Owen conversations

Daddy: Owen don't try and poot! (In the middle of a diaper change)

Owen giggling: I tried!

In the car Owen's pretend flip phone rings.

Mommy: Owen who is it?

Owen: Neanna!

Mommy: tell Neanna to have fun in Wales!

Owen: have fun at the beach, Neanna! Bye bye!

At aunt janes house: 

Kayla: bye I have to go, see you back at I-me's house.

Owen: no don't leave...I want to go home.

Mommy: tell your daddy 

Daddy: you want to go home tonight?

Owen: uh-huh, I want my big boy bed.

Owen: I'm tired, mommy 

Mommy: we are almost home

(Back at home in his room with daddy) Owen turns off the light 

Owen: rock me daddy

Daddy rocks him and asks if he wants an extra song

Owen: no, just Owen and MeMe song

Mommy: what do you want to watch on TV?
Owen: chugga chugga bang bang (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

Jesse: 4 months

Wow, my little smiley happy baby!  You are so adorable.  Everyone tells us so!  You are just like Owen in so many ways! You have the sweetest spirit and are so go with the flow.  You like Owen only cry if you are wet, tired or hungry.  You do fuss a little when you want us to sit you up...I am thinking that you don't realize that you are still a little baby and you want to be big/grown already!

Sleep.  Oh 4 month sleep regression....I loath thee.  You were doing so great sleeping till 6am and now all of a sudden you feel the need to get up in the middle of the night. I had been feeding you, but after a couple of nights when you barely nursed one side I decided you are waking out of habit not hunger.  I did have to make sure it wasn't a growth spurt, but I am pretty sure it is because you don't get as scheduled naps during the day as Owen did.  You have an older brother who has school and we need to run errands, go to doctors, and play dates.  I fear mommy is suffering sleep recently due to our packed calendar!

We did the unthinkable. First I decided that you didn't like the swaddle and then I decided to try you on your belly while you were sleeping. Oh the world of difference this makes. I think you are like my family and can't breath out of your nose when sleeping on your back, you now go down without a peep for naps! It is a miracle.  Thankfully we have an angel care monitor and this keeps me from worrying too much about you. 

You have found your hands and they are fascinating to you!  You are starting to grab at things and even grasping items sometimes!  You popped your paci into your mouth several times one day too, but it was really just luck because it hadn't fallen too far from your mouth.  I love how you suck on your hands trying to figure them out and use the other hand to hold the first one in your mouth almost as if you don't trust it to stay where you want it!

Your face lights up when you see me.  Daddy tells me that you watch me walk around the house.  I do have to admit I am your favorite person and I am basking in all the glory of it.  But, you love your Daddy and brother just as much.  You watch Owen play like he is the coolest boy on the planet and you look like you want to jump in and play too!  Baby, stay a baby a little longer!  No need to hurry this growing up business!

You are at least 15 pounds, wearing a size 2 disposable diaper and 3-6 month clothes.  We have had the hugest snow and your well check up visit was canceled. 

Owen happenings

We are creeping towards 3 years old faster than I can blink!

Owen had a great Christmas and a very special firetruck from Santa amazed him! He had so many presents to open he almost got frustrated because he wanted to play with all his new things!  We had a wonderful time with both families and Owen had a BLAST playing and trying to keep up with his older 2nd and 3rd cousins at Aunt Jane's house.

Once we settled down at home we decided to try take 2 of potty training.  Owen really wants to wear his diapers and pants.  The first morning it was a battle to get the underwear on him, struggling and crying, but after a minute and a distraction of his favorite meal of yogurt and cereal bar he was fine. The next morning it was easier to convince him to wear underwear. The biggest struggles right now are pooping in his underwear and he doesn't tell us when he needs to go.  So, it seems that when I get distracted or we are somewhere doing something we all forget and he has an accident.  He doesn't seem to distraught when he has an accident and I wish he would care more.  The kid would run around wet and covered in poop on his butt if we let him, but get a little jelly on his hand and he will FREAK!  I am going to give it another couple of days and see how we do.  If we can get one poop in the potty then I have hope, if not we will wait until he is more ready.

Owen is still napping in the afternoons and I feel it is short lived as it is taking longer for hims to go to sleep and then when he does nap it takes him a long time to go to sleep in the evenings even though he is exhausted from the day.

