Saturday, August 27, 2011
Family Pictures
Here are just a few of the family pictures we took this morning. I will add the rest to facebook. They were a lot of fun to take!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Smile!
Today marks Ayden's 6 week birthday. He is growing so fast! Recently he started smiling. He is now doing it more frequently, and it is absolutely adorable. I can't wait until he starts laughing.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Progress & Zoo Day
Ayden has made some great progress this past week.
He has started eating more food, roughly 4 oz regularly, he is sleeping longer, and he is becoming much more aware of things. It's very neat to sit back and watch him take in things. He really studies whatever it is he finds!
I love watching him grow. I definitely look forward to things to come...like him smiling and laughing, but at the same time I wish things would slow down. I'm not quite ready to go back to work! Thankfully I still have some time, but it all goes by so fast!
Today marks Ayden's one month birthday. To celebrate, Michael and I (and Ayden of course) went to the zoo this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't been able to visit this summer with the heat, so we took full advantage of a "decent" day. It was still a little toasty, but well worth it.
Ready for the zoo!
At the zoo
He has started eating more food, roughly 4 oz regularly, he is sleeping longer, and he is becoming much more aware of things. It's very neat to sit back and watch him take in things. He really studies whatever it is he finds!
I love watching him grow. I definitely look forward to things to come...like him smiling and laughing, but at the same time I wish things would slow down. I'm not quite ready to go back to work! Thankfully I still have some time, but it all goes by so fast!
Today marks Ayden's one month birthday. To celebrate, Michael and I (and Ayden of course) went to the zoo this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't been able to visit this summer with the heat, so we took full advantage of a "decent" day. It was still a little toasty, but well worth it.
And he slept the entire time
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Soy Milk For The Win?
After several formula trials, I think little man does best with soy milk.
The poor little guy has had a lot of trouble with gas bubbles in his stomach. I know that he is hurting because his cry is MUCH different from his normal "I want" cry.
Last night, once Michael got home from work I decided to go to the store and buy some soy milk formula. Michael had suggested we try this, and I was willing.
We have gone from eating 2 to 3 oz bottles to 4 to 5 oz bottles. We also gained two hours of sleep last night. He has become easier to burp (there were times where I would spend 30 minutes trying to get just one burp out of him) and we haven't had any spit ups.
I know I may be jumping the gun since we haven't even had a 24 hour trial period, but things seem to be looking up for Ayden this morning. He doesn't seem to be hurting, and that makes this Mama happy.
The poor little guy has had a lot of trouble with gas bubbles in his stomach. I know that he is hurting because his cry is MUCH different from his normal "I want" cry.
Last night, once Michael got home from work I decided to go to the store and buy some soy milk formula. Michael had suggested we try this, and I was willing.
We have gone from eating 2 to 3 oz bottles to 4 to 5 oz bottles. We also gained two hours of sleep last night. He has become easier to burp (there were times where I would spend 30 minutes trying to get just one burp out of him) and we haven't had any spit ups.
I know I may be jumping the gun since we haven't even had a 24 hour trial period, but things seem to be looking up for Ayden this morning. He doesn't seem to be hurting, and that makes this Mama happy.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Getting Baby To Sleep
Let me just start out this blog by saying that throughout growing up, I have been around many babies. I even worked at a daycare at one time. But, I have come to realize that there is obviously a HUGE difference in taking care of your own child versus someone else's child. Granted it is a lot easier to take care of your own child on many different levels, but, at the same time it can be more challenging! When you are watching a child that is not your own, you already have rules, guidelines, and routines. With your own child, you have to create those for yourself. And, it's not necessarily making things work just for your child, but it's making sure it works for you as well.
Upon having Ayden, I have faced several different challenges. And, with every action that you do, there is always a reaction...whether that be positive or negative.
The first challenge was being able to take care of him while trying to heal from my c-section. Our biggest obstacle was me finding a spot that I could relax/sleep, but still help Michael take care of the baby during the night. I had started breastfeeding him, and needed to be accessible for when Ayden woke up hungry. Our solution to this was to camp out on the couch for the first week.
Although at the time I felt like this was necessary, the consequence to this was that Ayden got so use to falling and staying asleep on one of us, that once I was able to move back to the bed he didn't want to be put down. Thus, becoming our second challenge. Our solution, a pack n' play that had a bassinet attached to it.
This seemed to work out very nicely for us because it was small and snug and Ayden would actually go to sleep in it.
So what is our newest challenge? It's getting Ayden to sleep more than 3 hours at a time during the night. After talking to a good friend of mine yesterday (whom also inspired this blog post) I have some really good ideas on what I'm going to work on with Ayden.
This week I'm going to practice the following things:
1.) Normally I've been feeding Ayden every 2 hours because it seems to make him happy. Well, for about a week now, he has been eating about an oz more than what he was before. So, my goal is to wait at least another hour (possibly longer if he isn't screaming bloody murder by then) in between feedings.
2.) I'm going to try out the whole "Eat, Play, Sleep" theory. It's a good theory in that he won't associate the bottle with sleeping and or comfort. Plus, it will hopefully keep him up longer during the day so that he will be more tired during the night. He is becoming a lot more aware of things now, so this really shouldn't be too hard.
