Dylan meets his great grandfather

My grandfather was in the hospital last time that we were home so last weekend was the first time that he got to meet Dylan. Since Grandpap had a stroke a few years ago, his talking isn't much different than Dylan's so they got along great. Grandpap really perked up when he was watching Dylan. It was great to see.

Sip and See

Here are some pictures from my sip and see last weekend. That's Dylan with his great-grandmothers and with my cousins Carol and Lorraine and with me.

Dylan "sitting up"

April fools!

Five Months Old

Today is Dylan's five month "birthday." Dylan is doing so well. He's really a good and happy kid these days. Although I did take him for his first "sick child" doctors visit last week. He had a running nose and seem to be batting at his ears so I took him in to make sure it wasn't an ear infection. He just had a cold but the doctor said it was good to bring him in since he could have had the same symptons and it could have been a double ear infection and RSV. But he was fine. And his cold cleared up in time for our trip to PA last weekend. My mom had a little post-baby baby shower for me. Apparently these things are called "sip and sees" in the south and I had heard of that from our friend Christine a few months ago so we went with it. It was a lot of fun. Dylan was so good an interactive with all the guests. Then as soon as they left he fell asleep on me while I was holding him. That's rare so he must have been exhausted.

I've been trying to get Dylan to sleep longer at night for about a week now. It's going okay. Some nights we put the pacifier back in around 2 or 3 when he wakes up and then he'll sleep another hour or two but I usually feed him then around 4 or 5. So he's going from 11pm to 4 or 5am. But he has seemed really hungry the last two days so when he woke up at 2 last night I fed him. So we're still trying (by feeding him more during the day and if he doesn't seem hungry to get him to go back to sleep when he wakes in the middle of the night) but I think its going to take longer than I thought.

My plan is to wait 4 more weeks (right before Dylan is 6 mos old) until starting solids. I might move that up by one week. My mom and sister will be in town then and if feeding Dylan more milk doesn't seem to help his recent hunger it would be good to start a little early.

The last of the winter pictures

Dylan in the bumbo with his blue block (not cube as Daddy calls it - I gotta make sure my child isn't as dorky as his dad...:) [We've had this block/cube discussion a few times. Usually goes something like this....here's your cube Dylan/it's a block/yes, but it's a cube/yes, but do you call balls spheres?/no, but maybe we should, that's the correct term/uggggg!] Thanks to JenK for the super cool BLOCKS! And Melissa S for the clothes Dylan is wearing here. Except the "two left socks." Those are hand-me-downs from cousin Steven. The "L"s are for his last name not "left."

Holding the floor down is really hard work.

Tummy Time!

Weeeeee!!!!

Gettysburg Get Together

Here's a picture from a Gettysburg get together we hosted 2 weeks ago. This was the first time a lot of folks got to meet Dylan and Ty (Albert and Angie's baby who is two months older than Dylan). This was also a 30th birthday celebration for Martin and Albert whose birthdays are on April 5th and March 9th, respectively. Albert was in our wedding and was Martin's roommate senior year.

Catching up...

I need to catch up on my picture posting. My idea was to spread them out so that I've have postings with pictures once every few days but alas seems like Fridays are the only day I have time to post so you're getting them all at once. Here's pictures from when Martin and I took Dylan hiking around Accotink Lake three weeks ago.

