERY soon and guess we will just move him back to the crib this weekend.

The good thing is that he still does sleep about 12 hours total before getting up in the morning and naps 3-4 times a day (still in the swing, of course!). Needless to say, we have a lot of work to do in the sleeping department. He's still pretty happy throughout the day. Starting to get bored somewhat, so we have pulled out the Exersaucer, which he seems to enjoy and think we will try the walker next.

He likes to be sitting upright as well and will try and do crunches to sit up. He will tolerate tummy time for 3-4 min, but can at least lift his head up for a while now. He rolled over from his tummy to back once about 2 weeks ago, but nothing since. He does like to roll to his side and just chill there.

He is even more obsessed his feet right now, especially the right one! Has started smacking his lips, is very ticklish, loves to laugh and smile, and talks nonstop. He loves being held and if I am in the room, will pretty much whine and cry until I pick him up.

We tried rice cereal a few nights ago. He didn't love it, but didn't hate it either. So, I feel hopeful he will take a liking to it. We have been putting it in his bottle some in hopes of more sleep!

Currently, B is:
*In size 2 Diapers
*Pretty much has outgrown 6 months clothes and moving into 9 months
*Finally increased his bottle intake. Will now take 5-6oz at a time when he gets one. Still will only take 3-4 oz during his nighttime bottle(s). He will spit up once he takes too much, which Ryan never did so this is all new to me.
*Starting to like the pacifier, although he does not use it to fall asleep or soothe - really just when he is pretty upset and needs something to focus on
*Loves his little Lion stuffed animal
*His favorite thing to play with is fabric or anything soft. I am pretty sure a silk sheet could keep him occupied for hours. he loves to just smother himself in fabric
*Loves to be held or just sit with me on the couch
*Obsessed with big brother and watches him like a hawk

Ryan loves to help with Bradley. Whenever he is upset, he is always trying to find ways to comfort him whether it is reading him a book, singing to him, laying with him, or in this case, loading him up with a bunch of lovies!

 Right before his shots at his 4 month appointment:

His stats were:

Height - 26.5" (93%)

Weight - 15 lbs. 5.5 oz (59%)

Head - 17" (75%)

 

So he is kind of all over the place and although, long and lean, I think he carries 90% of his weight in his cheeks. They are soooo chubby and hang over his chin, it is so hard to clean his neck :) We did a little 4 month photo shoot at my parents' when we were there while Wes was in London.

 

 Love this boy! Update: I have wrote this almost 10 days ago and since then so much has changed with sleep. I'll update that next with a few other breakthroughs at our house!