3.) During the night, I'm going to try to make Ayden wait out his feedings. Right now his current schedule is to be put down around 10 o'clock, and then wake up around 2:30 am or 3:00 am for a feeding. That is fine because by then I am sure he really is hungry. The next time he is waking up is anywhere between 4:00 am to 5:30 am, depending on when he woke up the first time. During this time I don't think he is actually hungry, he just wants to be picked up and soothed. I really came to this conclusion last night when he woke up at 5:30 am and I tried to feed him, but all he did was substitute the bottle for his binkie. After I realized he wasn't eating, I took the bottle away and rocked him back to sleep. So tonight, my goal is to instead of using his bottle when he wakes up the second time, use his binkie and see if he will still go back to sleep. I know it will be hard, but I really think it will be beneficial in the end. I gotta get this kid to sleep through the night on his own, and not use the bottle as a soothing method. :)
4.) My last goal for this week is during the day start putting Ayden in his crib during his afternoon naps. Currently I have him sleep in his boppy and he will nap for a good two hours. I think it will be good for him to start getting use to his crib and get use to having more space around him. I know his naps probably aren't going to last as long as what they are now, but hopefully with time and persistence they will go back to normal.
All in all I am just striving to get more sleep, and allow Ayden to get more sleep. He needs it just as much as I do. I know it would be easy to just put him in bed with us (he would only wake up once for a feeding when we were all camped out on the couch together) just so that we'd all get better sleep, but I really want him to be able to sleep in his own space. Now, I'm not saying if your child sleeps with you, that it is bad...because that is not for me to judge or say, but for my own personal reasons, I'd really like Ayden to be his own at night.
So yeah! Long story short (haha, just kidding) that is what I will be working on this week. Hopefully I will have some positive updates for you later! Wish me luck!
Upon having Ayden, I have faced several different challenges. And, with every action that you do, there is always a reaction...whether that be positive or negative.
The first challenge was being able to take care of him while trying to heal from my c-section. Our biggest obstacle was me finding a spot that I could relax/sleep, but still help Michael take care of the baby during the night. I had started breastfeeding him, and needed to be accessible for when Ayden woke up hungry. Our solution to this was to camp out on the couch for the first week.
Although at the time I felt like this was necessary, the consequence to this was that Ayden got so use to falling and staying asleep on one of us, that once I was able to move back to the bed he didn't want to be put down. Thus, becoming our second challenge. Our solution, a pack n' play that had a bassinet attached to it.
This seemed to work out very nicely for us because it was small and snug and Ayden would actually go to sleep in it.
So what is our newest challenge? It's getting Ayden to sleep more than 3 hours at a time during the night. After talking to a good friend of mine yesterday (whom also inspired this blog post) I have some really good ideas on what I'm going to work on with Ayden.
This week I'm going to practice the following things:
1.) Normally I've been feeding Ayden every 2 hours because it seems to make him happy. Well, for about a week now, he has been eating about an oz more than what he was before. So, my goal is to wait at least another hour (possibly longer if he isn't screaming bloody murder by then) in between feedings.
2.) I'm going to try out the whole "Eat, Play, Sleep" theory. It's a good theory in that he won't associate the bottle with sleeping and or comfort. Plus, it will hopefully keep him up longer during the day so that he will be more tired during the night. He is becoming a lot more aware of things now, so this really shouldn't be too hard.
3.) During the night, I'm going to try to make Ayden wait out his feedings. Right now his current schedule is to be put down around 10 o'clock, and then wake up around 2:30 am or 3:00 am for a feeding. That is fine because by then I am sure he really is hungry. The next time he is waking up is anywhere between 4:00 am to 5:30 am, depending on when he woke up the first time. During this time I don't think he is actually hungry, he just wants to be picked up and soothed. I really came to this conclusion last night when he woke up at 5:30 am and I tried to feed him, but all he did was substitute the bottle for his binkie. After I realized he wasn't eating, I took the bottle away and rocked him back to sleep. So tonight, my goal is to instead of using his bottle when he wakes up the second time, use his binkie and see if he will still go back to sleep. I know it will be hard, but I really think it will be beneficial in the end. I gotta get this kid to sleep through the night on his own, and not use the bottle as a soothing method. :)
4.) My last goal for this week is during the day start putting Ayden in his crib during his afternoon naps. Currently I have him sleep in his boppy and he will nap for a good two hours. I think it will be good for him to start getting use to his crib and get use to having more space around him. I know his naps probably aren't going to last as long as what they are now, but hopefully with time and persistence they will go back to normal.
All in all I am just striving to get more sleep, and allow Ayden to get more sleep. He needs it just as much as I do. I know it would be easy to just put him in bed with us (he would only wake up once for a feeding when we were all camped out on the couch together) just so that we'd all get better sleep, but I really want him to be able to sleep in his own space. Now, I'm not saying if your child sleeps with you, that it is bad...because that is not for me to judge or say, but for my own personal reasons, I'd really like Ayden to be his own at night.
So yeah! Long story short (haha, just kidding) that is what I will be working on this week. Hopefully I will have some positive updates for you later! Wish me luck!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Unsure...
Grandma and Grandpa Sherwood have a nice bouncer that vibrates for little Ayden. However, he isn't quite sure of it yet. Unforunately, I missed out on most of the funny faces that he was making...but it's still a cute video none the less.
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