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?

Has it really been FIVE months? Already? HOW?

Peanut Butter Cup turned 5 months old yesterday, and I am still in a state of disbelief that it has already been nearly half a year since he arrived and changed our lives forever. How has the time gone by so quickly? I don't think it would be as hard to believe if it had only been 3 months -- but five? That means we are only about a month away before I feel okay about beginning to introduce some solids into his diet. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I am astounded that we are almost to that point. The introduction of solid foods is a HUGE milestone to me and to be so close to it is almost unnerving in a way. Besides, it still seems like it was just last week when he started letting us know that he was VERY interested in trying the foods Mommy and Daddy were eating (when he was just over two months old), and I was telling him, "I know you want this Sweetie, but you have to wait for about another 3 1/2 months."

I think the upcoming solid food milestone coupled with the fact that he will be a year old in seven months instead of ten is what has hit me the hardest since yesterday. My little baby is well on his way to being a toddler, and while I know that particular milestone is still a little ways off it is fast approaching the horizon and will soon be in sight. Each passing day brings it closer and closer while I am powerless to stop it's approach. No one ever prepared me for the bitter-sweetness of watching my precious baby grow and change. The song, "In My Arms" by Plumb (see lyrics below and listen to it here) never fails to bring tears to my eyes because it is so very true.

Your baby blues, So full of wonder
Your Curly Que's, Your contagious smile
And as I watch, You start to grow up
All I can do is hold you tight, Knowing

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Story books, Are full of fairy-tales
Of kings and queens, And the bluest skies
My heart is torn just in knowing
You'll someday see, The truth for lies
When the

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
Cause you are never all alone
Cause I will always
Always love you

Hey I
Hey I
Will always love you

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

In my arms

I'm sorry if this post is ridiculously sentimental...that's what happens when your baby starts growing up on you -- you become ridiculously sentimental, or at least, I DO. Ha ha! :)

Moving on to a less sentimental topic and on to one that has caused some frustration the past few days....

Since Peanut Butter Cup has become quite proficient at rolling over, he has been rolling over at night and trying to sleep on his tummy instead of his back now. This I wouldn't mind so much as he has good head control and can prop himself up on his arms and move around, but up until a few nights ago we were still swaddling him as it helped him to sleep better. Obviously, when he rolled over while he was swaddled he didn't have the same range of motion as he would if he was not swaddled. With that in mind, about four nights ago I decided to try him in his sleep sack after one of the night feedings and see how he would do and thereby begin to get him adjusted to sleeping without the swaddler. He stayed asleep when I put him back down in his crib, but about 40 minutes later he woke up and was fussing as he rolled around in the crib. After that I re-swaddled him after feeding and changing him again as it seemed like that was the only way to help him go back to sleep. After talking to my mom the next day and her encouraging me to just work through all of the frequent wake-ups for a few nights while he adjusts to  not being swaddled and being 'free', I hesitantly decided to go ahead and work on it over the weekend. The first night Peanut Butter Cup woke up A LOT (and he tried to sleep on his face once too!). The second night I decided I was going to try putting him in a onesie instead of the sleep sack so he wouldn't get it twisted around his legs if he rolled around a lot again. I forgot initially so I ended up changing him to the onesie after he woke up the first time. He woke up more than usual again, would fall asleep nursing and then as soon as I would set him down he would roll over thereby waking himself up again and start to fuss. I tried rubbing his back, singing our special lullaby, keeping my hands on him, letting him hold my hand -- all to no avail (except for one time when he fell back to sleep for about 40 minutes after I rubbed his back for a few minutes). After a few minutes of him working himself up and me realizing he wasn't going to go back to sleep, but was just going to keep fussing and rolling around the crib I'd pick him up, nurse him, and then try again. At one point last night it took four tries over a period of an hour before he went back to sleep after being set down.

So far tonight, we are working on attempt #3...here goes....

Well, that was a no-go...I tried for twenty minutes, without success. I think the worst thing about this besides the lack of sleep for Peanut Butter Cup and myself is that we had finally gotten bedtime established as being between 8:30 and 9:00 (but tonight for example, it's nearly 10:30 and he isn't in bed yet -- and my first try at setting him down was right around 8:30). I'm at a loss...any thoughts or advice are welcome (besides "letting him cry it out" as recent research has shown that method does more harm than good, and I am just not comfortable with it. Period. End of story. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but I'm tired of having my method of parenting criticized -- along with all of the reading and research I've done being called into question...I can assure you it has been extensive).

Anyhow...this post has become a lot longer than I originally intended it to be, so I guess I should end it before it gets any longer and I bore you to death (that is, if you've even made it this far! Ha ha!).

Goodnight Everyone!

For Real?

Just now I was reading an article about babies rolling over and I read this:

"...the average baby begins to roll at 7 or 8 months...."

and this:

"'Infants used to roll over from front to back at about 4 months,' Dr. Olson says. 'It currently seems more common to see this at 6 months There are no apparent consequences to this slight delay.' If babies aren't rolling over by 12 months, he says this should prompt some additional attention from the pediatrician."

(Here is the link to the article: Rolling, an Important Milestone)

My goodness! Peanut Butter Cup really is in a hurry to grow up! He rolled over from his tummy onto his back just a few days after he reached 3 months! And just over a month later he rolled from his back to his tummy (see previous post HE DID IT!). Next thing I know he's going to be walking. Slow down Little One, slow down.

HE DID IT!

My little Peanut Butter Cup rolled from his back to his tummy by himself for the first time earlier this afternoon! He still got his arm stuck under himself, so I had to help him get it 'unstuck', but the whole rolling thing he did on his own. :-) Unfortunately he did it when I had my back turned (I was getting ready to feed him so I set him down on the bed...I saw him trying, but I didn't think he was going to get all the way over. Next thing I knew, he was on his tummy!) I'm so proud of him! It's bittersweet though;  the excitement I have for each new accomplishment he has is always mixed with thoughts of "Slow down! You're becoming less and less of my little baby. You don't have to grow up quite so fast." He's in too much of a rush to grow up and try new things however, so I just have to enjoy every precious moment of his adorable 'baby-ness' right now...while it lasts.

I was going to try to post a couple of pictures I took of him after he'd rolled onto his belly, but while I was uploading them to my computer I ran out of space on my hard drive with only nine pictures left to upload. Guess which pictures those were? If you guessed the ones I had just taken of him after he'd rolled over, you were correct. The irony. Then to add insult to injury, my camera battery died. So, I'm trying to make space on my hard drive so I can finish uploading them...after my camera battery recharges. Ha ha.