Longing for sleep

I think Benjamin's sleep time has went from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. At 7 p.m., he's wide awake playing. I lay down and nurse him but he just won't go to sleep. Then he screams when we put him in the crib so I cuddle with him until he falls asleep. We cried it out in October and I sense we'll have to do it again. He was sleeping a long time at night but now that has gone away and he fights sleep when he wakes up at 2 a.m. I'm longing for sleep once more.

His gums are bothering him. They are red but there is nothing popping through. I long for that tooth to pop through. Every morning, "where is your tooth?"

He's growing so fast yet his sleep is all over the place. I long for when I can stay awake until at least 11 p.m. and I'm not cranky at work.

But -- I love that little guy! Who wouldn't? He's so darn cute esp when he reaches out for me when his daddy has him. It just melts my heart and makes the sleepless nights bearable for another day.

What joy! What personality!

Someone told me last night at an event that 6-7 months is when you really see your child's personality. Ben is definitely aware of the world. He spends his day rolling around the floor, giggling at the dog and going crazy for solid foods. Lately, his favorite thing is the Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer his grandma bought him for Christmas or his monkey (The Dude). I thought I had this mom thing down months ago but it's easy to figure out what he wants. Lately, he wants the drops in his mouth that sooth his teeth. He'll be fussy and when I whip to bottle, he gets quiet and opens his mouth. He is not fond of sitting up. He last a whole 30 seconds and topples over.

Ben's sleep is better. It was going pretty good for a while and when he started solids and teething he started waking up every two hours it seemed. Most of the time if I snuggled with him, he'd fall asleep. Other times, he needed a diaper change but lately he's been sleeping 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. He is more than capable of falling asleep on his own. Most of the time, he goes in the crib, rolls around and then falls asleep with in a half hour. He doesn't cry and I think he secretly enjoys his time to himself.

This month, we're thinking about goals for 2009. More about that in the upcoming weeks. Until then, I will watch the snow fall and enjoy the lights from our Christmas tree and feel blessed that I have such a beautiful baby boy.

Prince Needy Pants

Sleepy needy baby
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Since Benjamin has started teething, he's been a bit of a snuggler. If I don't get him down for his nap in time, he expects to fall asleep on my shoulder or be held like a baby (yes, I know he's a baby). He still is pretty attached to his pacifier as well. On Tuesday night, Wednesday morning -- he slept 10 hours! I woke up at 3 a.m. and ran in to see if he was ok. He was and sound asleep. At 5 a.m. he woke up ate a little bit and took the rest of his sleep cycle sleeping on his belly between his dad and I. I knew better than to think this was going to be a regular occurrence as last night he woke up at 12:30 a.m. and then 2:30 a.m. and then wouldn't go back to sleep until I caved at 4:30 a.m. and brought him into bed with us. Working on 4 hours of sleep was rough but since I was really busy, the day went fast and was pretty painless. Some have suggested just feeding him rice cereal at night and just give him veggies in the morning.

I just want to say, his clinginess is quite cute and I know this stage won't last so I don't really mind sitting on the couch at 2:45 a.m. holding my baby in my arms. I tried to convince Brian of this but he kept snoring.

Go Elf Yourself!

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Welcome back zoo zoo

Sporting the Santa hat
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Since Benjamin has been teething, he has his "zoo zoo" in his mouth all the time. Sometimes it is upside down, other times he chews on it. The only time it's not in his mouth is when he's hungry. I hope he pops some teeth soon.

Another fun trick he's started is not going back to bed after he wakes up at 3:30 - 4 a.m. I leave him to play in the crib and after about 20 mins when he should be sleeping, he starts screaming now. This has happened three nights in a row. Brian usually caves in and brings him into bed where he rolls to his belly smiles and falls asleep.

This stage is so much fun. I can't wait to see what's next because he always smiley (even with the zoo zoo) and happy.

Five Silly Turkeys

Sporting the Santa hat
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Benjamin has been learning about Thanksgiving Turkey's for weeks. His favorite book has been "Five Silly Turkeys." The book looks like a turkey and has shiny gold crinkly feathers he likes to hold onto.

His Thanksgiving meal consisted of milk and peas. I meant to start him on sweet potatoes yesterday but I opened up the peas and then thought "oh crap! I meant to open the potatoes."

