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Eating: As I mentioned above, he eats less frequently these days, which has been nice for me to feel like he isn't constantly attached to my breast! It has also made life a little easier in the sense that he is more predictable and I am more confident to go out and about throughout the day, knowing that if he ate at 10 am, he's not going to need to eat again at 11:30, (and yes I do have time to stop at Costco.) We still have no real schedule to speak of when it comes to eating and naps, but a rough sketch of our day would be that he eats when he first wakes up (usually between 6-7 am) then not again for 4ish hours. (Bringing us to 10-11 am) After that, anywhere between 3-4 hours later and then in the evening he often cluster feeds starting around 5-6 pm. I don't mind this too much because I think it helps him sleep well and for longer. Can't complain about that!
Oh, and I suppose I should mention that he was just weighed earlier this week and he is 16 lbs, 15 oz. Wowzers!! He sure is a good eater!
Sleeping(Night time): Speaking of sleeping at night, things have been going really well in that department. Just after my last update Elliott started sleeping on his tummy for bedtime as well (if you remember, he has been napping on his tummy for a while now) I was quite nervous to let him sleep on his tummy during the night. The first night happened almost by accident. He fell asleep at 9 and was snoozing away on his tummy on the ottoman in our living room (still his favourite nap spot) Now, up until this evening I would have started the "get ready for bed" procedure between 10-11 pm. He was often awake around 10, but if he happened to fall asleep at 9 I would pick him up around 10, change him (which wakes him up) then feed him in hopes of getting him back to sleep. That often didn't work so we spend nearly an hour getting him back to sleep. Then we swaddled him and laid him on his back for the night. (Which sometimes woke him again, so another 10 minutes of getting him back to sleep swaddled.) Looking back this all seems quite silly... So this particular night we had friends over that left around 11 pm. The thought of starting the whole procedure so late seemed SO unappealing. Instead I picked him up and transferred him to his crib, still on his tummy. I knew if I tried to swaddle him he would wake up, and I really wanted to sleep! I assumed he would wake up within an hour or two, and that would be precious sleep time for me. Well, surprise surprise when he woke up at 5:30 am. EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS. Up until this he had been sleeping an average of 3-4 hours as his first stretch, then wake up completely and be awake for an average of an hour, then sleep another 1-3 hours (If it was only an hour, he would then go back to sleep and wake another 1-2 hours later.) The longest he has slept in one stretch was 6 hours and it had only happened once or twice. 8.5 hours was unheard of, and we had no choice but to pay attention- obviously this little man slept better on his tummy! So, long story short, after a a week or two of being nervous almost every night and figuring to how to keep him warm on his tummy without a loose blanket (hello, sleep sacks!) Elliott is now a full time tummy sleeper. He sleeps between 4-6 hours for his first stretch, wakes for 10-15 minutes to eat (while barely cracking an eye open) then sleeps another 2-4 hours. It. Has. Been. Beautiful.
Sleeping (Nap time): Elliott still naps primarily on the ottoman in the living room. I try to put him in his crib for naps from time to time, but he rarely sleeps for as long. Obviously he can't do this forever (once he starts rolling, for instance) but for now it works well and he sleep great. His naps have become shorter and less frequent. His first nap is consistently one hour after he wakes up in the morning, and he always goes down really well for this one (barely makes a peep!) He'll sleep for 1-2 hours. After that nap, everything else in completely unpredictable. I stopped following my "1 hour rule" a couple of weeks ago because it seemed like I was spending half my day putting him back to sleep (seeing that his naps were sometimes only 30 minutes) and he was fighting me harder on them. Now I just wait for signs of him being tired - red eyes, sucking on his hands, yawning, and cuddling into my shoulder when I pick him up. Once he shows me that he's tired I still soothe him to sleep the same way - up on my shoulder, bouncing (sitting if he lets me, and if he's upset I stand and sway) and shushing in his ear. There's just something about shushing that he loves. If he's especially fussy I shush quite loudly right by his ear and he calms right down.
