Are any of you having trouble seeing any pictures on the blog? I couldn't see the sake bottle in the bottle warmer on my work computer (PC) but can see it at home on the Mac. Anyone else?

Other Uses For the Bottle Warmer

We had Japanese food for Thanksgiving. We bought fresh sashimi (salmon, because the tuna was so expensive!) and we made sushi rolls as well as the rice balls with the yumminess that goes on top (avocado, shrimp, salmon...), gyoza and beef negimaki (asparagus wrapped with beef tenderloin.) We also had sake and made Thanksgiving toasts out of Mike's fancy sake cups that he brought home while living abroad. The best part was how Mike heated up the sake...He used our trusty Avent bottle warmer. I wonder what else we'll end up using this for?

Tummy Time Two

Here's a better video of the tummy time:

Sugar Water on the Pacifier

14 weeks

Did you know that Aki Bear was given the pacifier when he was in the NICU for the first 48 hours of life? He probably had more pacifier time than boob time. He has never really taken to the pacifier, which is probably a good thing. The last hour that we were in the hospital one of the NICU nurses dipped the pacifier in something and stuck it in his mouth. I asked her what that was (thinking maybe it was a disinfectant or something.) She said, "Sugar water. Don't do that at home." I was dumbstruck. No wonder he wouldn't take the pacifier from me and instead give me this sour look, it didn't taste like a lollipop. I wonder why they do that in the NICU? Oh well. Instead he sucks on his fingers, Sophie the Giraffe and anything else he can stick in his mouth.

Flying and Giggling

I probably say "Are you going to spit up on me?" at least once a day now.

I Am The Expert On Him

As a new parent I've been given all kinds of advice and told all sorts of things. I take each piece of experienced wisdom that is given to me to heart and I listen to it. What I have learned fairly quickly (which is funny because usually it takes lots of mistakes plus space or time away from a situation for my own wisdom to appear) is that every child is different; every parent is different; there are various solutions to one problem; what may work for one child may not work for another; and what may work today may not work tomorrow! Babies are inconsistent or maybe parents are inconsistent? I don't know. (See, that is an example of my head being so "in it" with not enough space to step back and see the situation clearly that I don't know how to make sense of it.) Making those graphs on his sleeps really helps me to see things more clearly but sometimes I feel like I need to stop looking at the clock and go more with my instincts. It's a fine balance. Now I feel like I'm just yammering on and on with no particular goal in sight. Anyhoo. I came upon this article and it was like she was writing it for me. Thank you Not Just Cute dot com! I read so much on different things like, sleep or solid foods, or what to do for cradle cap or congestion, etc.  or am given advice like, "Feed him solids, that'll make him sleep through the night." or "Let him cry it out it won't hurt him." that it can become overwhelming. Here's a snippet from the article:

"My husband, who has a tendency to give sage advice, said, “At some point you just have to close the books and listen to yourself.  You are his mom.  That makes you the expert on him.”  From that perspective I was finally able to take the information that I had read, sift out the principles, and apply them in a way that felt right to me and worked best within our family." - Not Just Cute dot com

I wish someone had told me something like that in grad school! I listened to what everyone else said, bad and good critiques and rarely listened to my voice. I am a bad taker-of-critiques. Even if they were good critiques say, like, "That is such a beautiful idea you should do this and this and that and this!" I would then do what they told me rather than continue on in the direction I originally had planned. Or if it was bad say, like, "That looks like you are cutting off women's body parts."  I would toss the idea out completely instead of working with it constructively. I learned after grad school what I had done to hinder my artwork and production of it. No wonder it was a frustrating 3 years! I refuse to be frustrated for the next eternity when it comes to parenting the Bear and choose instead to give my instincts the credit that they deserve while still taking to heart the sage wisdom from friends, the expertise from within the books I've read and what knowledge the pediatrician grants me.

First Food!

So I mixed a baked sweet potato with some vintage white into a runny/smooth consistency and we fed it to the Bear. He wasn't so sure at first and then he started grabbing my finger and shoving it into his mouth. We need to set up the high chair as reclining and eating is probably not good for him. Anyways, have a look:

 And, no, he did not sleep through the night after his first solid food meal like people said he would. Of course. What are some of the first foods you all fed your babies?

Yam Teaser

Video to come. Here's a still picture of him eating a sweet potato breast milk smoothie:

The Sleep Challenge, Part 3

 

That looks like waves coming to shore on Lake Pend O'Reille on a very sunny, still day. Doesn't look like a lot of progress is being made on day 10. Boo! Hiss! I do think we made progress on the getting him back to sleep in between wakings though. If you're dying to know have a look at the details of days 6-10. If you are not dying to know then skip to the bottom for some cute-ocity.

Friday, Day 6

7pm - rock, down

10:22pm - up, nursed for 9 min, rocked

10:33pm - down

12:33am - up, nurse, rocked x 2

12:44am  - down

3:17am - up, nurse (x2), rock

3:28am - down

5:17am - up nurse 

5:50am - down

6:31am - up

That's a Maximum of 10 hours and 24 minutes of sleep. His longest sleep span was 3 hours and 22 minutes. 

*******

Saturday, Day 7

7:48pm - down

11pm - up, nurse x 2, rock

11:14pm - down

11:20pm - up, rocked x 2

11:29pm  - down

1:30am - up, nurse x3, rockx2

1:44am - down

3:50am - up, nurse x5, rock

4:07am  - down

6:50am - uppity up

Max sleep: 9 hours and 48 minutes. Longest sleep span: 3 hours

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Sunday, Day 8

6:40pm - down

9:10pm - up nurse, rock x2

9:19pm - down

11:12pm - up, nurse, rock

11:31pm - down

1:27am - up, nurse

1:34am - down

3:37am - up, nurse x2, rock

3:45am - down

5:03am - up, nurse/sleep

6:50am - up!

Max sleep: 9 hours, 39 minutes. Longest span: 2 hours, 30 minutes

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Monday, Day 9

6:27pm - down

9:32pm - up, nurse, rock

9:45pm - down

9:52pm - up, rock

9:55pm - down

12:06am - up, nurse x3, rock

12:18am - down

2:18am - up, rock

2:30am - down

3:40am - up, nursex3

3:50am - down

5:50am - up, nurse

6:19am - up!

Max sleep: 10 hours and 31 minutes. Longest sleep span: 3 hours and 5 minutes. You can see at 2:18am I didn't have to nurse him, just rocked him, but it took a long rock and he only slept for an hour and ten after that.

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Tuesday, Day 10

7:27pm - down

9:39pm - up, nurse, rock

9:46pm - down

11:55pm - up, nurse, rock

12:04am - down
2:10am - up, rock only
2:16am - down
2:27am - up, nurse, rock
2:34am - down
4:24am - up, nurse, rock
4:34am - down
5:58am - up, nurse
6:35am - up!

Max sleep time: 10 hours, 52 minutes. Longest sleep span: 2 hours, 12 minutes. The improvement this night was that I didn't have to repeat nursing or rocking at all. It was easier to put him back in his crib after only one try! He is still doing 2 hour sleeps though. Waaah.

Sometimes I will leave the room and when I come back I find something on his face, like a blanky or a chew toy, or in this case a monkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I will try my first solid food...a sweet potato!

Tummy Time

I had to record this mostly on the sly, hence the funny angle on the second part (while he's in the crib.) He's getting really good at tummy time. In fact, he loves being on his tummy more so than on his back. Yesterday he rolled over from his back to his tummy! Hooray! He does this über-cute thing where he looks over at me and then I smile back or say hello and then he gives me a mega smile (that pierces my heart which then explodes into millions of other hearts that start to grow at mega speeds) and then he buries his face down in front of him. Have a look-see at the most adorable tummy timer:

Taking Baby to the Dentist or Dad Always Wins

I totally forgot about my 7 am dentist appointment this morning. I get a call at ten after from the office asking me where I am.

((((((Whoops))))))

They say that they have an opening at 8 but I can come in before then, so I tell them I'll be there (don't wanna pay that fee of not cancelling!) So I tell Mike and say, "I think he'll be ready for a nap in 30 minutes." Mike says, "You're not going to take him with you? I have a staff meeting at 9:30 am." 

Crap

Mike has to leave by 9 am to get to his meeting. I'm really mad. Mad at myself for missing the 7 am appointment and then more mad at Mike (it's easier somehow to be more mad at Mike) because I think it would be easier to have a baby in a staff meeting rather than have a baby at a dentist appointment while I'm trapped under a Hygienist.  But no.

Dad always wins. 

(That's me being mad.) So I storm off with my adorable baby to the dentist. They are so glad to see a cute baby. Thank goodness. Aki Bear is tired, so I'm afraid he'll start wailing as he cries almost only when he's tired. He does really well while she scrapes away at my bottom teeth and then half way through my top teeth he starts getting fussy, not wailing just squawky. Squawky Bear. So I pull his car seat closer to me so that my foot  can reach the seat to rock it while she finishes cleaning my teeth. That mostly does the trick. I wish I had my camera because it was kinda funny. Just imagine, me on the reclined chair with my mouth open, the Hygienist cleaning away with my foot dangling off the seat rocking the baby in his car seat. Of course he never fell asleep, he doesn't like sleeping he likes looking at stuff. He loved looking at all of the ceiling lights and dental lights and listening to the mechanical tooth polisher and water-sucker-upper. Anyways. Good news.

No cavities. No Gingivitis.

He falls asleep half way home holding on to Bob.

Filling It In

Do you you remember this romper I knitted while I was pregnant? Well look it it now, filled in with a soft, warm, pudgy human!

The Sleep Challenge, continued

This is not my baby, nor are these my dogs although I think we should get sleeping dogs so the baby can sleep. I found this image on the Life With Dogs facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/lifewithdogs

Monday Night (night 2)
6:51p - nurse, sing, suck on fingers, rock, sing, down
10:23p - up, nursed, diaper change, nursed, rocked
10:43p - down
1:03a - up, nurse, rock
1:14a - down (a record 11 minutes!)
3:42a - up, nurse, attempt rock (repeat 3x)
3:58a - down
6:07a - up, nurse, rock
6:25a - UP (he basically wakes up at 6am although I try anything to get him to sleep longer, alas, no.)

He slept a total of 8.5 hours. His maximum sleep was 3 hrs and 33 min.
His maximum sleep improved from Sunday night's 3 hour span. He slept less though; I estimate 10.33 hours slept on Sunday. Although Sunday was torturous from 4 am on. I enjoyed Monday night more. So, I say, "Success!" or maybe more like, "success."

**********************************************

Tuesday Night (night 3)
7:16p - nurse, rock, down
8:05p - up, rocked
8:08p - down
8:22p - up, rocked
8:25p - down
This is a rough start to the evening.
10:39p - nurse, rock
10:53p - down
12:14a - nurse, rock, diaper change
12:26a - down
2:51a - up, nurse, rock
3:09a - down
5:29a - up, nurse, dipe change, rocked 5 times (grrr)
6:00a - down
6:15a - UP (I tried)

He slept a total of 9 hours 40ish minutes. His maximum sleep was 2 hrs. 25 min. You can see why I'm so frustrated; there doesn't seem to be any real improvement. Deep breath.

************************************************************

Wednesday Night (night 4)
7:09p - down
7:21p - up, rocked
7:34p - down
10:14p - up, nursed, rocked
10:22p - down (8 min. record!)
12:36a - up, rocked
12:42a - down (6 min. record!)
3:36a - up, nursed, rocked
3:48a - down
5:56a - nurse, UP for the day

He slept a total of 10 hrs and 8 min. His maximum sleep was 2 hrs. 54 min. I see improvements mainly in the amount of time between awakenings and going back to sleep. It only took 6 minutes one time...which probably meant he nursed for no longer than 3 minutes and then I rocked him for 3 and did the hot lava drop. This gives me some hope.

******************************************

Thursday Night (night 5)
6:47p - nursed, rocked, down
7p - up, rocked
7:05p - down
9:45p - up, nurse, rock (2x)
9:56p - down
10:11p - up, rocked
10:18p - down
10:28p - (nurse, rock) x 3
10:36p - down
12:32a - up, nurse, rock
12:39a - down
3:26a - up (I feel well rested after this sleep), nurse, rock
3:36a - down
4:05a - up, nurse, rock
4:14a - down
4:51a - rock, down
5:36a - nurse
6a - UP (blah)

Six in the morning is way to early for me to wake up. 9 hours and 45 minutes is how much he slept. His max sleeping time was 2 hours 47 minutes. Before adding up the numbers I thought for sure that this night was a success but really not much changed.

*******************************************

Phase 1 Progress Chart

 Making that chart made me a little bit more depressed. It's like a really calm lake or...puddle. Not a lot of change.  BUT I'm determined to stick with this although I'm frustrated with what seems like our lack of progress. It is interesting that he doesn't really need to nurse for too long before he falls asleep again. So, if anything we are making that change even if he isn't sleeping longer. When I have him during the day I do notice that he eats more than he used to probably because he's eating less at night. Perhaps this change will effect his night time sleeps as well. Someone at work told me that once he starts eating solids that he'll sleep much longer. Perhaps that's part of it? He is a big growing boy. I'm going to give myself at least a month of this routine. I hope to see something bigger happening. Cross your fingers.

See the first part of the sleep saga here.