4 Months - Dr Appt

Well - our boy is big and healthy! His four month stats are :

Weight = 16 lbs 5 oz - 78%
Height = 27 inches - above the 95%
Head = 16.75 inches - 58%

So he's slowing down on his weight -- but going crazy with his length!!
He did great again with his shots -- our nurses do so well at tag teaming to make it quick! He cried for a couple of minutes, then nursed himself back to happy :)

I'm still undecided on when I am going to start giving him some fruit/veggies - and exactly what method I want to use. I've been reading a lot about Baby-Led Weaning, which advocates not using baby food or even pureeing food. I know I really don't want to be buying cans of baby food though - so we'll see what I end up. We have decided to start him on some rice cereal - just a little bit once a day for a couple weeks, to get him used to the spoon and what not!

Here's Week 17's Watch Me Grow:

Easter Pictures!

Henry is 4 months old now! Wowza :)

We have his dr appt on Friday - so I'll post stats then - for now, enjoy some of his Easter Pictures, taken by my friend Mandy, who owns Memories by Mandy!

Sleep Training - Settling in to a routine...

I know I know ... I'm going to write a wonderful post about how wonderful our schedule is -- and then something is going to throw it off and we're going to start all over. But I must share my joy and the sense of peace I have right now with you!

Henry handled the time change like a champ. I - however - battling a cold - did not. Another story - another time.

He's doing better with Crying It Out (CIO) -- down to about 15 minutes per nap - sometimes real crying, sometimes just fussy moaning. I think he's the type of child who just needs to release that extra energy before he can relax and nap. Bedtime CIO is almost non existent - and he still usually falls asleep while nursing for that last evening feed.

Since I wrote last week about our Swing After Nap victory - I've been using this method every day. But not for every nap. I'm finding it works best in our schedule to only make sure the middle nap is longer. So, here's our sample schedule:

7:30 wake, nurse
9:00 nap
9:45 wake
10:30 nurse
11:15 nap
12:00 wake, straight into swing
12:30 sleep
2:00 wake (I usually have to stop the swing here to wake him up), nurse
3:30 nap
4:15 wake
4:45 nurse
7:00 nurse
7:15 prayers, swaddle, bed
12:30 wake, nurse, straight back to bed

Henry has been hit with the "wake and talk" syndrome that I've read is popular around this age. Sometime around 4-5am I hear him over the monitor just babbling away. Since there's no tears - I just let it soothe myself back to sleep! He ends up falling back asleep!

I don't mind getting up once a night for him to eat still -- I tried squeezing in another daytime feeding to combat this - but he's just not hungry enough then to take full feedings.

I do mind having to get up a couple times a night because of poop! This little boy often gets his days/nights mixed up when it comes to when he's supposed to do a bowel movement. Last night was the first night in a long time that there was no pooping - and I was a much happier mom because of it. Something about how he lays at night - he almost always poops out the back. This never happens with his big poops during the day, only at nighttime. Weird right? He's already in size 3 diapers - so I can't really go up a size for night time yet.

Here's his 16 week picture! I think he looks smaller than last week... probably due to frog placement, lighting, zoom, etc.


And from visiting the Butterfly Exhibit this weekend:


We're getting Easter pics done this weekend, too!

One small victory for Team Mom...

First Sink Bath = Big Mess

Oh, my cute little Henry - he's helped me with some self realizations this week.

I made myself a cleaning schedule. Now that I'm a stay at home mommy for the time being - I want to get more housework done. Within two days I was completely frustrated with Henry and his lack of long naps and fussing during his independent playtime when I couldn't get things done.

Then I realized -- I'm staying home to be and take care of him -- not to clean my house! Duh!! I just needed to take a step back, relax, and do what I can when I can, and leave the rest for tomorrow.

As for his sleeping habits, I never did try the dreamfeed. Every time I thought about it - I just was too worried about him waking up and then not going back to sleep. This week we have evened out with the sleeping though, so I think it was a growth spurt last week that caused the 2-a-night wakings. We've settled into a nice little 3-hour schedule, and it's been consistent each day this week, which is also something new for us. He's been eating at 7:30, 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, 7:00 and then wake sometime in between midnight and 4am to eat again, and right back to bed. Now that we're back on the 3 hour schedule, he's taking the full 15 minutes to nurse again. So - I'm okay with this almost sleeping through the night system - it's working well.

Naps are still a disaster. He cries and fusses for at least 10 minutes, sometimes 30 before falling asleep - and still only sleeps for 30-40 minutes. I have tried:

• Less waketime
• More waketime
• Swaddle
• Unswaddle
• Colder room
• Warmer room
• Wake-t0-Sleep

The only good try I've had was yesterday -- he woke after 45 minutes while I was still cleaning the bathrooms, so I just put him in his swing and let him cry it out there. After about 10 minutes he fell back asleep for another hour! Victory!! I'll let you know if this works more than once...
We've also officially dropped the 3rd nap. He didn't want to go down to sleep after 5pm - so now he's usually awake from about 3:30 until bedtime at 7 -- though he has fallen asleep on his own for a cat nap a couple of times in the middle there.

