Specialize This

At Leon's nine month check up the doctor said he needed to see a specialist. Then she said, "Don't worry, it's just a precaution." Basically, she asked me a series of questions and I said, "no" to most of them. The questions were, "Does he crawl, does he stand holding onto furniture, does he move from one piece of furniture to the other, does he pull himself up to standing etc." I thought those were all skills for much older babies. Granted there are plenty of babies crawling at his age but standing up holding on furniture? I hadn't seen him do that because I wasn't even considering "allowing" him to try. What if he falls? And to that question my mom and Jeff say, "so what, he will fall, he needs to learn etc etc." Leon's been comfortable with putting pressure on his feet for some time now and he has been standing and pulling up on stuff recently. I am still going to see the specialist, because well, because the doctor said so. But I'm 100% sure that he is completely fine and or above average :).

Here's a video of Leon standing and holding on to his pack and play all by myself.

Popsicles Anyone?

I just purchased this mesh Popsicle like thing for Leon. I saw a father on a playground in Boston with it. Basically you stuff the mesh pouch with food (I mixed banana and sweet potato in this one) and the baby can chew and suck on it. This way Leon gets all the "juice" out chocking on any big pieces. The only down fall was it's hard to clean. I tried cleaning it by hand first. Then I put it in the dishwasher. Even still it had food stuck in it.

Sleeping Update

Guess who is sleeping now? Everyone! Leon has pretty much slept through the night (with either no crying or less than 2 minutes of crying) for over a week. In my 32 years of life two events have changed my life entirely. The first one was having Leon and the second was Leon sleeping through the night. Honestly! Graduations, marriage, moving overseas, etc...none of those events radically changed my life like having a baby and the second biggest change was him sleeping all night (without needing to nurse every 1-3 hours!).

I was against CIO. And I still do think if one's baby cries a lot and completely resists sleep training, then it's probably not something one should do. However, it was time for us. Leon sleeps 12+ hours every night and (when he is home with us on the weekends) has two two hour naps. He is sleeping more at daycare too, but not as much as I would like.

Last Friday I went to the movies (Jeff stayed at home) with my mom and sister. This week Jeff and I are going on our very first date night (outside of the home and without Leon)! I'm also going to go back to taking late night dance classes!

Island of Safety A.K.A Leon's Cage

The Pack and Play finally has a use! Now it's in the kitchen and is being used as a little cage for Leon. :) I recently read a book that called play pens, "Islands of Safety." Leon's not crawling (forward) or walking but he is trying hard to pull himself to standing on whatever he can grab. So this is quite helpful during dinner prep time. I thought we would use the Pack and Play a lot when it was first purchased. But as many of you know, Leon ended up co-sleeping for the first four month exclusively and then on and off until nine months. I really only used it to change diapers. But now, it's converted into a play pen. I will likely use it as a bed when our crib is shipped. Yes, we are moving. More details later....

Sleep Update

Two of my friends spent the night (and are still here) with me to help Jeff and I get Leon "sleep trained." I admit this really was a last resort. I was against sleep training and CIO (cry it out). It seems so harsh and I was on the side of, "Let him eat (whenever, where ever, he wants)."

However after almost 10 months of bad sleep (honestly I have not slept more than 5 hours since Leon was born and it is not an exaggeration to say that most nights I sleep 1-3 hours before I wake up to feed him). When I co-sleep I don't have to get up to feed him, but I am a "prisoner" to the bed. So I don't use the bathroom, get a snack (being an all night snack bar burns a lot of calories), or roll over. But it's not all about me, or Jeff. It's about Leon.

If I was a stay at home mom, it would be easier for Leon. Since he prefers to BF to sleep, that would be doable for me (exhausting but definitely doable). However, he's at day care during the day. So he does not nap well. Usually they say he sleeps from 9-930 and then another quick nap in the afternoon. That combined with less than a full night asleep means Leon is not sleeping enough.

Sleep training was not as bad as I had predicted. He went to sleep (BF to sleep) late because we had other guests. He was in bed by 8:30pm ish. At 10 am he woke up crying. Usually I would take him out of the crib and feed him. On many nights, I'd just take him in to the bed and feed him and keep him there until the morning. But last night, I didn't pick him up. I rubbed his back (he was on his side) and stayed with him for a minute before I left the room. I repeated that twice more at 5 minute intervals. Then I did it again at 10 minutes. By the time my 15 min interval was up, he was sleep. So he was asleep by 10:40 or so. Then he woke up again at 2:00 pm. I waited 15 minutes (we had a stand off in the hall, i was convinced that he was probably hungry and that I should get him out of the crib or at least check in on him in 10 min instead of 15). Between 2:00 and 2:30 he cried, slept, and cried. It was very hard to hear him cry and not pick him up. My friend M. said, "You are doing this for you and him." My friend J. said, "get back in your room. He is not hungry."

At some point I went to sleep. Then at 5:30 am Jeff's alarm went off. I woke up suddenly and said, "Has it been 10 mins?" Then I realized he wasn't crying and I went back to sleep. He's still asleep now.

I know we have to continue this for a couple more nights for it to work. But so far, it seems to be working. I hope I'm not causing any lasting psychological issues for Leon. Sleep is priceless. Leon needs it (and I do too!).

100% Leon

As mentioned earlier Leon's not that great of a sleeper (well unless he is lying next to me), but he is a great eater! Leon eats and drinks! At his 9 month check up I learned that he is on the 100% for his body weight and 100% for his head size. :) Meaning, 100% of babies are smaller than him in body weight and head. LOL! He was 50% for his body length. Both Jeff and I were chubby babies. I'm not worried at all about him holding on to any "baby fat." The boy is already so active! He gets frustrated that he can't crawl forward but what he wants more than anything is to stand. Every chance he gets he pushes into the ___ and tries to pull himself up. It's only a matter of time before he is up and running. Literally!

Help is on the Way!

Leon still isn't sleeping thru the night. Wait, he's not even sleeping three hours in a row these days! He started nursing again every 2-3 hours (sometimes every hour). I try not to nurse him; I pat him on his stomach, side, sing etc. But usually he doesn't stop crying until he is nursed back to sleep (yes, I know that's "bad" but my program was move him to the crib, stop nursing to sleep, and then finally stop nursing him at night.) I he has been waking up more due to his new teeth coming in. He seems to only be happy when he is sleeping beside me or near me. I'm not sure how he knows. But if I bring him into my bed and I sit and check emails or watch TV via my IPAD (or if I go to sleep as well), he stays asleep. If he is sleeping in his crib or alone, he wakes up frequently. I know proponents of co-sleeping would say, that's proof that Leon wants to be near me and that that is a good thing. Co-sleeping parents also say that the Western world has brainwashed us into believing that we must push our babies away from us and put them in their own bed and room to sleep. I'm not totally against co-sleeping. But I am against all night nursing (just too exhausting) and sleeping unsafe. Leon, pictured here, is a poster baby for how not to let your baby sleep. He is in a nice fluffy bed, with sheets and pillows. All big no-nos. If I did co-sleep as a lifestyle (and not as a last resort to at least getting some sleep), then I would need to get a king size futon mattress and put it on the floor and not use a comforter.

But the point of this blog is to say, "Help is on the Way!" One of my friends, who has two young boys who both sleep thru the night, is coming over on Friday (in two days) to help me with Leon. She's staying the whole night to give Jeff and I support.

Oh, there he is crying again. He went to sleep at 8pm and now he is awake for the second time.

Gotta go! Friday come quick!