Just in Time for Christmas... Mombie!

Hmm, I thought I'd published this post, but obviously not! Suffice it to say, Owen is now sleeping really well, thanks to a little bit of fussing it out. Two nights of letting him fuss when he woke (unless it was time to eat) and he got it all figured out. The longest he ever fussed for was 20 minutes, and it was actually not that bad, because he never got to the screaming stage that he would escalate to the times Steve or I would go in and then try to settle him. But I'm posting this anyway, because wow, I need to remember this to hold over his head one day!

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I am so beyond tired these days, I'm like the walking dead. Auntie Erica says I'm a "mombie", which fits just perfectly. Owen is not sleeping well. He falls asleep pretty well; he needs some intervention to get him down for naps, but he goes down fairly easily at night. But he does not stay asleep. Some nights, it's like he's awake every hour. I take 10 minutes or so to settle him back down (he still only wants to eat once in the night, the other times, he just needs a cuddle) and then he's back into a deep sleep. Which only lasts for another little bit of time!

The books I've been reading say that babies have a sleep cycle of about 40 minutes, where they start out sleeping lightly, then deeper, and then lightly again. It seems like every sleep cycle, Owen wakes up. I definitely think it's a sleep cycle thing, because even when he sleeps a little longer, it's increments of 45 minutes or so - he'll sleep for an hour and a half, and (rarely!) for three hours at a stretch.

This is very hard, not only because I'm not getting quality sleep, but because Owen slept so WELL when he was tiny - I feel like I must have done something to screw him up! Of course, between teeth pain, learning to sit up, rolling over, he's got a lot on the go right now, and that's enough to keep anyone awake at night.

The interrupted sleep doesn't seem to bother Owen at all - he often wakes up in the morning and just talks happily to himself until we go in to get him. He's in a good mood during the day between naps. He's still our Cheeri-O, which is great. And at least I get all those smiles and love from him when he's awake - it would be much harder to be a mombie during those first few weeks, before you get all those gummy grins and love back from the baby.

One of the strategies suggested by the (massive amounts!) of reading I've been doing on baby sleep suggests that if he's waking in a set pattern, to set an alarm, and go in and try to semi-rouse them before they would normally wake themselves, to break their pattern. I spent two awful nights doing just that (from the spare bedroom, poor Papa did not need to be woken up all night long!) but it seemed to cause more issues. To start, because Owen sometimes wakes up every 45 minutes, I was setting my alarm for only 1/2 hour, which was really tough on me. And then, because he sometimes sleeps for an hour and a half at a time before waking, I couldn't tell if he stayed asleep "longer" because I jiggled him around a little bit, or because he would have stayed asleep then anyway. And several times, I just woke him up by accident, and he was even MORE upset than when he wakes himself up. So, was I really doing anything, or would he have slept through those times and then woken up those other times anyway? I decided that I wasn't doing anything, and since I was a much better mommy for getting my sleep in 1.5 hour chunks than 1/2 hour chunks, I've just gone back to letting him wake me!

Today is Steve's last day of school before Christmas holidays, so soon I'll have some middle-of-the-night help, since he won't need to be up for work, which is nice. Things can't go on like they are, the walking dead is not an attractive look for Owen's first Christmas!

Owen...NOT rolling over

Ha! I've been trying to get video of Owen rolling over to post for Kristi and Ryan, since they're as good as in Bangkok now. (They're still in Ottawa, but since I'm not going to see them again before they go, they might as well be half a world away already!) Anyway, Owen is NOT cooperating, because he loves the camera too much to look away and roll. But the not rolling video is hilarious - my voice is SO high, because I'm trying to "sweet talk" him, I guess, and some of the looks he gives me are very funny. The quality isn't that great, because it's just taken with my digital camera. Let's see if I can get it posted for viewing....
Owen NOT Rolling
Enjoy!

Poor Baby

So, Owen is definitely teething. How do I know? Several nights of waking in the middle of the night, trying to nurse, and then screaming. Not able to nurse, not taking his soother, and screaming in pain until I can get a cold washcloth wrapped around my finger into his little mouth to rub those little gums. Poor, poor baby. The teething meltdowns only seem to happen in the middle of the night, or when he's really tired, which makes me think that most of the time the pain is not too bad, but it's too much to bear on top of other discomfort.

