Man these past 4 months have flown by!! I think the biggest area of development for Ayden this month was in the social department. He smiles at random people who talk to him and will now tolerate, and even sometimes enjoy, being passed around at gatherings. He has made steady progress in all other areas as well but I personally think social takes the cake this month.
Even though I may vent about my exhaustion and Ayden's sleep "troubles," the average baby his age actually doesn't sleep through the night and it can take up to two years to establish predictable and consistent sleep patterns. Though at 2am I may dream about him being ahead of the curve in this area, I am not concerned that we'll never get there.
Here are the screen shots from the Baby Milestones App that I've been using as a reference.
Like I always say, I only use milestone lists/charts for reference and to guide our play. It is important to remember that all babies develop at their own pace. That being said, aside from the sleep section (he takes 3-4 one hour naps, give or take, and we all know what his nighttime sleep is like), Ayden is doing everything on this list!! He has even rolled back over, though this is not yet a consistent skill. He is also scooting on his belly which is a pre-crawling skill (I do have this on video but in it, he's diaper free and I will spare his future self by not posting that on the internet). Some of our favorite developments this month were him starting to vocalize to get our attention, his adorable cooing/babbling and the fact that we can truly tell that he knows us in a crowd. He also holds onto our arms when we hold him which is adorable. It feels like he hugs us back sometimes and it just melts our hearts.
Another big development, which goes along with his social strides, is how much attention and contact he needs. We've always kept him with us and talk to him and play with him, heck, I have him strapped right to me half of the time; but we used to be able to let him hang out in his bouncy seat or on his playmat for a bit while we got ready or completed some sort of task or chore. Now his patience for such things is greatly decreased. He wants to be in on the action and wants to be played with and talked to all the time. This is so wonderful for his development and is definitely something we are enjoying , but now we have to tweak our routine to still get all of our daily to do's done while also entertaining Ayden more often. I have heard that this stage is tricky because babies this age are ready to become more involved with their world yet they aren't yet sitting up on their own or mobile which can be frustrating for them (and tiring for parents).
Like I've said before, life with our little boy is a one way train and our only choice is to go right along and enjoy the scenery as we go. We are so proud of Ayden and are excited to see what his 5th month has in store for us!!
Though we've been together for 12 years total. You can read about our story here. We've been through so much in the past 12 years. High school, college, graduations, job interviews, jobs we've loved, jobs we've hated, supporting one another's dreams, etc. We aren't perfect, no relationship is, but we have worked hard over the years to stay head over heals in love with one another and to make our own happiness together. We had plenty of time to "get to know one another" (as everyone advises before starting a family) and we've had a lot of fun:
Out Honky Tonkin' in Nashville, TN
(The weekend before we found out we were pregnant)
But, out of all of the years we have been together, this past one has been the most amazing!
We found out we were pregnant (after almost 2 years of trying...)
In New Orleans, November 2011
8 months pregnant!!
And finally became a family!
We feel more complete, and more in love with one another, now than we ever have before. I am so lucky to have a man like David in my life. He is sweet, romantic, smart, and strong. He makes me laugh and he holds me when I cry. He is my Love and now we have our Ayden, who is our love personified. Making a little person together has been our greatest accomplishment as a couple to date and I can't wait to see what the next six (or twelve) years have in store for us and our little family!
Now... You may ask, how did we celebrate? Well, it wasn't your typical date night, that's for sure! David and I decided that we just weren't ready to actually leave Ayden with anyone yet. What good would a date be if all either of us would be able to think about was whether or not Ayden was crying his little head off the whole time? We also thought that a movie, which was our original plan, wouldn't be the best thing to do since we wouldn't be able to talk or hang out at all. So we decided to do yard work!
