Training

Tomorrow, Michael will be five months old. For the last few nights, Jeff and I have been trying to train Michael to sleep through the night since he still wakes up twice to be fed. We tried making him cry it out in his crib. It was excruciating for everyone involved.
Yesterday I finally opened a book quite a few friends had recommended we read, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, in hopes of finding a better method. The author isn't fond of the Cry it Out method and feels parents should try other soothing methods first, as they should be building trust with their baby by going to them when needed. As for nighttime feedings, he says that babies may actually need one or two nightly feedings until they're 9 months old. Don't consider it a problem unless they try to play with you afterward. It's a matter of wants and needs. Does you baby just want your attention? If so, that's when you need to stop going to them. Michael always falls asleep directly after eating and I really don't mind him waking up twice during the night. It usually just lasts a few minutes. Last night, I determined that I would feed Michael when he cried, but he slept from 8:30pm to about 4:45am and only woke up that one time.
After just two nights of crying, Michael slept over 8 hours on his own. I don't know if we should go back to making him cry it out or if I should keep feeding him. Any thoughts?

Canning and Toes

Last week, my aunt Karen and Grandma were kind enough to let me can with them. I've never done it before and found it fascinating. I also found it hot and tiring but, if they let me, I'll probably join them again next time. It was a lot of fun to spend the two days with just the three of us (and babies). We canned/bottled salsa and peaches. Aren't they beautiful?

I'm very proud! (I still owe you for the produce, Grandma. Sorry.)

Jeff is enjoying school more now that he's dropped two classes. No complaints from me. He gets home sooner at night and we get a tuition refund. He's also less stressed and has more energy to play with Michael. We have a much happier house.

Michael is working on sitting up and can balance himself for a few seconds without help. He can even pull himself into a sitting position if he's already partway there (like lying on a pillow), but then promptly falls over.
One of his favorite games is standing on our stomachs while we lie on the bed and being our "tall boy". It gets a grin every time (until I point a camera at him).

He's gained the ability to grab his feet and suck on his toes. It is so much fun to lay him on his changing table and just let him go at it. If he's on the floor, Michael will grab his feet and have a ball rolling onto his side.
He has rolled all the way onto his stomach but we haven't actually seen it happen. We've both gotten him out of his crib when he's crying on his stomach but had gone sleep on his back, and Jeff says he put the boy down on his stomach and a minute later he was on his back. I can't wait for proof that someone isn't just secretly pushing him over when we're not looking.




And his tongue! He's having a lot of fun sticking it out at us and blowing raspberries! It is by far my favorite thing he's learned to do.

And here's the boy eating his sock:

He's So Happy!

Instead of a ton of cute pictures of the boy, here are some cute videos! I tried to keep them short, so they're each less than a minute :)








Michael is 4 months old now. We went to his check up and found out he weighs 15 lbs 15 oz. Just under 16 lbs! It looks like I was a little ahead of myself switching him to size 3 diapers, but 2s just weren't cutting it. (Poo up the back is soooooo nasty. I know it will get worse, but I'll work my way up to it.)

Jeff is doing well in school although he's considerably more knowledgeable than some of his teachers, which can get frustrating for him. Night classes are hard, especially because Michael is usually asleep by the time he gets home. It's a shame because, as you can see from the above videos, they have a lot of fun playing together. The boy really loves his dad, and we all love the weekend when they get to spend more time together.

Also, I cut my hair. The hair stylist went a bit too short for my taste, but it works. The boy can not wind his hands in it anymore. It helps that my hair grows really fast, otherwise I might care a lot more.
Front:

Back:
And now here are just a few cute pictures of the boy: