Sleep Training - Days 1 & 2

I may have spoiled Tyler just a little bit with sleeping the past few months. When he came home from the NICU, I tried putting Tyler in the cradle next to my bed. The problem is he was so restless and noisy that I didn't get any sleep, and I felt like he wasn't really getting good sleep either. After just a couple nights, I caved and let him start sleeping on my chest. I slept reclined in the theater room seats or propped up on pillows in my bed. When he was about three months old, I shifted to have him sleep next to me in bed, his head on my arm so I knew where he was at all times and there was no chance I could smother him. Tyler slept well so I slept well and we were both happy. It was a good sleeping arrangement for us, especially since Matt sleeps during the days so it's not like we were crowded in my king sized bed at night. I knew that Tyler "should" be sleeping in his cradle or his crib, but I didn't care. Honestly, I liked cuddling with him all night. It was so sweet how he would snuggle right up to me and fall asleep. He would often reach his hand out and touch my neck or my face and it just melted my heart each time.

I probably could sleep with Tyler next to me for several more months and be completely content. But... I knew it was time for him to sleep in his crib. I tried a month or so ago to "sleep train", but I couldn't handle the crying. It broke my heart to hear my sweet baby crying for me, and so I scooped him up and took him to bed with me. And I felt better. I decided that if I was really going to do this that I needed to do it when Matt had a couple nights off work, and preferably on nights that we didn't have Kylee home so she wouldn't be kept up/woken up by his crying. I needed Matt for support and I needed him to help distract me from the fact that our baby was so sad. I decided this was the week.

Before I go on, I should clarify what I mean by "sleep training". I don't need Tyler to sleep through the night. If he wakes up and is hungry, I am more than happy to feed him. He is still so little and is trying to catch up weight-wise. In fact, we're still fortifying some of his milk each day with Neosure for extra calories. What I do want is for Tyler to be able to fall asleep on his own in his crib. And I want him to sleep in his crib all night instead of in bed with me. Those are my only goals at this point. We might work later on him sleeping through the night, but that's not my focus right now.

I know everyone has their opinions on the "right" way to get a baby to fall asleep. I decided this was "right" for us. I'm hoping it will work because this isn't easy! We'll see how things are in a week. If this isn't working for Tyler within a week, we will need to reevaluate and may need to wait until he's a little older or try a different approach. Fingers crossed this works and Tyler is able to fall asleep easily on his own in the next few days.

Anyway, night one went like this:
7:40-8:15 - diaper change, pajamas, bottle, story, lullaby
8:18 - put Tyler in his crib (he almost immediately started crying)
8:21 - check on Tyler
8:26 - check on Tyler
8:35 - check on Tyler
8:45 - check on Tyler
8:55 - check on Tyler
9:05 - check on Tyler
9:15 - check on Tyler
9:30 - Tyler was finally asleep

Each time we checked on Tyler after laying him down, we would talk softly to him, tell him we loved him, stroke his cheek or rub his tummy, and tell him it was "sleepy time". We wouldn't pick him up, and wouldn't stay in his room longer than a minute, even if he didn't calm down. Let me tell you, that hour and 12 minutes was rough. He woke up around 10:30, and we did the same pattern (3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes) until he calmed down about 20 minutes later. This period of crying was almost harder for me than the first because he got so upset. I'm glad it didn't last too long. When he woke up around 12:45, I fed him and put him back to bed (he fell asleep at the end of feeding). I fed him again around 3:00 and 6:00, both times he fell asleep while eating and didn't make a peep when I put him back in his crib. He woke up for the day around 7:30.

Night two was much better... probably because Tyler was so tired when we put him to bed.
7:40-8:10 - bath, pajamas, bottle, lullaby
8:14 - put Tyler in his crib (light fussing)
8:18 - Tyler was asleep

He fell asleep so quickly we didn't need to check on him once! He woke up around 1:00 am, and I went in a couple times to calm him down. He woke up again at about 1:45 and I decided he was probably hungry, so I fed him. Same thing - he fell asleep at the end of eating and I transferred him back to his crib. He woke up again around 5:30 and ate again. At 7:20, Tyler woke up for the day. All in all, day 2 was a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, day 3 hasn't started out as well. It took Tyler 50 minutes to calm down and fall asleep tonight. That's better than the first night I guess! I called my sister Mandi to help distract me because I was feeling weak (Matt is working). Hoping the rest of the night goes well!