Hahaha, I know, it doesn't sound like much fun but it actually really was. We had a lot of it to do and it had been weighing heavily on us, as all of our neighbors had prettied up their yards weeks ago. We have to keep up with the Jones'! :) We needed to trim all of our bushes, weed, plant flowers, mulch and we still had some work to do for our vegetable container garden. We decided it would be wise to use our eager babysitters to give us a chance to knock out our outdoor to dos. We worked together for most of the day and got to talk and hang out. We got plenty of alone time and they even stayed so we could shower, together ;), without having to worry about Ayden needing us in the middle of it. We got plenty of time to talk and "reconnect," though neither of us have felt disconnected at all since Ayden's arrival. And now we can let out a sigh of relief and enjoyment as we look at our own prettied yard:
Some of the flowers from my Mother's Day shopping spree! <3
Mav surveying our work...
Finally planted my herb garden!!
I used plastic knives as labels :)
We'll be sure to go on a "real" date next year. For this year, we are both satisfied with a day of sunshine and fresh air together.
Ahhhh, a day with plans that don't include anyone but us :). David and I worked out together this morning. We have always enjoyed being workout buddies but haven't gotten to work out at the same time very much in the past 16 weeks. While we worked out, Ayden tried out his door jumper for the first time.
He was a fan! It was actually more of a door spinner for now but I'm sure he'll be jumping around in no time!! He only had the stamina for it for about 10 minutes or so. We'll have to slowly increase his time in it.
We also made it to the Farmer's Market today which we always enjoy. We decided to try a new vegetable every week. This week's pick is Kholrabi. The lady we purchased it from described it as a cross between broccoli, apple and turnip... Should be interesting!
We ended the day with a block party! We had always talked about organizing one, and our awesome neighbors finally made it happen. It was so nice to meet more people on our street and also nice that we could walk right into our house whenever we needed to. No diaper bag toting to this party! It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
When the evening was wrapping up, David went into the house to take an armload of stuff we had brought out with us. I thought it was strange when he sent me a text but when I read it I knew our enjoyable relaxation was over... Our dog, Maverick, had gotten sick (like, the poo kind of sick) in his crate. Our poor husky has always had digestive issues. If there's any kind of increased stress, or if he eats something he's not supposed to, or sometimes for what seems like no reason at all he gets "sick." David had noticed on Mav's morning walk that things weren't the desired consistency so he made sure to take him out again before the party. I suppose that extra walk wasn't enough... I said goodnight to all of our neighbors and came home to put Ayden to bed while David got started on cleaning up. Once Ayden was asleep I helped finish the job, gave our pup a couple of Pepto Bismol tablets and put him to bed too. Shew! Between a baby and pets we definitely have enough to take care of!
Tomorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary and we will be going on our first real date since Ayden was born (though we haven't quite decided what it will be yet). We both have a little bit of anxiety about leaving Ayden, but like I've said before, it is important to us that we keep our relationship at the core of our little family and officially celebrating our wedding anniversary is important to us. Ayden will be in good hands with his grandparents at our house and we plan to keep our date pretty short. Hopefully we'll also find some time to watch our wedding video as well since that has been a anniversary tradition in the past.
Have you ever cooked kholrabi? Any recipe recommendations?
When did you first leave your baby with someone other than you or your husband? Did you experience any anxiety over it?
So our experiment was a bust :(. Here's how it went down:
Put Ayden to bed at 8:30 (he nursed to sleep), dream feed around 10:30 (I was in bed at 11pm), he woke at 1am and wouldn't go back to sleep without a feeding, then again at 2:30 and again needed a feeding (I may have shed a tear or two during this one...SO. TIRED.), then he was up again at 4, 5:30 (brought him to our bed) and then was up for the morning at 6:30. David was super helpful and took Ayden downstairs with him while he ate breakfast to give me a little extra sleep.
I got up around 7:30 to change Ayden's diaper then put him on his play mat while I stuffed diapers. Around 8am he was ready for his morning nap. Of course I napped with him. On days after a particularly rough night, if I need to nap with Ayden, I'm more lenient about the EASY routine. I nurse him to sleep in our bed and we have a long, snuggly nap together. He tends to sleep longer when we nap together for obvious reasons, the main one being that he uses me as a pacifier. I napped for about 20 minutes then did a quick switcheroo with an actual pacifier so I could let the dog out and get some breakfast. Ayden ended up sleeping for 2 hours!
