sleepy time

Today and tomorrow, Henry and I will be staying home most of the day to work on napping in the pack n play or the crib.

Henry is not thrilled about this.

Now that the little dude is three months old, it's time to nip some bad sleep habits in the bud before they get any worse. Henry has become accustomed to napping in his carseat or the stroller, which was fine when he was a newborn, but we really need to get him used to a somewhat routine nap schedule in his crib. He also relies on being rocked back and forth in the stroller to fall asleep, and needs to learn to fall asleep without that. From birth until just a couple weeks ago, Henry had been sleeping well at night and waking for one to two feedings. But lately, he has started waking more frequently and doesn't go back to sleep easily unless I nurse him. BUT- he isn't hungry. He's just relying on nursing to fall back asleep, and as soon as he latches on he falls asleep again. On top of that, he's still sleeping in the swing at night and like for naps, he really has to get used to the crib. Before long he won't even fit in the swing to sleep!  

This morning I put Henry in the pack n play, awake but sleepy and calm. He did fall asleep on his own and slept for 1 1/2 hours! That's the longest I've ever gotten him to sleep on a flat surface. It wasn't long enough because he was still tired and needed another nap after only an hour. But, a start. For his second nap, he only lasted 30 minutes.

We have to start doing something different at night, but I'm not completely comfortable going all-out with Ferber yet. Then again, I may never feel comfortable so should probably just do it. We did Ferber with Celia and it worked wonders, very quickly. Out of all the sleep "specialists" out there, Ferber is the one I really trust because he's actually a doctor specializing in children's sleep at Boston Children's Hospital. He isn't just some guy with no credentials and an opinion on how babies should sleep. Anyway, he does say that by 3-4 months babies should only be waking once, if at all, for night time feedings. I don't think Henry needs to eat at night. I think he's just relying on nursing to fall back asleep, and that's unnecessary and exhausting for both of us. I'm just dreading going through with the Ferber technique and doing it so young, because I really hate hearing him cry. Every morning I wake up exhausted and determined to start sleep training that night. And as every night grows nearer, I lose my nerve. I know it's what's best for both Henry and me. It's just hard to commit. I'm also worried that if he cries very much it will keep Celia awake. I'm rambling.

Time for a trip to the Panera drive through for a fancy coffee drink. Mommy needs some extra caffeine after being up every two hours the last few nights...

3 months

Henry is 3 months old today. A happy, soft, warm, cuddly bundle of cuteness.

Stats: Henry had his 2-month doctor's appointment yesterday (almost a month late), and he was 13 lbs 8 oz. He was at the 40th percentile for weight and the 70th for length. His head was at the 50th percentile, where it's been consistently since he was born. I was expecting him to be so much higher on the charts, but I think it's just because all we're used to is Celia and she has always been tiny. She didn't hit Henry's 3 month weight until she was almost 6 months! Henry is wearing size 2 diapers and 6 month clothes. Some of his 6 month things are already a little tight. Cloth diapers are on hold for now, as it's all I can do to keep up with laundry, housework, and two little ones without adding diaper laundry on top of it.

Schedule: Henry's schedule has still been about the same since he was born. His bedtime is still around 8:30-9:00 each night. He has become a bit less consistent with sleeping for 6 hour stretches. Some nights he does very well and only wakes once. There are occasional nights (like last night) when he wakes very frequently. When this happens he usually seems to have gas bothering him. Henry still has a loose nap schedule in which he has a morning nap starting between 9:00 and 9:30, a second nap that begins around 12 or 1:00 depending on how long the first nap was, and one or two shorter late afternoon/evening naps. Later in the day is when I've had trouble figuring out what Henry needs and when the best nap time is for a third nap. Last week we had one day in which his schedule worked out really well, with a nap from 4-6:00. He was then rested enough to stay awake until his bedtime, but was also tired enough that he was really ready for bed. Unfortunately I can't get him to sleep at that time every day, but we'll work towards it.

Development: Henry Boy is right on track developmentally. He smiles and laughs, and does a lot of cooing and early babbling. He reflexively imitates facial movements. Sometimes he's very talkative and will go on and on, and back and forth to have a little conversation. I got a little video of him talking the other day.

In the last month Henry has discovered that he has hands and feet, and that he can move them. I've been giving him more opportunity to practice touching and swatting at things with his hands, and he can move his hand to purposefully touch a toy when it's in an easy place to reach. He still doesn't like being on his tummy for long, but he can lift his head and shoulders up. He has started pushing to the side, as if ready to roll over. I think he may start rolling over in another month or so.

Oh golly, I want to eat those cheeks.

