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@ALV91711: I am up again.
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@mole: Woohoo!! STTN is the BEST milestone! Congrats! And 10-11 hours is AMAZING!!! How much/often does he eat during the day that he's able to do such a long stretch at night?
@ALV91711: Awww, poor Isaac. I wonder if he hurt himself? Do you know if he scratched himself or anything? That high pitched scream is what Xander does when he's hurt. It's so sad!
Hope he's doing okay now. How was his sleep last night?@googly-eyes: Thanks!! the newborn stage was definitely difficult, but I'm loving this stage sooooo much! Smiling and interaction is the best!
@Smurfette: Sounds like R keeps waking you up again.
Hopefully it'll get better soon. *hug*So it was so cute when I picked up Xander from daycare yesterday! All the infants were sitting in a circle together, playing with toys. And by sitting, I mean, all the OTHER infants were sitting. Xander was being propped up by the daycare lady because he can't sit on his own yet, haha.
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@Adira: DH tried to get her back to sleep one time and she just cried. She just wanted me and my boob as a pacifier. We have to stop this cycle. I can't keep doing it. I just have no clue how too.
That is so cute! The other day I picked up R and they had her in the high chair table with other kids and they were all playing with toys.
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@Smurfette: Aww, it sucks that R won't take a pacifier! Xander will still sometimes wake up early (woke up at 4:30 this morning), but I can just pop the pacifier in his mouth and he'll fall right back asleep. Maybe once R finds her thumb, she'll start using that and won't need you as much to pacify her.
Awww, it's cute that R was at the high chair table with the other kids!!! Xander's still too wobbly to sit at one of those. I tried practicing with him last night to get him to sit up and he just kept toppling over. It was amusing, but also so sad!
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@smurfette: I am right there with you. I was awake and nursing each time you posted, but I was too tired to log on to my HB account on my iphone to respond! I can't believe that a week ago Pete was sleeping through the night. The past few nights, he has been up every 2 hours and he's definitely more reliant on my boob than ever. It took over two hours of nursing to get him to sleep last night. I don't know if it's the 4 month sleep regression though, because he is only 14 weeks old. At least I am home during the day to nap. I have no idea how you can function at work! Hugs and sympathy to you!
Like R, Pete is still sleeping in his swaddle. I'm not sure that he could soothe himself without his hands free. However, I've tried leaving out one of his arms but he hates it. He doesn't seem ready to swaddle-wean yet.
What are we going to doooo?? -
@Smurfette: As per requested!
LO's Name: Emma Rose
Age: 4 Months next Wednesday (7/3)
Weight: 14 lbs, 8 ozs (as of 6/12)
Length: 24 inches (as of 6/12)
Recent Milestones: Sucks on her fists for comfort/self soothing; rolls from back to side; rolls from front to back; smiles; laughs; talks socially (little chatterbox); sits up well with assistance although a little wobbly; great head control; scoots around on her mat on her back; bats at, grabs at, holds and chews on toys but not consistently
Milestone Most Looking Forward To: Fully rolling; crawling; sitting up unassisted
Feeding: Primarily formula fed, on demand, no schedule; roughly about 4 ozs every feeding; still breast feeding some but am mostly just a human pacifier
Sleep: Been making a breakthrough in her sleep since DH has been gone to PA. When he gets back, we're going to transition her from the cradle to her crib and see how that goes. She'll be sleeping in a separate room from us, further down the hallway on the other side of her brother's room. Hopefully this will go well. Usually sleeps from 9:00 to 3:00 am still, then a little night nursing/co-sleeping, a bottle around 4:30, back to the cradle, up for the day around 6:40. Naps are erratic but long and usually manage one a day where she's asleep when Henry's asleep.
Favorite trait: Her fairy like appearance. Even though she's gotten chubbier, or chubbly as I like to call it, she still maintains those delicate features. Small hands, small feet, tiny ears, button nose, etc. Also her fluffy carrot colored hair. It kills me!
Something silly: Her favorite toy at the moment is this little fuzzy work like thing with a yellow hat that has a rattle in it - she's fascinated with it and likes to gum on his hat!
