Tea Parties

Nadia has really been blossoming lately in her creativity when it comes to dramatic play. Today I participated in a tea party marathon. The guests included Larry (the cucumber), Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head, and two of her dolls (one she calls "Baby" and the other she calls "Dollie"). She used her little teapot to pour many cups of tea and hot chocolate and served us a wide assortment of pretend food (pizza, carrots, cookies, chicken, bananas, etc.).

Today ended up being day #4 in a row of Ian only having one nap. He fell asleep in Paul's arms this morning (around 10am) but immediately woke up when Paul tried putting him down. So we've decided to stick with one nap a day. Today he cried for 50 minutes and then slept for 50 minutes. I hope that in the near future he stops crying for so long. The strange thing is that I put him down awake at night, and he cries for less than one minute. As for sleeping through the night, he's still waking up at least once during the night, but thankfully he cries for only a few seconds each time that he wakes up. One morning he didn't wake up until 6:25 (which meant he had slept for almost 11 hours), but most mornings he wakes up sometime between 5:25-5:45am (it was 5:25 today), which means he's usually getting 10 hours of sleep at night. I've been trying not to get him prior to 6:30 if possible.

Nadia is usually in her bed for a minimum of 2 hours, and it's often longer because she doesn't fall asleep right away. Today she was up by 2:30pm. If only she had woken up that early yesterday when it was 66 degrees out! I wasn't at all tempted to walk to the park today as it was a very cold and blustery day. It is February though. This weather is to be expected. Yesterday's was an unexpected blessing.

Ian thinks this racetrack is a chair. He climbs in and sits in it all the time, lol!

Naptime Woes

Karen had suggested we try transitioning Ian to one nap a day when she was here on Tuesday. On Wednesday he cried for 30 minutes and then slept for an hour. That seemed like a success in my book. Yesterday he really, really wanted a morning nap. He kept yawning, rubbing his eyes, and giving all the signals that he was tired. Even though this was making him very fussy, I kept him up. At 12:25 he fell asleep sitting up in my lap and so I carried him upstairs to put him down for his afternoon nap. He woke up as I was putting him down and then sat in his crib and screamed for 30 minutes. I rocked him back to sleep but again when I put him down he sat up and screamed for 30 minutes. He finally fell asleep, but he only slept for 20 minutes. He used to take two 30 minute naps without any crying so this seemed like a big step backward to have him scream for an hour and only sleep for a total of 20 minutes over a span of 12.5 hours.

I thought I'd let him have two naps today, especially since he was again very fussy and tired this morning. He fell asleep in my arms at 9am (I used to put him down between 9-9:30), but again when I transferred him to his crib he sat up and started screaming hysterically. After crying about 5 minutes he threw up on his sheets. I got him and when he again fell asleep in my arms at 10am I woke up him. When he fell asleep sitting in his highchair at 12:15, I carried him upstairs and thankfully he didn't wake up when I transferred him to his crib. However he only slept for 25 minutes. I let him cry for 15 minutes, but I could tell he was going to throw up if I let him keep screaming his head off. I gave him a little milk and then let him sleep a little more in my arms. I didn't want him to be really fussy for the babysitter tonight, and he would be fussy if he again only slept 25 minutes total over a span of 13 hours (as he was up at 6:25am and we'll put him down at 7:30 tonight). I am not sure what I'll do tomorrow. He's only had 1 nap a day the past 3 days, but his total amount of sleep has either stayed the same (Wed) or gone down (yesterday and today).

The other naptime woe today was the fact that Nadia took forever to fall asleep and this meant she didn't wake up until 3:55 pm, which meant we couldn't go to the park even though it was 66 degrees out because the babysitter was coming over at 4:00 so Paul and I could go out on our belated Valentine's dinner date. I was really bummed about this as I was wanting to have some exercise to burn off the peanut butter pie I was planning to get for dessert. At least Ian and I were able to enjoy the warm temperatures by hanging out on the patio while she napped. It's supposed to be cold again tomorrow, but warm weather will come back sooner or later and when it does we'll be headed to the park. If it hadn't been for our dinner plans, we could have started our journey to the park at 4pm. I did take the kids out to the backyard after she woke up so at least they got a little bit of time on a swing and slide.

