Month 5- The Fastest Month So Far......

This month has FLOWN by. It has gone by quicker than any other month since we've had Gunnar. Which is weird, because it seems like it should have gone by slow. Gunnar got REALLY sick this month, with RSV, then a double ear infection, then bronchiolitis, and let me tell you, those 10 days were loooooooong. Besides that though, I feel like I blinked, and the month was over. It went by so fast in fact, that I haven't had time think up a good "Top 5 List" for my monthly update. In fact, even as I'm typing this right now, I can't think of anything to do. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Ok....got it. How about, The Top Five Upcoming Events I'm Most Looking Forward To: 1) Starting Gunnar on rice cereal...tomorrow! I decided that 5 months is when I would start that, so tomorrow is the day. I don't know why I'm excited about that but for some reason, I am. I'm even looking forward to buying some cute little bowls and spoons for him to use. Oh the things that excite me now! 2) Easter. I one hundred percent know and believe that Jesus is the reason for excitement and celebration at Easter, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that a LITTLE bit of my excitement has to do with dressing Gunnar up in a cute Easer outfit. I know that's not what it's about, but can I just call it icing on the cake?? 3) Lennox Prince's birthday party. Our dear dear (but not often seen) friends Steven and Tameka have the cutest-little-boy-besides-Gunnar you've ever seen, and he's turning 1 in April. We are going to his birthday party in Dallas, and I'm looking forward to seeing them, celebrating with Lennox, and letting them all meet Gunnar. 4) My shopping spree!!!! My Christmas present from Nason, was the promise of a shopping spree, whenever I reached the weight that I intended on staying at for a while. I am hoping within the next 2-4 weeks to reach that weight, and once I do, I am going on a shopping rampage. I am going to shop like I have never shopped before. It has been over a year, YES OVER A YEAR, since I have worn anything even resembling cute. I thought nothing could be frumpier than maternity clothes, but I was wrong. At least when you are wearing maternity clothes, it is because you are pregnant, and therefore can kind of pull off anything, because everyone just thinks pregnant people are cute. However, AFTER the baby comes, and the maternity clothes are too big, and your old clothes are too small, and so you end up wearing sweats and t shirts most days, THAT is the very definition of frumpy. Ugh. 5) The beach in June. We are going to South Padre Island with our friends the Hunt's and the Box's the first week in June, and I am so excited to watch all of our little boys playing in the sand!!!! Ok, that's all for this month. I leave you with a video of Gunnar rolling over for the first time!!!! So proud!!!

Results of Baby Bootcamp, Week 2

Read Results of Baby Bootcamp Week 1, and then just picture the opposite. That was how Baby Bootcamp Week 2 went. Not good!!!!!!!! Actually, in reality, it wasn't all bad. There were some positives, and some overall improvements, but it was much MUCH rougher than the last week. This actually FELT like bootcamp.

So I haven't actually ever even described to you what Baby Bootcamp consists of, besides just the fact that we're implementing a set schedule now. A big component of it is getting Gunnar to take two naps a day, in his crib, having put HIMSELF to sleep (versus me rocking him). This is important to me for many, many reasons, including (but not limited to):

- I believe that babies need structure, and they need naps. I also believe that they get better quality sleep in their crib, versus in a swing, in a car, in a stroller, etc.

- I believe it is important for babies to learn the art of soothing themselves to sleep, so that they are not forever dependent on someone else to help them go to sleep.

- I need set periods of time to myself during the day, in order to get things done.

So, in order to accomplish those objectives, I am using a "cry it out" method. I know many will argue that letting a baby cry in their crib for extended periods of time without coming to their "rescue", will make them feel abandoned, neglected, like their needs are not met, etc., and for a while, I struggled with wondering if that was true. However, I came to two big realizations that made me decide that I was ok with letting Gunnar cry it out:

1) Gunnar's needs ARE met. Always. His needs are met every second of the day that he is not in his crib, his needs are met prior to being placed in his crib, and his needs are met immediately upon being retrieved from his crib, after the designated napping period is up. If he has any immediate needs (dirty diaper, too hot, too cold, etc) while IN his crib, those needs would of course be met as well. He receives what is probably a ridiculous amount of hugs, kisses, and cuddles all day long, so his emotional needs are being met as well. Therefore, I do not believe that the reason he cries when I put him in his crib is because his NEEDS aren't being met....it's because he WANTS to keep playing, WANTS to be held, etc. Which leads to my next point.....

2) What Gunnar WANTS is not always what is best for him. I'm sure that as Gunnar gets older, he will WANT lots of things that are not always in his best interest, that Nason and I will have to say "no" to. Us saying "no" may make Gunnar mad, sad, upset, etc, but it doesn't mean we will change our minds, if we know that our decision is truly what is best for him. This is going to be (well, already is) a HARD lesson for me to learn, because I am a people-pleaser, and so my natural tendency is to want to make people happy, all the time, and ESPECIALLY when "people" = my baby boy. I don't think the goal of parenting though is to always make our kids happy. So besides just being convinced that napping is good for Gunnar, I am using this whole napping thing as a lesson for me, on how to parent according to principles, versus just pure emotion.

