moving from the co-sleeper to the crib

Max has been sleeping through the night for about 2 months. 5-7 hours of sleep. Every night. Only recently (the last 2 weeks or so) has he been waking in the middle of the night to eat. Maybe around 2. And, recently he has been waking up at 6. I don’t mind the night feedings. 6 o’clock isn’t my favorite time for him to wake up for the day since I get up for work around 7, so I wish he would hold off until then — but it’s OK.

Last night, was the first night in months, (did I really think I was going to get away with a baby that ALWAYS sleeps through the night?) that he woke up. Ate. And was wide awake. And squealing. Having a great time at 3am.

The thing is — he’s going to be 4 months on Sunday. He’s becoming more and more aware everyday, not to mention bigger and stronger. Has the time come to try putting him to sleep in his crib? Does anyone have any techniques on how to move a baby from a Rock and Play’ Sleeper and/or Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper? It is SO easy to just rock him in the Rock and Play. We’ve been able to have so many wonderful nights of sleep with Max in there. But, I know he’s growing out of these.

Ahem.

Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘n Play Sleeper:

  • Use from birth until child is able to pull up or sit unassisted <— uh oh
  • Only for an infant up to approximately 5 months in age or when child begins to push up on hands & knees, whichever comes first <— Yeah, we’re getting there.
I’m clearly in denial, but I know this transition needs to come soon, preferably before he’s way too big for these sleepers.
On a separate note, I’ll have to stock up on some quality bedtime story reading. How could anyone resist, HTML for Babies? Sounds riveting. (I’m only half kidding.)

happy anniversary

2 years ago today I married the love of my life.

Our wedding was amazing. Everything I dreamed it would be. Even better, actually. Looking back at the last 2 years, it’s amazing all we’ve been through together. Hardships. Triumphs. Every couple has these stories.

We have hundreds of pictures from our wedding. Today, I feel like this one sums everything up. Running barefoot on the beach, holding hands, looking towards the future. With a vibrant North Carolina sky above us, and the gentle Atlantic to the east … we were only on the cusp of the greatness of the love we would find in each other.

photo taken by Chris Bickford at http://www.chrisbickford.com/

where do you shop for your kids?

Last week, Kelly’s Korner blog posed the ‘Show Us Your Life’ question, “Where do you shop for your kids?”

Luckily, I have a friend who has a son 7 months older than Max, and she gave us a ton of clothes. (Also, had some of her sister’s son’s clothes who was born in the summertime, so a lot of the clothes that he had works out well for us, seasonally.) I didn’t buy any newborn clothes, and the one onesie I did buy, I ordered off CafePress. It was personalized, and while a little faded, it was cute enough. I’d buy from them again.

The next time I did some shopping, we were getting ready to take Max to the beach for two weeks, so I got very excited about buying him safe outfits that would guard his skin from the sun. I found great stuff in the sale sections of Target, Boden and Gymboree.

I subscribe to Zulily, and sadly never order anything. If only they had free shipping — at least once in awhile. I even have their iPhone app.

my rain boot obsession

Still obsessed with rain boots today. Ordered my Bogs and it looked like I snagged the last ones in blue. Woohoo! I win.

This morning was stormy. I saw a woman decked out from head to toe in Coach. (This is probably my least favorite designer brand, btw. Gag! Everyone loves Coach!) She was wearing the Coach tristee boots. She was holding a Coach umbrella. (Seriously, who pays $55 for an umbrella? I’m using a free one I picked up at a Nationals game!) And, it goes without saying, she had a Coach bag. I don’t know which one because I’m clearly a Coach basher — however, even on this muggy, murky Wednesday morning, this woman looked impeccable! I wish I could say the same about myself, but I’m pretty sure I have baby throw up somewhere on my cardigan.

If you love this brand, here’s a site that is chalk full of Coach, with pretty pictures of handbags.

On another note. Looking at my Zulily mail today with a ton of fabulous RAIN BOOTS. Dare I say, cuter than my Bogs? What is my problem with these boots, lately? First it was cloth diapers, now this!

Zulily Rain Boot Deals

until the next time infant prefolds

Warning. Mommy blog post ahead.

On Bedtime

I jinxed myself yesterday by saying that Max sleeps through the night. Yes, from 2 months old on (he’s 3 months now) he more or less will go down at 9pm, wake up between 3:30am-4am for a snack, and then go back to sleep until between 6:30-7:30 am. That’s really great. I’m very lucky. He usually starts off in his Fisher Price Newborn Rock ‘n Play Sleeper which is hands down — the best $40 we spent on baby gear this year. Then when it’s time for part II, he goes back to sleep in his Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper. Sometimes he starts out in his co-sleeper, but if he has ANY gas it’s a no go. He has to be very sleepy or gasless to fall asleep there. Of course, the time will soon be here when Max will shun these two lovely sleeping arrangements and slumber in his crib — but that day hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe when he can do tummy time for more than 5 minutes without having gas, he’ll find the inspiration to roll over. The little guy is already almost sitting up, and fake scoot push crawling, so I know he could roll if he wanted to, but he is also a very gassy baby, so he never feels like doing tummy time for very long.

Last night he woke up at 3:30am — had a nice leisurely late night snack, and then I started feeling guilty that he probably has a soaked diaper. He did. So I changed him, against my better judgement. He would’ve been fine making it through the next few hours, but alas, I felt a change would make him more comfortable. Then he thought it was “4am fun awake smile time” (which really is terribly adorable) and we stayed up a bit longer than usual, as I coaxed him to nurse a few more times until he finally fell back to sleep at 4:40am ish. Well, at least he went right back to sleep.

