My Big Boy

Oh how I'm enjoying this stage!  I finally feel like Henry and I have a little routine, and it feels great!  It seems like Henry is doing something new everyday, and Shaun and I can't get over how much we love him and how our love continues to grow daily.  Before I continue with a little update...here are a few fav pics of this stage....can't you tell already that he is such a little character?!

Henry can't sit-up on his own yet without a little support, but he enjoys playing in boxes in the meantime.

This is one of my favorite photos....He was playing with the duck, and I looked down to wash his feet, and this is what I saw when I looked up!!

And we are finally taking regular naps without putting up too much of a fight (as long as Mommy puts me to bed on time!).  Note:  I was washing his crib sheet that is why the other blanket is down.  And yes he sleeps with a blanket and a blankie for naps...scared me to death right at first but he sleeps better, and I still watch him carefully on the video monitor.  I also want to say that babywise works.  It took us a lot longer than most to get there, but it is sooooo great when I can tell that he needs a nap, give him a good squeeze, place him in his crib awake with all of his goodies, give him a kiss and say night night and he falls asleep!!

Teething- I can still tell that his bottom gums bother him at times, but I'm able to usually make him feel better with the OHTC combo--orajel, hylands teething tablets, tylenol, and chewing washcloth or teether.  I can't tell you what works...I just know that all of them combined make him happy so when I can tell they are bothering him (now only about once or so a day....I give him the combo).  No teeth sightings yet, but I do feel a little something when I rub his gums so maybe just maybe one will pop out soon!

Sleep Training- Yes maybe teething wasn't the best time to decide to do nighttime sleep training.  Call me a bad mom or whatever you want to call me because I couldn't take anymore.  Henry was acting like he was a newborn again waking every one to two hours, and I was feeding him every time he was waking (new mom mistake).  And this was going on for weeks before the teething started so it wasn't related.  Talked to his pediatrician, and he told me that I needed to stop feeding him at night and then gave me advice on letting him cry it out.  Well I didn't want to do it all at once since that would be a major shock so I started with one week of night weaning.  Instead of feeding him every time he woke up, I started not feeding him ONE feeding at a time per night.  I still would go give him his paci and pat him and then I left the room.  If he fussed (not hard crying), I just set a timer next to my night stand, and he never fussed more than a few minutes before falling back asleep.  This was hard, but at the same time it felt like parenting.  I knew it was best for Henry to be able to have a good night sleep and not rely on me (or my boob lol) every hour to sleep because that is not a restful sleep--believe me I know!!  I could tell that I was doing the weaning gradually enough because although my boobs were full...they weren't killing or hard.  Once I completely eliminated the night feedings, the next step was to not go into his room and let him cry it out.  I really, really didn't want to have to do this step.  I tried doing the baby whisperer method of picking the baby up just until they calm down and then putting them right back down (she would sometimes do this hundreds of times the first night), but it did NOT work and made Henry very upset.  So I finally listened to my pediatrician and my wise friends and stopped reading about how I was going to hurt him forever and just did it.  I thought about blogging so I would have a record for if/when we have another baby, but I didn't and now I can't remember the exact details.  All I know is that he never went past ten minutes with crying it out!  The first night he woke several times and every day after that he stopped waking as much.  Last night he slept without a peep until 5:45!  wooohooo!  I did feed him then, but I put him back in his bed to sleep a little longer.  One tradition/habit that we have started that Shaun and I both really like is that Henry gets tired of his bed during the 6 AM hour, and he really doesn't want to be in there any longer (can you blame him...that is almost 11 hours!).  So I go get him and put him in bed in between us so we can get another hour or so (we are 7ish AM people).  Henry is soooo cute.  He smiles at his daddy and then he stretches out his arms so he can touch both of us at the same time.  He pats his daddy's face and grabs my nose or whatever for a few minutes and then he just falls asleep...so sweet!  I really don't mind it because it is good quality family time (we watch daddy get ready for work), and so far it hasn't caused any problems with Henry sleeping in his crib for naps and nighttime sleep.     

So yes for me it took five months (almost six!!) to get a routine (and sleep!) and to feel like I'm back on my feet again and I'm okay with that.  The house is starting to get clean again.  I'm cooking every night of the week (major budget restrictions while we pay off these medical bills).  And most importantly, I'm just loving being a mommy to my sweet little big boy.  I ran into a friend of mine at a birthday party this weekend who also had a baby about six weeks after me.  When we first met, we hit it off talking non-stop about endometriosis and infertility treatments as we were both feeling alone and emotionally drained from treatments and waiting.  On Saturday, we talked about night waking, teething, breastfeeding and what miracles our little babies are to us.  She got her butt kicked by motherhood too so it was good to see that I wasn't alone.  I guess I just expected more out of my infertile self.  I thought I wouldn't skip a beat and that I would know exactly what to do.  I was/am prideful and thought that if God could just give me my baby that I wouldn't need any help after that.  I now find myself in constant prayer for my little one and for wisdom, strength, and energy to be a good mother and wife.