Thankful Thursday

1. For all the progress I wrote about in yesterday's post

2. Part way through the week last week Paul started leaving for school earlier so he could come home earlier. I am not sure what prompted this change, but I am grateful! Even though dinner time is not always a pleasant experience (when a certain 2 year old refuses to eat anything), I am very glad for the times when the four of us are all seated around the dinner table at the same time. I do look forward to the day when all four of us eat what I've cooked. That might not happen for a few years, but until then it's nice to have the kids seated at the table while Paul and I eat. Tonight was the first night over the past week that he didn't come home in time to eat with us.

3. Ian is still making progress with sleeping at night. Last night he only woke up and cried once during the night. He started fussing around 5:45am, but that didn't become a cry until 6:25am, which is when I got him. I nursed him, and he fell asleep in our bed until 7:05am.

4. I know this warmer weather isn't here to stay yet, but I enjoyed taking the kids to the park this afternoon! Thankfully most of the snow has melted so I didn't have to push the stroller through any snow. I'm also looking forward to spending time outside tomorrow when it's supposed to be above 60 degrees. WOOHOO!

5. I've enjoyed reading books again. I read 5 novels and part of one non-fiction book over the past 4 weeks. That's WAY more than I read in 2010. I've had more time to read due to #1 not having a job outside of the home and #2 not having a laptop computer.

6. I really enjoyed choir rehearsal last night. I am so glad to be able to attend the entire rehearsal. I love the music our choir director selects, and I love the fact that we sing SO many anthems each year. I've been in choirs where it seemed like we rehearsed a song to death, but that never happens in this choir because we sing so many different songs each month.

7. I'm also really enjoying being back in a ladies Bible study. Can you tell I'm enjoying being a SAHM? :-)

8. I didn't pass my stomach bug to anyone else in our family last week (or Paul's parents who were with us about 12 hours before I started throwing up).

9. Nadia finally ate what I served for dinner last night at 10am this morning. She had gone 22 hours without eating anything or drinking anything but water. She never even tried it last night, and at 10am she ate it without any problems. What a relief as she was a very miserable child this morning until she ate, and her crying was also causing Ian to cry. The first few hours were rough here at our house this morning, but everyone was in a much better mood after Nadia finally agreed to eat her dinner.

10. Some Dollie & Me dresses I ordered last week from Sears (on clearance of course) came in the mail today. They are so cute! Nadia had fun dressing her doll in some of the dresses, and I will have fun next winter dressing my doll (Nadia) in the ones that are for her.

Lots of Progress!

Nadia is really getting the hang of learning Bible verses. This week she's learning her fourth Bible verse, and it's the longest one she's learned thus far "I will be glad and rejoice in your love." If you ask her to say her verse, she always says the first verse she learned "Teach me your way O Lord," but then when prompted she can say her other verses as well. I'm very proud of her!

She's also making a lot of progress in her gymanstics skills. She consistently JUMPS on the trampoline. Her skills on that apparatus are still lagging behind the other kids, but she's finally jumping instead of running across it. YAY! Also she can now do a forward tuck roll (aka "somersault") by herself on the wedge mats at the gym. I think in the near future she'll be able to do it by herself on a flat surface. We'll keep working on it! Here's a short video of her jumping today. It wasn't her most graceful attempt, but it does show that she now does some jumping on the tumble track!

Ian did much better sleeping last night. He cried some when I put him down because he's used to going to sleep by bottle. I rocked and sang to him instead. I thought he'd cry longer than he did so that was a relief. I didn't hear him until 5:45, but Paul said that Ian woke up twice during the night (while Paul was still up) but that he only cried a couple of minutes each time. Whew. I got him at 5:55 and the little guy immediately went to sleep on me. I let him sleep on me for awhile and then transferred him back to his crib where he slept until 7:15. Soooo I learned this morning that I shouldn't let him get up so early. There will likely be some crying the next couple of mornings, and this might wake Nadia up, but if it means for the long run that his wake up time can be shifted from say 5:45 to 6:45am, it's well worth it. Here's to hoping we can get Ian to sleep from about 8pm to 7am or something close to that. Since he slept in so late this morning I decided to skip his morning nap. He fell asleep on the way home from gymanstics (about 11:30am) but once we got home I woke him up right away whereas usually I'd let him keep sleeping in his carseat. It was a battle when I put him down at 1:15. I am not sure if it was because he wanted to sleep in my arms or because of that little catnap, but he cried for about 30 minutes. I knew it was keeping Nadia up, but I again thought it was worth it for the long haul. I'm not 100% convinced he's ready to switch to one nap a day  yet, but I figured it didn't hurt to give it a try today. I think I'll try it again tomorrow because he slept for ONE HOUR! WOOHOO!