Cloth Diapers

Also, as he gets bigger, I think it’s time to ditch the infant prefolds (love these) and use snappies with an angel fold with regular sized prefolds. Yes, the time has come. I tried this last night and he stayed dry all night long. I know my little man is bigger than 15 lbs now,  and that seems to be the infant prefold limit. Until the next time infant prefolds …

In non baby news — bloggers like Melissa from Dear Baby Blog tweeted about slurping down a Salted Caramel Mocha the other day — so I just had to try it out for myself. I ordered a grande no whip skim salted caramel mocha this morning, a delish alternative to my normal cup of (creamy/sugary) coffee. Totally worth the 290 calories. Totally perfect for a Tuesday full of meetings.

monday

The end of September and the beginning of October conjure up a feeling of nostalgia for me. Although it’s unseasonably muggy, this stretch of the year is my favorite for many reasons that I’ll uncover in the coming weeks.

Today is Monday, and I was actually looking forward to it because I found myself getting really organized for the week yesterday. I cleaned up, washed all diapers, made oatmeal for myself for the week, did my own laundry (what a novel idea!) and made the day count. I wasn’t running out the door like a crazy woman, I actually walked to my train this morning. Max is cozy and snug probably taking a nap right now with my mom. Well, actually, I called and he is a little gassy and sleepy and not going down for a nap.

On a side note, I’m happy to be blogging again. I’m not making a big deal out of it. Casual. But much more constant, and without an actual theme. Mommy blog. Yes, I’d like very much to blog about all things mommy, and maybe this blog will evolve into that, but for now I’m taking it day by day.

My rain boot saga continues. I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy these tomorrow:

Bogs Anne Blue from 6pm.com


We’re running out of groceries. When that happens, I find this site to be very beneficial: Supercook I’m trying an “Incredibly Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf.” I’m totally not a fan of meatloaf, so we’ll see how that goes!

saturday

4) Drink coffee, hang out with the baby. Spend time with husband, too.

Success! Coffee from Paneras. Pumpkin Spice. However, even though we enjoyed our bagels there, we were given “to go” cups and I really wanted a big warm white mug to cup my chilly hands around. We also had a gift card. And the baby relaxed and just chilled out throughout the entire outing. He didn’t nap. Just eyes wide open, taking it all in.

10) Buy some fall clothes or shoes.

I didn’t, but husband did. He scored some awesome Puma Osu NM Running Shoes.

I was hopeful when I tried on these Kamik rain boots – Kelsey in Navy. I loved them. Problem was, in a size 10 — my right foot/leg fit perfectly in these, and my left foot — well the boot didn’t fit on my left leg. Weird, annoying and mystifying. I have to keep in mind that Off Broadway Shoes has footwear at 40 percent off department store prices — so here’s hoping the left rain boot was just messed up, and that my left leg isn’t significantly bigger than the other.

I’m still on the hunt for rain boots. And no, I didn’t buy anything else, but did enjoy browsing the Cole Haan and Michael Kors outlets.

I’m torn though. Pre-baby me loved high heeled boots. Something crazy.  Now, I’m walking from my train to work, running errands with the baby on the weekends and don’t feel like wearing heels– rather be comfortable and more casual — so, I’m struggling with that.

I was inspired to clean out my closet 6) Pick up around the house.   to see what I have so I can go online and start shopping there. Online. I seriously can’t be bothered to leave the baby to go shopping.

Of course, when you combine picky and indecisive you end up never buying anything, which makes my husband happy, but makes me pretty annoyed.

Where do you have the most luck shopping online? Free shipping? Flexible return policies?

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friday

Looking at Klout this morning. Apparently I am an Explorer with a score of 21. That’s not very impressive for all the time I spend on the internet.

And, I am determined to use Minted for our holiday cards. They’re pricey, but we didn’t send out birth announcements.  So nice. They are 20% off if ordered by 10/10, but I wasn’t planning on having Max’s holiday pics ready by then. I wanted Max to look a little closer to 6 months, than 3 months when these are sent out.

That reminds me, I need to write out some thank you notes. I love writing thank yous and got some nice ones for my birthday. Will I find the time? Not sure.

Things I’d Like to Do This Weekend

1) Take a walk around our neighborhood (We usually do this. On Sundays.)

2) Take SeaFever II out for a spin. (But, I think it’s going to rain.)

3) Do we need groceries? Probably. To peapod or wegmans? Haven’t taken Max to the grocery store yet, this could be fun.

4) Drink coffee, hang out with the baby. Spend time with husband, too.

5) Do something Autumnal. But isn’t it going to rain?

6) Pick up around the house.

7) Go out to dinner with my parents. Maybe discuss them moving out of their house and the project plan around that.

8) Sleep.

9) Take pictures of Max.

10) Buy some fall clothes or shoes.

thursday

vre thursday morning in september

Today’s Soundtrack: NPR’s First Listen: Tori Amos, ‘Night Of Hunters’

I’m real funny about buying albums nowadays. Doesn’t really happen. And Tori is my favorite. Granted, I’ve gone from about a 1,000,000 to a 2 in terms of crazy “ears with feet” obsessiveness, but that is a good thing. Obviously, her album was released last week, and I didn’t really care to think about it. Not seeing her on this tour. Totally fine with it. Didn’t even buy her 2009 album Midwinter Graces. I will buy this album. Or, maybe not.

I can tell from this first track (Shattering Sea) that it will not be terrible.

So far, my favorite part of the album is tracing where Tori’s vocals end and daughter Natashya Lorien Hawley’s begin.

Kinda making me sleepy, though. It’s getting a little grandiose.