Our little blogger

Sleeping through the night

I've decided to start some "sleep training" to get Dylan to sleep through the night. First, I want to tell you that I'm not one of those people who expect babies to sleep through the night at a young age and then think there's something that needs to be fixed if they're not. I also am not one of those people who think not sleeping through the night is such a hardship on me. I just figured it goes with the territory. If my baby is hungry in the middle of the night, I need to fee him. And until recently my thinking was that Dylan was still getting hungry in the middle of the night, mostly because he seemed so desparate to eat when I would go to feed him. But now I've been convinced that he's not sleeping throug the night because simply because he's used to eating between 2:30 and 4:30am. He thinks that's a meal time. So if I just get him to go back to sleep instead of feeding him then feed him more later, we will all get longer stretches of sleep which will be good for everyone. Dylan doesn't need to eat at that time. So last night we tried it. I fed him at 10:30 and then went to sleep. At 3am when he woke up (and was wide awake!) I just put the pacifier back in and shhhhed and patted him until he was asleep. An hour an 15 min. later we did the same thing. (This was also part of my rationale for feeding him at 3am in the past - if I feed him then he'll stay asleep longer. Well, if we just get through these first couple days of this, he won't wake up at 3am at all hopefully.) Then 45 minutes later he was up again. It was 5am at this time and I decided that was good enough training for that night and so I fed him then. He went 6.5 hours without eating...and lived to tell about it...:) My goal is 7-8 hours - 10:30/11pm to 5:30/6:30/7am. So I'll keep you updated. Please keep praying....I was thinking about the theological implications of this last night....was me doing the "training" not relying on God to answer the prayer or thinking that he didn't? By no means!!! I really felt like God "laid it on my heart" to do this training through seemingly chance conversations with my sister and friends and through some reading I happened upon on the Internet. I truly believe this is a way that God works to answer prayers. But, so as I shouldn't think it has anything to do with me, I still need God to help the training actually work. So prayers are still warrented. And why am I asking prayer for something seemingly insignificant when there are bigger problems out there for me to pray about and for God to deal with? (A question I have asked myself.) Well, duh, this is God we're talking about, he can handle everything at the same time, not like us humans. God is infinite. But I still should be consistent in my prayers for those "bigger" issues, those outside myself. That was something I was convicted of at our church's recent missions conference. My prayer life had become very self-centered so I'm trying now to pray for more people. So, I think I must be violating blogger etiquette from going so off topic from my title that I'm going to stop there. Bringing this back to topic, here are some pictures of Dylan's crib that we finally put together 3 weeks ago (although not without cracking the wood and needing to use gorilla glue - but it's fine - functional and all) and that I finally took a picture of this morning. The crib is still in our room. My plan is after Dylan starts sleeping through the night somewhat consistently to move the crib into his room and then move the spare bed into a storage unit. Then we're going to get a new sleeper sofa and put the old couch in the storage unit. We've pretty much decide that we won't be moving this year. Too much hassle, not enough need. Maybe we'll be able to save up enough money for a SFH instead of having to buy a townhouse first. We'll see.

Pictures!!

Answered prayer!

Thanks to my Bible Study for praying again - Dylan slept through the night last night! And boy did I need it. I was sooo exhausted yesterday. He slept 9 hours straight and I slept for 7 hours straight - my longest stretch in 4.5 months! Keep praying ladies! I'd like to get him sleeping through the night consistently before we move him into his own room and I'd like to do that soon before he notices.

Dylan with his two best friends...:)

Another milestone!

Dylan starting rolling over from back to tummy this week. We're very excited and I think so is Dylan...he didn't want to sleep the day he did it for the first time. He's going to be crawling before we know it....

You know it's time to take the Christmas wreath off the front door when....

birds start making nests in your wreath! No kidding.

Photos

Dylan rolling over

No four month "birthday"

Since February only has 28 days and Dylan was born on the 30th, he didn't have a four-month "birthday." :) (Another reason that I'm glad Dylan wasn't born on the 31st - this would happen more often.) I guess we are kinda celebrating today. Today Dylan went to the doctors for his four-month check up and shots and today mommy and daddy are having pizza and ice cream for dinner. :)

Dylan got a great report from the doctor. The doctor said he's really "strong" and "alert" and can focus well and has really good head control. The doctor sounded impressed. He is doing all the developmental things that they check for at this age and the doctor even said he's probably going to be ahead of the game developmentally - mommy was really excited about this except when she realized that we're going to have to baby proof the house sooner. On the size stuff, he's a left-tailer (imagine a bell curve...). For height (24.25 inches) and head circumference (16cm) he's in the 25th percentile. For weight (12lbs), he's in the 5th percentile. He's pretty lean for his age. The doctor said it could be that since he's so active already that he's burning a lot of calories and that's why his weight is relatively low. I was a little concerned about his weight since the scale at the hospital last week had him weighing more but 1) I really don't trust the doctor's office scale and 2) the doctor didn't seem to think anything of it. I told him that I went back to work and he wasn't taking the bottles that well and that he even seemed less interested in eating for me. But like I said, he didn't think there was a problem. [Dylan did great on Thursday though - he finished all three of the bottles I left for him. It must have been since we had our whole Bible Study group praying for him!]

Dylan also got his shots. He did a lot better this time than last time. He was even smiling before we left the doctors' office. [Again, thanks to our home fellowship group for praying!]

I got Dylan to roll over for the camera (we have 30 sec video on our digital camera). Now I just need to figure out how to upload it. Dylan also rolled from his back to his side today. So soon he'll be rolling from back to tummy and should also be sitting up soon.

I think we're actually going to get around to putting Dylan's crib together this weekend so I'll post some pics when we're done.