This little boy takes after his daddy for the love of music and songs.  Whenever I think up a new song he asks me to sing it again and again! Owen can sing quite a few songs all the way through or with just the slightest help to stay on track.  To name a few: twinkle twinkle, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Jesus Loves Me, Rain Rain Go Away, Mr. Moon, London Bridge, Mary Had a Little Lamb, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Its Raining Its Pouring, Ring around the Roses, Row Row Row your Boat.

He can count to 12 some days and he knows how to spell his first name most of the time.  He knows the 3 word name of the road we live on and the road both of his grandmothers live on.  He remembers from almost a year ago when he threw up in Target and everytime we see their logo he tells me he "wont spit up in there today".  Recently, he has been interested in the first letter of our names: Jesse, Mommy and Daddy.  He surprised me when a tv show was talking about the letter D and busted out that it was like Daddy!

He loves his baby brother!  He helps by bringing him toys and once a day he gives him a special kiss and hug unprompted!  

Returning to continue this post...umm its only been at least 2 weeks! LOL!  We are committed to underwear.  We know accidents will happen and poop has only happened in the potty once.  Last night he had to go so bad, but held it till nighttime when we still put diapers on because some nights he soaks through them onto the bed.  We are starting to do naked nap times and several times he has stayed DRY!  If he is naked he will run to the potty on his own, but if he has underwear on he will pee in it.  Except at school he has been doing great staying dry!  Every day I immediately look at his pants to see if they are the same ones I sent him to school in!

Jesse: 12 weeks headed to 3 months

Well, we are in the middle of the holidays! As I start this post it is 4 sleeps till christmas morning!!  We are so excited that Santa is coming to our house this year!  But that will be it's own post this is about our sweet baby Jesse!

Jesse is sleeping great! He goes to bed about 7pm swaddled and under a blanket.  I do a quick dream feed before I head to bed and he either gets me up at 3am and 7am or sleeps till 6am and 9am!

During the day he is nursing every 2-3 hours and sleeping each cycle still. He is so great sleeping in the car seat or swing tho he has to have that paci!!

The smiles. The laughs. I can't even describe how fun I know he is about to get and how fun he is already!! I remember with Owen we thought each new phase got better and better and I wondered how I would feel about a newborn. It is just as fun starting over!! I am trying to soak in each moment and milestone! 

Jesse LOVES a bath! He will grin at me and wiggle around. He gets so wide eyed while the water is running and then smiles and coos at me till he gets tired. I swoop him out if the bath, lotion him and nurse him to warm him up before bed.

We had the worlds biggest poop the other day. Man I don't know how he stored it up so long. From Tuesday till Friday and wow it was a doosy!  I mean let's be honest at this point it is eat, sleep and poop! Haha!

We survived the holidays, it was rough.  I was exhausted, but it was so much fun to see all our family and Jesse got tons of snuggles and Owen was run to the point of exhaustion every day!  

My Babywised Babies sleep great!

(I didn't have much time to proof read and so please excuse the run on sentences, fragments and HORRIBLE punctuation!)

We follow the babywise book.  It's not a new method, but really sleep hasn't changed over the years.  The basic premise is eat, play, sleep; instead of eat to go to sleep, play and then eat again.  Basically, you are teaching your child to go to sleep on their own instead of needing to be rocked, held, or milk to go to sleep.  I have done this with Owen and now again with Jesse and I swear by this method because my babies sleep great!  Owen is almost 3 and still takes an afternoon nap that ranges from 2-3.5 hours!  Jesse is 12 weeks and has sleep through the night 7 times!! His bedtime is 6pm, I nurse again (dreamfeed) before I go to bed around 10-11pm) and he has slept till 6am and 7:30am!!!  Mommy loves her sleep so I am THRILLED!

We started at about 3 weeks old with both boys.  Before that we just nursed and held our babies as we all know those first few weeks are just survival.  Then at 3 weeks we moved our babies from the bassinet in our room to the crib in their own room.  When the baby is only a newborn sometimes the "play" was only a diaper change or a burp to wake them.  Here is what our newborn routine looked like during the day:

Baby is allowed to sleep as long as they would in the night and early mornings, when baby waked we would change his diaper and then nurse one side, burp, nurse the other side and burp.  Sometimes it would take up to 10 minutes to get that 2nd burp, but it is key to know there isn't any belly gas that would be uncomfortable for sleep.  Then we would enjoy a little awake time (keeping the lights bright and not muting sounds of Owen playing or tv etc.). When we saw the first sign of sleepiness it was off to the crib he went.  Some signs of sleepiness are rubbing eyes, droopy eyes, a yawn, redness around the eyes, and fussiness.  Jesse is great at rubbing his hands into his eyes while nuzzling his head into my shoulder when he is ready to sleep.  It is really important to put them to sleep when they are sleepy and before they are over tired.  I usually say the same thing when I put him into the crib:  "night night sweet boy.  Mommy loves you! Its time to go night night" and pat his belly.  I laid my babies on their back in a swaddle they can't get their arms out of.  We used some velcro ones early on and receiving blankets, but once they can get a hand out we would put them in the Woombie brand swaddle.  Yes, they are pricey, but worth every penny!  You can get them on the half off baby websites sometimes.

