That's what last night was; Peanut Butter Cup only woke up twice and was relatively easy to put back to sleep after feeding him. Needless to say, we all got a LOT more sleep than we have been used to lately. I kept waking up expecting him to want to be fed and he would still be asleep, ha ha. So, the fussiness from the past few nights before last night is still unexplained. . .of course, it is possible that last night was a fluke--though I certainly hope not!
My mom and sister are on their way here currently--they are driving about 12 1/2 hours today, so if anyone reads this today, please pray for travel mercies! They are coming down to see us one last time before we cross over the Pacific Ocean to our new home.
My husband's graduation is almost here! He finished his classes a couple of weeks ago, so aside from having to go in for accountability and trying to 'clear' (which has been taking up a LOT of time) so we will be allowed to move (oh the fun of being in the military! Ha ha), we have been working on getting the house ready to sell or lease.
We sold one of our vehicles yesterday (praise God!). The army will only pay to ship one vehicle so we opted to keep our truck and will be looking for something cheap once we get to the island. That is one less thing for us to worry about now.
We have decided to give Quigley back to the breeder after talking to one of our neighbors who used to own two Australian Cattle Dogs. He said that the same thing happened to both of them (kids sticking sticks through the fence at them and basically just tormenting them -- why do children have to be so cruel?) and after each dog had bitten 3 times each he'd had to have them put down. :-( It hardly seems fair considering it wasn't originally the dogs' fault. After our neighbor told us that though, my husband and I talked and we decided that we'd rather Quigley go to a new home where he'd have more of a chance to live, versus us taking him and him being in close contact with kids and then maybe have to have him put down eventually. Another factor is the size of the yards in Hawaii -- they are so small, it really wouldn't be fair to him as he needs room to run. :-( It just makes me so sad (even though I don't really get along with him) that we can't keep him and that the kid next door has been so awful and made Quigley the way he is now.
On a somewhat happier note, we've 'tentatively' decided to keep Penny (one of our cats). Now that our other cat has been re-homed, Penny has been a very well behaved kitty (ha ha). That makes me feel somewhat better as I was dreading being pet-less in Hawaii. Not that there aren't PLENTY of animals over there in need of good homes, it's just that my mom is 'keeping' a cat for us back at her house already, and there are mostly only pitbulls, terriers, and little ankle-biter breeds (please don't be offended by that if you like those breeds!). . .none of which we really like. So, the chances of us getting another dog or cat over there are slim. It could happen, but it doesn't seem likely. So my not-so-little-anymore Penny will likely be crossing over the Pacific in a few months to join us after her blood tests come back negative (it takes 120 days to clear her so she won't have to spend that time in quarantine).
Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Rough Night. . . .
Last night was a rather rough night for all of us sleep-wise. It all started when Peanut Butter Cup would fall asleep in my arms, but then would wake up and start crying every time I'd put him down in his crib. I tried rubbing his back, singing to him, turning on one of the baby toys attached to his crib. . .nothing that usually works was working last night. He would just cry and cry and hold up his arms for me to pick him up. After the first three failed attempts I started to wonder if maybe he is either going through a growth spurt or is begin to seriously teethe (I'm still not any more enlightened as to the cause for his fussiness as of this morning). In the hopes that something would work I decided to give him a couple of homeopathic teething tablets to see if they would help. . .interestingly enough, it was after that when he fell asleep and stayed asleep when I put him down again.
Except for one nearly three hour stretch, he did the same thing as the night before and woke up once each hour, which made for very little sleep for all of us. Because he's been waking up so frequently the past couple of nights we are really wondering if he is going through a growth spurt. Though he seems to be on the verge of separation anxiety currently -- does that manifest itself at night as well, or is that usually just something that occurs during the day when he is with new people? I'm not sure, so if anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to share. :-)
With the upcoming move I keep wondering how we are going to swing not having his crib for an unknown amount of time. Co-sleeping is out of the question for us (though nights like last night definitely make it tempting!). We were thinking of him possibly sleeping in his playpen because I know a lot of other couples have done that, but the problem is that he doesn't associate his playpen with sleep at all, and doesn't usually want to stay in it for very long. :-/ So, I'm a bit concerned about how that would work. Any ideas?
Except for one nearly three hour stretch, he did the same thing as the night before and woke up once each hour, which made for very little sleep for all of us. Because he's been waking up so frequently the past couple of nights we are really wondering if he is going through a growth spurt. Though he seems to be on the verge of separation anxiety currently -- does that manifest itself at night as well, or is that usually just something that occurs during the day when he is with new people? I'm not sure, so if anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to share. :-)
With the upcoming move I keep wondering how we are going to swing not having his crib for an unknown amount of time. Co-sleeping is out of the question for us (though nights like last night definitely make it tempting!). We were thinking of him possibly sleeping in his playpen because I know a lot of other couples have done that, but the problem is that he doesn't associate his playpen with sleep at all, and doesn't usually want to stay in it for very long. :-/ So, I'm a bit concerned about how that would work. Any ideas?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Peanut Butter Cup is 6 Months Old Now!