Dylan update

Dylan seems to be getting bigger even in the time it takes him to nap. I really like this age. I like when he sits on my knee and looks around the room. I like when he smiles and giggles, especially when we tickle him. He is so alert and talkative. And he is still doing really well going to sleep (although his daytime naps don't seem to be much longer than 45 minutes usually) and when we take him out. Saturday we took Dylan downtown with us on a PALS fieldtrip. It was awesome. The kids liked having Dylan around especially when they got to hold him. This one gal (5th grader) even read him a book. Dylan did great at the nursery this morning - he didn't sleep but he was good for the volunteer.

I'm noticing that he's going longer and longer between eating. Hopefully he's eating more at each feeding although it doesn't seem like it to me. I noticed that on my non-work days, Dylan really only eats twice during the time of day that he's at daycare on my workdays. So if he only eats 8 oz at daycare, it's no big deal.

I'm probably not going to go to support group tomorrow since we just got 6 inches of snow unexpectedly. I don't feel like venturing out. Plus, Dylan has a doctor's appointment on Friday so we'll find out his weight there then.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpap!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday! Here's a recent picture of him and Dylan:

I don't think he looks a day over 50. Have a great one Dad! You're an awesome Grandpap!

A Belated Happy Valentines Day!

Dylan Update

I did go to the support group this week which was great. I'm one of the experienced moms now. The consultant will look to those of us who have been there a while to answer some questions. It's fun. Dylan weighed about 12 and a half pounds. He gained 4 oz. while I fed him so he still seems to be taking that amount at a feeding. Dylan is still in his 0-3 clothes although I think I should start using the 3-6 mos clothes or otherwise we won't get as much wear out of them if I wait until the fit perfectly.

Dylan has been doing really well lately still. On Sunday we took him to the nursery at church. He had fallen asleep in the car but then woke up when we got to church. In the nursery they left him in his carrier and rocked him back to sleep and he slept until about 10 minutes before the service was over. He was good for the folks there until we came and got him. It was perfect. Probably won't happen every week but I'll take what we can get!

Dylan still hasn't been eating as much as I think he should be at day care. I'm hoping he eats about 12 oz. a day - 3, 4 oz bottles. I'm pumping at least that at work (and even more - yesterday I pumped 16 oz!). At support group they said he would probably start taking more soon and what I pump would even out with what he eats. It's probably just taking longer since it's only two non-consecutive days of the week.

Dylan seems really happy too. The picture here shows him after bath time, his favorite time, second only to diaper changing time. We call this picture "pope of the dump truck." Enjoy!

I'm running out of cute titles for pictures....(as if I had them in the first place)

Tummy Time!

Dylan is actually starting to enjoy tummy time!

Our big boy

Dylan update

I didn't go to support group this week because we were down to one car since the Civic needed some body work. So no update on Dylan's weight. But he is eating a lot better at day care. He doesn't seem as tired when he comes home either. And Bushra is writing down the info I wanted so things are going well with day care.

I think Dylan is crying a lot less lately too. He did great last weekend on the retreat. And he seems to be going asleep easier. At least he's not getting so overtired to the point of crying a lot. Maybe it's because I gave up some on trying to make him go to sleep and also I've tried to put him in his bed before he get too tired. So I'm not so concerned about his napping during the day but I still feel like we should have some routine and structure around "bedtime."

Pictures

I love cloth diapers...

This weekend I was away with Dylan (and my parents) to Williamsburg. (My mom and I were attending our church's annual women's retreat and my dad came along to see Williamburg and to help with Dylan.) Since we don't travel with cloth diapers, we used diaposables this weekend. Well, I must say that out of the three poopy diapers we had this weekend, three of them leaked onto Dylan's clothes. Our cloth diapers have a much better record than that. I think the disposables might do better with pee than the cloth but I'd much rather deal with a pee leak than a poop leak...:) Man, I can't believe this is what I have to talk about these days...:) Actually I do have more distinguished, less gross things to talk about but they don't make as good blog entries...

Update

I didn't got to support group this morning since Dylan has been out a lot lately and I thought it best that we stay at home and hopefully get some good sleep, especially since he has a little bit of a running nose. So I don't have a weight update this week. Sleep is the biggest challenge these days. Dylan sleeps good during the night but as I mentioned before not so good during the day. And it's worse when we leave the house. We can get him to fall asleep in the car but he wakes up when we get somewhere. At church this week he woke up right after I dropped him off in the nursery. But the ladies in the nursery didn't beep me until the sermon was almost over so I made it through most of church. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll stay with him in the nursery for one Sunday to see if even I can get him to sleep there.

