NOTHING is more amazing than hearing the sound of you child learn to laugh….ok hearing his heartbeat for the first time is right up there too. Hope this makes you smile….
Lindsey
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Just Because...
So much of my blogging lately has been about learning about nighttime parenting (btw it's going great!) that I had to share these photos of our little man sleeping. Why you may ask….because ever since Jack learned to roll, he also learned that he prefers to sleep on his stomach…well not really on his "stomach", he prefers to sleep like this….. =)
I'll let you in on a little secret…sometimes his Daddy sleeps like this too. Genes are a powerful thing ;)
Lindsey
I'll let you in on a little secret…sometimes his Daddy sleeps like this too. Genes are a powerful thing ;)
Lindsey
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Yummy
Jack had his 4 month check up last Friday and he is doing great! He is now 13 lbs 8 oz (6 lbs 9 oz at birth) and 24 3/4 inches (19 3/4 at birth) which puts him in 30-40% so basically he's a little peanut.
We talked to the doctor about starting Jack on solids and he said we could start him anytime between 4 and 6 months. He said it MIGHT help him sleep a little better so we decided to give it a shot.
Last night we started him on 'solids' or otherwise known as breast milk with some rice cereal in it. As you will see, he was very receptive. Last night was the BEST night we have had so far! J put him down awake and he went to sleep without a peep (a first) and then he went 6 hours until needing to eat again (another first). We are still holding our breath, thinking last night may have been a fluke. We will see how the rest of the week goes….here's hoping for success!!! Either way, I keep reminding J that we have come a LOOOONG way since weeks 3-9.
We talked to the doctor about starting Jack on solids and he said we could start him anytime between 4 and 6 months. He said it MIGHT help him sleep a little better so we decided to give it a shot.
Last night we started him on 'solids' or otherwise known as breast milk with some rice cereal in it. As you will see, he was very receptive. Last night was the BEST night we have had so far! J put him down awake and he went to sleep without a peep (a first) and then he went 6 hours until needing to eat again (another first). We are still holding our breath, thinking last night may have been a fluke. We will see how the rest of the week goes….here's hoping for success!!! Either way, I keep reminding J that we have come a LOOOONG way since weeks 3-9.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Battle Rages On
I've said it before and I'll say it again…Parenting is full of little victories which can seem like you have just climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. It is no secret that we have had issues with Jack and nighttime. First it was colic which went away on it's own. Then it was his flailing which was solved with swaddling. Unfortunately the swaddling didn't last long because within a few weeks Jack was well on his way to mastering rolling every which way and shortly thereafter he discovered (on his own) that he best enjoys sleeping on his stomach (this freaked me out for the first few nights but I knew there really wasn't anything I could do to stop him).
And now we have moved into a whole new nighttime issue…Teaching Jack to put himself to sleep.
For the LONGEST time, actually about 16 weeks to be exact, Jack has woken up several times during the night. Whether it's to eat or that his sleep cycle has ended and he can't fall back asleep without some assitance from me or J, he's up ALOT. In fact he has gone four hours of nonstop sleep exactly once. I like to think that if there is some kind of higher power out there, he or she decided to give me Jack, our 'high needs baby', because he or she thought I could handle the challenge ;). Whatever the reasons, I wouldn't trade Jack for anything.
So I have been reading and reading and we have been trying to figure out what tactic works for US. We started our nighttime routine before Jack was 2 months old and it included a nightly bath and then I would nurse him to sleep. After that I would let him take the lead and he would determine when he ate which was usually frequent and not very long. First I learned that Jack does not need to eat every time he wakes up. Yes, he would totally take the boob every time and eat for a few minutes but he doesn't NEED it. Several people suggested I start him on rice cereal early but I really wanted to hold off until he was at least 4 months and I do believe he is getting enough through my breast milk.
There was a very long period that I was the only one getting up with Jack at night and the easiest thing for me to do calm him is pop a boob in his mouth but I soon realized that was not a good long term solution and if I was ever going to sleep again, it was time for Daddy to get involved. So I imposed our first nighttime rule, I would only go into feed him every 3 hours, every other waking or time he needed soothing it was up to Daddy. This was working great while we were still able to swaddle him but when we had to take away the baby burrito things got a little hairy again.
