Baby Laughs!

Sorry I've been MIA...we have been visiting family in GA! My 10 year high school reunion was on the 22nd, so we drove down for it.  James and I stayed an extra week and Joshua went home so he could work.  While we were staying with Joshua's parents James laughed and I caught it on video!

After Joshua went back home James and I went to stay with my parents for the week. On the 25th we went to the aquarium with my brother and his family and my grandparents. It was lots of fun, but way too long of  a day for James. We got there when it opened at 10am and weren't done until 3:30pm. 

James riding in his stroller like a big boy!

Playing in the exersaucer

 Napping at Mema and Grandpa's (my grandparents)

 Holding his bottle

 Looking cute

 Monkey on the butt!

 Sock monkey pjs!



Schedule

I should be packing, and getting ready for our trip to GA but I'm a procrastinator. Football is on, and I'd rather be in the recliner watching it. So I figured I'd multitask and put in writing the schedule I have James on, so I can look back at it when baby #2 comes WAY down the road.

Typically James will wake up right around 7am. I'm not strict when it comes to his wake time. I do have an alarm set on my phone, and if he is stirring around when it goes off I will get him up. But if he's still sound asleep I let him sleep longer.  Normally we are up no later than 8am. He eats every 4 hours, so after he eats I will put him on his play mat, or a blanket on the floor.  I don't have to initiate tummy time anymore, as he will roll over himself and do it! 

I have some trouble with getting him to nap well for each nap time. I have not done Cry It Out at all yet, but am considering it.  I will not try it until we get back from GA. I don't think it would be good to try something new when we are out of town. 

I was putting James to bed every night around 9:30 or 10, but he would always wake up around 2am. He doesn't want to eat when he wakes up, he just wants to cuddle with me in my bed. Bad habit I know!  I asked The Baby Sleep Whisperer on facebook about him waking in the night and she mentioned putting him to bed earlier.  So now I will always nurse him between 7-7:30 and put him to bed by 8.  I haven't noticed a difference in his night time sleeping yet, but hopefully he will start to get much better at staying asleep through the night. 

I do not normally put him in his Woombie for naps, and just today he took two naps on  his belly. Normally he's on his side or back.  So I'm not sure if he will continue being able to be in the Woombie at night. If he starts going to the belly at night I will have to give it up, or get him the convertible version so that his arms can be free. 

Here is what a typical day looks like for us:

7am: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
7:30-8:30 or 9: playtime
9am: Nap- sometimes he will nap for 2 hours, sometimes its much shorter
11am: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
11:30-12:30 or 1: playtime
1pm: Nap
3pm: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
3:30-4:30 or 5: playtime
5-6: Nap
Around 7pm: Bath time (depends on how tired he is on the exact time of the bath, could be pushed earlier if he is acting really tired)
7:30pm (sometimes 7pm): Nurse
8pm: Bedtime

I normally won't nurse him again, unless he wakes up crying, which he sometimes does at 11-11:30pm. Which would be his normal 4 hour schedule. I don't mind feeding him then, cause then I don't need to pump before I go to bed. 

I do not try very hard in the middle of the night to get him back to sleep in his bed. It's something I really need to work on.  I will try for a few minutes, but just end up putting him in bed with me. He sleeps so good with me, and I get decent sleep. So it works out for the both of us.

 Snuggled up in my Woombie

 

I just started the earlier bed time over the weekend, so I'll have to update in a few weeks on how that is working out for us.

He's a mover

James can now roll over like a pro. He started doing it on Sept. 5th. He will roll from his belly to his back and from his back to his belly.  I have video of him doing it from belly to back. I can't ever catch him doing it from his back to his belly.

Ignore my annoying voice!

Is it November yet?

I am beyond ready for it to be November 7th already.  I am so sick of all the political ads on tv and radio. I am sick of the race card being thrown out when I don't agree with the current administration and want a new president. It's not 1950 people....I don't care what color of skin a person has. I just want a president who stands for the same things I do. Someone who wants to see our country prosper and someone who will put people back to work.

I would like to scream cause I'm so sick of election season and how nasty it is every 4 years.

Ok rant over now.

Update on the Woombie

I  bought a Woombie swaddle on Saturday and have been using it for naps and at night since.  It's definitely better than regular swaddle blankets. James can not get his arms out of it, so he will sleep longer at night in it.  It is taking some time for him to get used to it because it's not as tight as he was used to. I would swaddle him pretty tightly so that it would be harder to get his arms out.  I ended up getting the leggies woombie.

So far since using it James has only woken up once each night. The only issue we have had is that he won't go back to sleep after waking up, so I end up putting him in bed with me. I'm gonna work on that though and hopefully in the next week he will start going back to sleep on his own.

I wish I had purchased a woombie before James was born and started using it from day one. For the next one I will definitely have a woombie from the beginning!

Bamboobies

I found another great product that I figured I would pass along! They are bamboobies nursing pads.
http://www.buybamboobies.com/Breast-Pad.php

They are made of bamboo fabric and are so soft! I suffered from dry cracked nipples in the beginning, and these pads were a life safer.  I have the overnight ones and actually use them all the time. I love that they can go in the washer and dryer. I highly recommend them to anyone who is searching for the right nursing pad.