Nap "Schedules" and a June Recap

One thing I haven't quite figured out how to juggle yet is finding the time to write open my computer these days!  Yes, we are starting to have more of a regular routine but we've also been pretty busy.  Owen loves getting out and about and I love getting out of the house myself!  He's started napping on a bit of a schedule (hallelujah!) so we try to plan around it.  A typical sleep schedule is:

6AM:  He wakes up and eats breakfast.  Then, 1st nap! He falls immediately back to sleep until 8 or 9.  Well, we both do.  This is our morning snuggle time.  He falls asleep as I burp him so I lay down in the extra bed we have in his nursery and he sleeps on my chest.  It's probably my favorite time of the day.

11AM:  His 2nd nap, which is generally the shortest of the day.  He sleeps anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

3PM:  3rd nap!  He usually sleeps for at least an hour.  He's gone as long as two hours, though those have been few and far between.

8 or 9PM: Bed time!  I wish I could say that he sleeps soundly through the night but starting around midnight he starts to wake up nearly every hour.  He cries until I go in and he gets his pacifier back.  He never opens his eyes.  And he does repeated reverse crunches, slamming his legs on the mattress...hard.   But he doesn't fall back asleep until he has his paci...even if he went to bed without it initially.  This is a mystery I can't seem to solve. But it's also why God invented coffee.

Full disclosure:  I haven't read any of the sleep books or forums or advice guides.  This schedule is based solely on his natural patterns.  And it can vary.  Sometimes he'll be sleepy at 10AM and nap then instead of at 11.  Then everything gets jostled around.  But!  If he hasn't fallen asleep on his own by 11 or by 3, I try to lay him down.  If he won't lay down, I at least make sure we have quiet time (no playing/very quiet singing/rubbing his back) and he'll usually fall asleep around those hours.  There have been a few times when he "wins" and misses nap time because he just won't be put down.  But we're just trying to figure it out as we go!

With all that in mind, here are a few things that have been keeping us busy!

A June Recap:

Movie Mondays!

Movie Mamas

Our local theater has Mommy and Me Mondays where they dedicate one new release each week for moms (and dads and caretakers) of babies.  There's a stroller parking lot outside of the theater, a changing table inside and a theater full of crying babies...and we're all ok with it!  We get to go to the movies with our fellow new mama friends.  We've seen Now You See Me, The Internship, Man of Steel and Monsters University.  It's the highlight of my week.

Captivated

And Owen loves it too!  He tends to nap after the previews...if I'm lucky!  Otherwise I get a major arm workout because he loves to jump while watching.

Hike to Griffith Observatory!

Owen went on his second hike earlier this month and seemed to love it. His dad carries him in our Infantino carrier.  O napped on the way back down...which is how I'd love to "hike" if I could!

Father's Day!

 

Owen had a big surprise for his dad for his first Father's Day:  We went to LACMA and he painted his first painting!  And then I framed it and his dad pretty much loved it.  Owen seemed equally excited to present his present.  

Waffle Pajama Party!

This past Saturday was my birthday, which started off with the sweetest snuggles.

Then we had a great group of friends over for a waffle/pajama party! 

Picture missing some late arrivers!

I LOVE waffles and have a heavy duty waffle maker plus I love any excuse to stay in my PJs all day (especially on the weekends) so we combined these passions.

Owen even got to hang out with his bestie!

4 Months Old!

The next day we celebrated Owen's 4 month birthday.  Craziness!  Today we go for his 4 month check up.  I'm anxious to find out his official height and weight.  He's getting so big!  And is full of personality.

Hi. I'm 4 months old now.

Thumb...

He's also found his thumb.  Wah wah.  But he seems to chew on it more than suck on it.  Teething, perhaps?  I'm still trying to replace his thumb with his pacifier whenever I see him doing it.  But he's onto me.  He'll just quietly take out the paci and put his thumb back in.  Why won't he do this in the middle of the night instead of waking up every hour and crying hysterically??

**Posted while he naps...earlier than scheduled.  We had a rough night.  I should not operate heavy machinery today.  If I didn't just jack myself up with a large Americano from the local cafe, I'd be napping too.  Instead, time to get some cleaning done!

One Year Ago...

I've been keeping this fun journal for nearly two years (it will be two years exactly on my birthday next week):

And it's great because you literally write a line a day and each year you can see what you were doing the year before on that same day.  Sometimes the symmetry is uncanny.  Sometimes days are complete opposite days.  And sometimes days are just, well, monumental.

Like yesterday.

On June 13, 2012 I found out, officially, that I was pregnant with Owen!  I was so stinkin' excited.  And tired!  That was something I noted...how exhausted I felt.  Funny how much can happen in a year.  And how things can stay the same.  I was pretty exhausted yesterday too...because now I've got Baby Boy keeping me up at night!  Here's a sweet picture of him yesterday to commemorate "knowing" him for a year:

With a face like that, he gets forgiven for keeping me up all night.  Kind of ;)

And for a fun walk down memory lane, here's the video we put together to announce to our family and friends that Owen was on the way!  Man, I looked young.  And he was such a tiny bump!

Happy Friday, Everybody!  Enjoy this Father's Day weekend!  Any big plans for your husbands or dads??

A Tale of Lunch with an Infant

Yesterday was my friend Corinne's birthday and the three of us went out to lunch.

Owen started fussing about halfway through our meal so I took him out of his stroller and attempted to eat my salad.  Corinne had finished eating her lunch so she offered to hold him.  As I handed him over, I noticed that the back of his outfit was soaked.  Houdini-Pee had struck again!  No wonder he was fussing. I said, "Hold up.  Let me go change him," and took him back so that the Birthday Girl didn't get pee all over herself.

I navigated through the crowded restaurant with a baby and a diaper bag to the back hallway where the restroom is shared with Starbucks.  It has a coded lock.  Of course it does.  So I navigate my way into Starbucks (which was less crowded, believe it or not) and asked for the code.  Got it.  Headed back into the hallway.  Unlocked the door, looked around and, yep, there was no changing table.  Deep sigh.  So what did I do?  I headed to the back entrance, where I knew there was a bench.  Deal with it, people-walking-by.  I've got a squirmy, wet infant and nowhere else to turn.  So I laid down my changing mat and we made a quick change of the sopping wet diaper for a dry one and the long-sleeved onesie for a short-sleeved one, with O smiling the whole time, quite proud of himself.

Made our way back through the crowded restaurant, back to our table.  Handed him over to Corinne so I could finally finish my salad.

And he promptly spit up all over her.

Happy Birthday, Corinne.  Owen was too excited to hold back.

At least it wasn't poo!