Sleep Training

We are in the midst of sleep training Sam. With me being back to work full time, waking up once or twice a night is wearing me down and probably part of the reason I can't seem to shake this cold. With Michael working from home and watching Sam, having a predictable and scheduled nap pattern will greatly help his productivity and expectations for his work day. It's much later than we started with Adam, but better late than never.

It's work, but it's structure, and I like structure. Adam was successfully sleeping through the night by now because we started earlier, and I loved that I could lay him down for naps and bed without the crying and fighting. His body knew the routine. I'm anxious for Sam to learn it, too.

With Adam, people would tell us how "lucky" we are to have a good sleeper. Luck? Heck, no! It was work! Please do not discount all the effort we put in to making sure our child learns how to be a good sleeper. It is ironic to think that something so natural has to be taught how to be most effective. I believe it's one of the best things you can teach your child.

So what is sleep training? Sleep training means consciously being attuned to his needs and responding to his cues before it's too late. It means always being mindful of the feed-wake-sleep routine. It means planning errands and outings around his naps. It means putting his sleep needs first. It means consistency and schedule.

When you hit the timing right, it is so easy! But if you miss the window, you have a tired, crying baby that has difficulty falling asleep and difficulty staying asleep for a complete nap. Sleep begets sleep.

We are following the Babywise series, modifying the recommendations to fit our household and what we're comfortable with. We are not comfortable with Crying It Out. There's a difference between fussing and crying, and while I will let him fuss for 10 minutes or so, I will not ignore him when he escalates to a distressed cry. We are not comfortable withholding a feeding just because the clock tells us it's not feeding time yet. We'll feed him and adjust our schedule from there.

Here's the schedule that is working for us (3 months old). Times vary but are close to this:

7am - wake, nurse
8am - nap

10am - wake, eat
11am - nap

1pm - wake, eat
2pm - nap

4pm - wake, eat
5pm - short nap

7pm - nurse
8pm - bed

10pm - "dream feed" (Feed him without really waking him)

Initially we had some disruptions that affected Sam's schedule, including a bit of a cough/cold and ROLLING OVER!!! Yes, at 3-months he's already rolling over, mostly (and impressively) from back to belly. A couple of the nights I found him unhappily on his belly. And if he hasn't actually rolled over in his crib, he is likely scooted all the way to the end, possibly rotated 90-180 degrees, and has his head up against the side or corner. This kid already needs a bigger bed.

We've been on this routine for over a week now, and while he's only had 1 night that he's slept fully through the night (from 10pm til almost 6am), he's going down for naps much easier and wakes in the morning cooing in his crib. He's easier to put to bed at 8pm than our 3-year old!

Here's hoping the predictability will naturally lend itself to longer nights soon.

They Like Me!

They like me! They really like me!

Two weeks after returning to work, I was given a promotion! Not bad for someone who took off work for two months, eh? 

I am now the Customer Service and Marketing Manager (previously Product Manager/Graphics).

Basically, what this means, is that I still have all the same responsibilities as before, but I now manage the Customer Service department on top of all that. This includes 3 customer service representatives.

This is my first time managing actual people instead of just projects, and I am thrilled at the opportunity.

Soon we'll be adding an Internet/Social Media/Graphics specialist to help out with managing our website, social media, and smaller graphics projects, which will take some of the smaller tasks off my desk.

I may have mentioned it before, but the move to Ohio and this company has been the best decision. I came into the organization at the perfect time, and with new policy changes, restructuring, and new products and programs planned, we are aggressively growing and preparing for big things.

I'm excited to be a part of the ride!

Sims Kin and Family Time

Last weekend we had our Ohio kin come visit. ("Kin" is a family joke. I don't regularly call my relatives "kin." We joke that they are part of our "line-age". It's a W. Va. thing.) The "Sims Kin" live about 4 hours north, and even with that fairly close proximity we still only see them a couple of times a year. Life gets busy and weekends fill up. We made a quick trip there last month, and they promised to come down to visit soon.... and they did! Love it when a plan comes together!

It's funny, when we go there I still say we're going "to Ohio". It's not like I don't live in Ohio, too. It's just that for all my life whenever we went to visit we were going "to Ohio" or "to Grammy's." Some habits are hard to break.

But as I was saying...

Last weekend they popped down for a visit. Finally living farther north from the rest of the family has it's perks as they came here first for a night! We had dinner, lit a fire, and just sat around and talked. Truly, I think I could talk to my Aunt Karen about anything. I hope she knows how special she is to me. Like a second Mom. Plus, it is so fun to watch her love on Sam. She has such a gift! I am thrilled that she will be a grandmother herself by summer. She was made to love on others.

Cousin Hillary getting infant practice. We're soooo excited for her to be a mommy in May!

Then on Saturday we had all the family together to celebrate Michael's and Dad's birthdays.

Happy Birthday, guys! 

I just LOVE a table that a dozen people family can sit around casually and comfortably. Putting it on my wish list for one of our own.

Can't wait to see these guys again SOON... when they're PARENTS!!

Best wishes, Hillary and Brian!

