I'm can't promise it will last, but i've been inspired to try to write about Henry's life on a more daily basis. This way i can record the small details of parenting and Henry's babyhood without trying to wrap all of his accomplishments up in a pithy email every month or so.
To that end i'll tell you a little bit about Henry's day. Today was Sunday so H-money was with us all day. We've been working on getting him to flip-flop his 3-4 hour and 7-8 hour stints at night so that his longest sleep shift coincides with when i'm actually asleep. I think we've had some progress with that but to be honest i can't tell because i think i might be sleeping through his crying now. Typically i feed him at around 10 and he goes right back to sleep. Then i get myself in bed and go to sleep by 10:45 or so. The last two nights he's woken up at 2 am but i just go in and tell him he needs to go back to sleep. I know he cries a bit before falling back to sleep, but i can't say for sure if he's then just sleeping until 6 or 7 or if he's crying during the night and i can't hear him. I find i'm a sounder sleeper now-- because i have to be i think.
He woke up at 6 this morning and i brought him into bed to feed him. Oftentimes we'll both fall back asleep until 8 or 9 but this morning he was fully awake, laughing and happy. Thankfully JT got up with him and they played together until i got up around 8. By then it was about time for a nap for Henry but we went out for brunch afterwards at a neighborhood restaurant. It's so nice now that Henry can go out with us (on well-timed outings) and entertain himself by attempting to shove his entire fist in his mouth or playing with a toy.
His naps for the rest of the day were brief or non-existent so he was one tired little guy by 7 tonight. When i put him down he only fussed a minute or two and fell asleep. We'll see what the night brings.
One other note, i decided to try giving him a bath in his little bathtub tonight. We used the little tub when he was first born and he absolutely hated it. He didn't really mind it tonight but it was not very convenient so we're going back to having him take baths with me or JT from now on.
7.31.2005
7.30.2005
15 Week Update
Henry is getting close to the 4 month mark and has been continuing to make progress on a number of fronts. He is sleeping so much better now it's amazing. He routinely sleeps 7-9 hour stretches at night and is napping 1 to 1.5 hours during the day (at least at daycare!) He still cries to wind himself down but now the sound is muffled because his hands are jammed in his mouth.
Henry is obsessed with his hands. He likes to hold them together in front of his chest and can very easily get them in his mouth where he likes to suck away on them. He can hold toys and wave them around and likes to sit-up (assisted) rather than lay down. He enjoys being bounced on the knee and will stand up and hold his head when you hold his hands.
He's doing wonderfully with Miss Brenda; enjoying watching the other kids and sleeping well. He's also been guzzling down his bottles over there and really growing. H will have his 4 month appointment soon with the Ped so we'll get to see just how much he weighs now. There are a few new pictures on the yahoo site!
Henry is obsessed with his hands. He likes to hold them together in front of his chest and can very easily get them in his mouth where he likes to suck away on them. He can hold toys and wave them around and likes to sit-up (assisted) rather than lay down. He enjoys being bounced on the knee and will stand up and hold his head when you hold his hands.
He's doing wonderfully with Miss Brenda; enjoying watching the other kids and sleeping well. He's also been guzzling down his bottles over there and really growing. H will have his 4 month appointment soon with the Ped so we'll get to see just how much he weighs now. There are a few new pictures on the yahoo site!
7.26.2005
Sleep Update
I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath to hear how Henry is doing with his sleep training. I can't say that it's been an easy week and a half, and our progress hasn't exactly been linear, but i do think we are making progress.
Henry has been sleeping 7-8 hours straight at night and then going back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours. Typically he still cries about 20 minutes before falling asleep both at night and for naps, but every so often he cries much less. He's also been sleeping much closer to 13-14 hours a day which is a definite improvement. Of course usually we feel like we take one step forward and 3 backwards but hopefully as time passes and Henry gets older we'll have less crying before he falls asleep and better naps.
In other news, today was Henry and i's first day at childcare. I've never felt like such a nervous, over-protective new-mom as preparing Brenda for Henry. I think I had her thinking that he was the worst baby ever and when i came to pick him up at noon she said i had nothing to worry about. He cried when i left but settled down and loved watching all the other kids. He cried a bit before he took a nap but did sleep for 30 minutes (we're working on lengthening his naptimes). The biggest news was that he actually took a bottle which he had stopped doing from either JT or I. So tomorrow he'll be there again in the morning and then on Thursday he'll be there all day. I think it was harder on me because i missed him very keenly today. I'm sure in time i'll get used to it but these past three months have allowed me to develop a very strong bond with Henry.
FYI-- there are new pictures on the yahoo site.
Henry has been sleeping 7-8 hours straight at night and then going back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours. Typically he still cries about 20 minutes before falling asleep both at night and for naps, but every so often he cries much less. He's also been sleeping much closer to 13-14 hours a day which is a definite improvement. Of course usually we feel like we take one step forward and 3 backwards but hopefully as time passes and Henry gets older we'll have less crying before he falls asleep and better naps.