That's our sweet little guy at 3 months!

celia's friday favorites

Thought I'd link up with Rachel's Friday Favorites today. And this is, literally, just about favorites. It's a rainy/snowy morning, and by some miracle I put Henry down for a nap and he fell asleep and stayed asleep all by himself (still sleeping 2 hours later!!), so I had plenty of time to play with Celia this morning. She found a Toys R Us flyer and wanted to look at the pictures and rip some out, so we got out more flyers and an old magazine and started finding pictures to make a book.

A book of Celia's favorite things...

I'm not very crafty. Luckily, all we need is a little ripping, cutting and glueing and Pita's happy as can be.

She wanted me to take a picture of her reading the book when it was done.

What were some of her favorites?
Chicken
Raspberries
Blueberries
Strawberries
Blackberries
(Yes, she really likes berries)
Orange Juice
Swings
Slides
Sandbox
Tricycle
Markers and Paper
Play Dough

Friday Favorites by Celia, at age 3.

tummy time, stroller, sweet little celia

It's hard to believe we're still in February! Warm, sunny day today. We even have an early sign of spring that's popped up.

Pita went to daycare this morning, and Henry played on his mat while I tidied up the house.

Getting a little sleepy.

He also had his longest tummy time so far. He's enjoying it more now, and holds his head up to look around while talking away. Sometimes he finds his hand and just lies on his tummy chewing it. We also went to get a few things at Trader Joe's this morning. I expected Henry to sleep while we were out, but he stayed awake most of the time. Definitely can't count on him sleeping for errands anymore. He did fall asleep on the way home and is still sleeping now. He'll probably have a long nap, and I'm hoping we'll have time to take a walk later. Henry boy is growing so fast that Chris tried him in the BOB stroller the other day. He looks tiny in there, but it works!

He's in a fleece suit we got for Celia when she was a baby. She never wore it because she was too small, but Henry's getting good use out of it! 

Yesterday we had the best day. I think it was probably the most fun day Celia and I have had since Henry was born. For some reason she was in a good mood all day, and didn't have one tantrum! In the morning we went out and had a snack at Panera, and then we went to the bookstore for her to go in the play area there. There was another mom there with a 3-year-old girl and a 6-month-old baby, so we chatted and nursed our babies while Celia and her daughter played together. We went home for lunch and Henry started his nap while Celia and I ate and got ready for her nap. She told me she was tired and going to have a good nap, and I didn't know whether to believe her but she did! She woke up in a good mood and wanted to play a game, so we did that and then went to the library. Pita was just happy, and well behaved, and fun and affectionate from morning until she went to bed. She was her old self. She was great this morning too. I'd like to say she's turning over a new leaf, but I think we need more time before making that determination. Who knows, she could be a little monster tomorrow :D. We are all so much happier when she's happy.

Also, Celia has been so good with Henry lately. She sings and talks to him all the time. She often helps me by playing with him so I can leave the room and get something done. Yesterday Henry was sitting in his chair and Celia was entertaining him while I changed over the laundry. They were doing well so I waited a while before returning. When I went back in, there was a burp cloth on Henry's lap. He had spit up a little, so Celia had gotten a burp cloth and wiped him all by herself! She is getting so good at taking care of him! It's nice that I know I can trust her and leave him with her sometimes.

Time to unload the dishwasher before Henry wakes from his nap...

miscellany monday

1) Henry is 12 weeks old today. Last week I reported that he had discovered his hands. This week he found his feet. When sitting in his chair, he holds his feet in the air to look at them, and he kicks them around and studies how he can move them. He has also been very talkative this week, making all kinds of sounds with different intonations, and "talking" in response to us when we talk to him.

2) I went looking for clothes for Henry and Celia over the weekend. Trying to start getting things ahead of time for spring and summer for Celia, and a few things in the next size up for Henry. I can't buy too far ahead for him because he's growing so fast that I don't know how big he'll be by the time the next season hits. Anyway, it is so hard to find clothes I see as appropriate for little boys and girls! Boys' stuff is all blue. So boring. And it's almost all sports-related. Apparently boys can't just be dressed like little boys- they have to be dressed like athletes. Or in camo, because it's And for girls, I find so many things inappropriate. I'm not a fan of branding and graphics on clothes- I feel like they look like they're for teenagers, and I also don't like my children being billboards for clothing brands. And then I have to find things that won't make Celia look like a prosti-tot. Strappy halter tops for infants and toddlers? Really? Anyway, we found some cute things but it took a little effort.

