One and done

That's how I'm feeling right now. You couldn't pay me enough money to get pregnant ever again! These past couple days with Isaac have been super hard. Mr. I refuse to nap during the day is fast eating away all of my sanity! It seems like right about when one thing works to get him to sleep fairly well that he finds some way to resist it's charms. Nursing to sleep worked for a couple weeks. Crying it out worked for a few days. The latest to be kicked to the curb is putting the carrier and walking to sleep. This morning it took him a half hour walk to fall asleep and then he was up 30 minutes later. I tried swaddling him and putting him in his crib. He slept for 10 minutes then ate then slept 10 more minutes. Then cried and cried some more and 2 hours after i started trying to put him to sleep he finally fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep for 2.5 hours. That was his only nap today. He just finally fell asleep again after another 2.5 hour struggle to get him to sleep.

Lest you're wondering why I'm trying to put a baby to sleep that wants to be awake let me assure you that he does not want to be awake. After and hour to an hour and a half he starts getting really tired. First zones out and then gets cranky. Then for the next hour to two hours i fight with him trying to get him to sleep. He is not fun then at all and there is nothing i can do to get him to sleep. I'd let him stay up all day if he were happy, I'd much rather not have this battle for hours on end. And before you all say i should be so grateful that he sleeps so long and well at night, first i am thankful and second i would trade uninterrupted sleep for decent daytime naps in a heartbeat.

If i knew what i was getting into i probably wouldn't have jumped on the have a kid wagon and I'll sure need plenty of convincing to jump on the wagon again because seriously this kid is hard but i know it could be worse and i'm not willing to make that gamble on another one. I don't know how all you parents of more than one child do it and parents of multiples i think you deserve to go straight to heaven!

2 months

Yay 2 months!

So this little boy is 2 months old today! We had his check up last Friday and he is 11lbs 12 oz and 23 inches long. He's growing really well. He got his shots which was pretty sad but he did pretty well with them. We decided to drive to Denver that same afternoon to visit David's family and he slept most of the way there. Tylenol helped a lot and we only had to stop once for cuddles and 3 or 4 times to feed him. In the past month he's gotten very animated. Everyone tells me that he is a very happy baby and i agree. He is all smiles and baby talk until he starts to get tired. He just seems to love life!

After reading a couple sleep training books I've worked to get him on a schedule of eat, play, sleep and it has completely changed our world. He stays happier so much longer when he is awake and he's gone from being a snacker to being a consistent eater. I've tried quite had to get him to nap in his crib and he did well for a few days and then one day he just decided to cry constantly after he was put in his crib. He would cry for 45 minutes sleep for 15 and cry for another 45. So after a day of that I gave up on that idea for a while. We'll try again in a month or so. I have a great baby carrier so i put him in that when it's nap time. Take him for a walk around the block and then he sleeps. I still don't get much done but i was losing my mind just listening to him cry with nothing that would comfort him except being held. And although he is a not great napper he is a fantastic night sleeper! The past 5 days he's averaged 8 hours straight at night, some nights a little more (last night 10.5 hours!) some nights a little less. I thought it might be a fluke from being tired from shots and traveling but after 2 nights back at home he's still at it. So i figure i can't complain much about his clingy naps because we're getting wonderful full nights of sleep.

Likes:

Baths. He loves to splash and splash and splash. The only time he is sad is when we take him out.

Nature. He can be crying and crying and a walk around the block will calm him almost the moment we walk outside.

Kisses. He smiles every time i kiss him.

Nap time cuddles.

His chair.

His colorful rings.

His frog from grammy.

Being read to.

His stroller. He doesn't hate it anymore. I don't know if he loves it or even likes it but i can take him in it without him screaming.

Dislikes:

Nap time. He really fights naps.

Getting out of his bath.

Blessing

I love this onsie that my friend made for me. Such a fun idea to applique a tie on. Easy church attire.

He did pretty well getting passed around to a bunch of new people.

Uncle John

The grandparents.

Uncle Sam. I love this picture!

One of these things is not like the other...

Which pictures are Isaac and which is not? Hard to tell? I think about the only thing that gives it away is the outdated clothing :() That last picture is my brother Ethan. Him and Isaac could have been twins! Crazy huh?!

My frog prince

Help...

This is what I do all day long. If you ever need me I'll be on the couch. My phone is near by feel free to call. If you'd like my house to be clean too bad. Me to be showered, not likely. Anything productive going on, not so much.

Just a question for all the mom's out there. How can I help train my 5 week old to sleep on his own? He does fairly well at night, sleeps probably 5 or 6 hours on his own, makes it back to sleep after the first feeding but wants to be held after the second one. During the day it's not an option. If i set him down anywhere, crib, chair, upstairs, downstairs he wakes up within 15 minutes. So i hold him literally all day long. I've gotten very talented at doing a few things one handed (going to the bathroom, making lunch etc.) Most of the day I'm stuck on the couch because my arms and back hurt less when i do that. I had been strapping him into the baby carrier and getting a few more things done but last week he started getting heat rash and doesn't like that anymore. I know i can't really sleep train him for a couple more months at least but that seems like an eternity at the moment and my sanity and emotions are taking a toll. Any tricks, hints, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

If there's really nothing i can do but suck it up then please recommend some good books, as many as you can think of; I manage to go through a book every 2-3 days. Thanks for the help and support!

Play time

Isaac has been having longer awake periods and he has started to look around at things and listen to new things so I decided to break out some of the bright colored and noisy toys to start playing with him. He seems to like them pretty well. I can tell that he does follow the colors and listens to the rattles. I got some cute pictures with him holding the rings. Of course it was just his grasp reflex but it sure does look cute! Makes me excited for when he really is aware of his toys and plays with them on his own.

And I don't know if I dare say this for fear that everything will collapse but he has slept at night time and mostly in his own room for the past week! He's not in his crib yet and he does want to be held at around 5 for the rest of the morning but I'd say we're making some progress.