9 Month Baby Wise Update

Yay an update that is practically 'on time'. I had the choice between spending this time updating our family blog or doing this update. I figured this was more time sensitive, so here I am.

The changes we implemented about 3 weeks ago have gone awesome. We made the changes I planned (lengthening the time between the morning and afternoon nap) on to help with our morning wake time and they pretty much fixed it. Occasionally he'll still wake up 20 minutes early and play, but rarely does he cry the whole time. Here's his 9 month schedule:

7:30 Wake, Nurse
8:30 Solids
9:30 Nap
11:30 Wake, Nurse
12:30 Soilds
2:30 Nap
4:00 Wake, Nurse
6:00 Solids
7:00 Nurse
7:30 Bed

We also moved bedtime up half hour. Since putting him down later wasn't helping his morning wake time we brought him back to his 7:30 bed time.

One thing that has come up this week was at his 9 month appointment he didn't gain too much the past 1.5 months. His total gain since 6 month as been good, but all of it was up until 7.5 months. I think this may be in part to dropping his 5th & 6th feeding rather abruptly. I still feel he's healthy and gaining weight, but just at a slower rate than before. His pediatrician wants us to come back in 6 weeks to check his growth. Our plan is to start adding more fattening foods to his diet like coconut oil, avocado, cheese, etc. I'm also going to try to add in a feeding after I get home from work. I don't think he'll eat a lot, but hopefully get a few extra calories in.

I just finished reading BW II. It's a great book. The best part may be the fact that we shouldn't have to change Elijah's schedule until at LEAST 15 months; most likely 18 months. This will be wonderful-that's seriously 9 months of consistency!!! I LOVE IT. We'll see of course, but it should be nice.

The other parts that I'm really enjoying is talking about training and obedience. Balancing between baby-proofing the house and house-proofing the baby. Elijah is already really good at understanding what NOT to touch. He still tests and pushes boundaries-he's going to be a mischievous one, but I can tell he knows.  It also focuses on purposing play time. Using it as a learning opportunity. Eljiah is already learning so quick. He knows bye bye, milk, all done, eat, and starting please. He can also clap!

I'm not sure how often I'll do BW updates now. If anything changes, I'll be sure to come back!

Independence Day

I've always loved the 4th of July. It's a day after my birthday, so I've had a special bond with it. I usually remember what it's really about.  A day to celebrate our freedom, to be patriotic, and watch fireworks. I think it's good to remember though that the 4th of July is no mere day. It is our country's day of independence.

Something about this year made Independence Day mean more to me. Perhaps I'm getting older, understanding more about politics, war, sacrifices our military make. I believe a lot had to do with me being a mom now. As I watched the jet's fly over head before our city's celebration, tears flooded my eyes with pride. As we were staring at the sky with fireworks going off behind a waving lighted American Flag, my heart swelled. I held my scared and tired baby boy, so thankful to God that he was born in this country of pride, courage, bravery, sacrifice, and so much more. I'm grateful that God has provided for this country and has brought it through so much in the past years. I'm worried about what direction our country is going, what my son will have to deal with. I'm confident that the American people will stand though, for what is right, what is noble. It may take a while, and there may be people fighting against it, but I pray that it in the end people look back to July 4th, 1776 and remember what our fore fathers did for this country and bring us back to that station.

I found this quote that I absolutely love, and I feel it really brings back the reason for our celebrations:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires an...d Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142).

 

*It says the second day because that when the declaration was written, however it wasn't accepted until the fourth day.

Hiring Out Services

For some reason my new job has taken me to a new level of busyness and stress. Maybe its the fact that I can't slack off as much as a I was able to do with a company that I'd been with for 9 years. Maybe the work is more time consuming? Or it could just be because it's new. In addition, my little boy is getting older and needing MUCH more attention. This has led to NO time after work for things like cooking, cleaning, yard work, showering, etc.

I know I can't hire out showering...but what about the other stuff. I got to thinking, how much is our time worth? How much money do we have in the budget to bring in some help occasionally. How do you decide if it's right for you and your family?

We're a very frugal family. DIYer's if I may. My DH can really do anything, learn anything around the house. He re-did our roof, he just finished our deck. He does all the remodeling, fixing, repairs, and yard work. We never call a serviceman. Our furnace goes out...he fixes/replaces it that night. He fixes our cars, changes our tires/oil, etc. I have a handy-man available and I'm sooo greatful! However it does make it more difficult in deciding whether to pay someone to do things we're capable of doing ourselves. It really comes down to time for us.

