Good Books

I've been meaning to post about a couple of good books recommended to me. Here's what I've gotten out of them.

1) Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo

Thanks to Koryn, who recommended this book on a past post. I already had this book, but hadn't read it.
I think it has good ideas, but over the past week or so, I've stopped stressing about not parenting exactly like they suggest. I think there are definitely good and wise principals to follow, but every family is different and I think there must always be some flexibility for what works best for you.
The author's advice for a good night's sleep revolves around a fairly strict daily routine of feedings. Everyday, feedings are supposed to happen about the same time. I think routine is good for the baby, and we do have a skeleton routine, but everyday is a little bit different according to when he first gets up and what's going on in the day. I thought perhaps if we didn't buckle down and become real strict with the times of his feeding, we wouldn't get results at night. But I've calmed down. I think consistency is the key.


2) Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron

This book is wonderful if you want to make your own baby food and if you're in to nutrition. It's a wonderful reference book! The author assumes you know nothing about cooking and gives much detail about how to cook all kinds of foods. It's cheaper and healthier. She claims her children have never once been sick eating her "super baby food diet." Her kids complain about never getting to stay home from school like other kids 'cause they never get sick, so every once in a while, they play hooky.:)
I'm not sure I'll follow every ingredient suggestion for a meal, such as wheat germ, brewer's yeast, kale... but it's been a great reference for when to feed what and how to make and freeze the food.

I haven't finished reading either book, but continue to pick up both as references.

7 Months Old!

Floor time!:)

Ready to go to bed

Wow! Where does time go...I mean really! Seven months ago today, I gave birth to my precious little boy! It's mind baffling how fast they grow!

He's at such a fun stage! We're thoroughly enjoying him!

The latest:

• teething - 4 teeth on top making their way down, one has broke the surface finally
• laziness - he was rolling front to back, back to front quite a bit for a few days, but as of late, it's just easier to lay on his back I guess
• solids he's tried: rice cereal(commercial and homemade), avacado, sweet potato, and banana. Likes it all, but I think the rice cereal may be too bland by itself. Not sure what we'll try next
• sleeping - doing pretty good through the night. A couple nights ago, he cried off and on half heartedly from 3:30a.m. to about 4:10a.m. I never went in and he finally fell back to sleep. He's inconsistent, but doing better.

There you have it!:)

He's a joy, a blessing! We can't imagine life without him!

For Sale

This past Friday, we finally put the sign in the yard and the ad in the paper and on the internet. I've been trying to have faith that the house will sell, believing that God is taking us else where and therefore, he will sell our house; but I realize that this may not be His plan. I guess I didn't have a whole lot of faith after all, because my house was not ready to show and we received ten calls on Sunday, the day it went in the paper! We showed the house twice on Sunday, to the same person. There's definitely interest and one person wants it, but on a land contract while she gets her credit higher. They're requiring immaculate credit these days.

Things are looking up! It's exciting and sad all at the same time.

6 Month Portraits

I got my pictures back last Friday! I spent too much money, but decided it was worth every penny! I had so much fun with the whole experience! Caedmon was quite the poser and was adored by all the photographers!:) The lady showing me his pictures to pick out did not do a very good job of helping me narrow the pickings down!

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure...

Yes, he did this pose all by himself!

Angel???
(Was not planning on any angel pics, but this one I couldn't resist!:))

I bought one sheet of each of these pictures! I know, I know, but how could I resist?!

Caedmon's First Playdate:)

Last Thursday, Caedmon and I drove to Holland to meet with Rachel and Morgan. I work with Rachel and her daughter is about 2 1/2 months older than Caedmon. Caedmon hasn't had opportunity to be around children his age. It was so much fun to see him interact with her! He has been around children quite a bit older than him and he loves "little people!":)

We had a blast! I thoroughly enjoy talking with another mother going through a similar stage in life! They fed us a yummy lunch and were gracious hostesses! Thanks for a fun day ladies!:)

Caedmon's getting a little help here.:) "Look what we can do!"

Caedmon decided to show off and actually roll over all on his own!

Aww, too cute!

Uh oh Caedmon, her daddy's gonna get that shot gun out!

Stickin' To My Guns

Last night was night #4 of my new philosophy with Caedmon and sleeping.

