SLEEP TRAINING

(snuggling close to your giant teddy)

Remember when I said you were sleeping 10pm-7am? Shortly after writing that, things changed. It became harder and harder for you to stay awake late, sounds great for momma right? Wrong. You did indeed start going to sleep earlier, around 8pm, but would only nap for an hour and want to play for another three before dozing off for the night.

At first it didn't bother me too much. It made putting Gage to bed at 8:30pm a lot easier when you are not pulling at his face or trying to eat the bedtime book. So, for about a week you were sleeping 12am-7am. And then things changed, again. Next thing I know you are waking up at 5am. So we went from 10pm-7am to 12am-5am? I don't think so!

Sleep training an almost 6 month old in the same room as a 2 year old is nearly impossible. For a few night momma and daddy brought you in our room to cry it out. But two nights of absolutely no sleep and a baby that was losing his voice from so much crying seemed worse than having to stay up late and get back up early.

So, we had a sleepover in mom and dad's room and sadly you were not invited. We brought Gage's mattress in our room, turned off the monitors  and three nights later you were sleeping 12 hours straight, 8pm-8am like a champ. On the rare occasion you wake up in the middle of the night you no longer whine and cry, you just talk to yourself back to sleep. Loving that you are a good sleeper.

THE DAY THE CARSEAT SAVED YOUR LIFE

I have always questioned the actual ability a plastic carseat would have to save your life in an accident. I can proudly say our infant carseat did the job in the Smith's parking lot. More than a week later and I still can't shake the nerves that come with recalling the horrific event. And as hard as I try to remember the details, I can't understand for the life of me exactly how it even happened in the first place, but I will do my best.

Costco trips happen every 2 weeks. You see we only ever venture to Costco when you run out of formula, otherwise we find ourselves spending WAY too much money WAY too often on pointless stuff. Lucky for us you are a pretty consistent baby and go through exactly one case of formula every seven days. It was time to restock on 2 more cases but unfortunately daddy was not working a schedule that would allow him to join  us. It was the weekend following Thanksgiving, and you can imagine how ridiculously busy it was with Christmas shopping. After our cart was hit 3 times by aggressive shoppers and Gage ran away once to see a giant train set, Momma decided there was no way we were going to enjoy Costco, so we grabbed your formula and decided to finish up the remainder of our grocery shopping at Smiths. We spent an unnecessarily long time at Smiths because somewhere between Costco and SMiths mom lost the shopping list. Finally, after looking for curry powder for a half hour, making you and Gage both wait for naps, and then realizing they were out of curry powder, I was anxious to just get out of there and finish shopping another day.

Upon exiting Smiths we had a 10 yard walk to the car, it was simply a matter of waiting for the cars to pass, walking across the street to the second parking stall. If only it happened like that, and like every other time we had been to Smiths before that. Instead, I had two cranky babies, and a ton of traffic in this small parking lot. We patiently waited for the cars to pass, then got the ok to go ahead and cross. I  grabbed Gage's hand and began to push you in the cart. At that moment Gage lifted his feet so I was dragging him, we hit a crack in the road with our cart and next thing i know your carseat is no longer in the cart it is rolling the remaining 5 yards to the car. In a panic I ditch the cart, make the polite car wait, drag your brother and scream chasing down your carseat. I couldn't seem to get you unstrapped fast enough. Now that I was holding you my tears begin to stream perfusely, Gage is scraped up and screaming and yet the only one to actually get into a life threatening accident is calm in momma's arms.

A nice lady came running to our rescue and pushed our cart to the car and helped unload it. After getting both of you boys in the car I stayed in that parking lot for another 10 minutes crying and thanking my Heavenly Father. In hindsight the thought of you rolling makes your dad chuckle but all I can think about is the number of times that I have unstrapped you while shopping and if that had been the case today my sweet baby may have had some serious injuries.

SO grateful for carseats, and for babies that can peacefully dose off on the car ride home following a traumatic experience. Here are the battle wounds that followed your first accident.

5 MONTHS

Its official, you are THE happiest 'lil guy alive.

You think Gage is the funniest person alive and you laugh just watching him.You just like to be close to him. I often catch you rolling or skooching just to be within touching distance. I wish he adored you the same way you adore him. I thinks he still forgets you are there until you kick him.

You often begin to hyperventilate when you see your bottle. Your breath  quicken immediately and you start shaking until it is close enough to ferociously attack. We are teaching you to hold the bottle by yourself. Everyone agrees you are difficult to feed because you wiggle so much, so we are ready for you to take over that responsibility!

You love to be held. ALL. THE. TIME.

You now share a room with your brother. I am blown away how much the two of you can sleep through. If Gage isn't roaring then you are screaming, and yet neither of you seem to wake the other up. The monitors have officially been turned off so mom can get some decent sleep.

