5 Months, 3 Weeks: Memorial Day picnic

Happy Memorial Day! Today we went to Ft. Pulaski Park which is out near the beach. It actually turned out to be a nice day... there was heavy rain all over the Savannah area, but luckily it never hit the coastal areas. So it was mostly overcast with peeks of sun here and there. We brought the off-road/jogging stroller so we could go down some of the scenic trails. Liam seemed to have a good time. He loves being outdoors and looking at all the sights!

I can't think of anything worth mentioning from this past week, other than his sleeping has been getting much better - as in, the nights he sleeps through are more frequent than the ones where he wakes. But I may have jinxed myself, so I took a risk there by mentioning it!

His 6 month checkup is coming up soon on June 8th. More shots! Boo! But I'm curious to see how much he's grown from his 4 month appt. Maybe the doc will say he's about the size of a 1 year old now. haha He's definitely over 20lbs. We measured his length last week and he was about 27.5 inches long.

We still haven't started food other than rice cereal, which he loves... the smell is something else! Ugh. He eats about 2-3 Tbs with his first bottle and then another 2-3 Tbs before his bath. I think he's ready for more because he's not drinking as much lately.

I hate buying clothes for this guy. I got him some 9 month onesies at Carters last weekend, but I tried one on (after I friggin washed them all) and they are tight on him!!! The length is fine, but the arm holes and leg holes are too tight (same problem Mom has with her pants! haha). But then, I bought him some "Child of Mine" onesies - 9-12 month size (made by Carters, but sold at Wally World and Target and other places) and these fit much better. They seem to be more stretchy at the arm and leg holes. I also had to go though his closet and see what he's outgrown... Lots of stuff that he's never worn, of course. 6-9 month clothes that are too tight... :( I really need to just keep the tags on things instead of washing them as soon as I get them.

Check out the Shutterfly... I will be posting up some pictures from the picnic.

Mobile Blogging

Just testing out the mobile blogging...

5 months, 2 weeks: Auntie Jen visits again!

Good news! My phone survived a swim in the toilet! I had to use my old phone for a few days last week until I got back up on the new one (enV Touch... highly recommended for absent-minded moms!) The photo above was taken with my old phone (enV 2... also a good phone!) while Liam was doing his pushups!

My sis, Jen visited this past weekend. She cooked delish food for us as usual. Saturday, we went to the weekend Farmer's Market at Forsyth Park where she and Grandma picked up some yummy veggies from local farmers. We then went to the Gryphon Tea Room for lunch where we enjoyed some sandwiches and YUUUUMMMMMY desserts (strawberry shortcake, coconut cake, banana cream pie). Then on Sunday, the gals went out to the Outlet stores while Joel took Liam to spend the afternoon with Grandpa Joe and "YiaYia" Mary (AKA Joel's parents). I got some jeans and shorts at the Gap outlet (40% off the entire store!)...I bit the bullet and bought sizes that actually fit (AKA 4 sizes above my pre-preggo size). :( Hopefully I will never wear these after this year!!! I've been wearing skirts and my only ONE pair of jeans that barely fit since I stopped wearing maternity pants. haha I also got Liam two 5-packs of cute onesies (his favorite type of clothing) for $10/each (regular $24/each)... sweet deal man! I had to get him the 9-month size! haha It was a great weekend!

In other news, Liam is sleeping a little better, but he still has some nights where he will wake up and cry. Ugh...

We have also noticed his hair is getting thicker! So he doesn't look so much like a little baldy! heehee Alternatively, my hair is still falling out. I have been procrastinating on getting it cut....

I will post pics on the shutterfly soon. I took a bunch this weekend...

5 months, 1 week

Liam's sleep patterns have been very unpredictable this past week: most of the nights he's slept through, but woke up early - like at 5. A couple mornings we'd just leave him there talking to himself until around 6:45 or so when we'd normally get up. Another morning he woke up early and Joel had to give him a bottle to calm down and get back to sleep (after almost an hour of crying). The past 2 nights have been ok, he slept through until about 6:30ish. Tonight, however, is another one of those nights where he won't settle down. He started crying around midnight and he's still at it (it's now 12:30). Argh... We haven't been following the Ferber method exactly (because we've given in after at most an hour) and there have been times that he's been put down to bed asleep, as opposed to being awake before putting him down - which is what you're supposed to do so they can learn to fall asleep on their own. I dunno. As soon as I think things have started looking better, they just fall apart again and we have to start over. So yeah, I'm typing this entry while listening to my baby wail in the background.

