First Haircut, Finally!

First, Kolby the pumpkin, so he doesn't feel left out! This pic and the one below of Sage are their Halloween costumes.


Before and the reason, I got it cut, at the Halloween party, another mom that I had just met said, "She has beautiful hair."


Sage was not a fan of putting the cape on, once I bribed him with a cookie and got his hands out from under it, we were good to go!


One side done.


Raphael cutting Sage's hair.


After


Sage and mommy

I'm so proud.

Kolby slept from 8pm to 5:55am. What more is there to say? And at 5:55, he didn't eat, but got his passy, came to my bed (long story*) and went back to sleep until 7:30.

*WARNING! This will be too many dumb details that you probably don't care about but for some reason, I feel the need to explain, so if you continue reading, just remember, you were warned!

We have a 2 bedroom apartment, making it difficult to sleep train Kolby without disturbing anyone. Kolby and Sage share a room but for the past 5 nights, I have been putting Kolby down in our room in the pack-n-play and then we move him into the hallway for him to sleep the rest of the night so when he wakes up, he can't see us. Last night was no different, he slept soundly in the hallway but at 5:55 when he woke up (after sleeping all night, did i mention that;) Drew was about to get up, I debated about what to do but did our normal routine, rocked him with his passy and laid him back down. At 6:15 when Drew got up, he wasn't back asleep yet and when Drew walked out of our room and passed him without acknowledging him, that made Kolby very sad, so I got him, his passy and his cute puppy blankie (thanks Joyce!) and brought him to my bed where he laid next to me, sucking his passy, clutching his puppy, holding my hand and fell back asleep until 7:30!

Someday maybe I will write about other things than my kids sleep patterns! But, it is oh so important to me right now!

Sleep Training

Remember how gung-ho I was on Wednesday? Yeah, well we didn't have such a great night. I forget that his shots affect him a lot. He gets a low grade fever and his legs are so sore, he groans every time you touch him or move him. He went to bed fine and then from 10 - 11:30 he cried out every 20 minutes for 1 or 2 minutes. Then at 11:30, full on crying. I went to comfort and nurse him and he was again really hot. I gave him Tylenol and tried to nurse him but he didn't really want to. He was however, wide awake. I sat up with him from 11:30 - 2 am and then his fever broke and I put him in the magic swing. He fell asleep almost instantly and slept until 5. Then nursed and slept until 8:15.

Thursday night, he went to bed like normal also. And then at 9 woke up and didn't want to comfort nurse or be rocked, was just wide awake until 11. Finally, he nursed and I was able to lay him down. Sometime he woke up, and I waited until he was full on crying and then picked him up and gave him his passy. He took it and i rocked him and he fell back to sleep within 10 minutes and slept until 7:30. So that was about 8 hours without nursing.

Last night, he was so exhausted he barely nursed (I had to pump because he hadn't nursed well all day and I was so full). And immediatly fell asleep at 8 pm. At 1:30, he woke up and I got him pretty quickly because he was in the boys room with Sage and moved him to the living room and the awaiting pack-n-play. I put his blanket bag on him and gave him his passy and laid him back down. 10 minutes later, he was crying but hadn't been full-on crying, I decided to get him and rock him with his passy. He seemed wide awake just looking around but not at all like he wanted to nurse. He was perfectly content in my arms with his passy. I laid him back down and he talked and cried for about 10 minutes and I went out and gave him his passy again and he must have fallen asleep!

At 6 am, Sage woke up crying and I went to comfort him and groggily realized it had been 10 hours since Kolbs last nursing. And immediatly went back to bed. A little before 8 this morning I hear Kolby talking all happy in his pack-n-play. That is my story. Now, if we can get to a point where I just have to give him his passy and he goes back to sleep and then doesn't wake up at all!

Pretty boring post, but that is how it is going around our house. I decided that the bottle of water idea was stupid because that would probably just make him mad. He doesn't normally take a bottle and I would like him to think of it as something that he can get food from if I am not around. So, the passy is working for us, for now!

Sage gives Kolbs kisses


Kolby discovers his tongue!


Sleep Kolby


Rockstar Sage


Sage at the park

7 month Check Up

Kolby had his 6 month check up today, at 7 months. Good news, his weight is back on the charts! 97% at 24lbs. 9oz. Length was 27 3/4 inches at the 25%. Short and fat. He is doing great. She (Dr. Ann) suggested that he doesn't need to eat in the night anymore. I have known that he probably doesn't need to but am struggling with how to get him to sleep through. I admit that I haven't really tried... except for the one night that I forgot to turn on the monitor. Did I mention that was the one night we had friends in town who were sleeping on our living room floor. Drew and I didn't hear a thing, they however heard a lot. Kolby usually wakes up anywhere from midnight to 3am and I hear him cooing and talking, not crying. I go get him because he and Sage share a room and I would rather deal with one awake baby, not a baby and a toddler. Well, this particular night, Kolby woke up and then started screaming at some point (I assume he had been awake for a little while and was wondering why no one came to get him) then Sage woke up to Kolby screaming. Naturally, Sage thought it would be helpful to yell at Kolby. "Holby, no, Holby, nigh-night." When that didn't work, it was "MOMMA" And when that didn't work, alternating back and forth until Kolby fell back asleep. A little while later, Kolby cried out again but not as long and apparently Sage slept through that one. At 6:39am I woke up and rolled over and processed the time. "Kolby slept through the night!" Then I instinctively checked the monitor channel and heard a screaming baby. I felt awful. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't known the details to the middle of the night cry/yell fest. I am sure the elephants upstairs loved that night!

