Updates

Several people have been asking about the potty training and sleeping situation so I thought maybe I'd do another quick update.

Noah is doing great. At home he goes naked and uses the potty chair every time. When we go on quick errands he wears "big boy underwear" and I take our portable potty chair just in case. When we are going to be out for an extended time, we wear a pull up but still try and use the potty while we are out. He has accidents, but if we are careful listeners he does tell us when he needs to go.

Eli is still doing better with sleeping. He still wakes once before I go to bed to eat, then once overnight (between 3-6am), but he is doing better with sleeping in his crib. He still naps in our bed, but I'm okay with that, as long as he continues to do okay with the crib at night. I think he will always be a bit of a momma's boy, but that's perfectly fine with me...as long as I can sleep a little each night!

Wow! My kids are cute!

Do you have any idea how much more adorable children are after they let mom get a good night sleep? :)

We have been doing this "sleep training" with Eli and I'm seeing results! Eli no longer sleeps with us at all during the night! He can handle his crib now :) AND...he is sleeping longer stretches, and putting himself back to sleep. Since several people have asked what we are doing, who are also hesitant to do the CIO method with their babies...here's the gist of our plan. If you are totally uninterested in how we are getting Eli to sleep better...well just don't read this post :)

So far we aren't worrying about naps at all. This technique says we can either work on them now, or just work on nighttime sleep and often good napping will follow, so that is what we are doing. At bedtime, we do a more set routine (we always had a routine, but didn't follow it every night)...dinner, bath, books, jammies, then Noah goes to daddy for a little snuggle/play time, and mommy starts with Eli. I feed him, then change his diaper into his overnight diaper to wake him. We talk/snuggle and go see daddy for good night kisses. Nursing ALWAYS puts Eli to sleep, so the diaper/talking after his last feeding is more to wake him up than anything. Then Eli is hugged and kissed and laid in the crib, AWAKE. This has been successful for us for the past week...but overnights have just seen results the last couple nights.

Eli has a habit of waking every hour or two and needing to either nurse or come to bed with us to fall back asleep. He is unable to put himself to bed. So when he wakes up and I am certain he is not hungry he gets to come out of the crib for a quick hug and reassurance that we do still in fact exist then he is put back down. Since this is a NO CRY method, if he does cry I pick him up and rock or pat him until he has stopped, and is drowsy again, but not sleeping and I lay him back down. It is important that we not let him fall asleep rocking or being pat or we will just be creating another sleep crutch. It is also important that we not give into old sleep crutches, (nursing/bedsharing) which has been hard because I don't feel Eli is able to go without food overnight yet. So, I have to judge hunger vs. wanting comfort. Basically if it has only been an hour or two since he ate, I don't feed him...if it has been over 3 he gets nursed.

The past few nights Eli has gone to bed before 8, woken around 9 and we do our gentle pats/ect but allow him to fall back asleep without too much assistance. He wakes around midnight to eat (I'm not totally convinced he needs it, but based on how much he does actually take in, I am going to go ahead and assume he is hungry at this time). He has then, for the past couple nights, been sleeping a good long stretch (which for us means over 5 hours!), and waking up around 5-6 to eat again, and going back down to sleep until I am up and ready (around 8) This morning Eli even woke up and played alone in his crib until 9!!! And that is something he has never done before!

All in all I am really happy this is starting to work. No, he isn't sleeping through the night, but I am not even convinced that he can without eating yet. I know a lot of mommies expect them to be sleeping through the night earlier (And yes I was one of them before Eli let me know otherwise), but for now, I am going to be happy with this, and enjoy our late night cuddles. Let me also add (since a few people have come to me wondering about this) that I don't think anyone is harming their child with the cry it out method if it works for their child. I think most parents have a good idea of what their child can handle, and what they can handle. I think the cry it out method would have worked fine for Noah had we needed to do something with him...but I don't feel its a good fit for Eli who craves touch more than any baby I have come across. Also, as a mom, it's not something I could handle. I by no means feel someone is a "bad" mom if they can do it...it just isn't something I can handle. I'm a sucker...and I know I would cave in to the cries, which would only be making my situation worse. This gentle approach to sleeping better takes much more time as well. The CIO method is effective, and usually much faster to see results (often just after a night or two of crying, whereas this may take up to 3 weeks for good results), but so far we are so happy with how it is working! I got 9...yes 9 hours of sleep last night!

Introducing Emily

My new niece Emily! 7lbs 2oz, 20 inches long! Cute as a button!

Sissy's homecoming!

