Oyster Fest 2010

This was my first year to attend Oyster Fest. It was a blast, the sun was shining for the most part and the people watching was great. Over the past years I have started to like Oysters, as long as they are the baby ones and I don't have to chew! There are so many different ones to choose from, but I think my favorite one was a cucumber lime salsa Oyster. Here are some pictures from that weekend.

A new start-Day 2

So again last night I tried to figure out Bowdy's sleep issue! He did great all day taking all his naps and eating good. Last night he did much better than the night before, but I guess anything wold be an improvement from waking up every hour or so.... Last night went a little like this:

• 8 pm to bed
• 12 woke up crying, I gave him his paci and he fell asleep
• 1 am he woke up again and I went in there to comfort him after 5 minutes of crying and then 10 minutes later he was still crying so I gave him a pillow, wrapped him up and he went straight to bed till 6:30 this morning.
• At 630 I went in and gave him his paci, he slept till I woke him up at 7:30

Over all I felt like last night was much better than Wednesday night so I know we are on a good start. Hopefully tonight gets better not worse:)

A new start

So last week I was talking to Janelle and telling her that I couldn't believe how much easier Bowdy was now and that I didn't think it would ever get to this point. I was raving about how I felt I could take him anywhere and knew he wouldn't be too difficult for me to handle. This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me since I had taken him out and about since we came home from the hospital, 4lbs and all, but I think it finally hit me that I could do anything with him. Bowdy has been great during the day, taking 3 -2 1/2 hour naps and usually a evening cat nap that last from 30 minutes to 1 hour. He had been sleeping through the night with his last feeding at 8 or 8:30. I would only have to get up and give him is paci around 3 or 4 and then wake him up at 7:30. I often would complain that I felt like he should have "sleeping at night" down since he was almost 6 months and I believed he should be "perfect" Well I guess that was pretty much a perfect night compared to what I have been going through this last week. He is definitely pushing my patience each night. He has all of a sudden started waking up every two hours through-out the night and I was at my wits end on Monday night so I decided I wasn't going to give in to his screaming, but around 4:30 when Clay left for work he demanded that I do something for the kid since he had been whaling for the last 30 minutes! I cracked and ended up wrapping him in his Indian basket and what do you know... he was fast asleep until I woke him at 7:30. What is going on with him? I cried yesterday to Janelle because I just don't understand what his deal is. Yes it could be an upset stomach, or he is teething, or something hurts, or he is just being spoiled.... Too many unknowns. I tried to think if I was doing anything different these last couple weeks with him and I realized that I just started feeding him banannas, so maybe they upset his belly? None of these questions make it easier for me because I refuse to be another mom who makes excuses for her child because they have sleeping issues.
I was pondering this all day and trying to figure out what I was going to do different so that Bowdy, Clay, and I can survive the nights without an ounce of resentment. I read through the Babywise blog and searched for answers. I came across a few sugesstions that might help us! I think we are going to try to be more consistent at night time and establish a bed time routine. Until Tuesday night, we had just been giving him a bath somewhere between 7 and 8 and fed him between 8 and 8:30, which just might be a little to inconsistent for him. I hope that is the answer!
Last night is the first night I really implemented CIO as described in babywise. Night one of the implementation went a lot better than I had planned. Here is what happened:

• Laid him down for bed at 8pm, he immediately fell asleep
• He woke up at 12:00 so I waited 3 minutes, went into his room touched his belly and covered him back up, when I left the room 30 seconds later he was still crying.
• I waited another 5 minutes and he was still crying so I went in there and did the same routine as the first time, left the room.
• after another 8 minutes he was still crying so I repeated the routine, left the room and he was still crying.
• I was going to give him 11 minutes this time to calm down, but after two minutes he was silent!
• I laid in bed trying to fall asleep and it seemed like at least an hour of peace.... but what do you know after 8 minutes of silence Bowdy started crying again...
• I repeated my routine two times and he soothed himself to sleep. By this time is was about 1 am and he fell asleep till 2:30 am.
• I again repeated the routine, but only had to go in there once before he fell sleep
• Then at 4:15 he woke again, I went in there once and he sleep till 7.
• my goal is to have him sleep to 7:30 so I went in there, gave him is paci and then woke him at 7:30 to feed.

I know that this is a long and boring post, but I'm hoping this night process keeps getting easier. We are leaving for the lake on Sunday and will be gone almost 3 weeks, I hope he is a little better by then so he doesn't bother anyone. We have changed his daily schedule and I plan on being less flexible with is until he masters his night sleeping. He is perfect for me during the day so I know he can be perfect at night!

Here is our new schedule:

7:30- bottle and solids

8:45- nap

11:00 bottle

12:15-nap

2:00- bottle and solids

3:15- nap

5:30-bottle

7:45-bath

8:00 -bottle and solids and bed.

If anyone has any helpful suggestions let me know I am totally open to any ideas... I know babywise works because I see the kids that are raised on it and they are a pleasure to be around, but maybe I'm doing something wrong:(

6 months

Wow has time really flown by! I still find myself in disbelief that I have a baby, much less a 6 month old baby! Where does the time go? I guess when you work almost full time you don't realize how fast time is really going when all you seem to think about is getting the week over and enjoying the weekend. Sometimes I wish I could be a stay at home mom for the simple fact that I wouldn't have to get up early and get dressed every morning and rush to the office. I dream that only having to find things to entertain my child and getting tons of play time with him were things that consumed my day. Every time I get this "I don't want to work" feeling I take the day off and once I finish all my chores, I just sit there and realize I couldn't do this everyday, week vacations are nice, but I don't think being a stay at home mom is for me, unless I had a billion kids. Besides working for my Dad isn't half bad, I get to bring Bowdy to work and get to be will Janelle, Connor and Lucas. I bet if Danielle worked here, Janelle and I would work lots of hours because we would love just being with eachother.

Bowdy is doing great, we had his six month check up on Monday and he weighed 14lbs(3%), 25.75" long(24%) and was 9% in head. The doctor said he was progressing just great, but wanted him to start gaining more weight, hopefully he will move into a higher percent at his 9 month check up. I can't believe that in another 6 months he will be 1 year, it seems like he will always be small, not crawling or talking. but I guess I need to savor this time because before I know it he will be into everything!

6 month stats:

• Sleeps 12 hours at night
• Feeds every 3 1/2 hours
• Eats 6 oz of formula
• Eats 3 meals a day
• Still very smiley
• Rolls over immediately when placed on the floor
• Puts everything in his mouth including both feet
• Starting to do mini push ups(I think he will be crawling soon)
• Loves his cousins to talk to him
• Doesn't spit up as much as before(I think the meds are working)
• Has a cough that will not go away

A little less crazy

Im finally getting a little bit of time to update my blog (just finishing watching 5 kiddos) that is officially way overdue! A lot has been going on in our lives, but the most exciting thing is that I finally finished college. Yes I know I should have my masters degree, or even a PHD with the amount of time I spent getting my BS in Business, but oh well I truly lived up the first couple of years of college, or the first four years and wasn't focused on getting into the real world, but the truth is just working and raising a baby is way easier then going to school! I am enjoying spending my nights with family instead of in the library, even though study groups were quite amusing with the right kind of study partners! I have been working at least 30 hours per week and I hope I can step that up to 40, but I'm trying to find the perfect schedule and the balance I need to be a good mom and wife. I know that Clay is probably more excited for me to be graduated because it will take a little pressure off of him playing daddy day-care. Well the most important boy in our lives is now 24 weeks! It is crazy how fast the first 5 months went, and I feel like I didn't appreciate him as a baby because I felt like he wouldn't get to the big boy stage, but I know he is growing up faster than I could imagine. He is now 13 lbs and the doctors seem happy with his growth even though he is still on the smaller side. We started him on reflux meds a couple weeks ago because he was spitting up more than normal and he has had a cough for almost 6 weeks.

They are hoping this medicine will help him gain more weight and get rid of the cough, I know his grandma Dena will appreciate him not smelling like puke, or spitting up(projectile status) on her!

Bowdys Milestones:

-2 bottom teeth

-eats baby food three times a day(when I'm on top of it)

-Rolls over and is constantly turning in circles to watch TV

-Loves his johnny jump up

-eats 6 ozs ever 3.5 hours

-sleeps from 830 pm- 7:30

-takes 3 naps

-smiles constantly

*Im sure there are many more, but over all he is a GREAT baby, I didn't know someone could bring you this much joy. He has been a blessing to Clay and I

Its been awhile!

Well we have all noticed that I haven't blogged in awhile because to be honest blogging is my last priority! I have my birthday last weekend and a group of us went to Santa Rosa. We all had a blast, but I wish the weather was a bit warmer. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend...

Not that bad...

Today was Bowdys appt to get circumcised and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone kept saying how horrible the experience of getting your kid circumcised was so I was preparing myself for the worst. Last week I told Clay that he would be in charge of taking Bowdy, because I didn't want to go, then on Monday I changed my mind. I told him I would at least go to the doctors, but I would stay in the waiting room. My mom didn't agree with my choice on this and she basically told me to suck it up and be in the room. So of course I listened to her and both Clay and I went together, but we both made it clear we wouldn't watch.

After finally getting into the room, Dr. Humphrey just wrapped him in a blanket, strapped him down and got to business. Bowdy cried when her got the numbing shots, but that was basically it. They gave us some "sugar water" and I just dipped his pacifier in that a few times and he went sound asleep. He must like sugar just like his auntie! Dr. Humprhey did assure me that he did better than most kids and that when kids have their parents in the

room they seem to be more comfortable. I'm glad our experience went well, because I was nervous for weeks about it.

Oh and even better than him sleeping during that painful process was that he weighed in at 5lbs 13 oz! Almost 6 pounds! Wonder if Ill have anything to talk about when he is "normal"size!

Below are some pictures we took and sent to the NICU nurses at the hospital. The quilt his is laying on was made by one of them so we sent them a thank you card and include these photos!

Its the small things...

It's the small things in life that make you excited! To most parents putting their kids in their car seats seem meaningless, but today I put Bowdy in his "big boy" car seat for the first time and he actually rode in it while we ran errands. I am a nervous wreck about his neck falling forward, because the nurses told me that if his falls forward he could cut off his air supply since he is so little, well he has gotten super strong, so I decided it was time to get him out of the car bed!

Isn't he so cute?

1 Month Old

I can't believe that it has already been one month since I gave birth to this little boy! It is crazy because it seems like I've had him forever, or at least longer than a month. It is funny how milestones, such as him one month birthday, put things into perspective. When we were in the hospital it seemed like we were never going to leave and now that I have been home for two weeks, the two weeks in the hospital feel almost like they didn't even happen! Everyone always says that you could never love someone as much as your child, and I am another one of those people.

I would say that we are pretty lucky with how Bowdy behaves, and I would love to attribute that to the way he "just is", but the truth is that Clay and I are lucky to have sisters that keep me following Babywise guidelines. I truly believe that is why he is on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule with a little wake time after his feeds(I know Janelle, I'll try harder to keep him awake after the feeds) and he sleeps for the remaining 2 1/2 hours in between. I have to give props to the NICU nurses who trained him as well to eat only every three hours, so I got a jump start before having to do it on my own, now I just make sure to not deviate from that schedule. The second week at home has been more challenging for Clay and I as Bowdy is now developing his personality and has found his voice, but overall we are having a blast raising, or monitoring, our child.

Today we were visited by the home health nurse (for the third time in the two weeks we have been home) and he weighed in at 5lbs and 1/2 oz. He will be in a regular car seat before we know it!

First Doctors Appt

Last Tuesday we had Bowdy's first doctors appointment and he is now weighing in at 4lbs 12 oz, 18 1/4 inches long. He has grown over an inch since birth and seems to be gaining about 1 oz a day which is great and before long we will have a big boy! We have seen the home health nurse twice already and they seemed please with his progression, so I believe we don't have to have them out to the house anymore. At first I thought the home health visits were a little bizarre, but I think they helped reassure me that he was doing okay. We go back to the doctor this coming Tuesday, and I'm hoping to be carrying a 5lb boy!