You eat 8oz every 3 hours and take three long naps a day like clockwork. To mix things up, we started feeding you rice cereal for dinner. You eat it like a champ, and never put up a fight, even if it takes twice as long to feed you by spoon opposed to bottle.

You sleep 10pm - 7am. However you like to yell, not cry, but yell around 3am nearly every night. I think its because you feel lonely being awake by yourself. All it normally takes is momma or daddy sitting by your bedside for a minute or two and you are back to sleep. No loves, or kisses, or even food, just our presence puts you back to sleep.

You are getting much better at sitting up, and can make it a full 5 seconds before toppling over.

Gage taught you to squeal like an elephant. Most days I have two happy screeching boys. If you didn't see it for yourself you would think I was torturing the two of you all day long.

You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being naked. Seems to be a trend in this family.

You have mastered escaping your swaddler. Its a talent I can't wrap my head around since its more of a straight jacket than a swaddle blanket. And yet every morning we find your arms free.

You love it when I sing to you, it makes me want to learn more songs so you don't just hear the same 3 songs over and over and over.

Loving this age, wishing you would never grow up.

"TIG-EES"

You rocked a pudgy tiger, or "tig-ees" as Gage would say it, for Halloween. You first tried out your costume at Grandma's school carnival. It was a total hit. Had there been a costume award for the cutest, chubbiest, tiger, you would have nailed it. Since the dress rehearsal was such a success, we headed to the cousin's for the real thing. Sadly you slept almost all the way through trick-or-treating. That stroller was too comfy and watching Gage trudge from door to door was exhausting. This Halloween was a total success!

ROLY POLY

Early last week I left you in the living room looking like this...

Grabbed a drink, and came back to find you like this...

 For the remainder of the week you only chose to roll when mom wasn't looking. Fortunately, when you finally decided to show off your stuff, I was able to witness you get into this mess...

We can't seem to keep you on your back anymore. So much for play mats!

4 MONTHS

The night following your 4 month birthday you slept a full 12 hours. Sadly, I blame the shots you got earlier that day, that caused the fever, that caused the tantrums, that lead to the exhausting evening leading up to bed time. I say this, because you haven't slept more than 8 hours since. Its not all that bad though, you typically go down at 8pm, sleep til 4am, eat, and sleep again until 10am. If I am lucky and Gage decides to sleep in too, all three of us will sleep til 10am. We have it so rough don't we?!?

At four months you weigh 16lbs even and are 26in long. You eat 6oz during the day and 8oz to go to bed.

You love to grab your toes and roll on your back from side to side. You have not quite rolled completely over, but that doesn't mean you are not moving. When lying on the ground you spin. Your feet shuffle turning your body in circles.

Your favorite toy is still your snugly giraffe. You also love your floor mat and the deflated ball that hangs right in front of your face that is so easy to grab.

You are VERY strong, and can hold your own weight when momma or daddy lift you by your hands. You are great at tummy time and have mastered a perfect Shamu pose, you know the one, where you arch your back and lift your feet and head and balance on that round tummy.

You hate being left alone.

You LOVE your aunties. Over conference weekend it only took a minute or two in their arms and you were gone, past out asleep on their shoulders for several hours. When momma and daddy tried the same technique to get you to sleep it only made you mad.

You can put your pacifier back in, as long as your grabby hands were the ones to take it out in the first place. If by chance you lose your pacifier on accident, any other object in reaching distance will do. This includes blankets, a pillow, rattles, stuffed animals, even a towel once. If no object can be found in reaching distance, you LOVE to suck on two fingers.

You can drool through multiple bibs a day.

You think the baby einstein movies are soothing

If you had it your way you would be held all day every day. Sadly, you don't, and you are pretty quick to realize it after getting no attention for whining.

You are a ferocious little kicker when both happy and mad. In the bath you can soak the entire floor with all your splashing. I have to say, I am pretty impressed with Gage's patience in the tub, after all, he is the one you are kicking the whole time.

I am amazed how alert and interactive you are. Every one tells me that you are the happiest baby they have ever seen, and I would like to agree. It makes being your momma so fun. I love that you prefer to nap in my arms, and I love the occasions that I can take the time to let you. Part of me wishes I could keep you this size forever, but then I remember how many fun times we have ahead. Keep being your happy self and I will keep enjoying every second.

LEAKY FAUCET

You don't wear clothes anymore. And by "you don't" i mean "you can't" as in you are "not allowed." Momma got sick of changing you, bathing you, and washing your clothes. You have what we like to call, a leaky faucet. What goes in your round belly slowly comes out over the course of the next three hours until you eat again. That means 6-8 oz of regurgitated formula slowly spewing on yourself, and others, all day around the clock.  We cannot for the life of us understand how you are gaining so much weight. These smiles make me think you are enjoying the freedom, so nude it is!