Schedules and Dargan's First Bike Ride

Our experiment with getting on a semi-regular schedule seems to be helping a bit. I wouldn't say we've had fantastic nights yet, but I think we're improving. Or maybe I'm getting used to it.

For the past few nights, we've been pretty successful at having his evening vegetable around 6/6:30 and then he'll nurse to sleep starting around 7/7:30. He tends to wake up somewhere in the 10:30/11:30 range then again 1:30/2:30 range before getting up for the day. I think if I could get him to sleep through just one of those (either would be fine!) then I would be a lot happier with his sleep schedule.

This morning I heard him talking to himself at 4:30 or 5, but he wasn't crying so I just let him be. He was very happy at 5:30 when I went in to get him up! Kid must be a morning person.

Anyway, the weekend was pretty good.

Friday evening we tried fruit for the first time - bananas were a hit! Didn't even have to mix with any cereal.

Dargan also typed his first email after dinner on Friday.

It turned out like this:

He leaned on the spacebar a lot.

On Saturday, we woke up early because somebody doesn't understand how to sleep in on the weekends. :)

Ready for breakfast cereal

Bunbun snuggles on the changing table

We got ready to go for a run, and put on some long sleeves and hat because it was a bit chilly and cloudy. Turns out this hat is a little snugger than it once was!

1 week vs. 5.5 months

But I still like it!

Tired after the run!

Another success for Saturday was that D actually napped in his crib twice! It was a pretty monumental achievement.

We'd originally planned to go to Freak Bike (local group bike ride) but ended up staying in and getting Mexican food for dinner instead. Yum!

Sunday was similar - woke up early (at least he has that part of the schedule figured out!) and I got a nap after Scott woke up.

Lazy mornings on the porch with Shiner.

We decided it was a good day for D's first bike ride, so we rigged up the car seat in the bike trailer (borrowed from a neighbor) with some bungee cords and off we went down the Swamp Rabbit trail!

Not sure what Dargan thought, but he slept a good bit and was awake/ looking around for a while too... didn't hear any complaints from him, so we think he liked it!

We will have to be sure to put down the plastic flap in front - the mesh didn't catch all of the dirt, so D was a little dirty when we got done. oops!

Overall a pretty good and relaxing weekend. Hoping we can continue this "schedule" and see if his nights continue to improve.

Edited to add: Forgot the video of our new favorite thing: blowing raspberries!

Sleep Regression

Oh yes, we are rounding out week 3 of the dreaded "4 month sleep regression" (if that's what it is). It's likely a combination of sleep regression, growth spurt, and lack of normal schedule that's making it incredibly difficult to get good sleep!

All this week, we've not gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep at a time. We've tried various things to fix it but so far no sure-fire solutions. We think it may be hunger-related (growth spurt perhaps?) because a couple of times we've bottle-fed and he does sleep a little longer.

I've chalked it up to "this too shall pass".

Anyway... photos!

I like snuggling with Mr. Bunbun on my changing table.

Weekend couch snuggles with Harley

Fingers! Nom!

Not quite ready to stand... but I sure think it's fun to try!

Also not great at sitting either...

Tummy time isn't as terrible as it once was...

And I like reading!

I also refuse to nap on the weekends... so Mommy has to walk me around the neighborhood in the carrier until I fall asleep.

Yep. That about summarizes last weekend. On Monday, Scott was dressing Dargan and said he could tell D was bigger than he was even a few days ago. I think he's right... we tried some 6 month jammies on just to see how big they were... and, um, looks like we need to be wearing 6mo clothes all the time! They fit perfectly!

Monday morning in my blue puppy jammies

More 6month jammies! 

And Mr. Bunbun

My bunny!

So yeah... definitely getting bigger by the day!  Last night we experimented with an earlier bedtime (start putting to bed just before 7) and then I did a "dream feed" at 10:15 before we went to sleep. This is basically going in and getting him out of the crib and feeding him while he's basically still asleep in hopes that he'll sleep longer after "topping off" with some food.

I'll say it worked... ok. He slept until 12:30, then I was up for a couple of hours with him (I dozed off in the chair) but he was sleeping or at least calm until our alarm went off at 5:30. I did hear him wake up at 4:30 but he didn't cry, so I let him just lay in there and talk to himself until it was time to get up. He seemed quite happy when I went in to get him up for the day, so we'll try this again tonight!

Also, throwback photo from our week in Vegas....

"Mom, what ARE you wearing?!"

First foods!

This week's firsts: baby food!

It's hard to believe we're already at this stage, but 5 months was Dr. Butcher's recommendation for Stage 1 baby foods. We try one new food every 48 hours to give D a chance to have a few servings and see if there are any allergic reactions or upset tummies. So far, no issues!

First we tried carrots...

Already apprehensive...

Ick!

Nooooo

No like carrots!

I know buddy, me too.

So that night didn't go so well. The next night, we tried sweet potatoes (upon Grannie's recommendation)...

First taste... ehhh

What is this stuff??

Then we mixed in a little rice cereal to make it thicker, and...

Hmm... not so bad!

The next couple of nights, we mixed rice cereal into his carrots and he ended up liking those, too! We have also had green beans (he seems to like those better than either carrots or sweet taters) and squash (that was at daycare, so not sure what his reaction was). Overall he is doing really well, and is now getting rice cereal with milk at "breakfast", then a vegetable with "lunch" and "dinner". The other meals are bottles or nursing as needed. He usually will take a full serving of veggies along with a full bottle at daycare. They have commented that they're impressed with his eating!

Post-dinner hanging out with Shiner

This week his sleep has still been way off of the good trend he was on a few weeks ago. I'm hoping it was just getting re-adjusted to having a schedule and being on the east coast, because I can't handle more weeks of being up every 1-2 hours at night!

"Why would I sleep? Too much fun to talk and smile!"

Friday night we went out to Barley's an ate dinner with some friends from work.

Looking up information on good beers.

D fell asleep in the carrier after dinner and slept for a good hour while we enjoyed pizza and a pint (or two). We got home and Scott put him to bed with a leftover bottle from daycare. He took a while to go to sleep, but finally was calm around 11pm or so. Then he didn't wake up until 2:30am! Yay improvement! I fed him, put him back down, and he slept until I heard him stirring around 6:15. When I went in to get him up, I found him like this...

"Help! I've rolled over and can't roll back!"

So we have our first official back to front roll! Haven't done front to back yet. Perhaps soon?

We headed out around 8:30 for our Saturday morning run, and as usual, Dargan enjoyed looking around at the trees and catching a bit of a nap. We walked through the downtown farmer's market when we got to the end (we ran 11 miles from the house down the swamp rabbit trail to get to downtown Greenville). Dargan was quite content all bundled up in his stroller!

It was chilly this morning - in the 40s!

In the afternoon, we refused to nap so got to help mom & dad decorate for Halloween instead.

Hey Mr. Scary Thing, where do you go?

And finally, this kid is a jumping fool... he LOVES his jumperoo, and we got some good giggles out of him this week!

5 Months Old - Vegas, Baby!

Oh boy was last week an adventure... family trip to Las Vegas for my chorus competition at the MGM Grand Arena!

This was Dargan's second flight, but first cross-country flight, and overall he did SO well. We flew out on Monday (the 5th) afternoon, connected through Houston after a couple of hours' delay, and finally made it to Vegas around 8:30pm local time.

Watching the planes during our delay. So well-behaved in the United Club!

Tuesday morning, Scott and I got to do a mountain bike ride while my parents watched Dargan. It was so beautiful and such a different environment than our usual Greenville/NC mountains!

That evening we went to dinner at Hofbrauhaus - great German food and beer!

Wednesday morning we did a short family hike up a steep mountain side.

The next day and a half were a whirlwind while I prepared and competed in my competition. I won't go through all the details, but we placed 22nd out of the 34 best choruses in the world. Not bad for our first trip to the International stage!

Thursday night we walked around on the Strip and saw the fountains at the Bellagio...

...and Friday we went hiking in Fletcher Canyon and then hit up Big Dog Brewing.

Hiking naps!

Big ponderosa pines!

Straws are fun!

On Saturday, we ran a 5k (cross Nevada off of the "Run a Race in all 50 States" list!) where Scott placed first overall and Dargan & I took 2nd place in the Female 30-39 division. :)

I like racing!

Afterwards we went to "Old Vegas", saw Fremont Street, and got denied at a few breweries - apparently most things are legal in Vegas except going to a bar with an infant. Boooo. :(

That night we went to dinner at Firefly, which was delicious, but D was super fussy and I had to wear him for the entire meal so we could eat in peace.

"Please stay asleep!"

The next morning was an earrrrly one - woke up at 4am to get to the airport for our flight home. Dargan and I napped in the United club before our flight.

And a day late... but we got a good photo on the flight:

I have to say, Dargan is a GREAT traveler on airplanes! We get on, hang out til he's hungry, he nurses, and then falls asleep for most of the flight. Such a great flyer! Plus, we like hanging out in the Clubs at the airports...

And now we're home, at last.... hoping to get back to better sleeping schedules now that we're back in a familiar place. D did not sleep well at ALL in Vegas. I think we all missed our normal routines!

Some other photos from the weekend before we went to Vegas...

Being a crazy little bouncer!

So sleepy Friday night we fell asleep in the middle of eating.

Saturday morning, snuggling (nomming) with Mr. Bun Bun!

Cooler temps and rainy on Saturday = Daddy says I look like a shipyard worker!

Floor tummy time with Dad!

Little grins on Sunday morning.

Face nomming shark attack! 

Ready for church on Sunday!

Done with bath time in our shark robe 

Monday morning, refusing to nap.