3) The older Celia gets, and now that we have both a girl and a boy and I see gender stereotypes forced on both of them, the more I think we should just become homesteaders and live somewhere really rural where we don't have to worry about any of that stuff.

4) I've still never printed out my blog and really want to have books printed for each year. Well, I finally have them all set to be ordered and can't bring myself to because it's SO expensive! I should do it anyway because before long I'll be three years behind instead of only two.

5) Chris and Pita were playing hide and seek the other day, and they both had their babies with them.

6) Since I no longer rely on smoothies for greens, I've started getting my dark leafy greens in new ways. I usually have them for lunch every day. Most days it's kale, because kale is so highly nutritious. Other days it's swiss chard or spinach. Anyway, one of the new ways I eat greens is to just add them to other dishes so jazz them up. Mix a few cups of greens with leftover pasta and you have a whole new meal.

7) Speaking of vegan related stuff, you'll never guess who showed up at our door today. A MEAT salesman! Yep. Apparently those exist. The poor guy showed up on a vegan's doorstep trying to sell a deal on large quantities of meat. Sorry dude...

wednesday at home

Yesterday we ended the day well. Celia ended up having a good nap and we went to the library before dinner. I got her there by saying we could borrow a movie, so we got a Curious George dvd and she watched that while I cooked. We also got a new Jan Brett book, The Hat, that Pita liked. She was in a good mood this morning too, and let me get her dressed right away without complaining. It may have helped that I pretended to be a pirate while getting her dressed...

It's a grey day and Henry and I stayed home for most of it while Pita was at daycare. Chris worked from home in the morning and it was nice to have him around. Even though he's busy working and taking conference calls, I like him being around the house. Henry and I played, I spent a lot of time getting him to nap, I started dinner, and sang to him while folding laundry. The boy loves to be sung to.

Henry played on his mat for a while this morning, and had his best tummy time to date. He didn't complain at all and actually seemed pretty happy.

You can really see his head bump in this picture. Also, he looks SO much like Celia here. I have an identical one of her around the same age.

This afternoon Henry and I went to get diapers, and lighter pajamas for Celia. Our second floor heats unevenly, and in order to keep Henry warm enough where he sleeps the other bedrooms get too hot. Annoying. So I got Celia some different pjs in hopes that she will sleep better. She is, by the way, doing well without her binky but not sleeping quite as well as she did with it. 

Henry was up a lot during the night last night and I'm tired. Hoping to spend some time like this tonight:

valentine's day

I thought it would be fun to do some things with Celia for Valentine's Day. I put together a little bag with some stickers, a little balloon, and a felt flower that I knew she would like to keep and play with. When Pita woke up in the morning, it was on the table with a special breakfast of strawberries and a homemade glazed chocolate donut. Unfortunately, just like every morning, Celia immediately became oppositional as soon as she woke up. Our new routine is to get her dressed before she leaves her room in the morning,  to avoid tantrums and power struggle later on. She gave me a hard time and pretty much ruined the fun of giving her a surprise for Valentine's Day. I was pretty hurt and disappointed. It's very frustrating that I literally can't do anything with her these days, even fun things where she gets lots of attention, without her yelling and fighting with me and it all being ruined. I really hope her behavior improves soon, because I feel like I'm missing valuable time with her.

I finally tried the donut pan I received for Christmas. I made these with whole wheat flour, they're low fat, and they're sweet enough but don't have a ton of sugar in them.

Back to Valentine's Day. Once we got downstairs, Celia had breakfast and played with Chris a little while I started some laundry and tried to recover from feeling like the morning was ruined. I gave Pita the choice of going to walk around and play in the children's area at the mall, or going to play and have a snack at the bookstore for the morning. She wanted to go to the bookstore, so we did that. She was well behaved while we were out, for the most part. We had a snack, and Pita played in the block area for quite a while. Henry woke up and I fed him while she played. There was another little girl there and she and Celia played together. They were both very talkative and it was funny listening to them.

My Valentine's dates:

Celia ate a huge lunch when we got home. Henry started his nap, and it was such a challenge to keep her away from him and prevent her from waking him up. Even when I try to distract her and play with her, she knows I want her away from him and purposely tries to wake him up. It's not like she's just being loud and happens to wake him up- she does it on purpose to spite me! So frustrating. Someone please tell me this horrible three-year-old phase will not last the entire year!

Now we are having naps, thank goodness, and I'm watching The Bachelor from last night. Nothing like really bad reality tv to relax to!

