Sleeping through the night???

When Jacob was an infant people used to ask me "Is he sleeping through the night yet?" I, of course, answered in the negative, because "no, he wasn't, I was still having to get up from my slumber to feed him." Often times, these people would go on to say "my son/daughter slept through the night at 8/10/12/etc weeks." I was always amazed, and honestly, a bit jealous. How in the world were these children sleeping through the night when mine was still getting up to eat? Was he that much of a pig? I come to find out later that the definition of 'sleeping through the night' is a 5-6 hour stretch of sleeping before the baby wakes to eat again. If you ask me, that is a far cry from 'sleeping through the night.'
So...for those of you who are wondering if Luke is sleeping through the night yet...my answer is no....I still get up to feed him a couple of times during the night, so in my mind, he is not yet sleeping through the night. But, if you ask someone else, they would say "jump for joy, your baby is already sleeping through the night" because yes, 3 of the last 4 nights, Luke has had a 6 hour stretch between feedings at night and at least a 5 hour stretch a couple of other nights in the last week or so. The subsequent stretches are not as long, but we are making progress for sure. Hooray Luke!

Busy weekend

When I look at pictures at the end of the week, I think Luke has grown a ton. Maybe it's just me, but he seems bigger than 7 weeks old. He is definitely bigger than Jacob was at this age...some of the 0-3 month clothes are already too small! He was a smiley boy this week, and I actually captured a few smiles. They aren't the best quality, but I just grabbed the camera and snapped, hoping to capture one. We had another 5 hour sleep stretch and a two 6 hour ones too, things are improving.

We headed back to the gym this week and both boys did great, even though both childcare rooms were very crowded (it was the last week before school starts). I wish we could get there earlier to avoid some of the crowds, but we just can't get out of the house that early anymore. I found out today that the girl that Jacob loved when he was in the baby room is back this fall semester, so Luke will get the joy of her as well...at least for now.

Jacob picked out his backpack and lunch pouch for school this week and got a call from his teacher too. He's ready! We were very busy this weekend with Grandma coming to babysit on Friday night, and went to 3 birthday parties this weekend. Cousin Caroline turns 3 today, so she had her 'kid' party on Saturday with a bounce house that Jacob loved. We also had a friend's son's party to attend on Saturday. Jacob had a blast in the pool and playhouse there. And yesterday, we celebrated Aunt Rachel's birthday (ooming up on Tuesday) and Caroline's birthday at our house with the family. Jacob loves his cousins so much and is always very excited when they come over. He has definitely figured out the whole birthday scene too. With so many summer birthdays in the immediate family, he has gotten a lot of practice. He still gets giddy with the singing and candle blowing. Go here for the rest of this week's pictures.

I made it...

...to the gym, that is. It took a couple of weeks, but I finally got my act together enough to get out the door at a decent hour with both boys ready to go. Since I haven't been in forever, I am taking it very slowly to get back into shape, but I have to say...I feel skinnier already.

Luke is 6 weeks old

Luke is now 6 weeks old and about 11lbs. He still eats often, and it shows. His baby acne has mostly cleared up, which I am very happy about. It seemed to linger forever. His neck muscles are getting stronger so he can hold his head up very well. We also got to see our first real smiles out of him this week, which was absolutely precious. Makes a mama's heart melt. His awake time during the day seems to equal or surpass his time asleep during the day, so that has been an adjustment for all. Thankfully, he's a pretty laid back kid.

Jacob was pretty good this week, behavior-wise, my only complaint is the constant whining for his pappy. I'm not sure why he's decided he needs it all the time again. We try not to give in, but sometimes the whining does me in. He was allergy tested this week, and though still allergic to egg, the severity seems to have lessened. Hopefully he'll outgrow it completely in another year. Preschool starts in 2 weeks, I think we are both ready.

Aunt Catherine came to town for a few days and got to meet Luke for the first time. Though Jacob has spent some time with her before, it has been awhile, and he's grown a lot since then. He was happy for a new playmate calling her "Caffrin." We got together with the family a couple of times while she was here, which Jacob loved. Grandma and Catherine celebrated birthdays earlier this month, so we had a little birthday celebration for them. Go here for the rest of this week's pictures.

Olympics

I know this blog is normally updates on our family, but I just had to post this link for the men's 4x100 free relay from Sunday night. If any of you haven't seen this yet, take a few minutes to watch. Perhaps the best Olympic moment of the games (or any games!)

Week 5 - Finally getting better

A slow week as we stayed home because of 2 sick little boys. Thankfully, neither was too sick, and both are almost completely well. Jacob is still pushing my buttons a lot, but it does seem to be getting a bit better. Hopefully he'll get through this current stage soon. He continues to dote on his little brother most of the time, but I have seen a few instances of jealousy and anger towards Luke appear from time to time. Of course, that is perfectly normal, but we have to keep a close eye to make sure no real pain is inflicted.

Luke rolled from belly to back several more times this week, so perhaps he has figured out how to do it, rather than it just be an accidental roll. According to our scale, Luke is about 10.5lbs. I've noticed his once skinny legs have started to plump up, as have his rounded cheeks. A very "healthy" boy is growing. Sleep training hasn't improved much, still 3hr stretches at night for the most part. I'm hoping we turn a corner soon. I do get frustrated from time to time, but I know he'll figure it out in time. I don't think he is waking "out of habit" just yet, but I don't want to get to that point. The heat is definitely suppressing much of the outdoor activities here, so we are looking forward to cooler weather in the next month or two. Go here for the rest of this week's pictures.