I was really thrilled with Ian's progress at lunch today. In addition to the usual Doritos chips and cheese curls, I put some Gerber puffs on his tray. For the first time ever, he picked one up and put it in his mouth. It came back out, but several times he either held it and licked it or would put it on his tongue and then spit it out. I was thrilled even though none of it went down his throat. I was eating peanut butter and honey on toast, and I ripped off part of the crust of my German dark wheat bread, and he also picked it up and licked that as well. I was elated! To someone else it probably seems like nothing, but to see my boy put food in his mouth is a BIG deal -even if zero calories were consumed. I am thinking maybe finger food might be how we get this boy eating rather than food eaten by spoon. I hope this is a break through. It feels like a big step to me although of course getting him to swallow something is also important. He also was playing with the cup and spoon Karen brought yesterday, and he will drink a little water from the cup.

OT Visit #3

This morning we were able to go to ladies Bible study. The last two weeks the study was cancelled due to snow. Nadia did a great job (no tears) and giving her peanut butter crackers to eat on the way home meant she stayed awake and then slept from 1-3:30 in her bed later that afternoon. The last time we went she didn't nap At All at home due to a very short nap in the car on the way home. While she napped Karen spent 75 minutes with Ian. She was pleased with the progress I've made with him with the oral stimulation exercises. Last week he gagged when I touched his tongue, but he doesn't do that any more. This week I'm to focus on the palete of his mouth. I told her the sippy cup transition totally failed but that I had been able to get him to spend a lot more time in the highchair this week. She gave me a different cup to use (one side is cut out to allow for the child's nose) and suggested I try to get him to drink his formula in that cup. I tried it this evening to no avail. He will drink a tiny bit of water from my glass. I'll try using that new cup for water tomorrow. She also gave me a new spoon to use and suggested I put some of his formula/cereal on it. That also didn't work at all this evening. She said that if we're not seeing some progress by early March that we should make an appointment for him to see Dr. Williams, a psychologist who is part of the feeding team in Hershey. We are headed to Hershey on the 24th to see a pediatric GI. It seems strange to think my 14 month old might need to see a psychologist, but if he can help Ian learn to eat solid foods, then I guess that's what we'll be doing.

In terms of Ian's sleeping habits, she said we did the right thing by letting him cry the last two nights. It. Was. Hard. Especially since he cried for 2.5 hours straight at one point on Sunday night (from 12:15-2:45am). That was torture for all four of us. In addition to waking up several times during the night, he's also been getting up very early each day (sometime between 4:45-5:45am). The boy isn't getting much sleep! Karen thinks that if we let him cry again tonight then it should go better starting tomorrow night. She said it rarely takes more than three nights of letting a child cry. If he's still struggling, we're to try using the radio (set on a station that's just producing static) as white noise again. Because we worry about him throwing up if we let him cry, she said not to feed him after 6pm. We usually feed him again right before he goes to sleep. She also suggested transitioning him from two to one nap a day and insisiting that he nap for at least one hour. I really don't think he's ready to go to one nap a day. I'm going to hold off a bit before I try that.

Our Valentine's Day

On our way home from Nadia's gymnastics class (a make-up class from a session that had been snowed out), I noticed that my car said it was 54 degrees outside. I immediately decided to take the kids to the park. I had planned to take them to the mall after Nadia's nap, so I took them as soon as we got home (11:35am). This turned out to be the better time of day to go as the temperatures dropped in the afternoon. I gave Nadia some peanut butter crackers to eat in the stroller since I normally feed her lunch after we get home from gymanstics.

I quickly learned that I could not go my usual route to the park because I would be traversing through large "lakes" of water. I had to stick to the main roads, which makes the trip longer and also makes me feel a bit less safe. Once we reached the playground I discovered the parking lot, which is rather large, was still snow covered. Did you know that strollers don't traverse snow very well? They. Do. Not. It took every bit of strength in my body to get the stroller up to the playground with the kids in it (they weigh 53 pounds together). When the wind was blowing it didn't really feel like it was over 50 degrees, but it still was a lot warmer than it has been lately. It felt great to be outdoors and get some exercise, and the kids had fun on the swing, slide, seesaw, etc., but I don't plan to return until the snow has melted away. It's supposed to warm up again later this week so maybe the snow will melt. I am really looking forward to warmer temps!