To end on a positive note, I asked Celia if she could play with Henry while I warmed up the car this morning. I came back to the sweetest little scene. She was talking to him, hugging and kissing him, and showing him his toys. It was so cute. I grabbed my phone and took some video.

miscellany monday

1) Henry is 11 weeks old today. His latest accomplishment is that he has discovered his hands. They are fascinating. They're good for chewing, and just to look at. I often catch him holding his hand in front of his face, just staring at it.

Another neat trick is that he likes to secretly pee out the back of his diaper and all over his clothes, as you're fastening the new diaper on. Then, when you're all ready to get his clothes back on you're surprised to find them covered in pee. Henry really likes this game. I'll be changing him and happy that he seems so happy and smiley, only to find that he was smiling because of his neat pee-up-the-back trick.

Me: "Oh, what a sweet, happy little baby I have!" Him: "Gotcha, sucker!"

He is a handsome little bugger though.

And he is getting BIG!

2) As I perused the Valentine's Day stuff at the grocery store the other day, I came across something labeled "pornographic stickers". I was quite shocked at this, until I realized the package actually said "holographic stickers". I could use more sleep.

3) That same day, I walked around all day with two pantiliners sticking out of my back pocket.

    Yes. Yes I did. All day.

4) I made the best new lunch that I will call a Hummus Guaca-Quesadilla. It is fabulously good.
-Take two tortillas (or one, cut in halves). I like the Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran, Whole Wheat kind. Spread one tortilla with some hummus and guacamole. If you want, sprinkle on some corn, black beans, or green onions, and/or just a little Daiya pepperjack cheese. Or no cheese. Or dairy cheese, if you must. Cover it all with the second tortilla, cook on both sides in a greased skillet until both sides are toasty and the inside is warm and gooey. Deeeelicious.

You can make a lower fat and calorie version by omitting the "cheese" and guacamole. It's good any old way.

5) Celia likes playing with dolls from time to time. She likes to "bweastfeed" them, like Mommy does. She goes through the entire routine of nursing her dolls exactly the way I feed Henry.

The other morning, she was going to "bweastfeed" her babies at breakfast time. She told me this, and then looked down at her one-piece footie pajamas and said, "But I can't. I'm not wearing a shirt." Ha! I can't believe she actually thought of that. I showed her how she could unzip her pajamas a little, of course, for "bweastfeeding" access.

6) We had friends over on Saturday night for a big Greek dinner. Vegan moussaka, tomato saucy chickpeas, roasted green beans, lemony potatoes, lemon cheesecake and baklava! Lots of fun. Entertaining with a 3-year-old and a baby isn't exactly the easiest, but I think it's much easier than traveling somewhere else.

7) Also on Saturday, Celia and Henry had a bath together for the first time. I was afraid Celia would splash Henry and generally make it dangerous for him to be in the tub with her, but she was very good!

8) I got out for a second run this week. It was surprisingly enjoyable! Maybe getting that first awful run over with helped get my body primed for running again. Also started doing some yoga. We have two new dvds from one of Chris's coworkers. They are tough workouts! I'm hoping to do them while Henry naps, when I can. I did part of one on Sunday but Celia kept asking questions and trying to hug me while I was in the yoga poses.

9) Yesterday we went to an indoor playground in the morning. Pita found a toy microwave that really worked, and she used it over and over.

10) Yesterday Celia gave me a hard time getting ready for her nap, but eventually quieted down and we thought she was sleeping. Turns out she was destroying her pillow. She got her foam pillow out of a regular pillowcase, a second zippered case, and shredded the thing with her bare hands. The remains:

When I went up to get her, she told me not to go in her room and when I asked why, she said "So you won't see the mess I made." I don't even know what to say about her these days...

weird workouts

So.

I really want to fit back in my old clothes. I also can't wait to be back in good running shape and just feel good about my body, my health, and my fitness level. The only thing holding me back is that I have very limited time to exercise. Even when I do have time, I can't necessarily work out because I can't take Henry running or walking yet (need to get the jogging stroller out and functioning) and when he's sleeping I can't leave him to go in the basement and exercise there. His naps aren't consistent enough yet that I can count on getting a workout in on a regular basis.

Henry has been napping in the family room this afternoon. He didn't have a good morning nap, so he's had a really long afternoon one. I decided I shouldn't procrastinate any longer, and really should get some exercise. I'm in such bad shape that it isn't necessarily fun, but I have to start somewhere. I also wanted to clean the floors.

The workout:
- 1 minute of butt kicks

(I went on the deck for the cardio intervals. Wish I could have gotten out for a walk or run today!)