David decided that he wanted to come home early from work today to have a little more time with us. We've been keeping pretty busy for the past few weeks, and though we've been together a lot, we've usually been working on various projects and haven't had much quality downtime. When he got home we had lunch, then headed up for a family nap. It was so nice and was just the down time we needed together.
Since David was home, I pumped and left Ayden with him while I went to teach dance. It was my first time teaching without him since he's been born. I kept feeling like I had forgotten something and the night FLEW by! I suppose juggling the jobs of mommy/dance teacher makes time slow down?
Overall the day turned out great considering the night we had (the 2 naps helped) . I just need to stop getting my hopes up for consistent good sleep and just be glad that things happen to fall into place at least sometimes. It is normal for babies to have unpredictable sleep habits in the first year (and possibly longer) and if I go into each night expecting to party all night with our little man, the good nights will be a glorious surprise :). Another bonus of being a stay at home mommy? I really can "nap when he naps" like everyone always tells you to (yet another reason to talk to Little Miss' mom...).
Do you find time to nap with your babies after a rough night? Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my mom and me snuggling up together for a nap in my dad's recliner after my sisters left for school. Maybe I'll make a point to make it a daily habit for Ayden to fondly remember someday...
Nothing too exciting to report today... Only that Ayden SLEPT LIKE A ROCKSTAR last night!!!
Like I said in last night's post, he transitioned to bedtime very easily. He stayed awake while he nursed then was ready to go to sleep about a half hour later (around 8:00). We turned on his soother, gave him his lotion massage, got him jammied up in his PJs and sleep sack and laid him in his crib. I read Goodnight Moon to him while he watched the projection of the mobile, then he rolled over and peacefully fell asleep. A-mazing!!! I gave him a 6oz dream feed at about 10:00 and then he didn't wake for a feeding until 2am. I was back in bed by 2:30 and then he slept until almost 6am!!! I did wake a few times between those, but after a quick glance of the video monitor, I was able to roll over and go right back to sleep. Definitely the best night we've had since the night before the Derby. I brought him into our bed, as I usually do for our first morning feeding, where we proceeded to snuggle in and out of sleep together until about 7:30. Once we were both awake and I was listening to his cute morning chatter, I of course reflected on the night before. What did we do differently that made it all run so smoothly? Feeding him before he was over-tired helped us to do our bedtime routine in the "right" order, ending with laying him down sleepy but awake. Also... I didn't get the diaper laundry done in time and his fitted diapers were still wet; so I ended up putting him in a BumGenius 4.0 pocket diaper, used the one size and newborn stay-dry inserts as well as a hemp babies doubler and then he slept so well. Hmmm... I've always noticed that the fitted diapers leave his skin feeling very moist, like his pre-folds do, but never thought much of it because everyone always raves about using fitteds for overnight. Pocket diapers on the other hand, with their moisture wicking stay-dry inserts and fleece/suede inner linings, make babies feel as dry as one can in a diaper made of cloth.
Well if tonight goes just as well as last night did, we may have our answer because I put him in a super stuffed pocket again tonight. If we figure out that he's just been uncomfortably wet all this time I will be happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because we finally figured out why our almost 4 month old was waking more often than a newborn and now we'll all be able to get some much needed rest, but sad that it all could have been prevented in the first place. Oh well, you live and you learn...
We went to our weekly story time today. I think Ayden is starting to get used to it! He was smiling and even laughing through almost all of it!! So cute!
Afterward, I went out with my sister and her kids to feed the fish and ducks in the pond where Ayden fell asleep in the Moby.
David recently told me that he misses grocery shopping with us, so we're going to try to move grocery day to Saturday. Since I had moved it to Thursdays, we only had enough food to last through tonight so I swung by Whole Foods to get a few things to hold us over until Saturday.
When we got home I decided to do some major house cleaning. I had a bunch of half finished projects (FlyLady would be so disappointed...) Ayden is getting to an age where if he's awake, he wants to be interacting. This is great for his development, but not so great when you need to get a few things done. Our compromise?
Moby Lotus Hold!!