Night #1, Wednesday, he woke up at 11p.m. and cried for an hour. That was the hardest night for me!

Night #2, I decided to try putting him to bed awake. So we played after eating, changed into pj's, read a book and then went to bed. He fussed for about 5 minutes, fell asleep and slept till 4:30a.m.! Wow, that was too easy!

Night #3, we did about the same, and again he fussed probably less than 5 minutes and went to sleep. Slept till 5:30a.m.! Should have started this a LONG time ago!

Night #4...o.k., I knew it couldn't be THAT easy!:/ He fell asleep at his 7:30p.m. feeding. I put his pj's on, waking him up and then put him in his crib. It took longer to fall asleep this time. I had to go back once and I stood there while he fell asleep. He woke up twice before 2:15a.m. and then woke up at 2:15a.m. and cried for an hour.:( It was not a good night! I went in to check on him periodically, and if I stood there he stopped crying, but he was wide awake! As soon as I'd leave, he'd cry again. When he finally went to sleep, it was with me standing next to his crib with my back to him.

I've been thinking about me going in and checking on him. I think I need to do this for me more than anything. So I know that he knows that I'm still here and haven't abandoned him. Last night, I was beginning to wonder what I've done wrong that he wakes up and cries for an hour if I'm not near by. It seems like he's insecure without me there. Anyway, I was thinking that he really needs to learn to comfort himself without me coming in and doing it for him. But I'm not sure how to do this. He's a stubborn guy, and I guess I'm not as stubborn as he is. I hate to hear him cry for too long and I really hate when he gets extremely upset!

I go back to work tomorrow and I'm really hoping for more than a couple hours of sleep!

My Little Love

My Little Love,

Last night was very difficult for your mother. You have not been sleeping very well at night and I decided it was time to do something about it.
You woke up at 11p.m. and started crying. I had finally determined in my mind that I needed to do what was best for you no matter how difficult. I let you cry and periodically I'd go in and check on you and comfort you.
Your little arms reached up to me and my heart broke. You wanted me to pick you up, to hold you, comfort you. I wanted to too, in the worst of ways! I even cried with you.
But I started to realize last night that you will be better off if mommy has boundaries and if mommy is consistent. As much as I believe I'm showing my love to you by doing what you want me to do, I'm loving you more by doing what's best for YOU!
Tonight, we tried something new. You ate your rice cereal, played on the floor, got your pjs on and read a book. We said good night to daddy and then I laid you in your crib. You were quite happy and I stood there for a few minutes reassuring you of my love. Then I left.
Sweetheart, you only cried about 5 minutes and then you fell asleep.
My little love, you are my first and therefore, my experiment. I'm so sorry for all the things I will mess up! I'm so sorry I don't know what I'm doing! I'll try to do my best, because I love you more than anything!

Hard at Work!

I made a list at the beginning of my spring break of things we need to get done in order to put the house on the market. No, not exactly my idea of a fun, relaxing spring break, but you gotta do whatchya gotta do.

It's actually been quite a productive week thus far! We've accomplished a lot, especially considering we have a six month old!

We raked the front yard and Caedmon watched.:) He doesn't sleep long enough during the day to get a whole lot done , so we just have to do things with him, or take turns watching him.

He looks thrilled with his plight, doesn't he!

Sleep? What's That?

O.k. So I thought solids would be the cure all for sleeping through the night. WRONG! Caedmon is capable of sleeping through the night; has done so plenty of times before we started eating solids. I figured solids would just give him that little extra he needs to make it through the night. But he continues to get up 1-3 (yes, sometimes 3) times a night. We had three good nights over the weekend, in which he went 8 - 9 hours! That didn't last long.

I was determined to take my spring break week and work at getting him to sleep through the night. I have failed miserably! I have so much trouble letting him cry. I'll start out good, but then when he gets extremely upset, I can't take it anymore. I am so different from the mother I thought I would be!

So last night, he woke up at 1:15a.m.! Ridiculous! I fed him on one side and put him back to bed. Not 15 minutes later, he wakes up. Corey goes in, picks him up, gets him back to sleep, lays him down, and once again he wakes up. I say, we're just going to have to let him cry; he just ate. He fusses half-heartedly in spurts, and for 5 minutes, is completely quiet and I'm sure he's gone to sleep.

