June 2012
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This week
you started putting 2 words together. No small sentences quite yet, just figuring out you can utter two words in the same breath: mommy-daddy, apple-sauce (technically one word, but you learned them as two [ie BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, ketchup, etc, all = sauce], so this one is cool to me, too). I love watching you coordinate your tongue and see you really light up when you figure out you can do...
May 2012
14 posts
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Stage 2, Night Weaning
NIGHT NINE (the final night)
So I realized I never published how it went on our final night. In all honesty, I think with how our baby did with this process and how quickly we progressed through the three stages in it, given all the factors of adjustment in how we tailored it to us, I could have been done after a week (at least with posting). Nothing really changed after...
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aneasyworld asked: Hey, I've been reading your nightly updates and thought I'd let you know that my friend is trying something similar and has recently had a breakthrough. Her son was waking up a lot in the evening and she was nursing him. She switched to rocking and it was going well, then like you, her husband tried to do it. Initially their baby totally rejected the Dad and screamed for over an hour in...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Stage 2, Night Weaning
NIGHT EIGHT
I think we may have set ourselves back a bit with the night before’s shenanigans with daddy taking over, because last night was full of wake-ups and a big set of not accepting no milk. Also, he seems to have caught a cold somewhere between lunch with friends, the park, and home for dinner last night, too, so he was pretty stuffed up by the time bedtime...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Stage 2, Night Weaning
NIGHT SEVEN
RULES (nights 7-9): No more cows milk as an alternative to nursing, and clearly still no nursing. No nursing at all once he’s asleep until he wakes up at 530a or later (once the sun is up), then he can come into bed with us and nurse. Cuddling, massage, patting, rubbing and any other soothing mechanisms used to put him back to sleep when he wakes...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Stage 2, Night Weaning
NIGHT SIX
So this is what happens when the length of awake time gets smaller and smaller… the memories and mental timestamps get fuzzier and fuzzier. So below is what I think happened.
9p: Asleep.
1130p: Awake. He barely made any noise, but I caught his movement on the video monitor. I went in and he had crawled up onto the bed. I picked him up, whispered...
Anonymous asked: stickbutt, l.b. doesnt say your name yet? he says "Daddy" and "Bella" but not "Mommy"? seems like the thing he likes and knows the best he'd want to say its name... he just doesnt know it.
Anonymous asked: In reading your blog (and knowing your family in real life!), I've noticed a general parenting philosophy, against the baby ever crying. Is this part of the attachment parenting style? Repeated, prolonged crying is known not to be healthy for a baby, especially during the attachment phase. But are there damaging effects due to crying in moderation? (Like, the 1-5 minutes of crying following a...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Last week after a reader had been following this series she recommended this children’s book to me. So I checked it out on Amazon and ordered it immediately, and let me tell you, it is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. The illustrations are beautiful and simple and the message is just perfect for our situation. It explains to the baby that once the sun goes down, everyone goes to sleep, including...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence
Stage 2, Night Weaning
NIGHT FOUR
RULES (nights 4-6): Nursing between 11p and 6a is not allowed any longer, but we will offer him cold cow’s milk from his straw cup as an alternative still these next three nights. Nursing back to sleep before 11p and after 6a okay, but in between he must fall asleep on his own without the breast. No walking around with baby, no more holding in lap to rock in...
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Operation NewTitle!
I realized we’re not actually trying to get our baby into his own bed right now. I mean, he is already in his own bed, technically. That is, he’s in his own space, which is not our bed anymore (which is on a palette of NASA memory foam next to our bed just 6-inches below ours)… What we’re really trying to do is get baby to be independent at night. AKA- Sleep on his own....
April 2012
21 posts
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence | Stage 2
NIGHT TWO
Be ready to be shocked (okay, not too shocked, it’s not like he just slept through the night or anything)… there was ZERO crying, ZERO fighting. He apparently just remembered the drill from the night before and realized, okay, that’s the way this is going to be, not worth going against it. Here’s how last night looked.
8p: In bed. He took a bit of time to get...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence | Stage 2
NIGHT ONE
We survived!
Surprisingly it actually wasn’t terrible. I was really geared up for something awful, but as it turned out, the only painful thing about it was being awake for so long in the middle of the night when you wanted to be asleep.