- 20 crunches
- 20 squats
- 1 minute of jumping jacks
- 20 crunches
- 20 squats
- 1 minute of butt kicks
- 4 reps of plank pose
- scrub family room floor
- 1 minute of butt kicks
- 20 pelvic lifts
- scrub hallway and dining room floors
- 1 minute of jumping jacks
- 20 crunches
- scrub living room and laundry room floors
- 1 minute of butt kicks

It was not the best workout I've ever had, but it was something. It kept me moving for about 35 minutes. And the floors are cleaner. I think I need to get into doing workout videos while Henry sleeps. Will try that next week.

Do you have a weird workout?

monday miscellany

1) Henry is ten weeks old today, and we're still pretty much in the same routine. In the last couple days he had a lot of trouble napping well, which meant he had several short naps and was sometimes cranky in between them. Yesterday he took great naps though- two long ones, and a little cat nap in the evening.  The trade-off was that he didn't sleep as long at night.

Tolerating tummy time, but definitely not loving it!

2) I need two fillings, which means I have to go back to the dentist twice to get them. Double torture. Great.

3) Novocaine doesn't work well, or wears off fast, on me. So at some point whenever I have a cavity filled, I get the fun surprise of finding out when will wear off as the dentist drills in there. This makes it extra fun.

4) Yesterday Celia and I made a quick trip to the store together. It was nice to get out by ourselves and have fun. I think I'll try to take her out every weekend.

5) Celia talks sometimes about her relationships with her friends at daycare. There's one boy who really likes her and always wants to play with her, but doesn't always have the most appropriate behavior. He can't talk much so he tends to act instead of talking. On the way to daycare one day, she was asking me what she could say to him because sometimes he hits and yells. When we got there, he came right up and wanted to play with her, and she said "Dunnie, don't hit and scream at me. That's not the way to play. You have to talk to each other to be good friends." Ha! It was so cute. Unfortunately it went right over his head...

6) Speaking of daycare, the other day Dunnie and another boy were fighting over Celia. She's very popular with the boys. Archer said hi to Celia and she said hello back, and then Dunnie stepped in front of Celia with his arms out saying "No!", trying to keep Archer away from her.

7) I don't think we have any appointments to be at this week. We've had more than one every week for a long time. I'm hoping we can get out and do something fun instead.

8) One thing I miss from before I went vegan is buffalo wings. I don't miss the actual chicken, but the buffalo flavor. Last night I tried making this buffalo chickpea dip and it was impressively good! I don't think I'll be missing wings anymore! It was really good, low fat, and very nutritious with chickpeas being the main ingredient.

9) Sometimes when Celia's watching tv, I have Henry nearby in his seat. It isn't my intention that he watch tv too, because the AAP and all the research on the subject discourages any tv for infants. However, he always ends up watching! I don't think it's doing him any damage because we also spend plenty of time talking and playing with him too, and at this young age he's probably just enjoying the lights and movement on the screen. He watches and babbles away the whole time. But it still makes me feel bad that I've let him watch it. I guess this is just the way it is with younger siblings! They end up doing all kinds of things you never would have let your first do.

10) Celia is so into drawing right now. She spends a lot of time at her easel. She always asks me to draw things I can't really draw. This morning she wanted me to draw Abby from Sesame Street, and I tried but it didn't look much like Abby. Celia said "I think you did a pretty good job." Haha!

11) I am done with green smoothies. It was sad to say goodbye, but I've read some information on them that made me decide I wasn't getting the nutritional benefit I thought I was. Apparently it's controversial because there are some diehard juicers and smoothie fanatics out there, but basically when you grind everything up so small you're not getting the fiber and other nutritional benefits of the whole food. I knew that about juicing- basically you end up drinking sugar and you're not getting the benefit of the whole food. So I never juiced. I thought a smoothie would be good because I was starting off with the whole foods, but the act of liquifying it all takes away the nutritional value. This information comes from Drs Caldwell Esselstyn and Colin Campbell, and when you read the explanation of why they're not good for you it really does make sense. So, I've started eating my greens whole, lightly steamed because that's how you get the most nutritional benefit. Some day soon I'll share my favorite ways to eat them, because just eating plain old greens isn't always the most appetizing thing.

Goodbye, smoothies.

Also, Esselstyn and Campbell both have great websites with compelling information on plant-based diets and how they prevent and reverse disease. Highly recommend browsing them, and reading their books! If you have or are at risk for heart disease, cancer, or autoimmune disease, a plant-based diet is for you. Their health and nutrition advice is based not on random theories or fads, but on scientific evidence. That's the way to go.

12) I went for my first run since early pregnancy on Friday. It was truly awful. Ha! It's just not fun to run when you're out of shape, but I know how good I'll feel and how much I'll love it once I get back to regular running.