Hooray Luke, Hooray Jacob, Hooray Mommy

As many of you know, "Hooray" is a Jacob thing. Whenever he's happy and feeling silly, he starts saying "Hooray (fill in the blank)." Everything is fair game - cars, people, grass, tractors, Elmo, anything. So...Hooray is the word of the day.
The last 3 days, we've had "Hooray" moments. Monday, was Mommy's day. She had her final OB appointment and things went great. I'm back to my pre-preggo weight (though of course, that weight is distributed much differently than it should be) and everything looks good to return to a "normal" lifestyle...as normal as you can get as the mother of two young boys. I'm ready to slowly get back into a workout routine. YMCA here I come.
Tuesday, was Jacob's day. Why does Jacob get a "Hooray?" Because it was a good day. We had very little whining/fussing, we only had one time-out/discipline moment (which was a miracle in itself), and he was pretty happy most of the day. For some reason, he decided not to test me. This meant he was allowed to do what he wanted (since it was all within bounds) which in turn meant I didn't have to say "no" or "stop that" and he didn't retaliate. What a great way to spend the day.
Yesterday and last night were Luke's days. From just before noon to about 8:45pm, Luke went 3 hours between feedings, something he hasn't done since we had to wake him up to feed the first week of life. Then, he didn't eat again until 1:45am! That was a 5 hour stretch without eating. Definitely "Hooray" worthy. Unfortunately, that didn't mean Mommy had a 5 hour stretch of sleep because he woke up twice in the first 1 1/2 hours (spit up once and stuffy nose once), but those situations were easily remedied and he went back to sleep. It is said that once a baby gets to 10lbs they will start sleeping longer stretches. Well, Luke is definitely over 10lbs, so maybe this is holding true. He's still a bit congested, which has caused problems for a few nights, so we'll see.

Just when you think things are going well...

...something has to go wrong. For us, it is a baby with a stuffy nose. Our nights have been going great lately, with Luke's stretches of sleep gradually getting longer. Last night, we had a major setback in our sleep 'training'. As I mentioned Sunday, Jacob picked up a cold this week. Unfortunately, as hard as I tried to keep him away from Luke, and Lysol anything his snotty hands touched, it didn't work. Luke was acting especially clingy yesterday, had a slight fever for a couple of hours, and wasn't keeping all of his food down, so I knew something wasn't right. When we put him down for bed last night, I heard him struggling to breathe through his nose. It was so sad. So, we started with the saline drops and nose bulb (which he HATED of course) to help clear him out. It worked ok, but within an hour of each 'treatment', he was awake again either wanting to eat or needing to be cleared out. Hopefully this will be short-lived and we can get back to our "good" sleep. It is amazing how your perspective of "good" sleep can change in an instant.

A couple of videos

Here are a couple of videos of the boys that I shot a couple of weeks ago. I know, I'm very slow in getting them posted.

This one of Jacob is him "talking" on the phone. It cracks me up how he says "Hello...YES" everytime. Too funny.


This one of Luke is during tummy time. Not much to see, but those of you not here can see him in action.

Week 4 - Sick again??

We got back into the swing of things this week by attending a couple of playdates with our playgroup. It was nice for Jacob to play with his friends again and for Mommy to get out and visit with her friends as well. Unfortunately, with the return to 'society' comes the exposure to illness. Jacob once again has picked up a little cold. I sure hope Luke doesn't pick up as much as Jacob has in his first 2 years of life. It seems we are always dealing with something. Hopefully he'll get over it quickly without passing it along to the rest of the family, especially Luke.

We are battling the 'terrible twos' right now, which makes naps and bedtime a battle (fortunately, not a crying battle, just a "I'm not staying in my bed" battle) and many days are quite stressful in general. So many people have told me that the 'terrible threes' are worse - I don't know if I can handle it if they are. Jacob is insistent on proving his independence and testing (and testing and testing) his boundaries. Sometimes I wonder how he can be so strong willed, but then I remember where his genes came from. I've tried every parenting tactic I know to curb some of the behaviors, but often times, my attempts are to no avail. We'll get through this time, I know, I just wish it didn't have to be so hard. It just breaks my heart to scold, raise my voice, and punish Jacob, but it needs to be done.

Luke continues to grow. Rachel even commented on Saturday on how much he had filled out in the 2 weeks since she had seen him. You can probably see in the pictures too how his face (and everything else) has plumped up. He definitely feels heavier lately too, but with the way he eats, I'm not surprised. We are consistently getting 3+ hr stretches of sleep between feedings at night, but he still eats every 2-2.5 hrs during the day. Of course, we do have about 1 night every week where he is fussy, doesn't want to sleep, and can't be comforted. I'm not sure why on those nights, we have difficulties. His awake times seem to stretch longer everyday as well. He still loves to be held when he's awake, and isn't happy on his own for too long. I hope I'm not fostering a bad habit! I also notice him examining people and things more closely. It is neat to see him change and grow. Go here for the rest of this week's pictures.