Some Tuesday Cuteness

Finn and Lily and I were on our own today as Sean was in NY. He come back tomorrow so it isn't bad at all.

Finnbar is often annoyed with tummy time, but we keep trying and every once in awhile he surprises me and has a good time. Today, he spent a long while playing on his tummy.


He had plenty to say to Lily:




I don't know why, he decided to blow a razzberry to her!

He is getting more consistent on rolling over back to belly, but often he just rolls up onto his side.

A Great Weekend

We had such a nice weekend. It actually seems like every weekend since Finn was born we have had something going on. While it is great to be busy, it was so nice to take this weekend off and relax. We immediately got the apartment cleaned Saturday morning so we didn't have to worry about it. Then we took Finn and Lily out for a nice long walk. It was GORGEOUS this weekend, getting up to 60 degrees. The snow melted from the sidewalks so we could take the stroller everywhere. We then took a drive up north to check out the mountains while Finn took a good long nap in his car seat. Then we went to the grocery store and got stocked up for the week. I went running on Saturday afternoon and I felt so good. With the beautiful weather and clear sidewalks, I actually shaved 3 minutes off my 3 mile loop. I finally felt good running for the first time since getting back into training, which I hope means I am getting back into shape. I hope I feel that good on race day.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We got up and went to church. Here is Sean and Finn getting ready. Sean was carrying Finn and he just passed out:

Finn made it through the whole service and then we picked up Lily and went for another long walk. We spent the afternoon rolling a huge batch of tamales. YUMM! Last night for bedtime routine, we decided to try Finn out in the big tub. I read several mom internet boards and a lot of the women talk about co-bathing with their loved one. Finn doesn't mind the bath, but he doesn't love it so we thought we would give this a try. I got in the bath and then Sean handed Finn to me. He actually seemed to like it. We put a few rubber ducks in the water and he was really trying to grab them. He was very serious about it though. He did tolerate the bath a lot longer than the small tub, but it remains to be seen when he will thing bath time is fun. I thought it was fun. We dealt with the time change really well. Finn was in bed, just an hour after is "normal" bedtime and he slept a 4 hour stretch.

I am glad we took advantage of the nice weekend because today we are back to snow, with 3-6 inches forecast. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny though so I think winter can't hang on forever.

Hydronephrosis Update

We went to Finn's follow-up ultrasound today to look at his kidneys. It is good news in that the hydronephrosis appears to be gone in the right kidney and about the same in the left. They are optimistic that he will still outgrow it in the left and they just want to continue to monitor it to make sure. We don't have to go back for another 6 months.

And they did a height and weight check...drumrollllllll.....Finnbar is now 16 lbs 1.5 oz and 25 1/2 inches tall. Wow, he has almost doubled his birth weight! He is a very big and healthy boy.

4 Months!

Finn is 4 months old today! I tried to get some fun smiley photos, but every time the camera comes out he just stares at it...

His favorite thing these days is mirror time. He loves smiling and chatting to his reflection:

What is this camera device, Mom?

And, now that he is 4 months old, he is really working on sitting. He hates to lie down to play now, and insists on sitting or standing with plenty of assistance. Turns out he can sit in the laundry basket:

Socializing

Finn and I have been trying to get out more and meet people. Occasionally on Mondays we go to the library which is just two blocks from our place. They have a story time called 'Lap Time' that is especially for children 2 years and younger. They lead a few songs, read a short book and then they bring out some toys and bins of books and the children run amok. Most of the children are in the 1-2 range, but Finn loves to watch them all. Also on Mondays, we sometimes go to a group called 'Baby Steps' through the Center for Health and Wellness Promotion. This is for moms and babies under one year. Every meeting, they have a different speaker on some baby topic. We have gone when Sean has Mondays off thus we have the car, or last week, one of the other moms came and picked us up to go. And now we have found an informal play group on Thursdays at a local church. We went yesterday and it was so nice. It was a mix of toddlers and babies, the youngest just 6 weeks old (man, that seems like so long ago).

Overall, it is so nice to be meeting other local moms and Finn has a blast. He sits wide-eyed just taking it all in. He loves to talk to everyone and he smiles easily. He really wants to be on the move as he kicks excitedly every time he sees older kids playing. Boy, are we gonna be in trouble once he is on the move.

Speaking of on the move, Finn is figuring out rolling from back to belly. For awhile now, he has gotten up on his side, but been stymied by his arm on the ground. But then at the beginning of the week, he rolled over, but he had his foot hooked around his play mat bar so it wasn't totally unassisted. This morning however, he completed a roll on his own. It was great fun because he had this very shocked expression on his tummy as if he couldn't figure out how he got there. He really still hates tummy time and shows no interest in trying to roll from belly to back anymore. I try to put him on his tummy as often as possible, but he fusses really quickly so I roll him back over. I guess he will just get to it on his own time.

Book Review

We have all been doing plenty of reading lately so I thought I would do a quick book review.

The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Hogg
In general, I like this book. It is more appropriate to read prior to having a baby because it mostly addresses the newborn. It has a wonderful section on baby cues and how to interpret cries. I do wish I had this when Finn was first born and I would seriously give this to anyone expecting. As for sleep, she takes a middle road between complete attachment parenting and Ferberizing. I like how she sets things up. Unfortunately, according to her, Sean and I have been practicing "accidental parenting" and that is why we have some of the habits ingrained that we are trying to resolve. She goes into one chapter on how to address these "problems", but the suggestions are more geared toward older babies and I didn't find them terribly useful.

