Bittersweet

On one hand, I am so happy it is Friday. On the other hand, tomorrow morning Benjamin has physical therapy at 8:00 a.m., 30 minutes away... which means no luck on sleeping in. Ha, not that we actually get to "sleep in".  "Sleeping in" in our house means between 6:30 - 7:00 a.m. we hear Benjamin talking happily to himself.... so we bring Benjamin to lounge in bed with us, then once Obi hears my husband's voice he comes jumping on the bed, then the cat hears us and runs around our room meowing... then Chloe hears that we are all awake so she grabs a book and comes and lays in bed with us and reads. It is perfect. It may not be sleeping in but it is better and makes me love the weekends even more!

Benjamin may be in cahoots with the other babies trying to keep us up all night... but we have been consistent.  Let me explain, we took away his swaddle blanket this week. He is getting too big for it. For one, he was waking up every 1 - 2 hours all night anyway, mostly to get reswaddled and rocked back to sleep. Then he started breaking out of the swaddle and pulling the blanket in his face in his sleep or when he woke up he would shoving it in his mouth to chew on it. It made us uncomfortable so we decided to break him of the swaddle habit.  He was very upset with us... for two nights.  They were very long, rough couple of nights.  On night three, last night, he seemed very happy not being swaddled! He looked so cute all sprawled out!

He slept better than he has in 3 months!  We also have started to let him self soothe. This is the first night he did well with that. He woke up at 11 and 4 to eat but no crying when I laid him back down without rocking him back to sleep. When I laid him down at 4 he squirmed and whimpered a little bit but no crying and was back to sleep within minutes.  He is amazing!  I feel refreshed after getting some sleep.

Benjamin woke up happy as can be.

Although honestly no matter how much or how little sleep he gets, he is always this happy when he wakes up.  Ok, honestly, he is always this happy ALL the time!

I am not expecting him to sleep like he did last night every night. It would be too good to be true.  It was our jackpot of sleep, which we may not see again for 3 more months! I don't care... one night of good sleep is better than none! 

Now we are all refreshed and energized for game night tonight.

Go Flyers!!

(Yes, I am reposting this picture. He looks so plump and adorable!)

We have had some pretty nice weather this week. I love sitting outside torturing my kids with millions of pictures relaxing and watching Chloe and Obi play in the yard!

Happy Friday, I hope you have an awesome weekend! Do you have anything fun planned?

Pin It

Sleeping Through the Night (From Benjamin)

*I've seen this online in quite a few places and do not know the original source to credit.  I thought this was too funny not to share!


SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT - A BABY'S PERSPECTIVE!

OK, here's my situation. My mummy has had me for almost 5 months. The first few months were great - I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after mummies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these mummies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep - they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:

Night 1 - cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your mummy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2 - cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3 - every hour.

Most mummies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some mummies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These mummies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough:
CONSISTENCY IS KEY!!

If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert mummy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My mummy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it.
BE CONSISTENT!

I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow". I should know. My mummy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right - doesn't matter! Keep crying!!

It took a while, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your mummies' internal clocks.


Good Luck,


Benjamin

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me!


*I've seen this online in quite a few places and do not know the original source to credit.  I thought this was funny, especially since we are going through this right now, and wanted to share.

Pin It

Easter and Weekly Recap

It's Friday already and I still haven't told you about our Easter...

Well Chloe decided it was lame to just die eggs and wanted to paint them this year.

 We had a lot of fun patining some eggs!

Then Chloe had dad do the award ceremony, giving each egg their own unique award.

I thought it was a fun idea. 

Last Friday we took Chloe to get fitted for hockey gear.

Her basic hockey class starts this Sunday.... she has never been more excited about anything!!

Benjamin has been enjoying his new Bumbo seat!

He really likes sitting in his seat playing with his toes...

and watching Obi!

Benjamin got to meet the Easter bunny last week at daycare.

So cute!

His daycare is always doing fun things.  This morning when I dropped him off his class was about to go on a walk to visit the fish pond and enjoy today's beautiful weather.

He loves his daycare and is always so happy there!

It is supposed to be beautiful weather this weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend.  This is the best time of year, beautiful weather and hockey playoffs! 

Go Flyers!!

Pin It

Things I'd Rather Be Doing...

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter.  I really enjoyed my three day weekend!

 I have zero motivation right now. 

Things I'd much rather be doing....

Hanging out with my handsome husband and his sidekick, Obi.

 Being silly with Chloe.

 Watching Chris and Chloe practice hockey.

 Hanging outside with my little man....

 Watching my little monkey.

Relaxing in pajamas with two of my favorite people.

 Playing with Benjamin.

 Gardening.

 Sitting on the beach.

What are you doing right now? What would you rather be doing?

Pin It

My Little Reader

A part of me is ashamed while the other part of me is proud to admit that I think Chloe has already read more in her lifetime than I have read in my lifetime.  This kid is addicted to reading. She is usually in bed by 8, with lights out by 8:30.  On weekends or breaks from school she gets to read as late as she wants! She thinks this is the greatest thing ever!  She is enjoying her Spring Break so far.  I often find she has fallen asleep like this:

She is a chapter and a half away from finishing the 3rd Harry Potter book.  I really like that she is reading these books because they are nice long books that challenge her and she is interested in them.  Plus it is always fun to read a book and then watch the movie.

I'm so proud of my baby and her passion for reading!




Pin It