My mom turned 30!

How cute am I?
Mom (she's 30!) and me
Suitcase - so fun to play with cars in here!
The cows - whoa

Dear Friends,

My mom is OLD! She just turned 30!!!!!! LOL! Here are some pics from her birthday - we went to a dairy farm to eat lunch, have milkshakes, and look at the cows. We also went for a run and went to the Farmer's Market. Dad and I brought her breakfast in bed on Sunday and also gave her really good presents. We love mom!

Uh Uh Oh...

I love baths - especially getting water poured over my head! Splish Splash!

Me and Aunt JJ

Hi MeMa!

playing w/ Gaga
Me and Miles
Squirming w/ Grt gma and gpa Meyer
Me and gpa Hunt - so cozy

That's Brennan's new favorite phrase! His Aunt JJ taught it to him in Cali last week and we all say it ALL THE TIME now! It is seriously too cute!

Here are some recent pics of the B-Man - he sees MeMa in the window, loves cuddling with his Gpa Hunt, poses with Aunt JJ, hangs out with his Grt Grand Parents, smiles during bathtime, playing with my friend Miles, and a few others! Such a happy baby - how lucky am I? The luckiest mommy ever.

Sleep update - last night was AMAZING! I went to pilates, so PJ had to put him down and he was skepitcal, claiming, but I don't have boobs, so how will I get him to sleep? But guess what - he did - and easily. They went through our routine and by the end, Brennan just laid his head down on his daddy's chest and fell asleep. I imagine it was too cute. That was probably at about 7:30pm. Then he woke up at 9:30 to nurse, which made sense since he did not have his normal snack before bed. Then he woke up at 12:50 and 4:50. Are you kidding me - I feel so frickin refreshed today - wahoo! Of course at 5am he wanted to be awake so we laid on the couch together (see no bed still!) until 6:30 when I finally put him back in his crib and got ready while he was sleeping. Yes, yes, got ready WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING - did a miracle occur in my house last night? I think so. Daddy is putting Bman to bed more often!

Tracking Sleep

So according to the No Cry Sleep Solution, before I can start changing our habits, I first need to really get a gage on what we have going on currently! So for the past two nights I kinda tracked our pre-bedtime routine and his night wakings. Before I share, one thing that we decided on last night was that Brennan will start sleeping in his cribs. This has been a decision that I have struggled with. I love co-sleeping, but PJ does not and therefore I want to respect his wishes. We both agreed to have him start the night in the crib, but in the middle of the night, we both had moments of weakness where we would bring him into our bed. I just know we need to be consistent. So last night we went for it. I told PJ that I would need his support, especially at 2am when I would be so tired and not have the energy to get him back to sleep. With this new decision and once we employ our new sleep solutions, I know we will experience less sleep before we all experience more, but for a long term solution, I am willing to go that route!

Okay.......
In addition to the time and what we did, I also noted the activity level (active, moderate or calm), the noise level (loud, moderate or quiet), and the light level (bright, dim, or darm).

Tuesday Night
Pre-Bedtime Routine (I tracked two hours - from the time home until bed):
5:30 - got home and played - active, moderate, bright
6pm - nursed and got distrated when daddy got home and when Tucker moved - calm, quiet, bright
6:30 - dinner - moderate, moderate, bright
6:45 - Play - active, moderate, bright
7pm - bath - active, loud, bright
7:15 - crib playtime - active, loud, bright
7:30 - story time - calm, quiet, dim
7:40 - nursing - calm, quiet, dim
7:45 - to crib - calm, quiet, dim (we try to make his room dark, but I am not getting blackout shades and it stays light until after 9pm in the summer) - white noise in background.

Night Wakings (time, how he woke me, how long awake and what we did, time back to sleep, how he fell asleep, and how long of a sleep stretch):
9:25pm - crying - 10 minutes - nursing - 9:35 - nursing - 1.5 hours
10:45 - crying - 15 minutes - nursing - 11pm - rocking/patting - 1 hour
And then it seemed like every hour after that I forgot to keep track.

Wednesday Night:
I got home at 6pm and we played
Then Dinner, Bath, Story with Dad, nursing with mom.
Okay - so getting him to sleep last night was not as easy as usual - I tried to not nurse him totally to sleep. So I popped him off and we went into his room at which point he popped awake. We walked. No luck. back to nursing. Same deal but I got him in his crib. Then he repeatedly sat up. Darn. Tried to keep him laying down, but he is strong. Back to nursing - is third time a charm?! Yes! popped off, went into room, layed down, and to sleep he stayed! We started the process at 7:30 ish and I finally left his room at 8:45pm. But no crying!

Night Wakings:
10:30pm - crying - gave tylenol - nursed - back to sleep at 11pm - slept for 2 hours
12am - crying - walked/patted/nursed - back to sleep at 12:15am - slept for 1 hour
3am - crying - nursed - back to sleep at 3:20 - slept for almost 3 hours
4:45am - crying - rocked and nursed - finally back to sleep at 5:15 - 1.5 hours asleep
5:15 - wakes up as soon as I leave the room - PJ rocks until 6am when I take over and Brenna is awake. I think he slept in PJ's arms. Those darn teeth - pop through already!