There's actually controversy about wearing a baby facing outward. Some schools of thought will argue that it leaves the baby unsupported and vulnerable. They aren't able to see your face to assess possible scary situations. My feelings on the topic? If the baby is smiling and happy, you are holding them perfectly! He usually prefers to be held facing out anyway so the lotus hold is right up his alley :). He really seemed to enjoy watching everything I was doing from my perspective. The cutest part was how he kicked his little feet on the edge of the sink while I rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. I also found that I talked to him more about what I was doing because I could tell he was actually watching. If we go to a crowded/unfamiliar place or if he's ready for a nap, I'll stick with our usual hug hold but if we're home and he's awake and willing to take everything in, facing out it is!
What is your biggest "if only I knew then what I know now" parenting moment/memory?
Ayden and I partied all night again last night... Up every 1.5 to 2 hours. I'm just going to keep on keeping on, hoping that if I stand strong, we'll meet our sleep goals eventually.
I haven't had the heart to talk to Little Miss' mom yet. I need to just get it over with because the longer I wait, the longer Ayden and our house have to wait to get me back full time... I just don't want her mom to take it the wrong way. It has nothing to do with Little Miss or her or anything like that. David is encouraging me, telling me that if she's my friend, which she is, she'll understand my feelings and won't take it personally. I just keep thinking about how one of their full time staff members is going to have a baby any day now, making them short handed. It is not my problem, it is not my problem... If I keep saying it, maybe I'll actually feel that way?
Anyway, today was a Little Miss day and a long one at that. Her parents are down to one car at the moment (her dad's is in the shop) and they had an early meeting. She usually comes around 9:30am but today, her mom texted me at 8:40am and said they were already on their way. I was drying off after my shower when I received the text. 5 minutes later, she rang the doorbell... Not the best way to start my day. Then, they had another late afternoon meeting so she was at my house until almost 5pm. Why am I having such a hard time talking to her mom again??
They are cute together, though :)
On Little Miss days, Ayden usually takes his morning nap in the Moby.
"Gosh, mom! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?!?"
While he snoozed, and Little Miss had her morning snack, I tackled one of the projects on my to do list:
Our pantry: before and after?
Ha, it's really funny because looking at the pictures side by side, you can hardly tell a difference. I suppose it was pretty organized before but the main difference is that I finally purged all of the grains and other foods that are no longer part of our daily diet. I ended up with 3 paper grocery bags full of foods to give away and donate. It always feels good to purge and reorganize a space! Next projects? Under our bed and several hot spots in our office!
I wasn't able to time any of Ayden's naps with Little Miss' today, but she did take a long one which enabled me to have some one on one time with Ayden. We read books, sang songs and played on his play-mat together. It's so fun that we can actually play with him now and he really is such a playful kid! So smiley and giggly and of course, so adorable!
When Little Miss woke up, I fed her lunch and then we headed out for our afternoon sanity saver field trip.
We went to Lowe's to get a 5 gallon homemade detergent-making bucket :). I'm going to use the Duggar's recipe and I'll be sure to post a tutorial when I get around to making it. It'll have to be soon because we're officially out of the last store bought bottle we'll ever purchase (hopefully).
Hanging in the cart at Lowe's
He's become quite the little shopping buddy!!
When David got home, he mowed while I made dinner. After we ate, he helped me knock out a few more to do's and Ayden had a flawless transition to bed time and fell asleep at 8:00. We are tired and are looking forward to snuggling up together with a book. We finished The Hunger Games so maybe we'll start Catching Fire (the second book in the trilogy)?
I'm looking forward to tomorrow!! I plan on getting some serious FlyLady style flying done :).
Last night was *better*. We put Ayden to bed around 8pm and gave him his dream feed around 10:45 or so. I was in bed by 11pm and was so tired I'm sure I fell right to sleep! He woke for his first feeding around 2am, just making my new 3 hour rule. He woke again around 4am and I got him back to sleep without even taking him out of his crib! I just turned on the waves, gave him his pacifier and patted his back. He fussed for a bit but the fussing got progressively quieter until it stopped altogether and he was back to sleep. I was back in bed in under 10 minutes, WIN!! He didn't wake again until sometime around 5am; which is when I brought him into bed with us and we slept until around 7:30. So I did get up twice in the night but that second time was so quick that it almost doesn't count ;). I'm hoping the fact that he went back to sleep so easily that second time is a sign that we're taking steps in the right direction!
