3 Months

Well, Nikolas turned 3 months old 2 weeks ago, and it is really like something clicked. Not that there have been a large number of new things, it just feels better. He’s sleeping better, he’s interactive and loves to “talk” to us, and I just feel like I understand him better now. It’s actually hard to remember all the new things he does, and then try to write about them..there’s just too much! I’m going to start writing down little things that he does so that I can recall when and what happened....everything is still such a blur.

We’re still struggling with nap time, despite my best efforts to get him to sleep in his bassinet for naps. He’ll cry for a whole hour before I give in, and when that happens, it’s so frustrating. The paediatrician said to put him down with a full tummy; after an hour, he can’t have that full feeling anymore. But then he’s cried for the whole time that he could have been sleeping and is so worked up....so a nap gets missed. It’s hard, because I want him to fall asleep on his own, but then I also want him to get his sleep. Sometimes I’ll just let him sleep while I hold him. One day this week, I actually let him fall asleep in my arms, then went and lay down with him. We actually had the best nap together that lasted a good two hours. Other times, he’ll go straight into his swing and I’ll let him stay in there until he falls asleep. Who could have guessed that sleep would have been the main focus of my days?

I have finally started to exercise again, which is making me feel great when it happens. I’d been sitting idle for so long it was driving me crazy. I have an elliptical machine plus a trainer for my bike, so I have a couple of options for cardio plus some hand weights and an exercise ball, which I have yet to inflate. I’ll try to exercise while Nikolas is napping, or if he’s awake and seems to be in a mood to entertain himself, he’ll go in his chair or his exersaucer beside me while I exercise. It’s also a good time for me to catch up on the Bachelor :)

So, a summary of a few things that Nikolas is up to now:

• He’s using his jumperoo, and although he hasn’t gotten the hang of jumping yet, he is fascinated by the toys attached to it

• He’s grabbing at all kinds of things: blankets, toys, my cell phone, the remote, etc. And the first thing he does is bring the object to his mouth
  
• He’s not so much sucking on things anymore as he’s chewing. He’ll gnaw on anything that gets near his mouth. I’m scared he’s going to teeth early! I feel his gums daily to see if I can feel anything, but nothing of significance appears to be there
  
• He sat in his high chair for the first time this week! Matt’s parents were over for dinner, and his mom was holding Nikolas while trying to eat. I thought it’d be neat to see if he’d do it, and with a little support of a rolled up blanket, he does great in it! He’s very attentive when we eat and watches us very closely. I wonder how soon we’ll be trying out cereal!

• He fell asleep in his crib! I usually put him in there when I need to shower or get ready to leave the house. Set him in, turn on the mobile and he’s entertained for a little awhile. Yesterday while I was getting ready, I noticed that it was very quiet in his room. So I snuck a peek, and he was asleep! I need to get black out curtains for his room before I put him in there with the intent of sleeping, but it’s good to know that it can happen.

• He’s almost too big for 3-6 month sized clothing
  
• He puts all of his weight on his legs when we stand him up and will ‘step’ when moved
  

Every day is filled with laughter and love and it’s so exciting to see all the new things my little monkey is doing.

Sleep: The Most Precious Commodity

Last night was a major milestone for Nikolas: he slept straight through from 8:30 pm to 4:30 am. A whole 8 hours! I heard some stirring and hand sucking around 3:00, but he then went back to sleep (hooray!) for another hour before rousing to be fed.

Nights have been good since he was only about 4 weeks old. By good, I mean we got a routine down right away and he knew when it was bedtime. Sure, he’d wake up several times a night to be fed, but it was very routine: get up, eat, burp, go back to bed. When I was still breastfeeding, I’d be up for an hour for the whole process to take place. I watched alot of Sex in the City that I’d record every night, because late- late-late night tv really sucks! Now, we’re up long enough for him to suck back a bottle and I wait 10 minutes before laying him down, just in case he spits up.

Up until a few weeks ago, we really struggled with naps. Nikolas would not nap very well during the day, and for some reason, we always tried to get him to sleep downstairs where we could watch him. He sleeps great through noise, but he just would not settle enough to get a good sleep during the day. That meant by evening, we had one grumpy boy on our hands. And what was so frustrating was that we'd leave him with my mother-in-law for an afternoon, and he'd sleep the entire time!

So, I put a call out for help on Facebook to all my mommy friends, and below is a piece of advice I received:

He should be napping 2 or 3 times a day for a minimum of one hour each. Some recommended tips for napping...

1. First nap should be two hours after waking, on a full stomach. Second nap at the first sign of tiredness, which is usually within 2 - 3 hours of the first nap.

2. Try to sleep him in the same room/environment he sleeps in at night.

3. Swaddle him (if you swaddle), give him a soother (if you use them), say nighty night and leave the room. If he cries, give him a couple minutes, then go in to console. But only stay one minute. Give him his soother back, pat him or briefly pick him up, then put him back and leave the room

4. If he cries again, repeat step 3. Keep repeating.

It could go on and on for up to an hour...just be patient for the first week. It’s frustrating at first, but you have to teach him. And if it goes on for more than an hour, give up and try again at the next nap. Otherwise you will both be worn out.

So we’ve been basically doing the above for his naps during the day. As soon as we start seeing yawning, he goes up to his bassinette. Sometimes he’ll cry for a whole hour, I’ll let him cry for 5 minutes between consoling him, and twice, I’ve gone up the stairs saying to myself “okay, this is the last time. Next time, I’m picking him up”, only to have him finally quiet down after I’ve gone in and consoled him. Most of the time, I only have to go up once or twice, and sometimes not at all; it all depends on how tired he is, and how willing he is to go to sleep on his own.

