Looking up all around

Sawyer
Yesterday afternoon, after Mike had already picked the kids up from their dayhome, I called back their caregiver to see how Sawyer's afternoon had progressed.

She said he was better. That he fussed and cried, but it was a normal fussing and crying that all 10-week olds do. That it wasn't because he was in pain. We discussed the possibility of pulling him out and giving him more time to grow out of the reflux. She of course left that decision up to us, but said he had a better afternoon. She said he had a hard time with his morning bottle, taking it intermittently, fussing, etc. When I dropped him off at 7 am, he had just eaten at 430 so I don't think he was that hungry. Which means he spent some time awake, got tired, but was a little hungry and so started a vicious cycle of eating a tiny bit, sleeping, waking to eat, etc., instead of eating a whole bottle and then having his awake time, then sleeping. But once he had a good nap in, he ate better and therefore felt better.

Last night, we tried two different things. We tried oatmeal cereal instead of rice to alternate so that he doesn't get too stopped up on one kind of cereal. He's tolerating it very well. And second, we didn't wake him for the 10 pm dreamfeed we usually do. I want him to eat when he's hungry, rather than focus on getting him to sleep later. I was hoping this in turn would make his mornings better by waking up hungry.

And I was right. I love being right. He went down around 7, slept till 2 am, chugged 5 ounces in 10 minutes, went back to sleep, and woke up at 615 hungry and ate 5 more ounces. Rather than wake up awake but not hungry and fuss through his morning bottle, he woke up starved, took his bottle, pooped, played, and went back to sleep within an hour. Yay! No screaming through bottles since we started the cereal and a better start to the morning should trickle down through the rest of the day.

We'll see how he does the next couple of days at home on the cereal and then decide whether to bring him back on Thursday but if he continues to do as well as he has been, I'm confident that he will adjust in time to the dayhome. It's just a few more weeks until this "fourth trimester" is over and he gets used to the real world. That magic three-month mark when they become interactive little people is right around the corner.

For those of you that had asked about it, here is my little man in his Amby Baby Hammock, where he sleeps.



It's an alternative to a bassinet, designed for newborns, and specifically helps those with reflux, as it mimics the womb. It encapsulates him and sways with his movements. His head doesn't get flat and it keeps his head above his body so his food stays down. It was such a lifesaver with Charlotte and he sleeps very well in it. If he stirs, it gently sways him back to sleep.

He'd also like all the ladies to know that he's very deep and pensive, as well as senstive to his emotions:



And he's hatching an evil plan to take over the world, so you might want to hop on board before you're destroyed like the rest of the peons:



Charlotte
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that we moved Charlotte to a twin bed - SUPER BIG GIRL BED - this weekend. About a month ago, we took down the side of her crib to get her used to the concept that she could get in and out on her own. She adjusted well to that, except eventually learned she could con her way out of bed 50 million times. We're still working on that and now she only gets up once or twice and stays in all night most nights. Sometimes, she has a bad dream or gets scared and we just hug her and bring her back to bed and she stays. We don't bargain with terrorists. We just send them back to bed.

Anyway, Sawyer will need his crib in a couple of months when he outgrows the hammock and I didn't want to just take it from her one day and give it to him the next, thinking it would upset her. So we moved her into the twin this weekend to give her plenty of time to adjust and get over her crib before she sees her little brother with it.

We went out shopping and I let her pick out new princess sheets, an Ariel bedspread, a princess stepstool. We're going to redecorate her room soon (we bought Ariel self-stick border and wall stickers), but have to finish Sawyer's new room first. One project at a time.

The first night was rough and she was up a lot, for almost two hours in the middle of the night. But the second night was much better and she stayed put. She looks so tiny in such a big bed and only sleeps in that one corner:


(Notice the ever-present mobile. She can't go to sleep without it. The sounds and lights are her comfort. Since it usually attached to a crib side, Mike had to devise a way to get it to fit on the new bed. He drilled a hole through a piece of wood, attached it to that, and then screwed the whole shebang onto the headboard. It's old as hell and pure oak, so it was no big deal to do this.)

She also loves her little brother and asked to hold him the other day. Mike said they sat like this for quite a while:



She'd like you to know her fashion sense is as keen as ever:


and that she enjoys fine art:
.

P.S. My daughter does not have a mullet, though it sure looks like it. We're trying to grow out her bangs and in this interim if I don't put it back or she pulls out her clips, she either looks like a redneck or an emo kid with a very intense hair style.