In other news... I had my first night out to a bar since like February 2009. I left after we put Liam to sleep on Friday to meet up with my buddies in Bluffton, SC: Jen, Bonnie and Ty. I think I had 4 beers that night (I could use one now). I had a good buzz... and some good times were had! That was one of the nights Liam slept well, thank goodness. Joel was on duty that night so I was able to go out. It was pretty fun!

I need to get my hair cut. My hair is STILL falling out in clumps. I think if it were shorter, it wouldn't fall out AS easily.

Also, I think I still have residual "preggo brain"... I'm doing things I normally wouldn't do... like stupid things. Like dropping my phone in the toilet!!! My BRAND NEW phone. Ugh... needless to say, I will not have phone access for a while as it sits in a bowl of rice to dry out for a few days!! Maybe it is just some way of telling me that I shouldn't have nice new things...to prepare myself for things to come with having a kid!!

Oh, Liam is rolling over the other way now, but mostly in his sleep. I've seen him do it once during the day, but he did it really slowly... He's also on his way to sitting unassisted. I'm glad I didn't get rid of that Boppy pillow. It's a good thing to use to help support him if he falls back. The Bumbo seat isn't really getting much use these days, mainly because his chunky little thighs hardly fit in it!! haha

Also, we may just have to switch over to Huggies! They are SO much better than the so-called 12-hour Pampers. We tried to find some nighttime diapers one night (that weren't Pampers) but the 2 stores close by didn't have any. So we just went with normal ol' Huggies. After we switched over to these at night, we've woken up to a dry baby! No leaks! I was pleasantly surprised because these were just regular Huggies, not a special nighttime kind.

Liam is finally calming down... oh wait... nevermind.... time to check on him again... another long night ahead...

Videos: Liam eating and more fun with Dad

Eating cereal...




Laughing with dad...

5 Months: Mother's Day

Happy 1st Mother's Day to me! Liam got me a 90 minute massage which I will cash in ASAP!! I just need to call to make an appointment! I've never had a 90 minute massage, but I've always wanted one over 60 mins! Those always seem so short! Joel also got me a new cell phone (the enV Touch) since he is switching over to the dark side... er... Verizon. He's getting a decent discount through work so I've decided to upgrade too.

Saturday we went to a Luau in honor of Liam's friend Kaylan's 1st birthday!! Happy birthday Kaylan! It was soooooo hot that day... I think it got into the 90s! Liam started out in a cute little tshirt and shorts, but by the end of the day he was just down to his diaper!

On Sunday a cold front came though and the weather was beautiful. We went to the park and ran that morning and then we went to Joel's parent's house to celebrate Mother's Day and also Katie's 30th birthday! Liam was awake the ENTIRE time (at least he wasn't fussy) we were there: from 1:30 to about 6pm. Ugh... so we fed him as soon as we got home and then bathed him and got him ready for bed. He woke up that night around 2am and wouldn't settle down. When Joel went in there, he was wide awake and smiling, but after he left the room, he'd start crying again. After a long time of crying, he changed him and fed him a bottle and he finally settled down and went back to sleep. Ugh. I thought he was over his middle-of-the-night feedings!!! I guess not. I'm thinking if he just won't settle after about 20-30 minutes of crying, he has to be hungry. The nights where we do not have to intervene at all are the times he will wake up and fuss, but then find his hand and suck on it and fall back asleep. Last night, he would suck on his hand, but then get tired of it and cry again. Ugh... babies are so hard to figure out because they keep changing their patterns!!

We also need to find new night time diapers. We have been using Pampers 12-hour, but they don't seem to work very well... as in, they leak and soak through his onesie and blanket. It's worse now that Liam rolls onto his belly at night now. I have seen a night time kind, but they didn't have his size (at the store I was at). I've also read that Huggies or Luvs are better for night time because they don't leak like Pampers. I also read about another mom who doubled up on diapers... which is what we might have to do until I can figure out what to get.