RULES (nights 1-3): Nursing back to sleep before 11p and after 6a okay, but in between he must fall asleep on his own without the breast....
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence | Stage 2
COMPLETE NIGHT WEANING
Bum Bum BUUUMMMM.
So here’s how it’s going to go. Tonight we’re going to start a nine day series, grouped in clusters of three nights of incremental change at a time. This is a nameless method developed by an anti-sleep training (anti-cry it out) doctor who believes in supporting the baby through a very confusing stage of change. AKA learning how to fall...
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Operation TeachBabyNightTimeIndependence | Stage 1
I realized I never updated any of you on this and we’re already ready to start Stage Two… tonight! So here’s the bottom line: It didn’t work. ::wa waaaaa::
Major bummer.
Here’s what I learned though: The No Cry Sleep Solution should really be only intended for one of two babies: babies who take a pacifier or bottle and/OR babies who are younger than nine months...
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How to argue in front of your kids
Now that the little buns really understand a lot of stuff, we’ve been talking about the issue of how to deal with getting into arguments in front of him. Should we have them, should we wait, how would we deal with our feelings in the meantime. You never really think about it, but it’s a big issue. You’re going to be demonstrating a very important life lesson to your children,...
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Sometimes you just need a break, before you break.
Yesterday was rough. This week was rough, but yesterday was really super rough. C had the worst night of sleep, which meant we all had the worst night of sleep. Lots of awake time, not being able to get settled, or stay asleep, wanting to nurse, a LOT. It felt like hours upon hours of him suckling trying to soothe himself to sleep. It was terrible. And then it got worse. He bit me. On accident,...
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March 2012
9 posts
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Colton told me the funniest story today!…
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“Much to my husband’s chagrin, Colton just learned to identify his first...”
– He needs to learn other colors quick, like blue or green. His favorite color [because it’s all he knows] CANNOT be purple! If he can say “poo” he can say “blue.
haha!
but I’m so proud of him!! (I taught him that first because it was the only color he repeated and...
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Easter Baskets & New Traditions
One of my favorite things about the holidays now with a baby is getting to start all sorts of new traditions. I’ve been so excited about Easter this year… an egg decorating party, an Easter Egg hunt with baby cousins, the FOOD, and getting to put together another basket for my babe.
First the basket stuff. Last year’s basket was filled with little things from the 99c store,...
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Operation GetBabyIntoHisOwnBed
I wrote about the process of weaning last month, and briefly mentioned how I was ready to be done with it. What I didn’t mention was the 3 week period where I wanted to poke my eyes out. Where I laid in bed trying to nurse him back to sleep, ripping at my hair and cussing in my head because I just wanted it to stop. I wanted him to stop. My nipples were sore like a new mother and I was just...
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Backyard Lovin'
Last year my friend Baloney and her Hubs had to move and it was quite the ordeal. After hearing her apartment hunting stories and how tough it was to find a place that met all their requirements (or almost), including accepting her 40lb dog, baby, dogbaby, I realized how thankful I am to have found our apartment a couple years ago, because believe me, finding the right place in this city is a HUGE...
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9 Tips Baby Books Won't Tell You
Try their shoes on earlier than you would think. My baby is only one and I went through several pairs of shoes that he never wore because I always looked at them and thought, “those look WAY too big for him”, and then I finally try them on him and they’re too small. Your baby is always going to look smaller to you than they are.
Don’t save the extra cute outfits for only...
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HB has been taking C on playground trips this...
HB: How come everyone always says he looks so big for his age?
ME: I dunno. I guess he is a little big?
HB: No, I mean, not really size, in development and stuff. They always comment on how he walks and plays and interacts. They’re always shocked when I say he’s 14 months.
ME: 13.
HB: 14. In a couple days actually.
ME: Oh crap.
Somehow it slipped right past me. Are the months...
February 2012
24 posts
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“A serving of vegetables for young kids is a tablespoon per year of age.”
– Parenting Magazine
He now knows the sign for Jesus.
He points to one of his palms with his index finger (which is half correct, you’re supposed to point to each palm). Incidentally, this is the same thing he does for “cheese*” and “again**”. That’s okay though, all in context, I know which one he’s saying. He also accompanies the Jesus sign with saying “Geezzz” as he does it. …actually, he...
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