Potty Training

I've heard people talk about how they potty-trained their child in 1 or 2 days. Good for you! It's just not happening that quickly at our house.

If Adam is not wearing a pull-up, he's pretty successful at telling us when he needs to go "wet". (Going "number 2" is another story. We're only successful with that if we watch his mannerisms to predict when it's time.) When he does use the potty, he is super excited! We all celebrate and put a sticker on his chart and he gets 2 mini marshmallows as a reward. It's starting to click.

But if he's wearing a pull-up, it's just more convenient to go in his pants. He doesn't have to drop his toys or leave his puzzles to spend time on the potty.

So we try to make potty time as entertaining as possible, implementing the idea that if he sits there long enough, surely nature will take its course.

But maybe we've made it too comfortable for him...

Any other suggestions?

Home Portraits

I'm cheap. There, I said it. I prefer not to spend money on things that I may be able to do myself for cheaper (or free). This includes custom printed invitations (or really, most paper craft projects), some wall art, holiday cards, store-bought cakes and professional photography.

When I was pregnant I knew I wanted to take some pregnancy photos (but not the really artsy ones where I'm standing in wildflowers with my shirt unbuttoned and belly exposed and wind blowing my hair... or the celestial goddess pictures... hey, if that's your thing, that's beautiful. Just wasn't mine.). I just didn't want to pay for the sitting and then pay for the prints. So, instead, with a timer on my SLR camera and decent lighting, I try to manage something possibly framable. Something like this:

(I didn't think that was half bad for DIY photography.)

Or, better yet, I recruit my sister and her camera know-how to help me out. She helped me with my outdoor maternity pictures, so when it came time for Sam's newborn pics, I called her in to help. I knew I couldn't do this task on my own. Propping and arranging and adjusting a newborn AND trying to stand behind the camera is a much bigger task. Armed with props, a heating pad, space heater and a giant beanbag, we took advantage of the quickly-diminishing afternoon daylight and captured these of Sam at nine days old. Just the night before he lost his belly button, and already our squishy newborn was beginning to stretch out from the curled up football.

I realized I never shared these at the time. Here are some of my favorites. Isn't he just so squeezable??!

Now that I have them, now maybe someday I'll actually frame and display them!

Party Fit for a 3-Year Old

I love a good theme for a party. It makes decorating so much more fun. I've always done themes for Adam's parties -- his first was an Airplane theme (my favorite to date) and last year was a Firetruck party (and lucked out with a visit from a real life firetruck!). With Sam's January hospital stay I got behind on planning Adam's third party, but not wanting him to miss out on something now that the new baby was here (yes, I know he wouldn't know the difference), we threw together a party in a matter of days.

What started as a generic Cars/Trucks/Traffic theme morphed into more of a Disney Cars theme / race car theme. Adam's never even seen much of those movies (though he's quite familiar with the characters), but my coworker had a Lightening McQueen cake pan I borrowed, so the party became more about those characters than I originally intended. (I have a "thing" against commercial parties and would prefer more generic themes. I'm sure I'll have to get over this and come to expect more commercial Superhero and Disney themes in my future!) Overall, the decorations were a bit inconsistent since some things were generic traffic ideas and others were Cars and car racing but I'm probably the only one who noticed!

The Invitation:
If you know Adam at all, and especially if you've ever ridden in a car with him, you know he loves traffic lights. Red light! Green light! He's quite the backseat driver. That was my inspiration for the party and, thus, for the party invitation.

To show you the sign of the times, I created this invitation and then saved it to my phone, then text messaged it to all the guests! Times they are a-changing! (This is also helpful for those last-minute plans!)

Decorations:
Streamers, balloons and a little duct tape is pretty much the extent of the decorations. I found checkerboard duct tape (who knew they made so many different designs these days?) and used it along with yellow duct tape and a black table cloth, and we had a raceway on the table!

I was afraid the Lightening McQueen cake wouldn't be enough for everyone at the party, so I repurposed a Doughnut cake pan to make Tire cakes.

Click to enlarge

 I also printed a few road signs and had them around the house (Rest Area, Loading Zone, Congested Area, etc), along with a few Lightening McQueen and friends posters.

Entertainment:
Our options are more limited with the January weather, so our unfurnished basement was the perfect place for activity (and left upstairs fairly quiet for visiting). I brought down all of Adam's trains, cars, car mat and train tracks and let the kids have at it! In case the girls wouldn't want to play with cars and trucks, I also printed out different Cars and Chuggington coloring sheets to further occupy them.

All in all, I think it was a success! And what was wonderful is that all the party guests were cousins! EIGHT cousins came to help celebrate! Oh, you only see six in the pictures? Well, that's because cousins Jake and Lilly took naps and slept through the entire party! But since those two just love birthday parties and cake and ice cream, we had to have a mini party with them when they awoke.

Thank you everyone for sharing his day with us!

And HUGE thanks to my Mom (and the adorable checker flags), sisters and nephews for helping with the last minute decorations, cleaning and photography! I was a crazy woman that last hour before guests arrived!