All of a sudden, he starts crying pretty hard. I only let it go a couple minutes before I go into his room. I'd hardly gotten in there when he throws up the entire contents of his stomach all over himself, his face, his sheet. I feel terrible! He gets himself so worked up sometimes, or it was the excess mucus from crying that perhaps made him gag and then throw up??

I've learned in my 6 months of parenting, never say never. I tried hard before I became a parent not to say, "My child will never do that." I didn't always succeed. I was always so against children sleeping in bed with their parents. I thought it was dangerous as well as bad for the husband/wife relationship. Well, I've lost track of how many times Caedmon has ended up in bed with us, and last night it happened again. I was at a loss for what to do, but mostly just too lazy to stay up and rock him back to sleep.

Anyone have any advice? I'm pretty sure I can't handle consistently letting him cry. Sometimes he's perfectly happy when awake and laid back down at night and he'll go to sleep on his own in a short time without even fussing. And the other night I let him cry himself back to sleep, but he never was that upset.

He's so inconsistent. Is this a phase we're going through?

Today, he fell asleep eating, stayed asleep through the whole diaper changing process, but as soon as I laid him in his crib, his eyes pop open and he's wide awake! AGGHHH!!

Reading in the Bathtub

Daddy's Face is FUN!

Corey and Vacuuming

I asked Corey to vacuum yesterday. Our room always seems to get skipped in the process of cleaning the house. It's one of the dog's hang out spots, so you can imagine how disgusting the carpet in there was!

After the excellent job Corey did, I think vacuuming will be his job from now on!:)

But I think he only did it so he could torture the dog. Our mutt his HUGE, but the biggest baby ever! And as if just having the vacuum present in the room isn't bad enough, Corey decided to test it on Neo himself, 'cause he's too lazy to brush the animal.

Neo was not at all thrilled, but was quickly distracted with a treat after the ordeal.

6 Month Well Child

We went to the doctor on Thursday. I played hookie from school so I could take Caedmon myself.

His off the chart measurements are 23lbs.2oz. and 30 inches long! Wherever I take him, people are always in disbelief of his size!
I found out that I have a form of tendinitis in both hands and he is definitely not helping the healing process!:/

Doctor says he's more off the charts for his height than his weight, so he's nicely balanced and his baby fat is nothing to worry about. I've never worried - aren't babies supposed to be fat?! They're definitely cutest that way!

Unfortunately, it was another check-up with vaccines included. I usually end up feeding him in the office while waiting for the doctor or nurse, and I did so again this time before the nurse came back to give him his shots. Little did I know, this wasn't a good idea.

She started out with the rotavirus, which is a liquid taken by mouth. Now that he's started eating solids, he's figured out how to close his mouth to something distasteful. Needless to say, he was not digging the medicine! He started coughing and choking and then projectile vomited EVERYTHING he'd just eaten. He was soaked, I was soaked from picking him up to comfort him and the nurse said in all her 16 years, she's never experienced the like! Well Bravo Caedmon! Not really. I felt horrible. He was quite upset and hadn't even gotten poked with a needle yet. And this time, I had to hold his legs down.:( Thank goodness they didn't make him take the liquid all over again. They couldn't be sure whether he got it or not, although we're pretty sure he didn't. The vaccine was for the stomach flu, which hopefully we're at the tail end of the season for that anyway.

Once again, I'm not sure how I feel about the vaccine thing. Working in special education, I am continually hearing about adverse affects vaccines have on children.

But once he was done being poked and mommy comforted him for a few minutes, he was fine, and you never would have known the rest of the night that he'd even received shots that day!

We don't have to go back till he's one year old because the doctor has no concerns with his growth!:)

Solids Part 3

Last night, he seemed like he'd caught on to our little game and he wanted nothing to do with it. I had to slip in the first couple bites while he wasn't paying attention. Then he started opening his mouth for the next bite!! It was very exciting! I think we got about a teaspoon in!:) He didn't sleep quite as long, but still only woke once during the night.

Tonight, he was ready and opened his mouth for the very first bite! He ate everything I fed him tonight, probably about 1/2 a tablespoon or so. We'll see how the night goes. He was so very fussy tonight. He ate the rice cereal, then nursed right away and fell asleep. I haven't heard him peep since I put him to bed. Hopefully it'll be a good night!

Here he is enjoying his bowl after his meal.