All in all, the method that my friend suggested to me really has been working, and I’m not sure why it took me 12 weeks to figure out this whole nap thing! I think the biggest struggle is getting Matthew to keep consistent with this, and not cave in to the crying when he thinks I’m not looking. I’ve had to explain to him how important it is that we be in on this together, otherwise, Nikolas is going to learn that if he cries long enough, someone will pick him up and let him sleep while being held.

It’s sure nice for Nikolas to get the much needed sleep, and to get a little time to myself during the day. I don’t know if it’s related to him sleeping better during the day, or if it’s just coincidental timing, but he is now sleeping longer and longer at night. He was topping out at 5 hours at night at the most, but now we seem to have gotten over that hump, and each night seems to be getting better and better. The funny thing now, is when I get up in the middle of the night to give Nikolas his bottle, it takes me FOREVER to fall back asleep! That's a whole other problem....

It's All About the Hands

Well, 12 weeks old, and Nikolas has officially discovered his hands. And he spends every waking (and sleeping) moment stuffing his little fists in his mouth. My mom was over today and mentioned how dry his hands were. I had to inform her that no, they are not dry, they are just crusty from him sucking on them all the time!

Sometimes, I am amazed that he can practically fit an entire fist in his little mouth, and he’s usually using the other hand to push it in even further. I don’t know how he doesn’t make himself gag sometimes. I think I’ve figured out that when he starts to suck on his hands/wrists/fingers/thumb, it’s his signal that he’s getting tired. I’m not 100% sure about this, but it’s something I’m starting to clue into.

The nice thing about him being able to get his thumb in his mouth is that it’s comforting to him, which means that he’s learning to self-sooth. Which in turn means that I can now put him down in his bassinette while he’s still awake, and he’ll eventually get to sleep on his own. (A whole other blog post related to sleep training to come)

Nikolas is also starting to explore things with his hands. He’ll swipe at toys and objects, sometimes hitting his target and sometimes he’ll grasp onto something. I usually have to pry open his tight little fists to encourage him to grab onto a toy. I’ve had one moment with him so far where he’s been laying down on the couch and I was leaning over him. He was touching my face and hair and truly seemed interested in checking mommy out. It really melted my heart....one of many tender moments.

He’s also doing this thing where he’ll be laying down, and will stick his arm straight out, with his little hand in a fist. It looks like he’s superman flying through the sky..and he’ll keep his arm in that position for minutes at a time, where I’ll start exclaiming: “Super-baby!!!!” Damn, my boy is cute!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2010!

So many changes and new things are happening in our little one’s world! We’ve celebrated our first Christmas with Nikolas, started a New Year, and we are witnessing new things that he is starting to do on a daily basis.

Matthew has taken some time off work for the holidays and it’s been nice to have him around again during the day to help out. I thought it’d be a great opportunity for me to get a good stretch of sleep at night, as we talked about him taking on the 2:00 am feeding, and I’d do the early morning meal. We tried it once, and it just didn’t work out for any of us. None of us got much sleep, and we both agreed to go back to our regular routine: I get up with Nikolas in the middle of the night, then Matt gets up with him early in the morning, and I sleep in. I must say, being able to sleep until 10:00 or 11:00 has been a treat! I’ve done both feedings as well, to give Matt a chance to use his days off to sleep in. He has two days left, so I hope it gives us each one more day to catch up! I have to admit though; the more sleep I get, the more my body craves it!

We’ve been working on trying to get a solid sleeping routine down, especially during the day, but with all the family visiting, and us going out on an almost daily basis, it’s been a challenge. Things should be settled down now, so we can concentrate our efforts. The big challenge for us right now is day time naps. We have absolutely no schedule and no routine, and every day is different with different commitments and appointments. The only trend that has seemed to emerge is the days where we don’t leave the house at all seem to be the worst! Nikolas is very fussy and in turn, I get very impatient and irritable. There have even been days where he will cry for so long that I’ll put him in his vibrating chair, turn on the radio and head upstairs to get away from it. I have such a hard time with noise that all I’ll crave is just some peace and quiet. I know, I have to learn that it will be a very long time until we have that back again! Another problem with his day time naps, is that we never put him upstairs in his bassinet, where he has no issues sleeping during the night. I don’t know why we put it off for so long, but we are now attempting to put him in it when he starts to get drowsy during the day so he can get a quality nap in. We’ve been fairly successful at putting him down at bedtime while he is still awake (but drowsy) and he’ll take a few minutes to cry and get to sleep. I don’t think he’s cried for more than 10 minutes, and then all is quiet. But during the day, it’s harder. Sometimes it works, other times, not at all. There are days that he is just so tired, but refuses to be put down, so I’ll just hold him so he can get some rest. Otherwise, I know the rest of the day will be a disaster. I guess we’ll just keep trying to put him down until we’re successful at it. I don’t believe in letting him cry it out. I think it’s cruel to let a baby cry for hours on end, and I just feel so terrible. I once tried it, and let him go for 20 minutes. After I finally went in to see him, I discovered he had thrown up and was covered in it; I felt so terrible!

He’s starting to do new things almost daily now. He’s moving from sticking his entire fist in his mouth to figuring out how to get just a couple fingers, and occasionally, just his thumb in there! I don’t mind him sucking his thumb, if it’s a way for him to sooth himself to go to sleep. He’s also now so much more curious about the world around him. He wants a closer look at things and try to touch them. His hand-eye coordination still needs practice, but he is batting at things, or grabbing a hold of his bottle while we feed him. He’s taking alot more interest in toys & rattles and we’re really starting to enjoy play time with him. There are plenty of smiles and coo’s all around with an occasional squeal of delight. I’m confident that any day now, we’ll be hearing a giggle!

I can’t believe how quickly our boy is growing and changing and am amazed each day as I can see him absorbing the world around him. What an awesome responsibility we have as parents to teach him about the world, and his place in it.