Slept Through the Night

WOO HOO! Mark it down, January 5, 2010!! After a somewhat fussy afternoon, he finally ate at 730 p.m. and went right to sleep. Jim said he'll probably wake up somewhere from 1-3 a.m. Well, he DID fuss around 145, which woke me up. About the same time, Matthew fell out of bed (poor fellow) and I went in to him.

But Nathan never really did cry. Later I looked at the clock and it was 230, then I kept trying to fall asleep but never could. He would stir and fuss but never woke up. I kept thinking, 'ah, this will be the time,' but it never was. Finally I looked at the clock and it was 530!! I had no idea it was that late (or early, depending upon your perspective).

Happy day! I hope it sticks. I had duty tonight, but it seems like Jim should have this wonderful thing of being surprised that he slept through the night.

Potty Update

Matthew is doing really well with the potty. He's still in a pull-up at night, but is doing well during the days. In fact, he's started being able to go "both ways" in the day time, almost completely by himself! Wow!! One day, it will just happen and I won't know anything about it. Haha.

Last night, too, he had a completely dry pull-up when waking up. I've gotten so that I will change his pull up around 515 a.m., which helps in two ways. If he has gone a lot in his pull-up, I can change it and he won't get wet sheets. But also, it's beneficial for breaking his sleep cycle and then he sleeps later! :-) This week his pull up has been pretty dry at 5:15, so I wonder if I'll keep waking him just for the later sleep time.

Wake-Up Routine

Matthew's morning routine has varied over time, naturally. He used to play happily in his crib in the mornings until, say, 8:30 or 9 a.m. Now that he's gaining more independence and is in his big boy bed, he wishes to GET OUT when he WAKES UP. So, I usually hear him start moving around 7-7:15. Then he wants to get up.

I hear his feet going to the door, thump, thump, thump. Then I hear him speaking through the crack under the door. "Mama? Mama? I wake up. Get up now." Sometimes I can get by with a few more minutes, but usually not. Then when I go up, he's been putting his fingers out from beneath the door and asking me, "You see my fingers, Mama?" It's cute, but I have yet to get a picture of that one. Normally I open the door and he hops into my lap and snuggles a little bit. He'll chat and talk about what we're doing that day.

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. Click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Don't Wake Me Up!

Matthew just hates waking up from his late afternoon naps. This video was taken a couple of weeks ago (4/30), but it's typical of how he is when he wakes up. Sometimes I just let him lay there with his door open while I do chores upstairs.

Here's a short video below.

Calm at Nap Time!?

I wish my eyes could take pictures. On Wednesday, after 2 years and 4 months of who knows how many nap times, I laid Matthew down for his afternoon nap and he did NOT throw a fit. In fact, as his eyes were a bit heavy, and I told him, "Mama's gonna take a nap too" and he waved and said, "Yeah. Bye bye, Mama."

I was like WHAT??? Who are you?! Usually, it's like this. Very very cool.

Car Naps

Occasionally, we arrive at our destination before Matthew wakes up from his car nap. Such was the case two days ago, and thankfully, I had my camera with me, and got some great shots! If you look carefully, you can see a trace of food around his mouth. On one hand, I wish the food was gone, since the pics are so good; on the other hand, this is just how he looks.

View pictures now. (7)

And yes. That's still the Thomas shirt!

Strange Nap Place

Poor little pumpkin!!! He missed his nap yesterday, because a friend came over & they played (and we talked). I knew it would happen, but I didn't expect that he'd fall asleep later, outside Dada's office.

Just a Matter of Time

This is the 3rd time Dada has found Matthew like this when he woke up in the morning. This morning, Dada took in his camera phone to catch him in action. Lo & behold, Matthew is once again trying to make his escape.

We know that it's only a matter of time until we hear a thud from upstairs (hopefully without crying afterwards) and he's no longer confined to the crib. Life won't be the same if we can't confine him to SOMEthing! :-)

This image may be difficult to see, because it was taken in a darkened room with Dada's camera phone.

Sleepy Boy

Occasionally, Matthew sleeps like a rock during his nap. It's not often, but yesterday, he slept almost 2 hours. I eventually went in his room to wake him, and even opening the door didn't do it. I went downstairs, got the camera, and took this picture. He was pretty drowsy when he woke up, too!

Morning, Sunshine

Matthew makes the sweetest sounds in the morning. In this clip (just over a minute), you can hear the clock ticking next to the crib, his chatter, and calls for "Dada". The sound is coming from the monitor downstairs. This picture shows him after waking up around 8 a.m. He's wearing his pajamas.

Listen now. . .

Sleeping through the night

Matthew has slept all night for 3 nights in a row, now!! Woo-hoo. A person feels like new when she gets some decent sleep, believe me. I'm almost like myself, again.

We've made 2 big changes: 1) Lengthened daytime feedings to at every 3 or 4 hours. Surprisingly, this has been really easy to do. The pediatrician said nutritionally, Matthew should be able to go that long before eating, and we've seen this to be the case. 2) We started cereal, as you can see from the previous post. For the last feeding of the night, he gets nursed, then fed cereal, then nursed again. A little play, then down for the night. He has not protested at all and wakes up happy--even playful.

Can you spot the camoflaged baby in this picture, who is STILL sleeping this morning?

Crib Bedding

We bought some bedding for Matthew's crib and it arrived yesterday. Big day!! He seems to really like it, looking at all the patterns. Believe me, we WANT him to find something to keep him occupied in the crib. In fact, he's talking to the animals, now. (Or talking to someone...) The set includes a bumper pad, fitted sheet, dust ruffle, and small comforter.
Other pics: Full size pic of above, Picture 2 (tummy), Picture 3 (tummy), On his back.

See the picture of the advertisement.

Crib

We bought a crib; it was a gift from Jim's Mom. We were hoping to wait until we were in the house, but Matthew is growing so quickly. Even though this picture's a little blurry, you can see him telling his friends (Mr. Bear & Mr. Frog) all about it.

Baby Burrito--the Nightmare

What do you get when you cross Moo Shoo Shrimp for dinner, a documentary on the Roman Coliseum, and baby swaddling techniques? Baby Burrito--the Nightmare.

When we (2 know-nothing parents) were in the hospital, the nurses demonstrated swaddling a baby by comparing it to a "baby burrito". Last night I was reminded of that, as I ate my Moo Shoo Shrimp, which is basically a kind of Chinese burrito. Then, during a midnight feeding, I saw an interesting documentary on the History Channel about the Roman Coliseum. So, the dream goes like this...

I'm in this sort of cafeteria that's shaped like the Roman Coliseum, with tables on the different levels. Suddenly, I see all these people I knew from my elementary/middle/high school. I saw Judy F., Lisa G., Kathy R., Bridget J., Mark S., and some others. I was very excited, since I had hoped last year to hear of a 20 year reunion. (Don't ask me where this part tied in!)

Always doing nice things, Linda, from my present-day church, suddenly brought me a food tray, explaining that there wasn't a whole lot of food left. That reminded me of Matthew, and I asked myself, "where's Matthew?"

I ran down to the kitchen, where the cafeteria ladies were supposed to be watching him, only to discover that they had placed him in a pan of large burritos. He wasn't in the actual serving pan with the burritos OR in the hot water underneath, but rather, on the side somehow. He was actually not harmed, but you can imagine that I flipped out. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" I asked them. They looked at me like they were thinking "new mothers...", since evidently this was an acceptable method for keeping babies warm.

Well, what do I know??!