All that to say, Dr. Ann suggested giving Kolby a bottle of water instead of nursing him. That will discourage him to wake up because it isn't as comforting or as yummy. In my mind, I am resolved to start tonight. I am going to move the pack-n-play into the living room and when he awakes I will give him the bottle of water and then his passy and his blanky and put him in the pack-n-play. Hopefully, my resolve will be so strong at bed time and again in the middle of the night. I really need some sleep. Especially when Kolby thinks 5:30 is a good time to wake up for the day and my sweet hubby thinks 6 is a good time to have the alarm go off. So, after I nurse Kolby and I think he is finally settling down in his pack-n-play in our room, the alarm goes off causing him to wake up. Then I get him out and snuggle him in our bed, again more nursing, sweet hubby decides to open bedroom door and let light stream in so he can find his shoes or whatever. So, we are up for good. Not that I have slept since 5:30 and I am sobbing. I rock Kolby for awhile and then put him in the magic swing. I hop in the shower for a long hot shower and prayer time asking for help and being reminded of a song about my soul resting in the Lord, and Kolbs is asleep in the magic swing. A cup of coffee* later and all is okay with the world.

Why is it when I try to take a nap during the afternoon, I receive 3 phone calls and one package? I didn't answer the phone, but the door, I couldn't ignore. I never get calls. Such is life. I did get rest and maybe that is all I needed.


*When I say coffee, I mean chocolate coffee with 4 scoops of hot chocolate and french vanilla creamer mmmm good. They are called Kristychinos around our house.

Almost Embarrassing & Other Random Thoughts

Tonight Drew, Sage, Kolby and I were in Target getting some groceries. Sage is in the cart and Drew is pushing him. Sage says "Dada, poopoo." Drew had farted! No one heard. Drew even had to tell me. Someday, I hope Sage uses that to embarrass Drew and not me!

Kolby is enjoying life without his brace. I worry that his leg strength is weak and behind. We have a dr. appointment in 2 weeks so I will talk to the pediatrician about it then. He doesn't roll at all when he is on his back. One time, he rolled to his side on his back but I haven't seen him do it since. I worry that I don't give him enough time to play on the floor. Like today, he didn't play on the floor at all. He was in the exersauser for a little bit and I think that is helping his leg muscles some. But then we were at a park and then McDonalds and then he was either sleeping, nursing or being held the rest of the day and evening. We went out to eat and I held him and then we were at Target and he was in the Ergo. My prayer is that he gets on track devolpmentally. Nights have not been so easy with the shoes. He doesn't seem to mind getting them put back on and will fall asleep okay but then he will wake up, usually twice and then settle down for the night around 10 but that is with me nursing or at least rocking him for a good bit. Of course, once I think I have him figured out, he will do something entirely different. When do babies not need to nurse in the night? Kolby still wakes up once and sometimes twice. I am tired. When can I sleep again? Seriously, I am doing good if I get 4 hours in a row. And that is only once a night.

In other news, I bought a new camera with my babysitting money. I sound like i am 14. I should get it next week. A Canon SD70 IS. Go ahead, google it. It is really cool. It has image stabilization which means, Sage can be running around and the picture does not come out fuzzy or out of focus. When I get it, I will post pictures of all the cool things it can do. Next up on my babysitting purchase list. Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers.

I realize that I haven't talked about cloth diapering in a while. I did it for a while then we went on vacation in July and when we got back, I had a hard time starting again. Kolby had outgrown the covers that I had for him and I didn't want to put more money into cloth diapers. Finally, I did and I am so glad. The more I read, the more I am convinced of health benefits and environmental benefits. And honestly, it is so easy. I wash diapers every other day. I do them at night, which sometimes causes me stay up a little too late. I don't have a wet pail of stinky diapers in my bathroom, in fact, they have never stunk. I love not buying diapers again and again. I love that if I need diapers, I am just a load of laundry away. I don't love the diaper that I have. I have fitted diapers which means I don't fold them but they do need a cover. I don't like changing his wet diaper and putting said wet diaper on the floor until I put a clean one on and reclothe him and then pick up wet diaper and carry it to the bathroom to put in the pail. Which is why I want to purchase Fuzzi Bunz! They are a pocket cloth diaper. Which means, that I will stuff the absorbant part into the cover. So, when I change him, it is one step like a disposable except I don't throw it away, I shake out the liner, wash it, stuff it and reuse it. Now, I don't think disposables are awful or that people that use them are awful, I just like cloth for me and mine, for today.