Leo loves Digby

I think we were all a little nervous about how Digby was going to react to Leo and vice versa. Turns out we had nothing to worry about. Leo still has all his toes. In fact, they love each other! Digby wanted to play with Leo, even barking at him to wake up when Leo was asleep in his stroller. Digby's kisses made Leo laugh and smile. Since then, Leo has started to pay very close attention to Emma. Sometimes cooing at her and reaching out for her when she walks by. When Leo is on my lap, Emma will come over and let Leo pet her. Hope they will be best buds some day!

Seattle

We traveled to Seattle over Labor Day weekend for Dave's 2nd cousin's son's Bar Mitzvah. It was great to see Dave's side of the family and introduce Leo to them. We also spent a night with Kristina and Ryan while we were there. The party events were stressful and overwhelming for me and Leo. I spent most of my time trying to make sure he wasn't getting overtired but it was inevitable. I should have skipped the evening events, too loud and overstimulating for him and too close to his bed time but he did well despite all the activity! Unfortunately, we didn't take that many photos with Dave's family. Too busy worrying about Leo, I guess. But here are some photos from the trip (some taken by relatives):

He did great on the plane

First plane ride with Papa

Putting the Jew in the Jewsian! He's got a mini yarmulke on.

Already a ladies man

With Auntie Alysa

Really interested in the beer

With Cousin Laney

The weather was amazing. Beautiful, sunny warm days. I wanted to stay a little longer!

At Gas Works Park

With Auntie Kristina

Our 18lb dumb bell

Digby keeping an eye on us

Grilling oysters. This might become a tradition for us!

Our relatives in Bellevue made a trip out to meet Leo

Digby wants to eat Leo's toes

Leo loves his Auntie!

Leo LOVES Digby!

Not sure what kind of face he is making here

Kisses!

Great to see family! Miss you guys!

Wood pile

Dave had wood delivered this year instead of going out and getting himself, anticipating not having any time to do so with an infant. He spent a lot of time cutting it up then renting a wood splitter and stacking it for optimal drying. Job is done for the most part. Still have logs to cut up but we should be set for the winter! Great job Dave! We'll be appreciative of it when the temps start dropping and our fuel oil bill goes down!

4 months

Leo is so much more alert now. He was alert before but he seems to be watching every move we make and taking in the world around him. He has started to notice Emma, too! It's been fun to watch him watch her. We have two new activity centers: a jumparoo and exersaucer. He still can't loosen his grip sometimes and gets really mad about it. Beet-red-in-the-face-grunting mad. It's pretty funny. I'll have to try to get a video of it.

Working on his leg muscles with Papa

His hair is growing and getting darker

Actually enjoys tummy time now

Wants some of Papa's beer

Exersaucer time

At 4 months he weighed in at 17 lb 6 oz. 2 weeks later he weighed 18 lb 4 oz. Seriously, we have no idea how we had such a big baby.

There is something new every day. I feel fortunate that I can spend this time at home with him. I can't work on my dissertation until I start sleeping more and he starts napping better during the day. Hopefully I can find that balance soon and start chipping away again at it.

Moose hunting

I had a moose permit for the last two weeks of August. We hunted 3 times. Dave would say 2 since the first night we didn't even make it to the area. Leo wasn't happy and I made Dave turn around. The second night we saw a cow moose and Dave wanted me to just go out and shoot it. Not feeling very comfortable with going by myself I made him and Leo go on the stalk with me. The moose was very patient up until when Leo started to squeal and then made what my mom calls a wet fart. He pooped his pants and scared the moose away. The 3rd night we didn't see anything and that was the night he was the most cooperative, sleeping most of the time. I called it quits after that. Hunting with a 3 month old isn't as easy as you might think. I lost precious sleep time and I wasn't willing to do that again. I'd rather sleep than hunt! Sorry Dave! Good thing he has a permit, too.

Consoling Leo on the first night

Almost asleep

Boulder visit 2

Some more images from the our visit to Boulder. Leo did great on the return flight. Again, talking to anybody that would listen. He only fussed when he was hungry and I tried to nurse him with the hooter hider and he hated being covered. It stressed me out and then stressed him out. I ended up giving him a bottle that I brought just in case. We had a great visit with my parents and Sam and Erica. Two weeks went by way too quickly. Now that I have a child, I realize that we are just not meant to live so far away from family. We're not meant to raise children alone. They need their extended families. Hopefully we will move closer to family in the near future.

On the car ride to the airport

Tummy time on the bed

A-gon and A-ma took him for walks in the evening

Dad even tried the baby bjorn

Last day in Boulder :(. Leo loves his A-ma.