WOHM, WAHM, SAHM, or on Mat Leave? Full time SAHM to two under 1.5 years old
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@NaturallyCathy: Wow, E's doing great!! I'm so impressed that she's rolling over front to back! Does she use her arms to do it? Xander's arms seem to just get in his way when he tries to roll. I'm not sure how to teach him to do it, haha. I'm hoping the transition to her crib in her own room goes well. Xander didn't seem phased by the move at all, but I know he's an unusually easy baby.
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@QueensBee: I have no idea how I am functioning at work either. I don't know how to swaddle wean either. She wants out in the middle of the night, but won't go to sleep without her hands in.
@NaturallyCathy: Sounds like Chubbly E is doing great!! Hope you are hanging in there this week by yourself with 2 kids.
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LO's Name: Peter
Age: 14 Weeks Today
Weight: He was measured at his 3 month check up yesterday- 13 lbs. 14 ounces. Almost double his birth weight!
Length: 23 ½ inches (short little guy- in the 9th%)
Recent Milestones: He started to laugh/chuckle a little bit last weekend. That was fun! He’s also learning to grab and hold onto toys. I finally caved and bought a Sophie the (overpriced) Giraffe yesterday- he loves holding her legs and putting her head into his mouth. And, he loves when I hold him up so that he can put some pressure on his feet.
How's feeding going: Still breastfeeding 90% of the time. He usually gets one bottle of pumped milk each day. Our goal is 6 months so we are halfway there! Woot woot!
How's sleep going: Ugh, I don’t want to talk about it. We had a decent stretch for a while but this week has been terrible. I read “The No Cry Sleep Solution” and now I am reading “Solving Your Child’s Sleep Problems” as I try to decide what method of sleep training might work best for us.
Milestone Most Looking Forward To: Self-soothing! He is waking up a lot at night right now and I want him to learn to soothe himself back to sleep without the aid of my boob. I also cannot wait for him to roll over and to sit up unassisted.
Favorite trait: His big blue eyes and his long eyelashes. I also love his enormous gummy grin. I will be sad when he gets his first tooth… I’ll miss that gummy smile!
Something silly: I love when he plays the bashful game. I will be holding him to my chest and he will either look at a person or at himself in the mirror, he’ll smile, and then he will bury his face into my chest. And repeat and repeat and repeat. So cute.
WOHM, WAHM, SAHM, or on Mat Leave? On maternity leave until the end of August. Right now I am schedule to return to work full-time but there is a possibility it will be changed to part time.
@naturallycathy: Wow, it’s awesome that you were actually able to improve E’s sleep while DH has been gone! He returns home today, right? You must be so pumped!
@adira: The little infant circle sounds adorable!! You are making me excited for daycare! I think the “sitting up independently” phase is kind of perfect. The babies are more independent and not quite as floppy but they aren’t mobile yet so you don’t have to go crazy with the babyproofing. I look forward to that brief period!
@ALV91711: How was the rest of your night? We were awake every 2 hours as well. Perhaps there is a 14 week sleep regression/hell that I’m not aware of?
@mrs. High heels: I read through the sleep regression thread you referenced in your post. Some of those regressions last until 6+ months?! Ahhh, I’ll die. Even two weeks of this choppy sleep seems unbearable! Lucky these babies are so stinkin’ cute…
How is Jaren feeling today?
@twobee: How exciting to have identical twins in the March Mommas thread! I love the names Kate and Caroline! How in the world did you get not one, but TWO babies to be such great sleepers already? Tell us your secrets!
@travellingbee: How’s it going with the dairy elimination? Would you notice a difference yet or is it still too early to tell?
@arden: Happy Conception Anniversary to you, your hubs, and Vivian! That post made me giggle! And her punctuality is pretty amazing. Did you guys do anything to celebrate?