His first Thanksgiving was uneventful. He woke up at 7:45 a.m. (he slept in) and played a bit. Then he went down for his 9 a.m. nap and slept until 10 a.m. At 11 a.m., he went with Brian to visit Aunt Theresa while I took a shower and laid around the house. He ate and then took another nap around 1 p.m. When he got up, we went to the Maxwell house for a feast of awesome food. I'm grateful for such wonderful friends. He then took another nap at 5 p.m., then woke up and ate peas. See, just a normal day for this kid.

We're now moving onto his Backyardigan's Christmas book and maybe we'll go get photos with Santa tomorrow.

I'm really excited for Christmas!

Holiday traditions

This post reminded me that I wanted to write about making some holiday traditions for our new little family. When I was growing up, we spent just about every holiday with my maternal grandparents. My grandma would slave away making the meal while my mom and aunts would make the desserts for Thanksgiving. If my uncles and aunts didn't make it for the 2 p.m. meal, they showed up at 4 p.m. for leftovers. I always would help with the dishes (it seems to take us hours to do) and of course, take a nap while the uncles, cousins and my brothers watched football. This was always a time to see the out of town cousins and play "school" with my in town ones as well.

Christmas Eve our immediate family would go to mass. This day is also my younger brother's birthday (he'll he 31 this year). After mass, our family would open gifts (youngest to oldest, one gift at the time) and then load up and head to my maternal grandparents house. This would be a late night. Sometimes we wouldn't get home until after midnight. Santa always delivered our gifts early because in the morning my dad would pick us up (if you didn't know my parents divorced when I was 5) and we'd spend the day with him.

Since moving to Bend, I'm sorry to say don't really have a tradition. Most of the time, if we are in Bend on Thanksgiving we are lucky enough to be invited somewhere. I still make a small turkey breast on Friday with the fixings (so I guess these is some sort of tradition in place). Christmas has been all over the place. One year we went skiing. Last year, we went to Seventh Mnt Resort with friends. Brian and I started a tradition that we'd buy each other an ornament each year to symbolize the year and I also buy a bottle of wine to open in 10 years.

Sometimes I really miss being around my family. I told Brian that sometimes, I think that maybe it would be great for Ben to grow up near a larger group of family members. They still gather at my grandma's house on Thanksgiving though she doesn't make the meal anymore -- my aunts decided to go to a buffet last year. My grandma made a small dinner for those who wanted to gather later. They still have Christmas at her house.

Today I bought stocking to put names on and hang over the fireplace. I plan on putting little things in them this year. We usually go and cut our tree but I'm thinking of scraping that until Ben gets old and mainly because I want a smaller, more lush tree this year. We plan on buying each other and Ben an ornament. But what else? Make cookies? Go snowshoeing on Christmas? I need ideas. What do you do with your family?

Happy half birthday

Benjamin,
Today you're six months old. I was talking to your Uncle Casey and was telling him how you are changing so much. He has three children, your cousins, and he said "that's what keeps having children so interesting." It's never boring around here with you.

This past month you took your first airplane ride. You did pretty good the whole trip until the plane ride home. It might have to do with the fact you went to bed last that evening before and woke up early.

You are grabbing and racking more and more. You grab at hair, daddy and today you discovered the dog and petted him. You love the exersaucer and playing with your toys in the Pack n Play. We have retired the swing and the bouncy seat. Your favorite this to do is lay on your belly and play with your toys.

We started eating vegetables and fruits! You've mastered rice cereal so we tested you out on green beans. You didn't like them at first but now you gobble them up. You did great with bananas but hated the carrots until I feed you carrots from the baby food jar. You now gobble those up. Next up peas, apples and pears. I think we'll stick to baby food in jars and then when you're ready for stage two, you can eat the stuff we made you.

Right now, you had your first cold for three days now and you've been handling it OK. You just need extra snuggles now and then. You had the drops and the nose aspirator but they make you feel better, I swear.

You're sleeping great. When we put you down at 7 p.m., you'll sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours straight. You like to snuggle with me from 5-7 in the morning. I will miss that someday.

You want to sit up and I think it's gonna happen any day now. You love to sit up and have us read you books. You're favorite one right now is "Five Silly Turkeys."

I love you my little turkey! I can't wait to see what next month brings.