Holzgraf Family Reunion

This past weekend we traveled to Rexburg for as close to a family reunion as my mom's side of the family has ever had. My mom's sister Debbie raised her family of 9 kids in Huntington Beach, California and St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in Boise, we didn't get to see them very often. My family did travel to California in 1988 (before Beki & BJ were even born!), and I saw some of them in 2005 at Uncle Steve's wedding, but besides my cousins Melissa and Katie who have lived in Idaho, I've hardly seen the rest of Debbie's family. When I heard that Debbie and Greg would be traveling to Rexburg on their way to Provo before heading out to Hong Kong as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I decided my family needed to take a little road trip! Katie and Melissa and their families, along with Kristi all currently live in Rexburg, and McKay and his wife Kayla drove up from Provo and Nathan flew in from Texas. My Uncle Steve and his two girls flew in from Washington and my Aunt Kathy drove over from Washington as well. Add in my parents, Beki and Bryce, BJ and Rachel and my little family, and we've got 30 people gathered together for some good ol' family time!

We spent all day Saturday hanging out, and it was lovely. The kids had a blast playing together and especially loved coloring eggs and having an Easter egg hunt.

Can you guess what the adults did? We went shooting of course!

We also enjoyed a beautiful Easter dinner and the blessing of Katie's baby Jace. We didn't have a ton of time together, but I am thankful for the time we did have!

We were also lucky enough to spend some time with Matt's family who lives in Eastern Idaho. We saw both his sets of grandparents, along with aunts, uncles, and cousins. So in addition to my 26 family members, we saw 28 of Matt's extended family! One of my favorite parts was watching Kylee with her Great Grandpa Cornwall. He took her out to see his baby calves, and one even came right up to Kylee!

Dear Tyler - [5 Months]

Dear Tyler,

Another month has flown by and you are now five months old! You are sweeter than ever. I love how you are almost always happy. My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning. You wake up happy with a smile on your face and "talk" to me the entire time I am getting you ready for the day. You especially love getting your diaper changed & being naked. 

We love making you smile and laugh and are almost guaranteed a big smile when we give you "airplane rides" or when we help you stand on the counter or table. You have cute dimples that show up every once in a while when you smile really big.

Lately you always want something in your mouth. You frequently try to shove your whole hand in your mouth, but will also chew on toys,  blankets, burp cloths, etc. Here you even tried to eat Daddy's nose! I can already see several teeth under your gums but none are popping through yet (thank goodness!).

Usually if you cry, it is because you're hungry. But every once in a while I can't figure out what's wrong. I have a fail-proof way of getting you to calm down... play this YouTube video of "On Top of Spaghetti", or "The Meatball Song" as we have come to call it. It works every time! By the way, no other song seems to work... I've tried many!

You have beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes. Kylee snapped this picture of you when you guys were playing together (she loves playing with you and trying to get you to smile!) that shows your eyes pretty well. I am almost positive your eyes will stay blue.

You have several nicknames. I often call you "Little Man" and Kylee likes to call you "TyTy" or "Little Boy". You've started to really like toys and books and are pretty good at grabbing/holding things. You started rolling from your stomach to your back (although you don't do it often) and have almost rolled from your back to your stomach but aren't quite there.

You are still pretty little - right around 12 pounds. It's hard to believe you've almost quadrupled your birth weight! You wear mostly size 0-3 month clothes and are still in a size one diaper. Speaking of diapers, you've been in cloth diapers now for an entire month! When you're wearing cloth diapers, I've sometimes started putting on size 3-6 month pants just to fit over them because they are quite bulky.

All in all, you make me one happy mama. I feel so blessed that I get to stay home with you all day. I don't want to miss a single moment.

Love,
Mom

Garden Rocks

Last year, between the fact that we didn't build our garden beds until May, didn't get dirt until June, and that I wasn't feeling well from my pregnancy, we didn't end up having much of a garden. Needless to say, we are excited for a garden this year! In preparation for planting, Kylee and I had fun doing a little project on Monday making garden rocks as markers for our vegetables. I drew an outline with pencil on the rock and Kylee painted them in. I love how they turned out!

We got our strawberry plants in the ground and will be planting seeds for our carrots, lettuce, and beets next week. We'll purchase plants for the rest of our garden here in a month or so!

Sweet Deliciousness

Warning: Do not try this at home. You may not be able to stop before the entire package has been eaten.

Really, I probably shouldn't ever buy this again. It is one of the tastiest treats ever and I don't want to think about how many calories I consumed from just chocolate today. Thanks a lot to Sally for introducing me (she gave me a bag of Ghirardelli when Tyler came home from the hospital so we could celebrate...)!

Update: The dark chocolate version of this is even more divine!