Play: I'm so excited about this new category - it's been SO fun to watch Elliott start to respond to the world around him. He was about 9 or 10 weeks old when he responded to a toy in front of his face. We have this red rattle ball that he adores- it always gets the biggest smiles. Funny thing is that we have the exact same toy in orange, and he couldn't care less about it. Not long after that first discovery I was at Toys R Us and walked past some toys that you can attach to the car seat handle. I held one up for him and he smiled! It wasn't my favourite out of the bunch, so I held up all the rest.... and nothing. Held up the first one again, and sure enough, another smile. And just like that, Elliott picked out his first toy. Laying on his activity mat has become a whole new experience as he has started to bat at the toys hanging down. What is even more exciting to watch is this past week when he kicks the corner of the mat which causes it to light up and make noise. I swear you can just see the wheels turning in his head. As soon as the noise and lights stop, he kicks, and there it goes again! He gets so excited. So do I, because obviously he's a genius already.
Highlights/Lowlights: Just in the past couple of days he has started laughing! I've only heard it twice, and I don't think Chris has heard it yet, but oh man, is it ever the cutest laugh I've ever heard! His smiles are way bigger now too. It's like he's trying to open his mouth as wide as it will possibly go. Cutest!!
We've been on a few more date nights, and I can honestly say that I feel less anxious about them. Just yesterday we were planning on going to a movie with a couple of friends, and Elliott was having a particularly fussy day. A month ago I would have been rethinking if we should go out or not, but instead I thought to myself how much I needed a night out after the day I had with him. This is pretty big progress on my part.
Camping! We took Elliott on his very first real camping trip (sleeping in a tent) He did amazingly well, and it was a huge success! We were unsure how or where he would sleep, and so we brought the playpen with us and set it up in the tent beside our air mattress. It became obvious very quickly that he wasn't going to be sleeping anywhere other then in bed with us. Little man sure does hate to be cold, and even though I covered every inch of his body other than his face, he just wasn't going to have it. He slept great the first night- woke up to eat once around 4, then again around 6, then slept til 9:30! The second night was a little more challenging. He woke up screaming bloody murder when I tried to adjust him, and cried for what felt like half an hour. After that he was fine though, and woke up around 7:30 for the day. I slept quite poorly because I was stuck sleeping in one position the whole night. Ouch, my achey body! Aside form sleep issues though, the rest of the trip was a 10 out of 10. We had a blast!! Also, a shout out to my cousin Brenda who bought him the BEST camping item ever- his own little screen tent. It was a life saver when we arrived at 8 pm to mosquito city and had to set up tents, and also worked well for him to nap in during the day, and for him to hang out in the shade at the beach. SO great! (See pics below)
Teething. Ugh. Stay tuned on this one folks. Just yesterday he was extra fussy and as a last ditch effort I put a little bit of teething oil on his gums, and voila! He stopped crying instantly. Today he's been totally normal, though I did put his amber teething necklace on, so I suppose that could be helping. I'm praying he isn't teething yet. Too soon!!
He's been taking a bottle way better this past week! We got a different bottle/nipple and he seems to like it way better. He drank a full bottle from Grandma just last night. Woo hoo!
Not sure what category this would fit under, but in the past month he has started pooping only every 2-5 days. I must say, I'm not complaining!
Likes:
- Sleeping on his tummy
- Laying on his activity mat
- His red ball rattle toy
- His fishy toy on his carseat handle
- When Mommy kisses his face and neck making funny sounds
- When Daddy blows raspberries on his tummy
- Sucking on his fists (still) Almost has his thumb!
- Bath time
Dislikes:
- Being cold in any situation
- Having the shower head sprayed on him at bath time
- Being in his carseat in the car when the car isn't moving
- Being held too much (Sometimes a guy just needs to be free to kick away on his back!)
Now, for some pictures!
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Thanks for stopping by :)
~M
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