Our Little Linus

Do you see a resemblance? :o)

So far, so good!

I'm feeling the need to post because it has been almost 2 weeks since I last updated everyone. Not much new to report, which is good news. We are staying healthy (knock on wood) despite being around those getting over various illnesses.

Seth is continuing his quest for new flavors as he gets through these orange/yellow veggies and fruits. He has now had: rice cereal, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, oatmeal cereal, and as of today, peaches. He is a good eater (I wasn't worried) and only makes a face when trying the first spoonful of a new food.

He is continuing to grow pretty steadily. I have now put away all 0-3 month clothes. Even some of the 3-6month outfits that have feet (sleepers) have become too short. Length is the main problem. I think we might have a tall one on our hands!

Overall, he is still a happy little guy. He likes his naps and is sleeping well. It seems like we are putting him down for a nap quite often, but he shows the signs of being tired and does drift off to sleep with the help of his Rainforest music. According to the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, an infant should not be awake more than 2 hours at a time. This doesn't seem to be a problem with Seth. He shows the signs of being tired around an hour of being awake. When naps get screwed up, Seth gets overtired and can have trouble getting settled down to sleep at times. So, we do our best to facilitate his naps without becoming hermits. Usually after a weekend of being out and about, it will take a Monday to get back in his routine.

5 months!

Yep, today marks 5 months since Seth's arrival. He is such a joy and we love him so much!

We also want to wish a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aunt Alicia today! We hope you have a great day and we can't wait to see you soon.

Dedicated to the Lord

All dressed up!
Our Pastor praying for Seth and us.

Today Seth was dedicated to the Lord at church. It isn't a baptism, as that is done when the child decides on his own that he wants to make a public declaration that he has given his life to Christ. Dedication is basically when we as parents dedicate our son to the Lord and declare that we will introduce him to Jesus and do all we can to mirror Christ in our home as we raise him. Seth did so great and didn't fuss at all. We are so thankful for him. It was a great day; Grandpa George, Grandma Elaine, Grandpa James and Aunt Tina came to see him and we all had lunch together afterward.

Note of interest: It was exactly 1 year ago today that I took the pregnancy test and got the positive result. :)

3 generations of Hammersmith men

Making Progress!

Seth enjoying his cereal.

This week, Seth has really turned a corner. Here's an update:

Sleep: This is going pretty well. He will fuss for a few minutes before some naps and going down for the night, but overall he is sleeping well. He continues to go to bed around 6:30-7pm for the night (as often as possible) then wakes for a bottle somewhere between 3:30-4:30 in the morning. He then goes promptly back to sleep (with absolutely no fussing) until around 7:15am. Not bad!

Talking/Cooing: This has really taken off the past few days. He just jibber jabbers all the time. It is too cute! I love talking back to him and we have "conversations" throughout the day.

Eating: I thought he'd never stop spitting the cereal back out, but our daily practices have finally paid off. The last couple days he is eating his cereal very well. He hardly spits anything back out. I have increased the amount to 1Tbsp. of cereal twice a day now. I am so proud of him for getting the hang of eating at just under 5 months old.

Pacifier: We still only use this in case of emergencies...basically when we're in church or restaurants. He is doing well, though he is giving his hands quite the workout. He wants to chew on them all the time and has even fallen asleep with his 2 fingers in his mouth. Poor guy. Mommy really needs to get him a teething ring to chew on to save the skin on his hands that has become all red from being in his mouth.

Overall he is quite happy. He always has smiles for us. He has even started to wait patiently in his crib when he wakes up. When we go in to get him, he gives us a big smile. There's nothing like being greeted in the morning with a big grin from our little guy!

Pacifier Update

Since Thursday, I've been putting Seth down without his pacifier and letting him self-soothe/cry himself to sleep. I know that part of this going smoothly is based on me getting him down before he's overtired. He cries more if our schedule gets messed up and he gets to sleep when he's beyond tired.

So for naps he's been crying anywhere from 5-20 minutes. At night he will cry initially when we put him down and possibly a few more times during the night (briefly), which happens more often the more overtired he is . He wakes up around 4-4:30 for a bottle. After he eats, I put him right back down to finish his night sleep. This morning he fell back to sleep without a peep! With church today, his schedule got a little messed up and when we got home I gave him a bottle and put him down. He stayed quiet for about 10 minutes, then cried for about 10-15. I checked on him and his eyes were closed, he was in his favorite sleeping position (hands behind his head) and was crying. He was just really tired. He's learning to use his hand if he wants to chew on something.

So, we continue to work on his sleep schedule, which is easier during the week when less is going on. I am also continuing to introduce cereal each day. I try giving it to him after a bottle. I've heard about giving cereal in between two feedings, but I don't think this will work with his nap schedule. He sleeps between feedings for the most part.

Kicking the Habit

Last night was not fun. We put Seth down around 7pm, which is the time he gets tired. We rocked him a little, gave him his pacifier and I stroked his face until he looked like he was going to fall asleep. Usually we have to go back in his room a few times to put the pacifier back in because he wakes up as soon as it falls out. Last night was no exception. I was determined not to bring him in bed with us, as I have been doing, just to try to get some sleep (all of us).

Well, it was miserable. I had to go in his room to get the pacifier just about every hour of the night. No one got any sleep. I told Evan that this can't continue. So after Seth's 4:30 bottle, I put him back down as I always do. This time I let him have his pacifier to start, but when he pulled it out or it dropped out, he would have to cry it out. This worked! About two minutes after putting him back down, he started to cry. I think it was about 5 minutes and the crying stopped and the boy slept for almost 4 hours straight through. He sleeps better without the stinkin pacifier! In fact, we all do!

So this morning I jumped online to google this issue. Over and over I read how mothers had the same exact issue and how they just had to get rid of the pacifier all together. They said it would be hard at first getting through the crying, but their children slept so much better and eventually got used to it. This makes sense to me, as I just experienced this myself.

So, today I am putting Seth down for naps without his pacifier. This morning's nap went rather smooth, he cried for five minutes and drifted off. This next nap took more effort. He cried for a longer amount of time, but as of right now, I don't hear him. I know it's going to be tough to get through the crying, but I think it's worth it if we ALL can get some sleep at night, especially Seth. We'll at least give it a shot.