Oh, the pic I posted was taken at Masato in Pooler (our friend Buddy's restaurant). We ate there last Monday night and we tried Liam out in a high chair for the first time. He had to be propped up with a pillow, but otherwise, it worked! haha

Video: Liam Laughing

I caught some really cute laughs from Liam while we were getting him changed for bedtime last Sunday.

5 months (almost): From sleep HELL to sleep BLISS

This past week has been a pretty rough week for us. I think I mentioned in my last post that Liam had been waking up often at night again, but we'd just stick the pacifier back in and he'd go back out. Then it just got progressively worse this last week. All of a sudden he didn't want his pacifier to be "pacified" and he didn't eat as much from his bottles. He was also a bit more fussy at times (I started getting flashbacks from his first month!) than usual. At one point he had a fever of 102! We gave him Tylenol and it went down pretty quick. All that, in addition to the sleeping problems. OH!! And plus, he FINALLY learned how to roll over (from back to tummy... as shown in the videos I posted below). So there was A LOT of stuff going on.

Anyway, all of those symptoms (other than the rolling over) led me to believe that he had an ear infection. So we took him to the doctor on Wednesday to get him checked out. (He weighed in at 19lbs. 4.5oz, by the way) The doc checked his ears and said that they looked fine and he didn't have an infection. My motherly instincts failed me! haha But she did say that he could be teething, and is just uncomfortable. I also mentioned that he started rolling over and we still swaddle... and she suggested that we need to stop the swaddle now that he can move. Ugh...

The night after he first rolled over, he decided to practice in his sleep. He'd roll over immediately after we placed him on his back. So we were up multiple times that night to flip him over because he'd be crying on his belly. I think the second night (which was the night after the doc told us we shouldn't swaddle anymore), we tried to get him to go to sleep with his arms out of the swaddle, but he didn't settle too easily AND would roll over, so we gave in and swaddled him back up and it was pretty much a repeat of the prior night. At about 4am, he woke and I went in there and tried to get him to settle down and sleep on his tummy. I was in there for at least 30 minutes just patting and rubbing his back, trying to get him to calm down, but he would not stop crying! So I just threw in the towel and brought him to our bed to see if he'd sleep there with us, but he still wouldn't stop crying. I told Joel to get the carseat and we swaddled him back up and let him sleep in the carseat where he couldn't roll over. He finally fell asleep.

So after being sleep deprived and zombie-fied for the past couple nights, I decided to make an attempt at sleep training. He's old enough now and he sure needed it! The method we chose to try was the infamous Ferber method. It involves crying-it-out, but you still make an appearance at set time intervals to let your baby know that you aren't abandoning him. The first night, you wait 5 minutes, then go in for no longer than a minute to pat or console (no picking up), then leave. If he's still crying, you go in after 10 minutes and then return to him if he still hasn't stopped. This goes on to 15 minutes, then 20, and so on (up until 30 minutes) if he still won't sleep. The next night, you increase the intervals by 5 minutes (i.e. start at 10 minutes of crying). This teaches them how to self-soothe and fall sleep on their own.

The first night of this was torture. And it didn't help that we decided to end the swaddle cold turkey that night as well. Well, we still swaddled his lower half and just left his arms free. When we first put him down for the night at around 8pm, he didn't cry that long, so we didn't have to go in there. He slept until maybe 1am, where we went in and found him on his belly. This is when the fun started. I think we made it to a 20 minute interval, so it was a total of almost an hour of crying! But he FINALLY fell back asleep after that. And he woke up at his normal time.

The second night was like a dream... for us anyway. He went down EASY...no crying. And he didn't wake up at all! We did check him multiple times that night, though. He started on his back, then he was sleeping on his side for a while and then ended up on his belly. When Joel went to check him this morning, he was turned completely around 180 degrees on his belly. Crazy boy!

We also are trying this methods for naps now too. I hope I can get my grandma to go along with this. Like any great-grandma, she wanted to go right in and pick him up and rock him to sleep. It was probably torture for her to listen to his cries too! But we need to be consistent with this method for it to work.

So far, the swaddle-weaning and sleeping have been great! I really hope this sticks!!!