So anyway...all that being said, this week was kind of a failure, in the sense that Gunnar regressed from last week, and refused to take an afternoon nap every day except for one, but it was a success, in that I stuck to my guns, and put him in his crib at the designated nap time each day, and made him stay in there, until the designated time was over. Nevermind that at one point, that meant I was sitting in the living room crying too, as I listened to him on the monitor, and that at another point, I had to go sit out on the backporch for a while, because I knew I was on the verge of caving, and going to get him.

We are going to add one more week to our Bootcamp, and I hope to be able to report next week that Gunnar has made the decision to surrender to the Nap God.

Results of Baby Bootcamp, Week 1

Our first week of sleep training and scheduling is a huge success! Gunnar has taken a morning nap EVERY morning this week, with the shortest nap lasting about 30 minutes, and the longest lasting about an hour. The morning nap hardly required any "backbone" on my part, as Gunnar barely ever even cried. Afternoon nap has been a bit more tricky, and HAS required me to stay strong, and endure several long (heartbreaking for me) bouts of crying, but he has fallen asleep every day except for one, and one of the days, he napped for two and a half hours!!!! As far as nights go, we are gradually moving his bedtime up 30 minutes per week, until we arrive at our goal of a 7:30 bedtime. We've implemented a bedtime routine, that consists of me bathing him, Nason feeding him, and then Nason putting him to bed. All week, we have put him in his crib at 9:30 (thirty minutes earlier than normal), and he has continued to sleep through the night, sleeping all the way until 8 am. Yeah!! Getting geared up for Week 2. Hopefully by the end of this week, our sleep problems will be solved, and we will have a napping pro on our hands!

Surprise! I DO Need Structure!!

This weekend marked the beginning of the end......the end of the lackadaisical, loosey-goosey, schedule-less, structure-less way Gunnar and I have been conducting our lives. Nason and I have always been very aware of how different we are, in that Nason prefers things to be orderly, planned, organized, and structured. I, on the other hand, can typically do without all that, and prefer to just kind of go with the flow, figure it out as I go, every day different than the one before, etc. In other words...structure smuckture. With the exception of some feeble attempts early on to get Gunnar on a good schedule, we have pretty much just been shooting from the hip ever since. Now, despite my aversion to too much structure, I actually DID have good intentions to change, because I strongly believe in the benefits of getting a baby on a good schedule, setting a predictable routine for them, and protecting their nap times, to allow them to get good quality sleep. However, a couple of factors got in the way of my good intentions: 1) Lack of planning, discipline, and backbone on my part, and 2)Some "health" issues with Gunnar (feeding/weight gain problems, ear infection, serious cold, etc). I reached my breaking point sometime last week though, and realized that I am going completely nuts without a schedule. There is no order to our days, Gunnar has no set nap times (in fact, he has no nap times really), I'm getting much less done around the house than what I feel like I should, and as a result, I don't enjoy my time with Gunnar to the very fullest, because I'm distracted thinking about all the things I haven't gotten done for the day. All that to say......this week marks the beginning of a two week period I have coined "Baby Bootcamp". I spent some time over the weekend creating a schedule that I think is just structured enough, but not TOO structured so as to drive me nuts, and so help me God, we are sticking to it!

Besides planning and creating "Baby Bootcamp" this weekend, I also spent some time planning out my goals for the year. New Year's (Plus Two Months) Resolutions, if you will. I have quite a few, and I won't bore you by sharing all of them, but here's a preview of a few of them:

- At least two date nights per month with Nason
- Read 4 "parenting" books this year
- Feed my family healthy meals....let junk food eating be the exception, not the rule that it has become. Make all of Gunnar's baby food.
- Weigh 120 pounds again
- Complete the half marathon in October
- Learn how to knit
- Become a bookworm again!!!! I used to read non-stop. Lately, I hardly ever do.
- Get to know our neighbors better
- Faithfully complete my DWOP (Discipleship with a Purpose) Bible Study, and memorize all 13 of the Bible verses. Memorize 7 more, once the study ends, for a total of 20 for the year.
- Become a better, more thoughtful, friend

There's quite a few more, but if I tell you them all, you might hold me to them! ;)

Check Out Gunnar's 3 Month Pics!

Here's the pictures from Gunnar's 3 month photo shoot.

Go to:

www.andreafosterphotography.com
click on "enter site"
click on "proofing"
type in Gunnar123 (make sure to capitalize Gunnar)

And if you need a photographer, keep Andrea in mind!!