After Nadia's nap I took the kids to the mall to use a JCP coupon and use one of our free ice cream coupons for Friendly's. Nadia and I shared a free dish of Forbidden Chocolate ice cream. YUM! Of course the kids also enjoyed riding the rides. The last time we were there some other kids were using coins on the rides so Nadia now asks for money, but thankfully she accepted riding them without using money.  In the morning I had given Nadia a Hermie & Friends DVD as her Valetnine's Day gift. On Sunday I helped her make Paul a card (glue + glitter + stamps + markers = a blast for Nadia). I also gave Paul a card yesterday. We're going out to dinner this Friday night.

14 Months Old!

1. Ian still loves to cross his legs. It cracks us up how often he crosses his legs while sitting.

2. Although he adores his monkey, he still also loves Nadia's Sweetpea. I insist on Sweetpea never leaving Nadia's room because otherwise it's nonstop tears and fighting between the two of them over who gets to hold her.

3. Ian's diet right now consists of formula plus baby cereal taken by bottle plus he'll lick a couple of chips a day. Since we started making his bottles REALLY thick he's now only chucking an average of once a day, and even that one time is a much smaller quantity.

4. He currently weighs 21lbs 4oz, which is what he weighed in early December, but it represents a gain of one pound over the last 5 weeks.

5. Ian loves music. It's so cute to watch him dance. He loves watching the kids march and sing at the library. I'm sure he'll join in when he's able to do so!

6. Ian is really into books lately. He studies the page very intently before turning to the next one. He also will sit for quite a long time when I read a book to him. I hope he stays a book worm for many years to come!

7. Ian's attention span for watching tv is much greater at this age than Nadia's was (not that I want him to watch tv at this age!). If Nadia is watching VeggieTales I have to move him or he'll naturally stand right beside the entertainment center (in other words WAY too close to the tv).

8. He can crawl very quickly, but he still views crawling as a means to get to a place where he can stand and cruise. He still hasn't attempted to take any steps, and he hasn't been standing without holding on as much as he was a month ago. I have no idea when he'll start walking. I don't think it will be anytime soon.

9. He still favors the color red.

10. I'm still his favorite person. He cries if he sees me leave or if he sees me come into a room. Sometimes this bothers Daddy.

11. He's trying to play with Nadia a lot more these days. If she's playing at the kitchen or dollhouse, he'll join her. Unfortunately she's not desiring to have a playmate.

12. He's still not sleeping through the night like he had been earlier. Paul rocks him and then puts him down on his back and from then on we let him cry if he wakes up. Thankfully he doesn't usually cry for more than a couple of minutes, but sometimes this happens multiple times during the night. He usually gets up for the morning sometime between 5:45-6:45am and goes down between 7:30-7:45pm.

13. He takes 2 naps a day at about 9am and 1pm. If they are in the crib they last 20-30 minutes almost all of the time. Every once in a while he'll nap for 45-50 minutes in the crib. If I let him sleep in my arms then he'll sleep for 60-90 minutes for each nap.

14. He's a super cuddly guy. He gives really great bear hugs. I'm grateful that both of my kids are really affectionate!

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian's OT came again on Tuesday afternoon. Her suggestions were very different this week since last week's didn't work out too well. I am very grateful that she can come every week. The main things I am to work on this week with him are some oral stimulation exercises as well as trying to get him to start using a sippy cup. He is capable of drinking from a cup, but after drinking from it a little he objects as he prefers the bottle.

2. I feel much better today. During the night on Sunday night I figured out I had a stomach flu. On Monday I didn't attempt to eat anything until I thought I was done throwing up. I felt better on Tuesday, but then Tuesday night part of the GI bug came back plus AF showed up (after only 28 days which is super short for me). Also, I've had a sore throat, congestion, and 100-101 degree fever the past few days. All of this put together meant that I was very weak and dizzy yesterday. The house was literally spinning, and I just kept praying all day that I wouldn't faint while home alone with the kids. Thankfully the Lord enabled me to maintain consciousness all day. I still have a fever and such today, but compared to yesterday I feel one million times better. I actually had enough energy to give the kids a bubble bath today!

3. Paul was able to stay home on Monday since his advisor was out of town. This was perfect timing!

4. While taking care of the kids on Monday, Paul discovered that if we make Ian's bottles really thick (he calls it "sludge"), he rarely throws up! I'm happy to buy tons of baby cereal if this solves the reflux problem! Of course we'll still be taking him to the GI doctor in 2 weeks.