We start bedtime between 7 and 7:30. It was bath, book from daddy, and then boob. Great, he would fall right to sleep! And then he was up every 5 minutes screaming. J would be up and down the stairs at least 6 or 7 times in an hour and spend anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes trying to get Jack back down. Needless to say it was frustrating for both of us.
In my reading, I learned that at 4 months babies start to become more aware of their surrounding and they are capable of taking that first step towards independence…or self soothing. I had known for awhile that I was giving Jack until 4 months to be a newborn and he was in charge of calling the shots but after that it was time for us to start working together. Well he is one week shy of 4 months and we are taking the first steps into self soothing.
I have never been a fan of the 'cry it out' method and I know that this would be an absoulte last resort for us. But I do beleive he is at the point where he can and needs to learn to put himself to sleep. So we changed up the bedtime routine several days ago to boob, bath, book, bed. By eating first, I know that he is not hungry when he goes down and therefore he not relying on me to fall asleep. We do bath time together and then Daddy does book and bed. Jack is then put in bed awake. The first night it took J almost an hour of screaming before he finally fell asleep. He lets Jack cry or wine for a few mintues but if he gets overly worked up J will pick him up and try to calm him. However the last two nights we have put Jack down awake, he has cried for 4 minutes and then went to sleep. For his late night wakings we have been giving him 5 minutes to try and put himself back to sleep and we have a had great progress. It is a hard 5 minutes for Mommy and Daddy but we know that he is safe and not hungry…he just needs to know that when he wakes up every thing is ok and that he can fall back asleep alone.
I time it out and if wakes up and it's been 3 hours since his last feeding I will go in and nurse him (that will be then next issue to address). Last night I went in at 4:40. He nursed for about 5 minutes, broke his latch to change him (which he did without screaming!), tried to feed him some more but he had no interest and laid him back in his crib wide awake and smiling. As I walked back to our room I was anticpating a fight from him. I watched him on our video montior and within 10 minutes of rolling around and talking to himself he was asleep!!! He didn't wake up again until 7:15!!!
Daddy and Jack napping
This precarious nighttime dance we have going on in the Voigts' home may sound like a nightmare to many but I consider last night a HUGE victory! He put himself back down 3 times….amazing! I have no expectations of Jack sleeping 10 hours straight, or even 6 hours, anytime soon and I am totally ok with that. We just don't want to have to have him waking every 5 minutes and needing our help to go back to sleep. Baby steps. I know it will all work itself out someday….I'm just hopeful that the next baby is a bit easier in this department ;).
With all that said….WOW Jack is almost 4 months old!!!
Lindsey
And now we have moved into a whole new nighttime issue…Teaching Jack to put himself to sleep.
For the LONGEST time, actually about 16 weeks to be exact, Jack has woken up several times during the night. Whether it's to eat or that his sleep cycle has ended and he can't fall back asleep without some assitance from me or J, he's up ALOT. In fact he has gone four hours of nonstop sleep exactly once. I like to think that if there is some kind of higher power out there, he or she decided to give me Jack, our 'high needs baby', because he or she thought I could handle the challenge ;). Whatever the reasons, I wouldn't trade Jack for anything.
So I have been reading and reading and we have been trying to figure out what tactic works for US. We started our nighttime routine before Jack was 2 months old and it included a nightly bath and then I would nurse him to sleep. After that I would let him take the lead and he would determine when he ate which was usually frequent and not very long. First I learned that Jack does not need to eat every time he wakes up. Yes, he would totally take the boob every time and eat for a few minutes but he doesn't NEED it. Several people suggested I start him on rice cereal early but I really wanted to hold off until he was at least 4 months and I do believe he is getting enough through my breast milk.
There was a very long period that I was the only one getting up with Jack at night and the easiest thing for me to do calm him is pop a boob in his mouth but I soon realized that was not a good long term solution and if I was ever going to sleep again, it was time for Daddy to get involved. So I imposed our first nighttime rule, I would only go into feed him every 3 hours, every other waking or time he needed soothing it was up to Daddy. This was working great while we were still able to swaddle him but when we had to take away the baby burrito things got a little hairy again.
We start bedtime between 7 and 7:30. It was bath, book from daddy, and then boob. Great, he would fall right to sleep! And then he was up every 5 minutes screaming. J would be up and down the stairs at least 6 or 7 times in an hour and spend anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes trying to get Jack back down. Needless to say it was frustrating for both of us.