In other news, today was Henry and i's first day at childcare. I've never felt like such a nervous, over-protective new-mom as preparing Brenda for Henry. I think I had her thinking that he was the worst baby ever and when i came to pick him up at noon she said i had nothing to worry about. He cried when i left but settled down and loved watching all the other kids. He cried a bit before he took a nap but did sleep for 30 minutes (we're working on lengthening his naptimes). The biggest news was that he actually took a bottle which he had stopped doing from either JT or I. So tomorrow he'll be there again in the morning and then on Thursday he'll be there all day. I think it was harder on me because i missed him very keenly today. I'm sure in time i'll get used to it but these past three months have allowed me to develop a very strong bond with Henry.
FYI-- there are new pictures on the yahoo site.
7.17.2005
Transitions
Since i last posted Henry and our little family are going through a spate of transitions. There was Henry and i's first trip away from JT when we spent a week at the Delaware shore and DC with family and friends, Henry's continued developmental progress, and preparations for my return to work on the 28th.
Henry will be starting childcare with Brenda the mornings of the 27th and 28th and will then go a full day on the 28th. In order to make the transition less jarring, and to help Henry be a more rested happy baby, we're "sleep training" little Henry.
Sleep is a hot topic with parents-- not only because new parents are so sleep deprived but because how we treat our children's sleep has become a marker of the type of parent we want to be perceived as. There are "attachment parents" who would never dream of letting their children cry themselves to sleep and "cry it out" parents who wouldn't want their children's sleep to be dependent on them for very long.
I feel we're somewhere in the middle but Henry seemed to be suffering from exceptionally poor sleep. He was never a particularly good sleeper but he had gotten to where i couldn't put him down at all during the day and even when holding him he slept very lightly-- continually waking up. I couldn't even nurse him to sleep.
We talked to our pediatrician who hooked us up with a sleep expert here in Chicago. We met with him and developed our plan to put him in his crib before he gets overtired for both his naps and at night. JT goes in after 5, 10 and then 15 minutes and talks to him and tells him things are okay. I asked the sleep expert what the worst he'd heard was in terms of crying-- he said 2 hours.
We were prepared on the first night for Henry to break the record because he's easily cried 2 hours even when we're holding him and soothing him. Luckily he clocked in at 1 hour 40 minutes and then slept for 8 hours-- straight. He had a great night and then cried for only 30 minutes for his first two naps and slept for an hour each time. His third nap however he cried right through (1.5 hours). We got him up and gave him a bath, fed him and put him back down. He only cried about 20 minutes and slept about and hour and then cried another half hour. His night wasn't great after that but it wasn't any worse than before the sleep training. His first nap this morning he only cried about 20 minutes so maybe we'll start seeing some progress.
I believe that Henry is ultimately going to be better off because he's going to be getting better sleep and will be more rested. Yesterday when he wasn't crying in his crib he was calmer and smilier than he's ever been. It's just so hard to get through. I've been sitting on the porch a lot and taking showers. We're hoping that we've made dramatic progress in 4 days or so which is about the norm.
Henry will be starting childcare with Brenda the mornings of the 27th and 28th and will then go a full day on the 28th. In order to make the transition less jarring, and to help Henry be a more rested happy baby, we're "sleep training" little Henry.
Sleep is a hot topic with parents-- not only because new parents are so sleep deprived but because how we treat our children's sleep has become a marker of the type of parent we want to be perceived as. There are "attachment parents" who would never dream of letting their children cry themselves to sleep and "cry it out" parents who wouldn't want their children's sleep to be dependent on them for very long.
I feel we're somewhere in the middle but Henry seemed to be suffering from exceptionally poor sleep. He was never a particularly good sleeper but he had gotten to where i couldn't put him down at all during the day and even when holding him he slept very lightly-- continually waking up. I couldn't even nurse him to sleep.
We talked to our pediatrician who hooked us up with a sleep expert here in Chicago. We met with him and developed our plan to put him in his crib before he gets overtired for both his naps and at night. JT goes in after 5, 10 and then 15 minutes and talks to him and tells him things are okay. I asked the sleep expert what the worst he'd heard was in terms of crying-- he said 2 hours.
We were prepared on the first night for Henry to break the record because he's easily cried 2 hours even when we're holding him and soothing him. Luckily he clocked in at 1 hour 40 minutes and then slept for 8 hours-- straight. He had a great night and then cried for only 30 minutes for his first two naps and slept for an hour each time. His third nap however he cried right through (1.5 hours). We got him up and gave him a bath, fed him and put him back down. He only cried about 20 minutes and slept about and hour and then cried another half hour. His night wasn't great after that but it wasn't any worse than before the sleep training. His first nap this morning he only cried about 20 minutes so maybe we'll start seeing some progress.
I believe that Henry is ultimately going to be better off because he's going to be getting better sleep and will be more rested. Yesterday when he wasn't crying in his crib he was calmer and smilier than he's ever been. It's just so hard to get through. I've been sitting on the porch a lot and taking showers. We're hoping that we've made dramatic progress in 4 days or so which is about the norm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)