5. Ian has been taking two long naps a day (by long I mean at least 50 minutes). Most of these have been in my arms. I've figured that although it means I'm in almost constant contact with Ian for 13-14 hours straight, it was still more restful for me to have him sleep in my arms for 2+ hours over the course of the day. I also am hoping that after doing this for a few days that his body has gotten used to longer naps and maybe he'll start sleeping more than 30 minutes in his crib. Hope springs eternal I guess.

6. Nadia has been sleeping in a big girl bed for over a month now, and that transition has gone very smoothly. She only fell out of bed once, and she only got out of bed without permission once. I let her get up after I'm done nursing Ian (usually sometime between 6:30-7:15am).

7. I got another email this week regarding my latest article. This one was from a professor in India. I wish I had kept track of how many countries I received emails from regarding that article. :-)

Jumping!

The photo at right was taken at the library yesterday while Nadia was participating in the song "Head and Shoulders." They were on the "eyes and ears and mouth and nose" part of the song. The theme was Grandparents, and Nadia was really wanting to see one of her grandparents after we left the library as it's been 3 weeks since she's seen any of them. Grandma and PopPop are hoping to come up tomorrow afternoon to visit. Nadia wants to share some of the cake she helped me make on Thursday night.

Wednesday's gymanstics class was cancelled, but I took her to a make-up class on Thursday. She JUMPED on the trampoline (tumble track) for the first time. YAY! What a relief for Mommy. We had been working on jumping all week. She hasn't mastered it (on the floor anyhow - she can jump on the bed very easily), but hopefully she now realizes she doesn't have to just RUN across the trampoline like she has the past few months. They also did some activities with a big parachute for the first time. She loved it! Ian liked watching that part also.

I should have taken a video instead of a picture of her doing a flip on the bar.

Wednesday night was the night we let Ian cry a LONG time during the night. Thursday night he slept from 8pm to 5:45am straight. WOOHOO! Friday night he woke up once (I think around 10pm), but he didn't cry that long and then slept until 6:45am, which was great as I had put him down at 7:30pm. This is a HUGE relief for us. I'm so glad we let him cry on Wednesday night. We were able to do so since he woke up later than usual and crying wouldn't induce vomiting (for once). His reflux was REALLY had yesterday. I felt like I was cleaning up vomit all day long. Not Fun.

Occupational Therapist

Karen, Ian's OT, came for the first time today. She'll be coming on Tuesday afternoons, weather permitting. I am hopeful that through her weekly advice plus whatever we learn through Ian's GI appt (scheduled for 2/24) that Ian will be consuming more than milk (and licking cheese curls) in the future. She really thinks that the GI doctor will find a physiological problem. We shall see. Her advice at this point is as follows:

1. Don't give Ian anything by spoon until his next OT appointment (Tues). Don't use the Nuk brush any more that was given by the feeding team.

2. Have him drink his bottles in the highchair (except for the one before bed) to try to have him change his attitude toward the highchair from negative to positive. I am to leave cheese curls and a spoon the tray while he's drinking his milk.

3. Give him a deep tissue rub (arms, legs, and back) with lotion after his baths.

4. Change his wet diapers while he's in a standing up position rather than lying down.

5. Do another deep tissue exercise (hard to describe in words) with his legs and arms 4-5 times a day.

6. Encourage him to put toys in his mouth, and if I find one that really fits well in his mouth then I am to try to keep that toy near him all day long.

7. If he keeps waking up every hour throughout the night (sleep has been an utter disaster lately) we are to use some white noise (ex. a radio playing a static sound all night) to see if that will help. Usually we can't let him cry because he'll throw up. We also haven't been feeding him because we don't want him to get used to being fed every hour throughout the night. So we've usually been rocking him, but lately he falls asleep immediately in either my arms or Paul's arms, but he will not sleep in the crib. Last night at 12:15am I decided to let him cry because it had been 4 hours since he'd been fed so I didn't think he'd gag. I put him on his back (so he wouldn't stand up), and we let him cry for more than an hour. It was torture for all of us (except Nadia, who slept through it all). He woke up one other time (4:30am) and didn't cry as long that time. He then slept until 7:45am, which is much later than usual which helped make up for the sleep he lost while crying. I really hope that he got the message that he needs to sleep by himself (not in our arms) and will go back to sleeping 10-11 hours straight like he was doing before.