During the day, I closely watch the clock and if he is sleeping and it hits the 3 hour mark from the beginning of the last feeding I wake him up and we start the cycle over again.  Now, at nighttime I do NOT do this; I let them sleep as long as they can.  With Owen the nurses said I should wake him for the first month every 3 hours.  I think that he got trained to be on this schedule and it took longer for him to fully sleep through the night whereas I knew better with Jesse and we were able to establish his nighttime at night earlier on!

I just looked back and Owen's 4 month schedule was this and it is pretty close to Jesse's schedule now too except he is still about about 2.5 hours during the day and getting up earlier:
8am-Eat, play time (this is a special time of day, he is so sweet!!) then a 1 1/2 hour nap
11am-Eat, play time (usually some tummy time or in his swing) then a 1 hour nap
2pm-Eat, play time (run errands) then a 1 hour nap
5-6pm Eat, play a little then a 1 1/2 nap
8-9pm Eat, play about 30 minutes and ready for bed!
10:30 dream feed and back to bed

Ok, here is the hardest part.  Crying it out.  I think the earlier you do this the easier it is for the baby and parents.  There are different ways to do CIO (crying it out).  We found that at 3 weeks CIO only lasted 30 minutes top.  Our boys would scream crying for the first 10 minutes then it there would be a pause then some more intense crying before tapering off or just conking out asleep.  It is HARD.  I would hold Chris's hand and we would encourage each other to be strong because we knew it was better for them in the long run.  Thankfully, it usually takes only a couple of days/nights to get to shorter crying periods.  Now, Jesse is only 5 minutes tops.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes I know Jesse is over tired from holiday or visits from family and those times I will swaddle him, give him his paci and hold and pat him to sleep and usually I can easily transfer him to his bed.  There are different ways to go about crying it out and you should decide as a family what works for you.  We said 30 minutes top crying before comforting and calming him down and trying again.  You have to check for poopy diapers, burps and sometimes a growth spurt will throw it all off.

One other thing you have to know about and it is the 45 minute intruder.  This is how long a young babies sleep cycle is.  After 45 minutes it starts over and sometimes or even most times the baby will wake up crying.  I usually look at the clock and use my judgement to see if it is close to the 2 hour mark I will get him up and start the cycle over, if it isn't close to it then I wait it out.  Usually, after 5 minutes he is back asleep or quiet in his crib.

I really can't stress enough that you should just read the babywise book.  She describes in detail the reasons behind it all.  It is all about the parent making the decisions with the information you have and not about the baby's crying dictating their schedule.

Last thought because WOW this is getting LONG!  If you are nursing you really need to make sure the baby is nursing enough and getting the hind milk.  If you can feel yourself let down then you know baby is getting the nice creamy think calorie milk.  If you only nurse for a few minutes on each side then baby only gets the foremilk which is more watery and wont sustain baby till the next feeding.  Babies who only get the foremilk have to eat more frequently and thus turns into a cycle of snacking instead of eating full meals.  The other reason to move baby out of your room if you are nursing is that baby can smell you...wouldn't you want to wake up earlier if you could smell your wonderful food cooking all night?!  Jesse slept an extra hour longer at 3 weeks when we moved him to his own room at night.  4 hour cycles are amazing during the night with a newborn!

Please, ask any questions!

The 7 nicknames for Jesse

Seven dwarves 

Doc

Grumpy

Happy

Sleepy

Bashful

Sneezy

Dopey

Jesse's seven nicknames

Grunty

Chubs

Squeaky

Snorts

Smily

Piggy

Baby

Santa 2013

We visited our favorite Santa last week!  This Santa is one of Owens friends grandpas!  His wife feeds him info into an ear piece and he carries on the sweetest conversations with the kids.  Owen still wants a fire truck! I hope he loves what Santa is bringing him!!

Here we are showing Santa MeMe's face!