In my reading, I learned that at 4 months babies start to become more aware of their surrounding and they are capable of taking that first step towards independence…or self soothing. I had known for awhile that I was giving Jack until 4 months to be a newborn and he was in charge of calling the shots but after that it was time for us to start working together. Well he is one week shy of 4 months and we are taking the first steps into self soothing.
I have never been a fan of the 'cry it out' method and I know that this would be an absoulte last resort for us. But I do beleive he is at the point where he can and needs to learn to put himself to sleep. So we changed up the bedtime routine several days ago to boob, bath, book, bed. By eating first, I know that he is not hungry when he goes down and therefore he not relying on me to fall asleep. We do bath time together and then Daddy does book and bed. Jack is then put in bed awake. The first night it took J almost an hour of screaming before he finally fell asleep. He lets Jack cry or wine for a few mintues but if he gets overly worked up J will pick him up and try to calm him. However the last two nights we have put Jack down awake, he has cried for 4 minutes and then went to sleep. For his late night wakings we have been giving him 5 minutes to try and put himself back to sleep and we have a had great progress. It is a hard 5 minutes for Mommy and Daddy but we know that he is safe and not hungry…he just needs to know that when he wakes up every thing is ok and that he can fall back asleep alone.
I time it out and if wakes up and it's been 3 hours since his last feeding I will go in and nurse him (that will be then next issue to address). Last night I went in at 4:40. He nursed for about 5 minutes, broke his latch to change him (which he did without screaming!), tried to feed him some more but he had no interest and laid him back in his crib wide awake and smiling. As I walked back to our room I was anticpating a fight from him. I watched him on our video montior and within 10 minutes of rolling around and talking to himself he was asleep!!! He didn't wake up again until 7:15!!!
Daddy and Jack napping
This precarious nighttime dance we have going on in the Voigts' home may sound like a nightmare to many but I consider last night a HUGE victory! He put himself back down 3 times….amazing! I have no expectations of Jack sleeping 10 hours straight, or even 6 hours, anytime soon and I am totally ok with that. We just don't want to have to have him waking every 5 minutes and needing our help to go back to sleep. Baby steps. I know it will all work itself out someday….I'm just hopeful that the next baby is a bit easier in this department ;).
With all that said….WOW Jack is almost 4 months old!!!
Lindsey
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Crazy Eyes!
We discovered Jack's "Crazy Eyes" a few months ago when we would walk into a dark room. Thankful he still does it from time to time and we were able to get it on video. If anything it will give you a good laugh and embarrass the hell out of him in about 15 years ;)
I also captured it on film…He makes me smile!
Lindsey
I also captured it on film…He makes me smile!
Lindsey
This post is long overdue….
We got a new video camera a few weeks ago and I still trying to figure out how to edit in iMovie, so pardon the length in video until I get that mastered!
When we were back in IL over Memorial Day, Jack started rolling from his belly to his back. Justin came into the kitchen and asked me when Jack started to roll and I said he wasn't yet. Well, he made a liar out of me that day! About a week later he started to roll from his back to his belly also. I was able to catch the first time he made a full circle on video. Enjoy!
Lindsey
We got a new video camera a few weeks ago and I still trying to figure out how to edit in iMovie, so pardon the length in video until I get that mastered!
When we were back in IL over Memorial Day, Jack started rolling from his belly to his back. Justin came into the kitchen and asked me when Jack started to roll and I said he wasn't yet. Well, he made a liar out of me that day! About a week later he started to roll from his back to his belly also. I was able to catch the first time he made a full circle on video. Enjoy!
Lindsey
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Hitting Pause
As I rocked my little boy to sleep tonight, I got a little teary eyed. Jack is 3 months today and as challenging as these 3 months have been I realized tonight that I can never get them back and someday (all too soon I fear) I will miss these innocent nights rocking my boy to sleep. As much as I dread getting up at 3 am, I know I will look back at this time and remember our nights together sitting in his dimly lit nursery listening to the waves crash.
I wanted to rush through pregnancy with lighting speed but now that Jack is here I just want to hit pause and enjoy these days a little longer, make the hours go a little slower.
Happy 3 months Jack! I love you more than you will ever know and I feel so lucky to have a front row seat in your journey through life.
I wanted to rush through pregnancy with lighting speed but now that Jack is here I just want to hit pause and enjoy these days a little longer, make the hours go a little slower.
Happy 3 months Jack! I love you more than you will ever know and I feel so lucky to have a front row seat in your journey through life.
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