As of the 11th of this month (I know I'm a little behind), my little Peanut Butter Cup turned six months old. It's so hard to believe that half a year has passed since he was born. I know I say that every time we reach (and pass) a milestone of some sort, but it's as true now as it has been in the past. My husband and I were going through some pictures of Peanut Butter Cup from when he two weeks old on up, and it's simply amazing to see how much he has changed in such a short period of time. It's been an amazing past six months -- that is for sure!
Peanut Butter Cup tried Sweet Potatoes for the first time this past week. He doesn't really like them so far, but I think one of the biggest reasons for that is the difference in texture and thickness from the banana. He's eaten a little bit more each day. . .he reacted almost the same way to the banana at first, and now he really seems to like them (the bananas), so I have hope that he will get used to them and learn to like them in the near future.
Remember last month when I posted about Peanut Butter Cup not wanting to sleep unswaddled? Well, for past week and a half or so, he's been showing signs of being ready to sleep unswaddled, so Friday night we decided to give it another try and see how it went. This is the third night and so far so good. . . . He wakes up a lot more frequently currently (last night he woke up five times), but he hasn't been anywhere near as difficult to put back to sleep as he was the first time we tried. Last time I would nurse him and put him back in his crib which would then cause him to wake up, roll over, and immediately start to cry; then it would be a battle to get him back to sleep for close to an hour at times. This time after I nurse him and put him down he usually wakes up, rolls over, and starts to cry, but I just rub his back and sing or hum our special lullaby and he is usually back to sleep within five minutes. There have been a few times when I put him down that he doesn't even wake up, so I think waiting for him to be ready to be unswaddled helped immensely. Hopefully he will continue to do well without the swaddler and will eventually get used to it and sleep for longer stretches at a time. Last time we tried it was on night three that we gave up and started swaddling him again (he'd just gotten more and more unhappy with each passing night), so I'm VERY excited that he is doing so well!
Karissa and Courtney left on Friday. . .it was so good to have them here -- and so sad when they left! I hope they enjoyed their visit here as much as we enjoyed having them. Too bad they have lives and responsibilities they had to go back to, we could have quite happily kept them for forever. :-)
Peanut Butter Cup tried Sweet Potatoes for the first time this past week. He doesn't really like them so far, but I think one of the biggest reasons for that is the difference in texture and thickness from the banana. He's eaten a little bit more each day. . .he reacted almost the same way to the banana at first, and now he really seems to like them (the bananas), so I have hope that he will get used to them and learn to like them in the near future.
Remember last month when I posted about Peanut Butter Cup not wanting to sleep unswaddled? Well, for past week and a half or so, he's been showing signs of being ready to sleep unswaddled, so Friday night we decided to give it another try and see how it went. This is the third night and so far so good. . . . He wakes up a lot more frequently currently (last night he woke up five times), but he hasn't been anywhere near as difficult to put back to sleep as he was the first time we tried. Last time I would nurse him and put him back in his crib which would then cause him to wake up, roll over, and immediately start to cry; then it would be a battle to get him back to sleep for close to an hour at times. This time after I nurse him and put him down he usually wakes up, rolls over, and starts to cry, but I just rub his back and sing or hum our special lullaby and he is usually back to sleep within five minutes. There have been a few times when I put him down that he doesn't even wake up, so I think waiting for him to be ready to be unswaddled helped immensely. Hopefully he will continue to do well without the swaddler and will eventually get used to it and sleep for longer stretches at a time. Last time we tried it was on night three that we gave up and started swaddling him again (he'd just gotten more and more unhappy with each passing night), so I'm VERY excited that he is doing so well!
Karissa and Courtney left on Friday. . .it was so good to have them here -- and so sad when they left! I hope they enjoyed their visit here as much as we enjoyed having them. Too bad they have lives and responsibilities they had to go back to, we could have quite happily kept them for forever. :-)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Long Time, No Post
I didn't mean to be absent from posting here as long as I have been; it's just that things have been really busy around here this past week and I haven't had much spare time to even think about blogging.
I'm back now though! Miss me? You don't have to answer that, ha ha.
Anyhow.... Happy Mother's Day (late, I know, sorry!) moms, soon-to-be moms, and grandmas!
So, to catch up briefly...Peanut Butter Cup didn't really go for the avocado, it was a bit too thick for him currently, but when he's got the whole solid food thing down a little bit better we'll give it another shot.
