My life these days

September 14, 2011

I thought I would write an update on my life as a mom since it has been a while. Solomon is now 11 weeks old and still not sleeping through the night (we are on a strict Babywise schedule during the day and the book says that they will sleep through the night from 6-8 weeks). We almost started stretching at 8 weeks, he went 5 1/2 hours, 6 hours, 4 1/2 and then BOOM... his reflux got worse for a few days and we had to up his dose of Prevacid. Back to waking every 3-4 hours during the night. *YAWN*

So after a few people told me that his biological clock is just stuck to wake up at 3:30 every morning I have decided to put him through sleeping bootcamp... or should I say that I'm putting myself through it? Crying all night just won't work for me right now and so I've decided to send Josh to the couch and put Solomon in bed with me. At 3:30 when he wakes up I hold his pacifier in for about an hour until he goes back to bed. I fed him at 5 AM instead of 3. I read that if I do this for 3-5 days that he will re-adjust and sleep longer. I'm crossing my fingers because all we do around here is yawn and take shifts doing naps during the day. I'm needing my sleep BAD. We have started to leave him in his crib unswaddled also in hopes that he will suck on his hands and self soothe when he wakes up. He has been ripping the seams of the last swaddles and that kind of hinted to us that maybe he was over it? He does sleep better with them, but only until he manages to kick and scream out of them at the 45 minute intruder mark. I wonder, will he ever sleep more than 45 minutes at a time during the day? Probably not.

He has been happier playing on his own lately and we've been trying to keep him up for an hour and a half each 3 hour cycle. He is so strong! He is trying to sit up on his own and is always doing a half way crunch when I'm feeding him on my knees, it's funny.

He is such a beautiful little boy... and so giggly and happy when he wakes up. It makes all of my stress and lack of sleep disappear for a while when he looks at me and gives me his Elvis smile. I have given him a nickname, Butter. I am not sure where it came from. Maybe because I call him Buddy sometimes and one time I just said, "Hey there... BUTTER!". I call him that a lot now. I think it's funny. He weighs 14 pounds! Sheesh, sometimes it feels like my shoulder is going to separate whenever I'm carrying him over my shoulder. He is a big, chunky boy! I've already boxed up about 30 of his outfits, he is now in 3-6 month clothes and we have been so blessed with hand-me-downs and garage sale gold mines lately. I don't think he needs anymore clothes until NEXT summer! Thank you Lord! I'm still pumping also. I tried breastfeeding him again last week and it didn't work at all. Oh well, it gives me an hour a day to stay put and do my Beth Moore Bible study I guess(or play angry birds, whichever one is closer)!

I can't believe that he is almost 3 months old. We are taking our second trip to Lubbock by ourselves next week and I don't think he is going to do as well for that long in the car as last time. I guess we will wait and see!

Here is "Butter"

Our family at an apple orchard in Missouri.

Share On

Send To A Friend

sarah shalley:

Email me if you want. I have some advice...don't know everything but I am about two months ahead of you and will share what I've learned.

(09.15.11 @ 12:06 AM)

Lindsay :

Sounds so much like my story with my little man. i promise he will sleep through the night one day! Naps were not long for him either. I know it had a lot to do with his reflux. He now naps like a champ and has for awhile now. I hope you get some good sleep soon!!!

(09.15.11 @ 04:07 PM)

Kelly:

Not that you are looking for advice, but I'll throw it out there. My son was doing the exact same thing at three months. He would only sleep 30 - 45 minutes at a time during the day and wake every two hours at night. I was wiped! My cousin recommended "The Baby Whisperer solves all your problems", the sleep bootcamp she recommended work amazingly well for us. Each day he slept longer and in about a week he was taking 2 hour naps and sleeping most of the night. I feel like it saved my life, he slept like a champ from then on, it was amazing. We tell everyone with sleep troubles about it. Hope that helps. Sol is such a cutie!

(09.15.11 @ 04:08 PM)

Lora:

Have you read the "Happiest Baby on the Block"? Its been SO helpful for us - good luck! sleep is so nice.

(09.16.11 @ 01:25 PM)

Luisa:

Hey Lauren! I love your work and just stopped by and read this! I have two babies! One is 22 months and the other is actually 3 wks younger than Solomon! I had my oldest Thomas and now my baby girl on the babywise routine! With Thomas I was frustrated as well because he woulnt nap well and still didn't sleep through the night at 12 wks! But I know now that it was partly my fault! Simply because as a new parent it's sooo hard to let them cry! But now that I have a baby who is 8 wks old, we've had to let her cry. We don't let her cry for more than 20 min. But we do have to let er cry because we have to get our sleep during the night in order to have enough energy during the day sinc we have a toddler and can't nap when she does! Shes sleeping for 6 hours through the night right now! We'll see when she decides to drop her middle of the night feeding, but if by 12 weeks she's not sleeping through, I will probably let her cry it out. She also tends to wake during naps after 45 min. But I just let her cry for a little bit.. She ends up only crying for about 10 min. Or less and then falls right back to sleep and stays asleep for 1 1/2. I know every baby is different, but just hang in there and don't feel guilty if you have to let him cry a couple of minutes. Also, with my first I had a really hard time breastfeeding him at first, until I got a nipple shield. They sell them at babies r us. It's great!... He latched on right away with it and used for about the first 4 months. After that he nursed fine without it and I ended up nursing him until he was 15 months! Well, I hope that helps!!! I can tell you're doing a fabulous job as a mommy!!! :)

(09.17.11 @ 01:38 PM)

Amy C:

I've referred everyone I know to this book since mine were babies. It is an awesome resource and helped me tremendously! Good luck! http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0449004023

(09.17.11 @ 05:26 PM)

Erica Sledge:

Babywise saves lives! Stick with it...he'll get it and you'll all be happier for it! He's just precious. Those baby blues...

(09.19.11 @ 10:24 PM)

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: My life these days . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/271

Solomon is 9 weeks old!

August 31, 2011

Adventures with Solomon |

Me, in real life |

Another week went by too fast! I can tell you though that I am taking advantage of them and am not regretting a thing! I'm taking his picture and video almost everyday and am staying on top of work, social time, family time, and cataloging Solomon's life. Josh has been home a lot more because of school starting and I'm enjoying all of the help with Sol! I went to a playgroup this morning and met a ton of really great local moms, life is just getting fuller and fuller. I'm very happy:)

He really does love us, he just was about at the end of his awake time:)

Really, he really does!

See!

Momma loves him back.

Share On

Send To A Friend

Megan Greathouse:

He is way too precious! Way to go keeping up with blogging! One day I will be as cool as you and blog like a 'motha'! LOL You are one HOT MOMMA! LOVE YOU!

(09.01.11 @ 09:50 PM)

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Solomon is 9 weeks old! . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/267

Home video #2