When I started dating Brandon, his little sister was just 7 years old. Now she is a very stunning 14 year old! She just started high school this year, and had her first homecoming dance. Isn't she a doll!?!?!?

Day out with Thomas

The train that is! We took Noah over to the Des Moines area last weekend so he could ride a train! He LOVES trains, so when we found out Thomas the Train was giving rides nearby we just had to take him. He had never actually seen the TV show, but that didn't keep him from having fun!

Sleep Training and Potty Training!

This week is a big one for us. We are both "sleep training" and potty training!

As anyone who reads this blog knows, Eli is not the best sleeper. He is up frequently, and likes to be with mommy ALL NIGHT. So we are using a "no cry" approach to teaching him to fall asleep on his own (without needing to nurse each time he wakes at night). So far all we are doing is waking him back up after he nurses before bed. He used to fall asleep then we would lay him in his crib, but now, we are waking him before laying him down so he realizes he can fall asleep on his own. We are 3 days into it and so far he is doing great at bedtime, but still having frequent wakings. This approach doesn't promise fast results like the cry it out methods, which I won't argue, are very effective, but it is something we can try that we are comfortable with doing.

Noah is potty training this week. Yesterday we was accident free ALL DAY! I did still put him in a pull up for nap time, since he isn't quite where he can control his bladder in his sleep, but during his awake hours he went potty on his potty chair every time! GO NOAH! I am so proud of him...and very excited about the idea of only buying diapers for one again! WHOO!

still a work in progress...

I still need to put the sink in (just a metal dog dish...and I don't trust my skills to make the hole, so Brandon will be doing that). And then I may paint the rest of it...or just leave it. I am also going to get a skinny cabinet and paint it white to use as a fridge, but I haven't gotten it yet. I was going back and forth on getting it at lowes so I decided to wait, and now I am sure I want to do it. I'll post pics of the finished product when it's all done...hopefully by the weekend!

Starting in on the play kitchen!

My sister gave me this awesome idea to buy an unfinished cabinet...the shorter ones that go above a fridge, and move the hardware on one side so the door opens like an oven. So today we went to lowes and got what we needed to make our own kitchen! I am so excited about it...I love having projects to do.

too much to ask for?

All I want is a simple wooden play kitchen for the kids...I have been looking online and they are outrageously overpriced. I just refuse to pay $200 for some plywood and paint :) So, now I am been looking at trying to build one myself (aka, whining to Brandon how he should be making me one). Noah loves pretending to eat, make food and all that good stuff, and the play kitchens that I have found used are all too girly looking (boys can pretend to cook too people!). So...any suggestions on how to build one? I just want it to have a little sink, oven and maybe a fridge or something. Nothing too big, since the room we will have it in is smaller.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Because Eli is such a lousy sleeper, I have had many people (not anyone reading this) urge me to let him CIO (cry it out). I am sure most of you know this terminology already, but basically it's a "technique" for getting your infant to sleep through the night, by letting them cry alone in the crib until they pass out exhausted (okay...that is a little on the dramatic side, but also basically true), thus learning that their cries will not be answered overnight, which leads to better sleeping for mom and dad. While I have nothing against parents who use this technique it's just not for us, at least not at Eli's age. I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of it. I can't let either of my kids cries go unanswered through the night. I never tried this method with Noah, and he sleeps fine now. We have let Noah fuss in his room for reasons like not wanting to go to bed, but I think it's a little different when they are older, and are clearly just trying to get out of having to go to bed, and at an older age it is also much easier to determine when they are crying because they need something, and when they are crying because they don't like the idea of bedtime. And sure, Noah was a pretty good sleeper to begin with, but there were periods throughout his first year where he would wake frequently, and he was always comforted back to sleep. Babies cry for a reason, be it hungry, scared, lonely, cold, ect. They don't just cry to annoy mom (even if it seems that way sometimes), so I just can't see myself ignoring that and letting him cry. I figure he's got to learn to sleep through the night eventually, and while it would be nice if it happened now, I'm not going to hurry him into something he just isn't developmentally ready for. And while I am basically a walking zombie, I do enjoy spending some one on one time with him, which can really only happen while Noah is sleeping anyway.

So if you got this far...thanks for listening to my rantings. I know it is all well meaning advice, but it's just not for us. At least not right now, when he is still so young. However, if he gets to Noah age and still wakes up every two hours...maybe we'll revisit this discussion :)

Now, to reward you for getting through my whining (which I can still blame on being sleep deprived, just one of the many benefits to having a lack of sleep)....here are some super cute pictures of some super cute kiddos!