I'm back now though! Miss me? You don't have to answer that, ha ha.
Anyhow.... Happy Mother's Day (late, I know, sorry!) moms, soon-to-be moms, and grandmas!
So, to catch up briefly...Peanut Butter Cup didn't really go for the avocado, it was a bit too thick for him currently, but when he's got the whole solid food thing down a little bit better we'll give it another shot.
Please ignore the bit of avocado in his nostril. Whenever I see it I sub-consciously wipe my nose, ha ha... :-)
I think his face here says it all.
"Ummm...eeeeww."
Okay, moving on now.
We finally made it to the zoo this past Saturday! It was wonderful to have the day out (and it was a beautiful day, praise God!) and to be able to spend time with my husband and Peanut Butter Cup. One of my husband's friends came as well along with his fiancee which meant that my little munchkin spent a lot of time getting passed around -- surprisingly he did really well. He's supposed to start going through the whole 'stranger-anxiety phase' soon, but I guess it hasn't really set in yet.
I haven't had a chance to edit any of the photos from the zoo trip just yet, but after I do I'll make sure to post some for y'all to critique.
Karissa and Courtney (two of my best friends) arrived late last night! I am SO excited that they are here...they are staying until Friday I believe, so I am pretty psyched about this week!
Oh, and a quick update on the quest to find permanent and temporary homes for the animals...Titan has a place to stay now, and Panda Bear went to his new home yesterday afternoon...we didn't expect to miss the crazy psycho as much as we do--which really makes me nervous about finding a home for our other cat Penny. :-( We are still not sure about what we are going to do with Quigley (in regards to keeping him or giving him back to the breeder). We just don't know if he can be trusted with Peanut Butter Cup since the child next door has antagonized him so much that he has become aggressive towards him.
Well, I guess I'd better go for now. I'll try to post again soon.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Of Bananas, Fingers, and Spoons :-)
Karissa, this post was inspired by you! :-)
You may be wondering why we chose bananas instead of rice cereal (or anything else for that matter :-) as the first solids to introduce to our little Peanut Butter Cup, and the answer to that question is pretty simple. Peanut Butter Cup is a breastfed baby and breast milk is a very sweet substance. While I was doing research about introducing solids to a baby, I read that formula is very bland (as is rice cereal), whereas breast milk is sweet (and so are bananas--which is what makes them an ideal first food for breastfed babies). So, it was suggested that a baby may be more accepting of the new substance being placed in his/her mouth if it's flavor was similar to what the baby was already used to. So, there you have it, that is why we decided to start with bananas.
Now, in case anyone has been wondering why I was using my finger to feed the banana to him, it's not because I don't have any baby spoons! Ha ha! That was another topic I read about during my research. A baby is already used to his/her mother's finger and will more readily accept it into his/her mouth than a spoon--which obviously is a completely foreign object initially--so paired with a new substance, some babies may be less willing to try the food. Hence, introducing solids with a finger. Cutting out one new thing and introducing them one at a time instead of all at once just seems to make the transition to solids a little more pleasant from where I stand. :-) I'm all about setting Peanut Butter Cup up for success from the beginning.
Peanut Butter Cup ate off of a spoon for the first time this morning. We had tried introducing it a couple of times this past week, but he wasn't ready for it just yet. This morning though he was much more accepting of it, so we'll see if tomorrow will be the same.
You may be wondering why we chose bananas instead of rice cereal (or anything else for that matter :-) as the first solids to introduce to our little Peanut Butter Cup, and the answer to that question is pretty simple. Peanut Butter Cup is a breastfed baby and breast milk is a very sweet substance. While I was doing research about introducing solids to a baby, I read that formula is very bland (as is rice cereal), whereas breast milk is sweet (and so are bananas--which is what makes them an ideal first food for breastfed babies). So, it was suggested that a baby may be more accepting of the new substance being placed in his/her mouth if it's flavor was similar to what the baby was already used to. So, there you have it, that is why we decided to start with bananas.
Now, in case anyone has been wondering why I was using my finger to feed the banana to him, it's not because I don't have any baby spoons! Ha ha! That was another topic I read about during my research. A baby is already used to his/her mother's finger and will more readily accept it into his/her mouth than a spoon--which obviously is a completely foreign object initially--so paired with a new substance, some babies may be less willing to try the food. Hence, introducing solids with a finger. Cutting out one new thing and introducing them one at a time instead of all at once just seems to make the transition to solids a little more pleasant from where I stand. :-) I'm all about setting Peanut Butter Cup up for success from the beginning.
Peanut Butter Cup ate off of a spoon for the first time this morning. We had tried introducing it a couple of times this past week, but he wasn't ready for it just yet. This morning though he was much more accepting of it, so we'll see if tomorrow will be the same.
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