With Uncle Sam. He kinda looks like his uncle!

Loves bath time

Had a nice visit with Patti

Out and about with Sam, Erica, and Porter

Visit with Keira. We missed Logan!

Putting Uncle Sam to work

I love this photo. I don't know if I believe what you're saying Uncle Sam!

His extended Chinese family ate him up!

Toward the end of our visit Mom helped me with the night feeding, getting up at 1 to feed him which let me sleep a lot more.

We can't wait to come back in December! I already have tickets for FAI-DEN. No return flight yet...not sure if I'm going to come back to Fairbanks... :)

Or Not

Well, last night wasn't too terrible but he didn't continue his streak. He didn't go down for the night until after 11 and woke up an hour later pretty hungry. Then again at 4 and 7. So, I probably didn't tank him up enough before bed and he made a poo at 10 which probably kept him up. At least we know he's capable of long stretches of sleep when he's ready.  Having Dave help me at night keeps me more sane.

Next post will be photos. I'm sure everyone is bored by my posts of his progress with sleep!

What The Night Brings

Usually it brings me anxiety but the past two nights it has brought some sleep. I hesitate to write about it, superstitious about jinxing myself. But after the previous blog post on how I felt like I am going to cease to exist, I should probably tell you that I'm doing better.

Two nights ago Leo slept from 10-4 and 5-7, that's a SIX hour block!! Twice as long as what he's been sleeping before. Unfortunately, I woke at 230 anticipating a nursing event. Both boys were still sleeping. So I dozed until about 4, when he usually wakes. Leo started squawking, Dave started to get up. I got confused. Dave has been taking the first shift, the 4am is usually mine. Dave said it was the first shift, he hadn't gotten up previously. I got so excited that I couldn't really fall back asleep. Gah!

Last night, I expected a regression back to his usual ways. He went to sleep at 930. He didn't wake until 430! That's 7 hours people!!! Then from 530-830. Boy was I surprised. Will it last? I hope so but you never know.

What were the conditions that induced this wonderful sleep behavior? The only thing that I can think of is that he stuffed himself silly right before going to bed, i.e., nursed for almost an hour. Which resulted in a bad case of reflux the first night when I tried to put him down on his crib, took 30 min to calm him down, thought we were in for a rough night after that. Last night I kept trying to pull him off, not wanting another reflux event but evidently he was hungry and got mad every time I tried to pull him off. Eventually he fell asleep and was done eating. No reflux.

The night still brings anxiety as I never know how many times he's going to wake. But having him in his own room keeps me from waking up every time he twitches or sighs in his sleep which is great. We'll see what tonight brings. Hopefully this trend will continue.

Going backwards

Oh boy. I'm not sure if we're ready for mobility, but it's here!

Must.Get.More.Sleep

I feel like a zombie. A crazy person. A crazed zombie perhaps. The house is a disaster. Dave has taken over cooking dinners. My 'to do' list is growing daily and I can't keep up with it. Leo turned 4 months a couple days ago and we are still waiting for him to sleep longer stretches at night. He sleeps ~ 2-3 hrs at a time at night. Average is 2 hours. We have also moved him into his crib because he's out grown his cosleeper but sometimes I get lazy and bring him into bed and nurse him, which might feed into his thinking that the snack bar is open 24/7 at night. Dave bottle fed him the first time he woke last night. He woke 45 min later, I gave him a pacifier and he fell back asleep. He knows how to suck his thumb. He does it all the time during the day but seems to forget how to do it at night. Then woke at 350 and I nursed him, he went back to sleep until 615. I sent Dave in to give him the pacifier again and that didn't work. I nursed him in bed and dozed off until 8.

I'm not convinced that he needs to eat at every waking. During the day he is capable of going 4-5 hours without nursing. And I'm not convinced that letting him cry it out will work for him. He still has reflux that sometimes wakes him up (screaming), and also gets burps stuck that wake him up, too. There are some days that I feel like I'm going to die. Cease to exist. Wither away into nothing. Today is one of those days.

Sleep when baby sleeps? HAH. I'm not a very good napper. By the time I start drifting off, he wakes. I sleep a little better when he's with us and I can just roll over and side nurse him and doze off, but again, I think it promotes the frequent nursing which is what I'm trying to get away from.

He is so cute and growing so quickly and I'm trying really really hard to enjoy this time with him but it is so hard when I am so tired. Sometimes I am too tired to even talk to him, he probably thinks I'm a mute.

We just got back from meeting up with Dave's family in Seattle and visiting Kristina & Ryan, too. When I catch up with my list, I'll post some more photos of our trip to Boulder and Seattle.