Those Damn Baby "Experts"

Were finally right for once. In almost all of the sleeping books I've read, the authors place a fair to large amount of emphasis on setting a consistent schedule for babies. This is supposed to help them sleep better. I scoffed at this idea for the longest time because I thought my baby might be different and love to try new things and live on the dangerous side (and be spontaneous, as I am not). I was SO WRONG!!

This little monkey of mine loves schedules and routines. Who knew?! Okay, everyone but me it seems. He has been sleeping like a little angel baby the past few weeks and I hope that it continues forever and ever. He is no longer napping with Momma either - he kicks and moves and wants to be away from me on his tummy, so we had to axe that :(

Here is a normal day for us now:

Wake-up: Between 7-8am
Morning Nap: From about 9:30-11/11:30am
Afternoon Nap: 2/2:30-4/4:30pm
Bedtime: 7/7:30pm

He will wake up somewhere between 12-1am and 3-5am and put himself back to sleep after some cooing and fussing, but I haven't had to get up to feed him all that often anymore. This being said, he is Mr. Fussers in the morning until he has had about 6oz of formula because he believes we have let him starve overnight. It's not pretty, and I must say that he inherited this quality from me (sigh).

I am so happy that he is sleeping so well now and I almost hate taking him places during his nap time because I know he will have a meltdown at some point and I will feel like a bad mom. I've now become "that mom" who schedules HER life around her baby's life.

Oh wait, that's what all mommies do. :)

Reunited and It Feels So Good...

This is how I'm going to feel tomorrow when the bestie joins me for a weekend of fun and lots of baby hugs :)


BTW, you may be asking yourselves what we were doing in these photos - modeling. At least, attempting the starved concave pose that models do. Hello again 2008 :)

*Side note - this is OUR house - just a lot uglier. Check out those hideous cabinets, the dirty linoleum, and the carpet that was once whitish and became gray. Lovely.

This Little Piggy...

... will eat anything and everything he tries. He isn't a picky eater like Momma, but an all-accepting boy like Dad. He is eating about 4oz of food 3 times per day in addition to several bottles of formula. His favorites are currently sweet potatoes, peas, and bananas.

He also loves:

• Carrots
• Apples
• Blueberries
• Mangoes
• Pears
• Squash
• Prunes

I just made my first batch of baby food - bananas, carrots, and peas. We will see tomorrow if he enjoys them!

My Baby's Walking!

Ok, not really, but kind of. We just got him a walker and he is learning how to scoot around in it. So fun!!!

Family Vacation

We had a great time on our vacation a few weeks ago. Things didn't go how we planned, but we made the most of our time away and came home with a few new adventures under our belts.

We started out packing for our trip a few days before we left. I should have started packing more like a week out - this baby of ours does not travel light!! Here is a snippet of what we brought for him for a week of travel:

• 3 onesies for each day (21 total)
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 2 pairs of pants
• 1 sweatshirt
• 45 diapers
• 10 swim diapers
• 2 pairs of swim trunks
• Sleepers
• 3 pairs of socks
• Shampoo
  
• Baby Lotion
• Sunscreen
• Nail Clippers
• 6 bibs
• 6 burpcloths
• 5 bottles
• 4 bowls
  
• 4 spoons
• 6 jars of baby food
• Rice cereal
• Formula
• Bumbo seat
• Travel swing
• Pack-n-play
• Toys
• Stroller
• Car seat (duh, right?!)

Somehow, we also fit our things in the car as well. Thank goodness we have a large car.

We made the first day's trip from Denver to Moab. JB was great in the car. After I sat next to him the whole time. It was like I was 11 all over again!!

We stayed in Moab for two nights - Trevor went on some great mountain bike rides and we visited the Arches National Park. I can't say that I am interested in ever returning to Moab - unless a sweet resort opens up with a spa.

Hiking in Arches

JB's vacation memories :)

Arches National Park

After two nights in Moab, we headed back to CO and made a stop in Beaver Creek. We stayed at the Park Hyatt and it was awesome. I was back in my natural habitat :)

Hike in Beaver Creek

Hotel balcony

Before dinner in Beaver Creek

We finished up our vacation with one night in Vail at the trusty Cascade. We got a sweet upgrade to a room that walked out to Gore Creek and we hung out at the infinity pool and had a lovely dinner (until Jackson decided he was ready to go).

All in all, good first family vacation. Jackson was fabulous, except for sleeping at night. I think he was too anxious in unfamiliar settings and he also isn't used to sleeping in the same room as us. He woke up a lot and he ended up just sleeping with us every night.

Luckily, life has gotten back to normal for us this past week and Jackson has slept from 7-7 the past three nights! He is also eating about 4oz of baby food three times a day. Baby is getting a belly :)

Fried Eggs

Here is your brain:

Here is your brain on drugs babies:

I have seriously lost my mind. I thought I was a little absentminded while I was pregnant, but it’s gotten much worse now. When I was pregnant I simply couldn’t seem to find the correct word to use when I was talking to someone, writing, and sometimes even when I was thinking to myself.

Now I cannot find anything. I make grocery lists and then get home just to realize that I’ve forgotten things on my list even though I checked it a few times while at the store. I also forget that I have purchased items the week before and I get multiples of things.

I forget everything people tell me, unless it’s written down. And even then I forget and I have to go back and read e-mails two or three times to make sure I get everything. I never remember anything my husband says and I am sure it drives him crazy.

I also forget what I tell people, so I am now the crazy lady who tells the same story over and over again. Remind me to lay off my grandma a little.

Here are the top crazy things I’ve done recently:

· Today I forgot my dogs were locked in the basement (they were on a barking craze) and I got angry when I repeatedly called them to the second floor. I was convinced they were ignoring me until I heard them whining from below. Bad mommy.

· I’ve loaded up the car just to forget that the baby is in the car seat in the house (don’t worry, I never actually leave without him).

· I went to the bank to deposit a check and I left the check at home but remembered to bring the filled out deposit slip. Genius.

· While showering last week I put face wash in my hair as shampoo. After I had already shampooed and conditioned my hair.

I know there are plenty others, but surprise!, I can’t think of them at the moment. Is this normal? I must just be so caught up in Babyland that I am clueless and spacey all the time.

Lazy

That's me with blogging :) Honestly, I have been putting my energy to other things - mainly sleeping as much as possible because it's not happening at night. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I can't get Jackson to sleep through the night. Or for more than 3 hours at a time. WTF??? He eats at 7 (rice cereal and formula) and then gets a bath and is tucked in by 8. Then he almost always wakes up at 11 and needs "reassurance" from Momma, which entails me patting his belly and giving him a kiss. This happens again at 1am, at 3am he's starving and he eats 4oz, and then he wakes up at 5:30, and then 7:30. I have been letting him cry it out, but he won't stop crying. At all. For very long periods of time.

Other than the sleeping thing, he is amazing. He started eating rice cereal and he is getting the hang of it. Now he also tries to grab my food when I'm eating :)

He is getting so big! No more 3 month clothes, all 6 months and 6-9 months for my little man.

Jackson is getting so close to sitting on his own. He can hold himself up with his hands, but he is working on the real deal. Right now he is sitting next to me, trying to type on my computer.

He'd like to say a few things: xa4wqfaxgbynnbn6rtjy hukuFTSDDFSE4E SZA

So that's where we are :)