SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT

So last night was the second night following the Ferber Method and it was a huge success! The times were 5 minutes, 10 minutes, then 12 minutes. After putting him to bed, he put himself to sleep without much crying and we didn't have to go to him. Then he slept until about 3:50am, started crying and was asleep in under the 5 minute mark. He then slept until 8am this morning!!! Hallelujah! Alexander slept through the night. This is the first time in over 6 months that I have not had to get out of bed in the middle of the night!! It was wonderful!

Also, we gave him carrots for the first time last night. This is the first food other than breast milk and rice cereal for him. It was hysterical! He did not like the carrots at all. I think the taste was just so different for him that he didn't know what to do with it. We'll keep with it, and hopefully he'll get to like it. I made the food with all the new gadgets that I received for Christmas and it made it so easy (I mean pureed carrots can't be that difficult, but still it was great using my new tools) and I was able to freeze some for the next few nights.

WE SURVIVED THE NIGHT!

Last night was the first night of "ferberization" with Alexander and all in all it went alright. It was definitely not as bad of a night as both Chris and I expected. He had a little trouble going down to sleep, which doesn't always happen, so we waited the appropriate intervals and it took about 11 minutes to fall asleep. And then he slept until about 3am and was awake for about 25 minutes. This was the hard part. We decided that I would take the first turn with him. I went in at 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and then at 10 minutes. It just doesn't feel natural to not pick up your baby when he's crying like that, and then to actually leave the room. But I know that if this helps him sleep better than it will be worth it, for all of us. So he did finally put himself back to sleep in what felt like an eternity to me, but I guess in actuality was not too bad for the first night. Because that was the only time that he woke up. And when he woke this morning at 7am he was as happy as ever! I'll let you know how tonight goes. Wish us luck!!

GOODNIGHT MOON

Well, Chris is in class tonight until about 9:30pm so it was just Alexander and all day. We had a good day together. We practiced sitting up and he's almost there. He can balance himself on his hands (I think it's called the tripod) for a while and you can tell he really likes it. I fed him his rice cereal this evening and he is actually swallowing most of it now. But it's still funny to watch. Half of the time he's more interested in playing with his bib! And then we had bath time and bed time. Before I put him down, we read two books. One Dr. Seuss book which he really seemed to enjoy and then Goodnight Moon which I love. And then we just sat and cuddled for a little bit. This is normally the part that Chris does before bed so I really enjoyed it. He is just so sweet, I cannot believe how lucky I am.

CHRISTMAS IN KENTUCKY (and Illinois and Indiana)

Cousin Molly trying to kiss Alexander...She is so sweet!!!

With Great Grandma and Grandpa Troyer

With Great Grandpa Wenger

And Great Grandma Wenger

With Great Grandma VanVickle

Sorry that it has been so long since I have last posted, but we've been busy to say the least. December 13th, Alexander, my mom and I made the 2 day trip east. I was absolutely convinced that it was going to be miserable for all 3 of us, but Alexander surprised me. He did wonderful! I am still amazed at how smooth the trip went. In fact, we did a LOT of travelling while we were home including the trip back to Texas with Chris while he and Alexander were both sick, and he did fantastic.

He did unfortunately get sick with a bad cold our last 2 days in Kentucky. It was very worrisome for new parents, but now he is feeling much better. His fever spike to about 102.9 the night we were in the hotel on the way home, but with some Tylenol and lots of sleep he was feeling a bit better by the time we made it home and went to the doctor the following day. I felt terrible having to keep him in the car for 2 days while traveling, but it was probably a good thing. He basically slept the whole time which is what he needed to get better. Hopefully now we will all stay healthy for some time.

We had so much fun on our trip and we were able to see lots and lots of friends and family. We went to Illinois to visit my Grandma and extended family, then we went to Goshen, IN to visit both sets of Chris's grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, went down to Brodhead, KY to see my Dad's dad and aunts and cousins, and of course spent lots of time in Louisville and Bowling Green with Alexander's grandparents and aunts and uncles. He was quite the hit everywhere.

In the last post before we left for our trip, I discussed how badly Alexander had been sleeping. Well, let's just say that it has gotten worse. All through the trip he was sleeping terribly. It didn't help that we were always sharing a room (it can't be helped) and then of course he got sick. He was getting up a minimum of 2 times a night, usually at least 3 sometimes every hour (when he was sick). Now that we're back home and he is feeling good, he is doing marginally better. But hopefully those nights are numbered. I bought the book by Dr Ferber, "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and we're going to try his technique this weekend. We're reading the book and it has made us realize a few things. The first is that Alexander should be able to sleep through the night by this age. The second is that when he wakes in the middle of the night he thinks that he is hungry. He shouldn't be, but he has always been eating in the middle of the night so he is conditioned to feel hunger. So we will be working on all of that very shortly. It is going to be very tough, but hopefully it will be very worth it in the end.

We've also been giving him rice cereal this week and it has been much more of a success than before. He opens his mouth for Chris when he makes the airplane noises (I always thought that was just a joke, but it totally works and Chris totally has it down), but he is still not quite sure what to do with it when he gets it in his mouth. Every now and then he lucks out and swallows some. Next week we may try carrots. Santa brought me a bunch of stuff for home made baby food and I'm looking forward to making him some real food!! Let the fun begin!

Okay, well I can't really type much more. I'll try to stay on top of things for now.

Lots of Alexander!!!

Since our trip back home to Kentucky, Alexander's night sleeping has been nightmarish! He used to get up once in 12 hours, and since then he has been getting up about 3-4 times a night. It's been killing me. He wakes up crying and wants to eat each time he wakes. It's the only thing that seems to calm him down. Not to mention during the day, his eating has been pretty bad. He'll seem hungry and then he'll only nurse for about 5 minutes, before pulling away. It's very frustrating! I feel like he's not eating enough during the day so he wakes hungry during the night. I have got to get this figured out!! However, last night he did end up sleeping great! He started fussing at 11pm and then about 1am and each time I let him fuss for a couple of minutes (so hard to sit and listen to him do this, even though he wasn't screaming, he was just kind of whining) and then he put himself to sleep. Yay!! He woke at 3:30, I fed him and then he slept until about 7:45am!! It was wonderful and much needed for me. I don't know if he'll be able to do the same thing tonight, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

This weekend has been a weekend of firsts for Alexander. Last night we gave him his first bit of solid food, rice cereal. It was pretty hysterical to watch him. He didn't really know what to think of it. I think he may have swallowed two little bites (I mean tiny), but he pushed most of it right back out. And then he stopped opening his mouth. We're going to try again tomorrow night and see if he likes it any better. If not, we may try again a bit later.

At his last doctors appointment, the doctor cleared Alexander to ride along in the jogging stroller. So this morning we went for a family run. It was great! Alexander was warm and happy and Chris and I were happy to be able to run together. I'm looking forward to making this apart of our daily routine and not have to run around Chris' schedule.

Today is St. Nicholas Day. As kids, Bill and I always put our shoes by the door and they were magically filled with candy when we awoke. Well, Alexander may be too little for candy and not really have shoes yet, but that doesn't mean he can't participate in this holiday.