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@QueensBee: Oh wow! Pete's almost double his birth weight already?? That's awesome!! I've heard that babies should double by 4 months, so I'm nervous because there's noooooooo way Xander's going to reach that. He was almost 9 lbs at birth and there's absolutely no way he'll be 18 lbs by his next appointment. I think he'll be around 14 lbs instead. I'm hoping that's okay and she doesn't want me to change anything - I'm EBF at the moment and want to continue until at least six months!
What made you decide to buy Sophie? I've been thinking about getting one, but I have no idea if Xander will actually like her or not, so not sure I want to spend the money. Glad to hear the purchased worked out for you though and Pete loves her!
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@QueensBee: What a nightmare day. I am so impressed that you can even keep perspective after all of that - from start to finish, it sounds completely miserable. Especially on a foundation of bad sleep the night before. There are times when city living is just unbelievably convenient, but other times it is astonishing how hard it can make everything! Still, I wouldn't trade it in, at least not yet.
@mole: I love the shyness too - it is adorable! I wonder about the developmental forces that are at work there because it seems like such a high level of self-awareness for babies that are really just starting to understand that they are separate from their environment. Basically, how is it that you haven't completely figured out that your feet are part of you, but you already have mastered the coy look-away?
@Mrs. High Heels: @NaturallyCathy: This may not make me popular with other twin parents, but I think it has got to be harder to juggle two when they are little kids of different ages than infants. Two babies stay where you put them down, and it's at least possible to *try* to get them on the same schedule. I am in awe of the energy it must take to wrangle yours - my brother and I are 16 months apart (and my sister is only four years older!) and I have a new appreciation for my mom as a total rock star. Plus, I've found that people have lower expectations of twin parents - I am always surprised that people seem impressed when our house isn't a huge mess, or that we "manage" to get all of us out of the house. So it feels like there is less pressure on us, which makes it much easier to be chill and do things our own way. Basically, I think parents of two kids that are close together are underappreciated.
@Smurfette: This sounds stupid, but will R suck on your finger at all? Our girls were not big on the pacifier at first, especially when what they really wanted was to eat, but they started to warm up to it by moving from finger, to finger inside of soothie, to soothie alone. I don't know if that is something that would work only when they are really tiny. But they won't take other shapes of pacifiers at. all. I feel your pain though - I don't think we would have been able to sleep train at all without a pacifier. I am sure you will find a way!
Since R wants her hands in at bedtime, have you tried swaddling her arms tighter than her legs? We swaddle-weaned one of our girls cold turkey - we figured she didn't really want to be swaddled because she kept kicking her way out overnight, no matter how tightly we swaddled her. Our other girl sounds like she was kind of the reverse of your situation - she would go to sleep fine without the swaddle but wouldn't be able to settle down after a nighttime waking without it. So we would end up swaddling her halfway through the night until she didn't seem to need it anymore - which was coincidentally when she figured out how to roll onto her side. I don't think there is any rush though - if it helps her sleep, let her stay swaddled! When she starts to roll the problem might solve itself. And I will admit that when daytime fussiness is out of control, I will still swaddle if necessary - we call it "losing arm privileges" - and they honestly seem sort of relieved when it comes to that.
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@QueensBee: Actually, I am really surprised, but we already see a pretty extreme difference. I mean we went from spitting up about 40-50 times a day (for real!) to only a few times-- less than 10. It's crazy. AND I have lost 3 pounds in the past 2 days! So, although I thought it was going to be crazy hard (I am totally a dairy-aholic), it has been great. I went to Whole Foods and bought several dairy alternative foods that have made the transition easier.
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Also, last night was terrible! We had company over and he wouldn't go to sleep. By the time he did (11pm!) he was so overtired that his sleep was terrible. He woke at 430, 530, 630.... sigh. Must stick to routines....
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@QueensBee: I will say, on sleep I think twins can turn out a little easier because (maybe) they settle down when they realize they are not alone. On the other hand, any real kind of cry-it-out wasn't even an option for us, though I am not opposed to it, because the girls would wake each other up if it went on for any real length of time. We use white noise but it seems like everyone on HelloBee already does that.
