In Charge!

Last night was rough...

Keeping cool, sans swaddle...

We were up every two hours or less. Somehow I had a very clear head about it all and just kept telling myself, "He's a baby who needs to learn how to sleep and it's your job to teach him."

In the middle of the night, after it had cooled off a little, I put him in a light weight sleep sack and into his crib. He watched his soother, rolled to his side and peacefully fell asleep. It only lasted about 40 minutes (just long enough for me to get back to bed, wind down again and start to doze). I fed him and put him back in, this time for about an hour. At that point, I swaddled him and brought him back into our room. He slept in his Rock and Play Sleeper for about 2 hours and then when he woke hungry around 6am or so I brought him into our bed. We slept off and on together until about 9am. It's those last few co-sleeping hours after a night like that that save me! I can see how tired parents can easily end up co-sleeping all the time. David and I are determined to keep our bed our own, though, and it makes those morning snuggles that much more special. We're just hoping it is another growth spurt and that Ayden will be back to sleeping in bigger chunks next week.

After waking at 9am it didn't leave us much time to get ready for our Thursday bookstore story time. I rushed around showering, getting myself ready, getting Ayden ready, getting breakfast, getting the pets taken care of and getting out the door in about a hour and a half. I even took some time from getting ready to catch Ayden's newest big accomplishment on video!

So he rolled over for the first time a couple of days ago and I think it was half way on accident. This morning he totally figured out how to do it on purpose. I never knew a 3 month old could feel pride at his own accomplishments but I could see it all over his face and could hear it in his excited little squeal.

Now he's in charge of his own tummy time :).

"They" say you aren't supposed to put a baby in a position that they can't get into by themselves. I've been cautiously putting Ayden to sleep for naps on his belly for weeks now. I will continue to survey possible suffocation hazards but now that he can get to his belly on his own, I feel I can relax a little about him sleeping that way.

Sooo, back to our day... My sister, nephew and niece met us at story time. Ayden was ready for his nap about 2/3 of the way through so I stood with him on my shoulder where he fell asleep. He snoozed while we let my nephew play and we browsed around the book store. We fed the ducks in the pond behind the shopping center and then my sis treated me to some brown rice sushi at Whole Foods. It was delicious!  Some much needed sister time :).

Feeding the ducks and fish.

Hanging in his cousins' stroller :).

Ayden fell asleep on the way home. I laid in bed with him, trying to nap as well but couldn't, so I just enjoyed the snuggles, meal planned/made the grocery list and am now writing this post. I know I've said it before but I'd really like to start writing my posts earlier so that I can snuggle with David and go to sleep when Ayden does. Today I'll actually do it!

<3 My view.  So sweet!! <3

According to FlyLady, Thursday is supposed to be errand day so I've decided to start doing the grocery shopping on my own on Thursdays. When I approached David with this idea he sweetly said, "Are you sure? It's kind of our thing...". I told him that yes I was sure that it would free up that time on Sundays for weekly meal prep since we make our own cereal, kale chips, etc. every week. We can do that together and it can become "our thing."  Currently, we're always too tired/busy to do it when we get home from the grocery and it doesn't get done until Tuesday or later when half of theweek is already over.

Now I am going to feed Ayden and head to Whole Foods for the 2nd time today (too bad I didn't have my grocery list made earlier, huh?). Luckily we just live a hop, skip and a jump away!

What's your family's "thing"?

~ Sarah