Henry is so close to rolling over -- Nick swears that he did the other day, but I missed it so it doesn't count. He's holding his head up and practically sitting up like a champ. He no longer enjoys laying down and cuddling - he wants to be sitting upright and had started lifting his head and body to do so!

He's already showing interest in food - so I'm thinking we'll give the rice cereal a go earlier than I anticipated. Grandma suggested maybe that will help with some naptime sleeping - he's a big boy and needs his food!

The boy is also starting to show his temper -- he wants so badly to chew on all his toys, but screams when he does. I can't tell if this is because his gums are sore and it's hurting him - or if he just gets frustrated that it doesn't fit in his mouth the way he wants. He definitely gets angry when the toys don't do what he wants them to do -- stubborn like his mommy :)

We're taking him to see the butterfly exhibit tomorrow - I'm sure he'll sleep through the whole thing!


Every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. 1 John 5:4

Jesus said, "Go home to your friends and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." Mark 5:19

One year ago today - we had our 4th IUI procedure (read the day after post here) - thinking about that day brings such joy to my heart. Let me take a moment to tell you what He has done for me, and what I am thankful for:

• My husband. I am so blessed to have a man of integrity and value who loves me and our family so much.
• Henry. I wanted a child so badly, my heart hurt everyday. My faith was tested, and my prayers are answered in this sweet little boy.
  
• My parents. They are my support system and our best friends.
  
• Our home. We have a spacious home with lots of land that Henry is going to love to explore!
• Health. For myself and my family.
• Finances. We may not be rich and glamorous - but we have been given more than we deserve.
• Young Marrieds. Our Sunday School class has been so influential and given us a great start with ways to keep our marriage a happy, healthy place.
• Friends. Whether I know you from work, church, high school, college, online etc ... you're in my life for a reason and I'm better because of it.
• Enemies. You remind me daily of how lucky I am to lead the life I've been given, and just as with my friends, you're in my life for a reason, and I'm better because of it.
  
• Forgiveness. The greatest gift that God has given us - and the most unexpected, beautiful thing we can give each other.
• My faith. My search for Truth is still growing in leaps and bounds everyday - but I am learning from His word and finding the peace and grace that comes with His forgiveness to be the glue that holds my soul together.
  

I had originally intended to add in some of the silly things I'm thankful for - like pizza and LOST - but the list took a different turn as I was typing. But you all should know -- they are very important to me as well :)

No I will not show you how much I've grown!!
Henry Mercer - 15 weeks

We love to take walks now that the weather is warmer!

Oye Ve ... Night Wakings...

So after all my bragging of Henry doing good -- he's regressed to 2 night wakings. He did this a couple times last week, and I thought it may be because we gave him a bottle in the evening. Then - at midnight last night - I realized that he has been consistent the last three nights! He goes down around 7:30 - wakes at 11:45ish and again at 4am. I always try to just paci him and reswaddle first - but he never goes back to sleep so I've been feeding him. He takes a full meal each time.

So ... here are my ideas causing the disruption:

1.) Not enough feedings in the day ... right now we're averaging 6.

2.) Growth spurt ... though I don't think the wake times would be consistent with this.

3.) Nap Confusion ... I can't remember if he's getting 3 or 4 naps if he does better. But if I'm adding a feeding then 4 naps makes more sence.

4.) Wonder Week ... he has been a little bit fussier than usual as well, so maybe he's on the verge of something big, like rolling over!

5.) Teething ... I already mentioned the excess drool, minor fussiness ... but he doesn't seem to be in pain otherwise.

For today ... I'm picking #1 and #2 to try to combat this new awakening. Maybe even going to try a dreamfeed at 10pm ... I'll keep you posted :)

14 Weeks and ST Update

My little boy is 14 weeks old -- and I had to break out the 9 month clothes this week!! I'm bummed about some cute 6-9 sizes that clearly will only fit for maybe another week! Shoulda looked at those sooner!




Sleep training is continuing on -- I'd say really it's complete I guess -- we have a fairly consistent schedule that is only modified based on our daily outings and his nap lengths. I wish they would equal out - but I think that won't happen until he goes down to 2 naps a day. He's starting to drop his last nap of the day once in a while ... so most days he only has 3 naps now -- then a longer stretch of awake time from about 5pm to about 7:30ish. Our night sleeps are from about 7:30-7:30 with one wake up for feeding, and maybe one wake up for reswaddling and paci check.

His drool amount has quadrupled this week too so I'm wondering if teethers are on the way! He also is loving holding his head up and getting less wobbly by the day. He no longer likes to cuddle in the crook of my arm - he has to be holding it forward!

He's also started twisting on his back yesterday .... could rolling over be in our future? I thought he'd roll over from tummy to back first, but he doesn't even try that yet!



And I leave you, my dear readers, with two pieces of scripture that has become my mantra as of late:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Matthew 19:21-22

And in the words of my favorite Carrie Bradshaw -- when Miranda says it's not the same thing--

It's forgiveness.