And speaking of discomfort, Owen's poor bottom is quite sore. He's got his first case of diaper rash, which we are treating with lots of cream, and open-air bummy time. (It's like tummy time, but without a diaper! Try it, it's fun. Minor prep required: lay down waterproof pad to protect your floor, cover pad with burp cloth for comfort, and voila, ready for bummy time! Luckily, Owen's still not much for rolling front-to-back, so he stays put on the pad.) Again, most of the time, it doesn't seem to bother him too much, unless he's tired, and then he just can't bear it. Poor baby.

And I can't even see a white bump yet, so who knows how long it will be until this tooth (teeth?) comes to town and solves the teething and runny bum troubles. So if you have a spare moment, think a kind thought for my poor, teething, red-bum boy.

Cruisin'

Well, Owen reached another milestone yesterday. After putting him in his fourth outfit for the day following three blowouts, I finally had to admit that he has outgrown his Swaddlers, and move him into the next size of diapers. He's in the Cruisers now, no more soft little baby diapers. :( And all those blowouts - I have a feeling he's started teething in earnest now, since a "runny bum" is one of the signs.

We weren't able to have our play date with Nathan last week, because the poor little guy has pinkeye. We hope he's better soon, because Owen misses him! We did get to play with Jack, Ella and Ailish, however, which was lots of fun. I should say, that we were able to lie on our tummy, and have Jack, Ella and Ailish play around us. Owen's not much for playing with yet these days, he's more with the "playing at". He's very good at getting sat upon, and likes to be petted. Glad to be doing our part to help his soon-to-be-big-sisters friends Ella and Ailish practice being "gentle" with babies. :) Of course, mommy forgot her camera, but here's a picture from the last time all these little guys got together:

Pretty cute, no?

In other news, Owen FINALLY started rolling over again yesterday. He did it several times while I was out of the room - I'd leave and he'd be on his back, and I'd come back in and he'd be on his front. I tried coaxing him, bribing him with toys just out of reach, nada. Then Steve came home, and coaxed him a little bit, and he did it with both of us watching. Yay!

And on the teething front, no little white bumps in the mouth yet, but we are chewing on absolutely anything and everything that we can get our little hands on. Including trying to eat the yellow bell on his exersaucer (which isn't really a saucer, but if I call it the "Intellitainer" like it says on the box, people are like, huh?) Here's a pic of Owen in it, see how big the bell is??? It's more like a bell pepper, but Owen loves to "bob" for it.

He loves to play in there, because he loves standing up. It was a gift from the River Sisters, Krista, Julie and Summer, my good friends from high school. And speaking of them, Krista just had another beautiful baby boy! Congratulations Krista! Lots of babies coming for Owen to practice HIS "gentle" skills on one day. (One day. No more babies in the works for us for the time being!) Cheers!

December Already???

Here's our happy little guy, playing with his toes. Diaper changes are an adventure these days, since Owen LOVES to grab his feet. And kick. Did I mention the kicking? He's a kicking fool! And he rolled over for the first time last week. We were at BabyTime at the library, and I didn't realize I'd put one of his toys down just out of his reach, until he rolled over to get it! That afternoon, he was rolling all over, back to front, back to front, and even back to front to back. But he stopped before Steve came home, he stopped, and he hasn't done it since! He goes halfway, onto his side, and then stops and grins at us. Silly boy.

He's also getting better at sitting on his own, he does the tripod sit very well, and if he's sitting with Steve or I, he'll pull himself up on us into a sitting position, but he still needs to work on balance.

He did much better with his shots at his four month appointment - he cried, but stopped as soon as I picked him up. He's almost 16 pounds, and 26 inches tall. What a guy!

Last weekend we had Auntie Kristi and Uncle Ryan's home reception. For the occasion, Owen wore his first suit:

Aren't my boys handsome? I love them! Owen also wanted to try his first rum & coke:Auntie Kris and Hunkie Unkie did their first dance...again!

And Owen got tired, so I just popped him into his sling, just like in Mexico. He fell asleep, and still gave Mama a chance to get out on the dance floor. (See him peeking out there?)

Now that all of Auntie Kristi and Uncle Ryan's wedding parties are over, it's time to start thinking about Christmas - yikes! November just flew by, good thing Owen and I have time for shopping during the day. We have an appointment this morning to get Christmas pictures taken. Not sure what he'll wear yet, I have a few cutie options. We got a few pics taken by the photographer at Movies for Mommies this week too. I put Owen in just a cloth diaper, and we put him on her bear rug - too cute! She also had a pair of angel wings - we'll have to see how those photos turn out.

Got to run - playdate this afternoon with Auntie Erica and Nathan, then this evening with Aunties Jill and Rachelle and Jack, Ailish, and Ella. Mama will remember her camera and try to get some more cutie pics. Cheers!