The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley
This book definitely appeals to me. Pantley sets up a strategy for assessing where we are and looking at Finn's sleep habits objectively. We have been keeping sleep logs for the past few days and we have already realized that Finn has a pattern. Pantley then goes in detail for all sorts of situations suggestions on how to achieve a good night's sleep for everyone in the family. She lists lots of suggestions and then maps out a plan such that you can decide what is best for your family. She says that you should follow your plan for 10 days and then evaluate your progress. You can then see where you need to go from there and try another 10 days, and so on. She is honest that the approach takes time, but the personal planning aspect appeals to me.

We have done our sleep logs and noticed that Finn definitely has a nighttime pattern. We need to begin bedtime routine at 6:30 or he gets too fussy and we can't get through it. He needs to be in bed by 7 or so. We have to rock him to sleep, but he does go down pretty well. Then we get a 4 hour stretch. He always wakes up around 11, give or take. This is certainly excellent. Here is a lovely fact - "sleeping through the night" is actually medically defined as a 5 hour stretch (why they chose to call it STTN, I don't know). So, Finn is actually close to that milestone. I wish it were from midnight to 5, so we could actually get that sleep too, but what can you do? After 11, he will eat and then go back down pretty quickly and sleep for another 2 hours. After that, he will sleep for another hour and be up every hour thereafter. This is problematic, because I never know how often I should feed him in the night. He is definitely dependent on either nursing or paci to sleep, which is something we would like to get him away from. We are in the planning stage now to determine what strategies we are going to implement to encourage him to sleep longer and to become more self sufficient at falling back to sleep. This is a little difficult as I don't know how many strategies to implement at any given 10 day course. Should we just work on him sleeping longer? Should we try to address the suck to sleep issue? Furthermore, should we be working on daily naps too at the risk of him getting less sleep during the day? Our major problem is getting him to sleep anywhere aside from my arms. One confounding problem is in the book, Pantley makes suggestion specific to newborns which she says is 0-4 months and then to older babies (4 months to 2 years). Finn is right on the cusp turning 4 months next week, but it is tough trying to decide what is best for him at his age and what we can realistically expect. Alas, parenting is just not easy, but I am still excited by this book and do recommend it. More updates as we follow our 10 day plan.

Now, Sean and I are not the only readers in the family. Finn has been enjoying plenty of books too. He really likes all his board books. We are particularly fond of Sheep in a Jeep and Sheep in a Shop both by Nancy Shaw. These are hysterical and I seriously laugh and giggle at the funny rhymes and the crazy sheep illustrations. We have also been enjoying anything by Sandra Boynton. We have Moo, Baa, La La La! and Snuggle Puppy. For some reason, Finn loves Snuggle Puppy. This one is funny because you have to sing portions of it. Well, I have been blessed with an unusual singing ability in that I cannot carry a tune to save my life. Finn seems to find this exceptionally funny and giggles whenever we sing 'ooo...snuggle puppy of mine, everything about you is especially fine' I think I do it differently everytime, but always loud and strong. Sandra Boynton has a ton of kids books out and she also has some song books that come with CDs. We spent some time reading them at the bookstore one day and I am definitely going to have to get Finn some more. We definitely love reading to him.

A Plan

Well, you all know that i do not do well without plans and organization, almost to the point of a disorder :)

Finn and I went to the bookstore and picked up the books I had ordered. We got Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect and Communicate with your Baby by Tracy Hogg. I have heard this is good for deciphering baby cues. I really hope so because even though he is almost 4 months old, I still haven't figured out what Finn needs at any given time. When I was pregnant, everyone told me I would learn my baby's unique needs, unfortunately I am just not that intuitive. I will let you know what I think of this book soon.

I also got The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley (foreword by Dr. Sears who I really like). I know there are so many different theories and methods out there for getting a baby to sleep well, but I think the attachment parenting concepts appeal to me a lot more and Sean and I both agree that we are not ready to consider any forms of "cry it out." I have just read through the first 2 chapters and my heart is already filled with joy and hope that this book will help us come up with strategies that will work well for us. The author does admit that her methods will not provide the quick solution that the Ferber method and other "cry it out" methods claim, but that they will work if we put in the time, which I am willing to do. The first step is to start keeping a sleep log. Awesome, I do enjoy data collection. I will post out progress on this method to let you all know how it works for us.

I also got an impulse buy while I was there: The No-Cry Nap Solution also by Elizabeth Pantley. I wasn't going to get it until I read the sleep solution, but then I read the back cover and it asked, "Does your child nap only in your arms, a sling, a swing, or the car? Require elaborate rituals before sleeping? Get fussy, act cranky, or throw tantrums due to lack of sleep? take very short naps or none at all?" Well, with a resounding YES to the first question, I was sold. We will see how that one goes too.

So, now that I have the prospect of a plan, I am feeling empowered to deal with some sleepless nights as we progess towards a good night's rest for all of us.

So, you can expect plenty of sleep posts in the future, but I promise to also make sure I post plenty of cute Finn photos.

Much to her chagrin, Lily has become the favored Tummy time entertainment:

You can see how much hair Finn has lost:

There is still plenty of hair to stick up crazily though. This is Lily getting a good ear licking in, I could quite get her mid lick:

When Mandy asked me about my favorite baby wearing device the other day I realized I hadn't been using the sling much since Finn had gotten bigger. I remembered there was a kangaroo hold in the instruction book on how I could wear Finn facing forward, so I thought I would give it a try. I don't know that I got it quite right, but Finn had fun looking in the mirror as I took photos: