Monday, December 19, 2011

Am I Back?

I'm sitting at the computer while Alex sleeps thinking I have a bit of free time. Yes, there is clean laundry waiting to be folded but maybe this is the perfect opportunity to make my blogging comeback.

I write that with a bit of fear as I don't know how often my posts will be. But if I never try...I'll never know, right?

So, the past month has been a a great one settling into our new home. Everything is pretty much set up, although the list of projects seems to just get bigger and bigger, along with our realization that we may need to win the lottery to get it all done :)

Alex is an absolute sweetheart. He's a great tempered baby who loves to smile. And knowing all of the mistakes that we made with Hannah has also made it easier. From day one we put him down to fall asleep on his own, scared that the sucking to soothe problem would have a new addition in our bed for 8 months, like it did with Hannah.

Our plan worked well for about 2 months and then all of a sudden our sweet little boy turned into a bit of a cranky pants. We even resorted to strapping him into the car seat and going for a drive one night, since all else failed.

So, we've reached a compromise point where we let him drink to get sleepy and then pull him off in time for him to fall asleep in our arms or in his crib. Not ideal but baby steps in the right direction.

The other challenge, also sleep related, is trying to avoid movement induced dozing. With Hannah's drop off and pick up at prime napping times and a dog walk plunk in the middle, if I let him, Alex would sleep exclusively in a stroller or car seat all day. So I've been trying to make a point of transferring him into his crib. Even if the nap gets shortened and my to-do list gets longer.

All that to say, I'm definitely no longer a midnight mom! Chris is now a midnight dad as I've smartened up and pump before bedtime so he can do the last feeding of the day and I get 2 more hours of sleep.

Here's a picture of the little guy. I'm sure he'll be the subject of discussion for many more posts to come :)