Asleep time - maybe 8 hours?
Awake time: maybe 1.5 hours?
longest sleep span - 3 hours (yes!)

Okay - we'll see what happens tonight! I also asked Sharon to track his naps today...

Will I ever sleep again

We had a great time in California - brennan was a true Anchor Man and all the girls LOVED him. he smiled and flirted and just made everyone love him more. It was a good time - and great that he got to spend lots of time with Gaga and Aunt JJ. Sleeping was decent in Cali - thank goodness. Though b/c of the crazy convention schedule, I got even less sleep than usual - lots of late nights and early mornings.

Oh and get this - I am so mad.....I borrowed an ergo baby carrier from a friend of mine and I set down the bag it was in at Convention and someone took it. Seriously. And my hooter hider is gone. Sucks Sucks Sucks.

I'll post pics soon. Having a rough day. Visit the other blog for more on that.

Oh - and all you lurkers out there......you should totally comment sometime! I know you are out there - just loving the blogs about sleeping and breastfeeding and Brennan. Katie...

No sleep for the weary

Last night was a doozy.
First off, I was so excited b/c my new book came in the mail - yahoo! Just reading the introduction got me excited for what can be once I patiently start implementing the strategies and taking stock of what works/doesn't work for our family. Soon soon soon. Though next week we will be in Cali, so I imagine it will really mess everything up!

Here is last night's breakdown:
7:45pm - fell sleep - nursed to sleep after doing bath/book routine
10pm - woke up. Would not be walked back to sleep. After about 10 minutes, nursed him to sleep. Woke up 10 minutes later. Came to bed with me and nursed more and more and more. Sore mommy.
12am - woke up in pain. Game more tylenol and some motrin. Changed diaper though it wasn't soaking. Took a long time to get back to sleep - had to do walking, nursing, shushing
2:30am - woke up and nursed, got very upset - went in living room to sit up and nurse - helped
?am - woke up to nurse
5:30am - nursed
6am - up to the day - happy baby!

Our sleep experience

Okay, so most of you know that I am TOTALLY AGAINST the CIO method, but I am also at my wits end. After 9 months of not getting a full night's sleep, I am feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, emotional, etc... I LOVE being a mom, but I am such a sleep hog and am totally suffering. Which puts me in a bind. What do I do? I am sure some of you are thinking - just let him cry it out - and wondering, is she really going to do it? No, of course not. I will not ever do that. Ever ever ever - yes, mark my words, but never. So I broke down and bought the book, "The No Cry Sleep Solution" and am anxiously awaiting its arrival in my mailbox. I am so excited to get it. I know it won't offer some quick fix or just one option - which is good b/c every baby is soooo different, but I think it will help me come up with a better plan. You know, getting Brennan to sleep at night is not the issue - it is keeping him asleep. And I don't and wouuldn't mind getting up once, maybe twice a night. But 3-4 times just isn't cutting it - for either of us. And yes, we are still semi-co-sleeping (he starts out in his crib and then comes to bed with me - yes, just me - PJ doesn't sleep well with Brennan in our bed, so he often chooses the fouton or couch, which is fine, though I would love for him to sleep in our bed). But I think I would sleep 100% better if Brennan slept more often in his crib or if we both just slept longer in my bed - whatever, the bottom line is - I NEED MORE SLEEP! And bless PJ's heart - he tries to help when he can when Brennan has a night-waking, b/c B does not always need to nurse, but lately Brennan prefers his mommy. He must have a keen sense of smell b/c often his eyes aren't even open but he just cries and cries in PJ's arms and then when he is with me, he snuggles down into my shoulder and easily falls back to sleep. Ahhhhh, it is special, but I can't do it forever and alone!

So, back to the book. I am going to do a daily documentation of how sleep goes in our house - starting with last night. Once I get the book, read it, process it, and start some new strategies, I'll document those as well. I imagine it will take a few weeks, but I am ready for the challenge - couldn't we all use more sleep?!

Last night I had pilates at 7:30 and wanted to run there, so I thought I would help PJ out by trying to get Brennan down by about 7:15 (PJ is SWAMPED with work since his BIG PROMOTION!). Anyway, B had a nice dinner of chicken, cheese shreds, broccoli, and berries (yum yum!). Then he had a bath and we read two books. I nursed him to almost sleep though Tucker was driving me nuts and kept distracting Brennan until PJ finally put him in the kitchen. Anyway, then I took Brennan to his room and he was fine.

He woke up at about 10:30pm - PJ walked him for a while, but Mr. B was upset, so finally I took him. I continued to walk him and put him down, but he kept sitting up and crying. So I gave in and nursed him. put him back in his crib and got ready for bed. Within 10 minutes he was up again, so I just brought him to bed with me. Then we were okay for a few hours - but he wokeup in a tizzy at some ungodly hour - I changed him, gave him some tylenol (he seemed to be in a lot of pain) and then nursed him. This happened a second time as well. We finally got up around 6am this morning and he was a happy camper. We'll see what tonight brings!

Brennan's Beach Vacation

So Brennan had a GREAT time at the beach. He did so well! Loved the water, loved the sand, loved the ocean, loved the pool, loved everyone! He was a great traveler as well!