We used the book "Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old" as a guide for night weaning and sleep training. I haven't seen anyone mention it here but a friend swore by it for her kids (now 10 months and 2.5) and it worked for us too. It is kind of a logical system that doesn't really use cry-it-out and I think could be combined with some of the alternative techniques in other books - like the staying in the room or pick-up-put-down, if those work for your kid.
The basic system is to regularize daytime feedings first, and increase the volume at each feeding as you drop night feedings and eventually night wean completely. The idea is that stretching the time between feedings at night simultaneously helps the babies learn to soothe themselves, so once they are night weaned the groundwork is already laid. This is obviously easier for bottle-fed babies but our girls have always been primarily FF so it was not a problem for us. The book does talk about how to use the system if you are breastfeeding, but I am not sure how complicated it would be to do that since I never had anywhere near enough supply to try it out. It also means you are implementing a 4-hour feeding schedule, which I am fine with but others may not like. Once we night weaned we got a little more flexible and feed sort-of on demand - if they are hungry earlier we feed them, but they are generally very close to 4 hours before they want to eat anyway.
The title is a little controversial and we didn't even start sleep training until after 12 weeks - I think it's catchy but I didn't see any real need to sleep train or stop feeding on demand at that early age. The system works fine for older babies too, in our experience. What I liked was that it gives you a toolbox - literally, a list of things you can try - to help the babies learn to stretch out the time between feedings and to self soothe during the night. That said, the book didn't solve our early morning waking problem - only curtains did that. It may be because we picked and chose what made sense for us from the system - the final step is nap scheduling and that was just not realistic for our babies, whose naps are all over the place (which is not a problem for us because they are with a nanny on weekdays, and it hasn't affected their night sleep). Plus we are on a regimented enough schedule that we didn't want to be totally, 100% scheduled. But maybe if we had wholeheartedly bought into the system we would have been sleeping until 8am weeks ago.
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@travellingbee: Soooo glad to hear that cutting out dairy is working for you and your LO!!! I don't know that I would be able to do it! You're a great mom for even trying! I'm happy that it already seems to be helping!
Ugh, that sucks about the sleep. We usually don't have company over, so I'm not sure how Xander will do when we do. I'm nervous about when we visit Hubs' family next weekend because there will be a whole bunch of people there AND we'll be in a new environment, so I'm not sure how he'll sleep!
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@Adira: R won't have anything to do with Sophie yet.
@twobee: I will try my finger tonight. Right now her arms are tighter then her legs. But by the middle of the night she either gets her hands out or wants them out.
@travellingbee: Hope tonight is better for us both! Glad cutting out dairy is helping with the spit ups!
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LO's name: Liam
Age: 4 months as of last Wed
Weight: 14.1 lbs
Length: 25.5 in (and his head is big! we just had everything measured at his 4 month well baby check and he is 30% for weight, 60% for length and 90% for head!)
Recent milestones: Laughing! Liam has had a handful of giggle-fests recently and they are hilarious - DH even got it on video. He has been working most on his head control, lots of kicking with his legs and grasping at the hanging toys on his activity mat.
Milestone you're most looking forward to: Like many have said I can't wait for him to reach for me. I also can't wait for him to be able to sit up - he's getting really great with head control but still pretty wobbly when trying to sit assisted
How's feeding going: EBF - it's going pretty good. I pump 2x a day at work and usually once at night and Liam gets three bottles. We nurse on the weekends. For a little while baby boy was super hungry and we were needing to fill his bottles up to 6 oz but now he's back to drinking 4-5 oz per bottle - much less pressure on me!
How's sleep going: eh... it's not too bad - we start our routine around 6:30 and he's usually asleep between 7 and 7:30. Usually one wake up between 1-3 and up again between 4-6. The last three night he has woken up crying at 10:30/11 needing to nurse again so I don't know what's up with that - I am jealous of those of you whose LOs are STTN! I could really use a longer stretch of sleep at night!
What is your favorite trait about your LO? everything! I don't think I could fathom before he was born how in love with him I could possibly be
I love his little (and big) smiles so much!What is something silly that your LO does? He will laugh at our pomeranian when he is spinning around and the other day grabbed at his tail (uh oh!) and he has started to be a little bashful when he sees someone - he will get excited and smile then he will turn his head like he is getting a little shy - so cute!