We got to try a lot of new things today which always makes for an exciting day. Well... as exciting as a day can get without leaving the house.
I "tried" out my new Zumba Wii workout during Ayden's morning nap.
I say "tried" because by the time I found batteries for the Wii remotes, did a system upgrade, set up a new user profile and figured out which workout I may enjoy, I had time to do the warm up before Ayden was awake and ready to eat. I guess you can tell we don't use our Wii very much these days since the remotes didn't even have batteries... I suppose the good thing is that next time I attempt to do Zumba, it'll already be all set up and ready to go!
We also tried out our new (to us) Didymos woven wrap.
I found a lovely gal, Stephanie, who has been SOOO generous to send it to me and let me try it out for a week or two before actually buying it. There are 3 main reasons why I decided to look into adding a woven wrap to my baby-wearing options.
1) I LOVE wraps. The Ergo is nice and will always be a great option for when we need something quick or a bit more comfortable for a long wearing period; but there is a cuddly closeness that I feel with Ayden while wearing a wrap that the Ergo just doesn't possess. Plus, Ayden is in an in between stage for the Ergo. He's too big for the infant insert but isn't yet ready to spread his little legs across our waists. Therefore, if we want to wear him, we have to go with wraps until he grows a little more.
2) The Moby wraps are HOT! Woven wraps are made of thinner, more breathable fabric and you don't wrap them around you so many times. I knew that if I wanted to continue wearing Ayden into the summer, I'd need a different option. Lately it's gotten a little cooler again so it hasn't been too much of an issue but the first day it got close to 90* and I didn't get to wear him a single time all day I was pretty sad.
3) Because woven wraps don't stretch, you can wear your baby into their toddler years. Babies tend to outgrow Moby-type wraps by the time they are about 15 pounds or so.
I didn't get to wear the Didymos for very long today but I could already tell that it would be cooler for the summer. I'll give it a few more days but I think it's safe to say that I will be the proud owner of a Didymos woven wrap!
We have also tried out a couple of new brands of pocket diapers lately!
Happy Heinys -- such a cutie!! I couldn't have posed him better myself :).
We've used this diaper twice now. I like that the print is adorable and supposedly glow in the dark. We are in need of more disposable-like diapering options as we near the age of babysitting readiness. So this hook and loop diaper will work well for that purpose. That being said, the hook and loop on this particular brand of diaper is also something that I'm not so happy with. The overall quality of the diaper is not as good as any of the other pockets that we have in our stash and the laundry tabs don't work at all. With the level of strength (or lack there of) for this particular hook and loop closure, I could totally see Ayden taking the liberty of removing this diaper himself someday. But for now, it's totally cute and will be grandparent friendly. Job done.
Fuzzi Bunz!
I am in love with this brand of diaper. I purchased two, and again, he's only worn each of them once but they are very well made and very soft. I have always been interested in this brand because I figure it is one of the leading brands for a reason and because I have mostly snap rise diapers. I didn't end up purchasing any Fuzzi Bunz for our original pocket stash because it was during the transition to the "Made in Turkey" line and everyone was complaining about them. These are the newer Fuzzi Bunz Elite line and they are wonderful. He is still on the smallest setting in them, though, so even if we had them from the beginning I think he'd just now be getting to into them anyway.
Ayden also made a couple of new developments in his play today. He worked his way around in a circle in his exer-saucer (the seat spins). It was kind of funny because he got himself turned around to the back and then started fussing. I went to him and started talking and he immediately looked at me with his cute little gummy grin. I think he had gotten distracted by all of the new things to look at, didn't realize he was spinning, then looked up and wasn't sure where I was or something. It was so cute. Once he realized I was still there, he went back to playing.
He's a fan!
He also met a new playmate today:
Oh man, we are so in love with this kid! Just so. stinking. cute!
