Small Victories

Since I share my struggles, I thought I might share a success. Just this weekend Alexander started taking the pacifier instead of wanting my pinkie. It is a little sad, but sooooo much easier to lay him down for naps and at night. I can almost get away with laying him down just almost asleep and he will do the rest himself. We are not totally there yet, but each day brings new hope.

This is a picture of us at the park on a Sunday night. It was the first time he fell asleep with the pacifier with out crying or me having to hold him.

Smiling more each day

It seems like I can do just about anything to get Alexander to smile now. Either I am really funny or really stupid to him because we can sit for 20 minutes or so and he will just smile and smile at me. I really treasure these times.

2 months old

So here he is at two months old. We had our check up on Friday and found out that he is in the 91% for weight and 88% for height. Since birth ge has gained 5lbs and grown 3 inches. What a little man he is becoming. Some of my favorite things are seeing what silly faces or sounds I can make to get him to smile, watching him smile at me when I pick him up and seeing him bonding with his dad. We have had a rough couple months, but I am trusting God for the strength to make it through this sleepless time.

Nap Time Update

So I am still totally frustrated with nap time. Here is where we are at...
If we are not home he will fall asleep and sleep for a while. On a walk, in the car, and in his front pack. But if we are home I can not get him to sleep longer that 30 minutes. Once in a while we hit 45, but not often. I am not sure what the cause of this is. I am not trying to get him to take a lot of naps, just one about 45min to an hour after he eats. So 3-4 naps depending if he takes one after dinner before bed. I fear that he may now have colic because around 6:15-6:30 every night he gets cranky. I am taking dairy out of my diet because he seems to be really fussy when he has gas and a friend of mine (Andrea) did it with her son who is just a few months older then Alexander and it made a difference for them. Let me know your thoughts and ideas because I am at my wits end with this.

Daddy comes home

This picture has nothing to do with the blog post, I just liked it!!

So today when Josh got home from work Alexander was still eating his dinner. Josh came in his room to say hi to us. When Alex heard Josh's voice he stopped eating, turned to look at him and smiled. It was so stinking cute and I know it made Josh feel special. I love that he is starting to respond more and it is so amazing the things that bring you joy when you have a child, and we are just at the begining.

Nap Time

So as Alexander is growing and changing, each week has brought on a new challenge. The first one was the Acid Reflux. Thankfully we have gotten that under control and he is now eating again. We are fortunate that he did not lose any weight in the week it was acting up, but it was truly the hardest thing I have gone through so far.
Well this week has brought on a new challenge, nap time. He is fighting every nap until the early evening then crashing hard. I was trying to work through this with him, but yesterday I reached the end. I now put him in his swing, (the only place he will sleep right now) if he does not fall asleep right away I try the usual, pacifier and gentle strokes on his head. If that takes more than 10 minutes, then I leave him alone. He takes about 2-3 minutes before he starts to fuss then he begins to get worked up. I have let him go about 10 minutes trying to work it out and if he does not fall asleep (which he has not yet) then I go in and calm him down, give him his pacifier and he has fallen right to sleep. I was, and am still not a "cry it out" mom. But he is fighting sleep so bad that it helps him to fuss for a minute. I am not sure how this is going to end up, but I want him to get to the point where he falls asleep on his own. Any moms out there with any suggestions would be great.