WOHM, WAHM, SAHM or on mat leave? WOHM
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@dojo: Glad to hear of another wobbly baby! I was thinking Xander was just behind the curve, but maybe it's these big heads our babies have! They're hard to hold up!
OMG, I think one of my biggest fears is Xander needing 6oz bottles! I can just BARELY keep up with providing him 15oz a day! If I had to provide 18oz, I don't know how I would do it. Probably would deplete my freezer stash.
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@Adira - I've been able to pump that much up until now so now that he is going back to what I consider a more appropriate amount I have been able to freeze a little each day - or I can skip pumping at night (which is AWESOME)
DH brought Liam to his 4 month appt and when he told her how much he was eating she even said that seemed like a lot and that if he was eating that much we should consider solids - I was thinking that was crazy. Must have just been a growth spurt.. or something?
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@dojo: How often does he eat? Xander eats 6 times a day, 3 of which are at daycare and he gets 5oz each bottle, so I'm guessing he gets about ~30oz total in a day, which I think is on the high end. Do you have any idea how much Liam is getting?
I know I don't want to start solids until 6 months, but some babies are little piggies, so maybe if he's really that hungry, it's something to consider? I have no idea, haha.
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@Adira: He usually eats 6 times a day - I nurse him in the morning before work - then he gets three bottles while I'm away - then I nurse again either when I get home or wait until it's bedtime (an hour later). Then one more time in the middle of the night usually. I have no idea how much he is eating while nursing but it seems like his middle of the night feed isn't as long - he will sometimes even just feed off one side then fall back asleep.
Just this past week though he started leaving 1-2 oz in his 6 oz bottles and DH says he started pushing it away so I think he is satisfied with 4-5 oz now.
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@Smurfette: He had gotten too big for the top part of the pack n play, so we knew that we needed to transfer him to his crib. We figured that it was as good a time as any to wean him from his swaddle. He has also gotten attached to a lovely, so we knew that he could just cuddle with that now. It wasn't bad at all!
@Adira: I'm actually not sure! I probably feed him every 2-2.5 hours during the day. The only time he gets a bottle of pumped milk is when I work out of the house part-time, and those bottles (3 times per week) are 4-5 oz.
@twobee: I agree! Babies are fascinating in terms of how they grow, develop, and learn.
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@dojo: Sounds like he has a similar schedule and eating pattern as Xander, although I wake up Xander to eat before I go to bed because I don't want him to wake me up in the middle of the night! I know, I'm an awesome mom.
@mole: Sounds like he's probably eating more during the day, which is why he can probably go so long at night! Xander eats every 3 hours during the day, so maybe isn't getting as much as your LO, which is why he can't go for as long! Oh well!
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@twobee: Thanks so much for the detailed post reviewing your experience with the book! It does seem a bit trickier to manage the quantity of food intake with breastfeeding but imagine they lay out a strategy for it. I will definitely look into it!
@dojo: You response to "What's your favorite thing about LO?" put a big smile on my face! It's so true... I don't think I could have fathomed how much I love this little guy a few months ago.
@travellingbee: Great news that are already reaping the benefits of your dairy-free diet! That is certainly motivation to stick with it! (Btw- 40-50 spit ups?! Whoa, that's crazy!)
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@QueensBee: Um yeah. Basically, if he was awake, he was spitting up. My husband joked that we needed to wear garbage bags instead of burp cloths. I'm glad it is going so well but....I'm very sad that this means I am going to have to dump or donate all the milk I have frozen.
I need to go mourn.We rolled all the way over from back to tummy today!!
Still no giggles yet though... when did that happen for your babies? He smiles a ton and talks and screams/shrieks but no actual laughs. -
@travellingbee: We haven't laughed yet either, and still a card carrying member of the not rolling club. Glad that you lost your membership
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@Adira - Maybe I need to start waking him up to eat to see if he'll sleep longer through the night - I tried doing the dream feed a couple times but got a little lazy about doing it. I was just talking to a co-worker who has had success with this too so I will have to give it another go!