What do I want to spend the few hours I have afterwork-with my son doing? Cleaning?? NO! Long story short-I thought it would be extremely helpful to hire out some help. Possibly someone to come in a do a clean once a month? Maybe someone to mow the lawn for my hubby every other week?

We NEED my income-at least part of it. Since I have a good job though, we usually have a little extra-we normally like to save it, but I figured that I'm a working mom. While I'm making good money, having to leave my baby during the day, I should at least get to spend quality time with him when I get home and not worry about the house.

In addition, we lost our new sitter-so we had to start looking for one. What an opportune time to consider a nanny. Someone to come watch our baby, and tidy up a little. We checked out the budget and it would work. I could still come home and feed him (it's even closer to my work!).

So now, we have a nanny, and I'm just scheduled my late mother's day gift-a cleaning service. Just one time for now, but I'm trying to find a way to make it monthly!

Now just to convince my hubby to hire a kid to mow our lawn...

8.5 Month BabyWise Update

Another 2 months has passed. It's been a lot of work, but his schedule is finally on a good track again!

After finally realizing that this learning thing doesn't end-I hopped on the BabyWise forum to get some help (a blessing straight from God!) along with purchasing BabyWise II for 5 month-12 month babies. Why didn't I do this months ago???

As I said in my last post, the CIO worked to get him sleeping through the night again. It's been great! I also didn't pick back up the MOTN pump, so I've been getting sleep! 8 hours again. Finally. Really, it's priceless.

After starting Babywise II and getting ALOT of advice from the forum, I realized that Elijah needed more wake time, more food, and he needed the dreamfeed and late afternoon nap dropped. Within about 2 weeks, we implemented all of it. It's worked WONDERS! He started his 2 hour naps again, he's eating SOOO much better, sleeping SOOO much better. He's well rested and happy again.

Here's his new schedule now:
7:30 Wake, Nurse
8:30 Solids
9:30 Nap
11:30 Wake, Nurse
12:30 Soilds
2:00 Nap
4:00 Wake, Nurse
6:00 Solids
7:45 Nurse
8:00 Bed

There's still a few little things that need worked out, but I have a plan and we're starting it today. He's still waking pretty consistently at 6:30 a.m. My late bed time helped for a while, but then dropping his 3rd nap through that off a little. He's getting much better at staying in his crib and being happy. He'll usually cry the last 20-30 minutes though-but he stays in until his desired wake up time. So to fix this, I'm going to try extending his wake time between his morning and afternoon nap. So his wake time amounts will be 2/3/4. I think this will work great!! He's usually REALLY tired by 2 p.m., so I may increase it in 15 min. increments. We'll see how he does.

I'm also going to increase his food by an ounce. He's usually comfortable after his 4 oz, but he seems he could eat more-so perhaps this will help with his sleep as well. I always sleep better once I'm full.

So I'll hopefully update again soon and let you know how it worked. It seriously feels like it changes once you finally get it. Oh well, the life of parenting right??

A few notes:
1. We keep him in his crib until his scheduled wake time. He plays and jabbers a lot of it. He still cries some of it though.
2. We now go more by the clock that we used to. Not so much the wake, eat, play schedule. He's old enough I feel comfortable with him waiting to eat. I want his body used to normal eat/sleep times. It is still parent-directed though-meaning I use my mad mommy skills to interpret what he needs (even if it's outside the schedule). The schedule is there to help us, not rule us.  LOVE Babywise.

Babywise has taught me MANY things. One thing that has stuck out to me lately though is that it really never ends. Parenting isn't just learning the basics with a new born. As soon as you get comfortable, you baby grows, his needs change, and you change with it. I thought I was 'done' learning once I got the hang of things around 4 months. NOT A CHANCE!!! That's when things went haywire. Now we're in the disciplining stage-which I get a feeling is training me and Tyler just as much as it's training us.

We've also started transitioning to baby led weaning. So instead of using purees, were trying to feed more finger foods so he controls how much he eats. It also gets him ready to eat on his own. We're doing more a combination right now, but he loves it.

I know BW isn't for everyone. I know some people CRINGE at the idea. I can't help but notice the difference though in the way Elijah sleeps compared with other babies though. He goes to sleep in his crib, happily-even excited at times, he sleeps 2 hours for nap times, 11.5 hours for night times, wakes up happy (most of the time), I honestly believe it's healthier for mom, dad, and baby parenting the babywise way. It's been ALOT of work. We're not 'lucky'. It's been so worth it though. The way I see it is you're exhausted and it's a lot of work no matter how you parent-so I would rather my exhaustion and work be directed towards an end goal that is the best for the family as whole. If you ask me 8 hours of sleep is an excellent end goal for mom and baby ;).