On both Saturday and Sunday nights we visited some friends at their homes. The hope was that Dylan would go to sleep at their houses in a quiet room. Saturday, the strategy was to nurse him and then put him in his carrier until he fell asleep. That resulted in me and Martin taking turns for almost 2 hours trying to get him to sleep. He never did. Then Sunday the strategy was to keep him with us and then hopefully he will fall asleep on one of our shoulders and then he would at least be getting sleep. He never went to sleep until we got into the car. I know that was a lot for him and we can't keep going out two nights a weekend, which we do not plan to do. But I don't think it's unreasonable to try to get to the point where we can take him to another house and have him sleep there for a hour or two. As Martin says, he needs to get used to other people and being out of the house. But maybe we need to wait until a routine is established before trying this.

The routine thing has been the hardest thing for me. But I just read somewhere yesterday that besides easing the transition between activities and comfort for the baby, routine also develops the baby's memory. So that's even more movitation I guess to get a routine going.

Dylan is sleeping very well today by the way. He took an hour an a half nap and then woke up and ate and went right back to sleep and has been sleeping for about another hour. Hopfully he will continue on the sleep train tomorrow when he goes back to day care.

The first day went okay. He didn't eat or sleep as much as I would like but I know that it's an adjustment and it will take time. Bushra (the day care provider) didn't call me so I think that was a good sign. I think he cried a lot though. When I picked him up, he fell right to sleep in his car seat. Communication with Bushra still needs some work but again, it will take time. (I just want to know more information about his day than she provided on the daily activity sheet she filled out - like I want to know how long he napped, not just what time he napped.)

So how did it go for me, since it was probably harder on me....well, I cried when I dropped him off. I called Martin in Denver (it was 6:30am there but thankfully he was up) and told him I missed Dylan. He said he really missed Dylan when he went back to work too. During Dylan's trial day I went to the gym and worked for two hours and went to Let's Dish with my friend Krista. I told Krista I cried a lot and she said, "that's what your supposed to do." Krista's one-liners always make me feel better. Let's Dish was a lot of fun. And now we have like 10 meals ready to go and I was able to give two to Laura H. who just had a baby, James (Jamie).

After seeing Jamie, both Martin and I have realized how much Dylan has grown in 3 months. Seeing him everyday, it's hard to see. I'll post some more pictures soon.

So tomorrow, it's back to the office. It's going to be weird. But I'm looking forward to it. I do like my job, I remembered. On Thursday, when I worked for a few hours I was really getting into the stuff I doing and looking forward to catching up on things. And I like contributing to the office and feel like I have a calling there as well (otherwise, I would not be going back.) I'll let you know how it all goes.

Thanks for reading my blog, by the way. It means a lot to me that you all take the time to read my ramblings. I tend to forget sometime that there are people who read but don't comment but as Lisa and Brad reminded me on Saturday you are out there so I just wanted to give you some props. Thanks!

Two things I would like to get rid of...

1) the cold that Dylan has seemed to picked up after ONE day at daycare...and
2) the words "fart" and "butt" from my vocabulary, as I don't think they are appropriate for kids.

Monkey Business

Crib

We bought at crib yesterday. I've been waiting for one to come in and we were going to go to Buy Buy Baby and just pay for it and then just pick it up when they come in. Well, we were told those that had been ordered might have been sold already and they had no idea if they were or not so if we ordered it, it would be 12-16 weeks. Well, that wasn't going to work. We ended up buying the crib we wanted but in a different color wood. A darker wood than the rest of the baby furniture. It urks me that it doesn't match and that the crib set we got doesn't look as good with the darker wood, but we didn't really have a choice. I guess I regret not looking for a crib earlier. But this must be for the best. In fact, we saved a lot of money with coupons. We saved $70 becuase we had a 20% off on any one item coupon which we used on the crib and then we had a $30 off on a crib mattress with the purchase of a crib. The cashier was not willing to give us both coupons but the lady we talked to when we were picking out the crib and another lady in the store said we could. So praise God we were connected with the right people.

Major Milestone

So yesterday we were at our friends' (Dan and Laura's) house and they asked us if Dylan had rolled over yet. We said no and that we hadn't been good with giving him tummy time lately. So today we figured we give him some tummy time. Well, what do you know he turned over!!! It was awesome. Both Martin and I were there watching him as he did it. We're so excited! I rushed to write the date down in the baby book. We bought Dylan a Bumbo yesterday at Buy Buy Baby (the bed bath and beyond of baby stores, as martin calls it). He's still a little too young for it but soon he'll be able to sit up in it. Dylan still doesn't swat at objects but that should come soon. The baby websites are also telling me that he's brain is really developing this month and talking to him is really important. They also said that he should be starting to recognize us more. Cool!