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DH let me take a nap once we got home. I nursed R and had some play time. I slept for almost an hour. Felt great! When I got up DH had given her a bath, medicine, and was getting her dressed for bed. He even folded her laundry while I started nursing. Fingers crossed tonight is better sleep wise.
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@Smurfette: I hope we both get better sleeps tonight. It seemed like we were both up a lot last night. Isaac is still a non roller. But he sure can move, this morning when I went to get him he had turned 180 degrees.
@QueensBee: If things are bad now I'm scared for the 4 month regression. I'm thinking it may have to do with the weather as it is starting to warm up here.
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@dojo: I'm gonna try a dream feed tonight too. It sort of makes me nervous!
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@ALV91711: R does that too! Is he still swaddled??
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@Adira: I was wondering if he was hurting. We were thinking maybe his ears from the planes the day before. He seems to be fIne today.
@travellingbee: That is exciting about the rolling!
@NaturallyCathy: Her sleep sounds pretty good. I can't wait for longer stretches of sleep.
@twobee: I think I'm going to have to read that book. I'd love ideas for night weaning and stretching out the hours in the day.
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@Smurfette: no, he stopped being swaddled at about 8 weeks. He decide himself. I thought he was unhappy and waking up because he would get an arm or two out, then I watched him one night and realized he was waking himself up trying to get out, so we started using sleep sacks which has been great.
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@aprk: Good luck with your dream feed! What time and how many oz are you going to do?
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@dojo: just as I was coming up to feed A, he started crying. I fed him and he mostly slept through it, so it was kind of a half dream feed. I'd say he ate as normally as he would have awake (6 minutes -he's a super efficient nurser).
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@travellingbee: Congrats on rolling!!! That's a huge milestone! Way to go L!!
@dojo: Definitely waking Xander to eat is the only way I'll get a decent night's sleep! I mean, maybe he'd sleep 6-7 hours without me waking him to eat him, but then he'd be waking up at 2:00 in the morning, so no thank you! I've tried dream feeds before, but since we're nursing, it's a lot harder than bottle feeding. He just doesn't wake up enough to latch and I can't just shove my boob in his mouth, haha. So he gets woken up instead!
@Smurfette: That's awesome your husband was so helpful last night! How'd the sleep go?
@ALV91711: Glad to hear he's feeling better! Definitely could have been from the plane ride, though who knows! At least he's fine now.
So Hubs was AWESOME last night! He made up Xander's bottles for daycare, washed all the other bottles, AND made dinner! I even had time to just relax for 20 minutes after putting Xander to bed while Hubs finished making dinner! Sooooo much better. As a thank you, I gave him sex.
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Yay. L slept 9-6:30 last night. Happy momma.
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@Adira: She woke up twice last night
The last one was for over an hour. I nursed her for a little bit and then just tried to rock her. I finally put her in the crib and went and got DH. He tried for 20 mins or so, and she just cried. I went back in there and got her asleep within 10 mins. So it was 430 by the time I got back to bed. My alarm went off at 530 cause I needed to wash my hair today. I said screw it, and slept till 6 and luckily the dry shampoo is covering my greasy hair. I tried to nurse her this morning and she ate for like 3 minutes and was done.
Haha, on the thank you sex! I didn't give my husband any last night.
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@travellingbee: Wow, that's a long stretch!! Congrats!
@Smurfette: Booo!!! Sorry to hear about the sleep!!! Hopefully she'll go back to sleeping longer stretches soon! Are you thinking you might have to sleep train?
And I don't blame you for not giving your husband any last night! You guys aren't getting any sleep! I'd be too tired to do it if Xander was waking up multiples times a night like R!
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@travellingbee: That is awesome! I miss R doing that.
@Adira: Yeah we have to sleep train her. I am still reading No Cry Sleep Solution, or whatever it is called. I am so tired at night I am not getting very far.
Hope he's doing okay now. How was his sleep last night?
I love his little (and big) smiles so much!
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