Sleeping through the night...ALMOST

Ok so as a new mommy I've become accustomed to the usual question, "is he sleeping through the night?" I don't know why but this is the update question on everybody mind. This question carries the same suspense and interest as wondering what Beyonce will wear to the Grammy's. Well as of earlier this week my usual reply to this question changed. The cub surprised Mama Bear by sleeping through the night Sunday. Of course I was elated but I was hesitant to celebrate. At two months my cub surprised me and slept a whopping 7 hours straight without waking up. He did this four consecutive days in a row. I was certain that he was well on his way to sleeping through the night. Well, I was wrong. That lasted for only those four consecutive days then we went back to the normal routine. Two months later and he would wake anywhere between 5-7.5 hours after falling asleep at night. I was too excited after Sunday then Monday happened; he woke after 6 hours. My excitement rapidly deflated. I reduced Sunday's achievement to a fluke. Well, Tuesday came and he slept through the night again. The husband immediately became jealous because apparently the cub sleeps through the night when it's mommy's night to take care of him. The husband and I alternate late night baby duties. I guess we will see if his theory is correct tonight; it's mommy night again. Someone advised that once he does it three nights in a row we're good. My reply to that...Yeah Right! The last time he teased me he did it four nights in a row then reverted. All the same I'm keeping the fingers crossed. Maybe the three night thing will hold true. If not I'll be satisfied with replying to the suspense question with "almost".

First Time At Church

We haven't been to church since our cub was born. I've caught some sermons via Internet but we have not physically stepped foot into a church for a little over 3 months now. Our cub is so unpredictable and particular that we didn't want to go only to leave seconds after arriving. My church does have a nursery but I have yet to leave my little one with strangers so I have been very apprehensive. Well, we went to the 11:30 a.m. service at Corpus Christi this past Sunday. This is the husband's childhood church. He went to daycare and everything at that church. He learned how to drive in the church parking lot. I'm sure it's weird but cool to now enter that church with his baby son.

 The cub did better than expected. He had no choice he was sleep for most of the service. Being the new mom that I am we packed EVERYTHING in preparation for this outing. I brought his usual diaper items and added two blankets, a thin and thick one, and his travel bed. We sat in the overflow/cry room created specifically so parents could still be a part of service. We chose an area that would allow us to put down his travel bed and allow him to nap. My arm strength is improving but I'm still not there yet where I can hold him for an hour or two straight. Talk about muscle endurance. When he woke from his nap he stayed calm for approximately 5 minutes then his light fussing began. He allowed us to make it through Communion. We left right afterwards missing only the very end of service. Next week we'll try our usual church. It would be so much easier to take him to the nursery but like I said...I'm apprehensive. Plus I don't know what to do about his things. Do I have to mark each item with his name? It will only be for an hour and thirty minutes but I am totally freaking about it. The aisles at my church won't allow for his travel bed. We'll see how this goes on Sunday.

I've stated before that step by step things are becoming easier. The cub still wakes once in the middle the night for a feeding. We are developing some form of a schedule. The part that is still a little rough sometimes is bedtime. My cub does not self soothe and we usually rock him to sleep at night. When he has trouble drifting off to sleep he becomes quite irritable. Well the other night he became irate and the husband and I had no patience left so we turned on his mobile and laid him down in the crib. We walked out his room to our room and turned on the monitor. My cub loves music so we knew he would be calm and quiet and while the music on the mobile played. We both lay dreading the moment the music would stop and be followed by the cries of our cub. Well, I finally heard his cry but it was five hours later and time for his feeding. He actually drifted off to sleep on his own without us rocking him. I was elated. I tried it again the next night but...FAIL. I don't know what I did wrong. Well last night was Super Bowl Sunday so I took on full baby duty allowing the husband to enjoy the game. The cub and I read a book and played until I started to see the visual signs that he was tired. I  took him to his crib, turned on the mobile, prayed with him, then left the room. He maid a few little fussy noises, no crying, then silence. He self soothed and fell asleep on his own. Dare I try for two nights in a row....

Poopy Monster

So my cub is officially the poopy monster. Since his birth there were a few things that I feared happening. The first is him rolling off the sofa or bed or something. This somehow always happens where a parent turns away for a quick second only to spin around in lightening speed in response to the high shrills of their precious one as he hits the floor. Sad to say this has already happened and when it did I almost jumped out my skin. My little cub cried harder than I have ever heard him and I swear he gave me a "you let this happen to me and I am so disappointed" look. It tore my heart to pieces. He was fine. I learned that day that my cub could roll over. The other fear was tripping down the stairs while holding him. THANKFULLY this has not happened but every once in a while I get nervous as we climb the stairs. Now, this may seem strange but the last one is him pooping while in the tub. I know, I know of all things to fret over. One day I had an epiphany that he cannot control his bowels, hence the need for a diaper. I don't know if this is normal and he will undoubtedly hate me for this once he is older, but my cub tinkles every night in his bath water. He makes the cutest face too when he does it and you can tell he is totally relaxed. Well, my fear happened the other night while bathing the cub. We were completely done and about to take him out of the bath when out of nowhere I heard a toot sound. I was closing the cap on his shampoo so my back was to him. While still facing the other way I said "son you better not poop in your bath water". Right as I said this my husband laughs and says "oh no". I turn around to find my son pooping. So let me try to paint this picture. My son has the bath lounge thing pictured below.

As you can  imagine he relaxes and lay back while we bathe him. As babies do, he usually kicks his legs around. So, when the pooping commenced my cub was lounging back kicking his legs about essentially spreading the poop. Needless to say we had to call in reinforcements. The Abuela came to help clean the disaster while we transitioned him to the bathroom sink for a second cleaning. The next day following the bath incident my cub had another poop incident. Apparently, the volume was more than the diaper could contain and I'm sure I don't have to finish the statement. You get the picture. This morning I did my usual routine of saying good morning to my cub and kissing all over him. I love going to his crib first thing in the morning because he gives me the best smile and it sets the perfect tone for my day. Well he gave me my smile then it was quickly replaced with the furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes. Then came the grunt. I immediately knew it was happening, the poop. I tried to love on him but he could not be disturbed; he was focused on his task at hand. It kind of made me chuckle on the inside as I thought to myself I truly have a poopy monster.




Pepita except his is red, black and yellow

 Quick Antonio Updates:
He is getting so much better at sitting up with support and prefers this at all times. You absolutely cannot cradle him unless you are feeding him and even then he sometimes will try to pull himself up into a seated position.
He loves cartoons. Since birth we have played the Baby Einstein Baby Beethoven DVD for him. Initially, the music soothed him and now that his vision is good he absolutely loves the images. Whenever we need to distract him for 30 minutes or calm him down we pop in the DVD. We have now discovered he likes Sesame Street. We think it's the puppets.
He likes being read to. I've started reading to him at night since I can sit him up in my lap without much support and hold the book at the same time. He likes this bedtime book we have with barnyard animals jumping over the moon.
He can grab everything now. His strength is amazing. I absolutely love watching him play with Pepita. Pepita is this toy that you can hang from the car seat or any type of rail. It dangles so he can pull it and once he pulls it will start to vibrate.
We are still adjusting to tummy time. He will now try to push up on his arms but he still prefers to lay on his back and tug at his blanket or Pepita.
Lastly everything cloth goes in his mouth. He absolutely loves eating his bibs and blanket. I have one picture below where he shoved the bath towel in his mouth. Oh and I am not usually an endorser but Carter has like the BEST baby bath towels. Oh and their blankets are amazing. Both are featured below.

 

Random Camera Pic Time. I don't understand the face.