Sam, I Am Two Months

Sam had this 2-month checkup the same time Adam did. I love that we can schedule their appointments together! Sam was supposed to have this appointment weeks ago, but his unexpected hospital stay made us need to reschedule.

10 weeks

So at 2 1/2 months, here are his stats:

Weight*: 11 lbs, 11 oz (30%)
Length: 24.75" (90%)
Head: 41.5" (80%)

*Sam lost about a pound when he was in the hospital. He was admitted at 11 lbs, 14 oz and, as you can see, he's still working his way back to that. Honestly, I wasn't too sorry he dropped some weight. I want him to stay my little guy as long as possible. However, his appetite is back and strong and I'm sure in no time he'll be making up for that lost week!

The Doctor said she could still just a little bit of crackling in his lungs left over from the Bronchiolitis, but otherwise he's a healthy baby boy.

Recent milestones:

Giggling! This he just started in the last week and boy is it adorable. I will have to capture it on video to share. He still smiles a ton and loves to coo at us.

He has also started grasping things. It's not intentional, really, but he'll grab hold of our shirts or my hair or necklace.

He is a strong boy and does such a great job holding his head up on his own. We've placed him in the Bumbo seat on a couple of occasions. He's almost ready for that for longer stretches. He does love to be upright, especially facing outward to watch everything.

Here's video from a few weeks ago of him cooing. "Hi!"

Three!

Recently Adam managed to control his little hand to hold two fingers up to show he was 2. He was so proud! He'd say, "I'm doing it!"

I'd like to think this is a huge milestone. I mean, just getting his hands to do a "thumb's up" was a big deal.

And now, with a little struggle and time, he can hold up 3 fingers because...

Adam is Three!

Yes, my loving, adorable, song-singing, imaginative, melt-your-heart, smiling boy is another year older. And I have so much joy.

Let me tell you my favorite things he does and says these days...

• I never tire of him singing his songs. His song catalog is impressive. He loves when I sing him the "Adam Robert" song (to the tune of Frere Jacques), singing about what Adam does and loves (fortunately he doesn't mind the lack of rhyme). Here's his recent favorite song:

• His observation skills continue to amaze us. "Look at all the bricks!" (to the brick-facade building) or, "Look at all the octagons!" (to the honeycomb wall pattern)
• He is always learning and wanting to learn. His recent obsession is the clock in his room. What time is it now? What does the clock say? This is great for teaching him to recognize double-digit numbers as well as telling (digital) time.
• Knows all his letters and letter sounds and we've begun having him sound out words to spell. He can spell Adam, Cat and Toy like a champ. In the car he'll see a sign and ask, "What's that say?" And, unsure of what sign he sees, we'll have him spell it for us.
• He has such an imagination. Pieces of popcorn will look like giraffes to him. He is always making associations (ex. Brush my teeth... just like Daniel the Tiger brushes his teeth.)
• He likes a plan. First... we'll do (A), and then... we'll do (B).
• I never tire of watching him talk to Sam or give him toys or tell me Sam needs something. On one occasion I found him in the crib with Sam. Or he'll say, "He's smiling at me!" Last night he sat beside him and said, "I Love You, Sam."
• He can be very literal. "I'm not 'Pumpkin', I'm Adam!"
• He's crazy about traffic lights. Red light! Green light! Yellow light (which means to slow down so you don't crash into other cars). He's a backseat driver like his Mommy (go that way) and knows where we are and what stores/school/houses are in which direction. A couple of weeks ago we passed a Menard's near Dayton and he said, "There's Menard's! But it's not our Menard's...."
• He loves cars and trucks and trains and garbage trucks and big trucks and tanker trucks and "cars on the truck". He lines them all up in his room in a long train or side by side like a parking lot (like at the "Red Store" (aka Target)). And of course the cars talk to each other, too. I love watching him play.
• His memory is incredible. This morning I put on his new socks and he said they were "just like Ryan's" (memory + association). Ryan was here in November! He can also read several books by memory, like Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• He picks up things he hears, like Daddy's, "Are you kidding me?" or Lightening McQueen's, "That's what I'm talking about."
• He knows the Pledge of Allegiance. (He's known it for at least 6 months... I'm just getting around to bragging about it.)
• He loves books and loves us to "talk the book" to him. He loves "I Spy" books lately, and loves listening to Gramma's recorded book. At the end when Gramma says, "I love you, Adam" he says, "I love you Gramma! I was talking to Gramma!" Every time.
• Loves "lemalade" and "rice ice cream treats" (rice krispy treats) and popcorn and croutons
• He successfully gave up the pacifier at Christmas (gave it to Santa) and we are now working on the potty training. We have a fairly equal ratio of successes to accidents.

We had his 3-year old checkup. Stats:

Height:  36.5" (15-20th percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs (25th percentile)

Great health
20/20 vision





Buddy, I have too much love for you than my little heart can even hold. I wish I could just bottle you up as you are now and keep you this way. I'm blinking and you're growing and learning way too fast, but, boy, is it a fun ride! You're such a Momma's boy, and I'll admit, I probably made you that way (and I'm not ashamed!) And I hope you always are.  Happy Birthday, my favorite 3-year old!!