Sleep Schedule

Day 6 of "sleep training" and Andrew figured it out after the first day. It's been SO much easier getting things done and planned around here. The best part has been that he's not terribly rigid about the schedule so a little deviation doesn't ruin the whole day, which is great if we want to do something.

Family Schedule

There is something to be said about having your family (at least the kiddos) on a schedule. Having worked for years in corporate America and being used to schedules and deadlines it helps me manage... well, LIFE. Now that I'm staying home and my "job" is solely to run this household and raise two boys, I've found putting together a schedule to be the key to my sanity.


Andrew has hit the 4 month mark and it is now physiologically appropriate to start sleep training to get him, Sean and myself on a schedule. So the next three weeks will be "lock down" around here, trying NOT to deviate from the schedule.


Day 1 (yesterday) - required the dreaded {Crying It Out} for Andrew to get on a nap schedule. I found it much easier to deal with for nap time since it was only for a 2 hour period. I used the same methodology as night time {Crying It Out}. However, after the nap time window was over, I would wake Andrew up and keep him up til the next scheduled nap time.


The morning nap was horrible. He slept for about 25-30 minutes and cried the remaining hour and a half. When the time was up, I picked him up, went through the usual "get ready for the day" routine and kept him up. I wanted him to be tired for nap time number 2 in the afternoon.


Afternoon nap went a little better. He slept for the first 30 minutes, cried for about an hour and finally put himself back to sleep. Again when the nap time window was over, I woke him up and we did stuff to keep him up.


By Andrew's usual bedtime routine he was exhausted. Once we hit the recliner for his before bed feeding he was ready. There wasn't a peep out of him when I put him in his bed. Drum roll please... he slept for SEVEN straight hours before waking up, ate, and went back to bed for another FOUR hours!!!

Day 2 - Andrew caught on quick... I got up at 6:30am to get Andrew fed and myself showered and ready. Morning nap was a family nap time because everyone in the house was feeling a little under the weather. Andrew from allergies and his 4 month shots yesterday. Sean from his allergies. Daddy from a bad sunburn and working late. Mommy from her allergies. Needless to say this was an easy nap time for Andrew, because he's going to be that kid that says "Oh, you're sleeping. Okay, I'll lay down and sleep with you."

I was worried that family nap with Andrew would set us back, but NOPE... this afternoon he cried for FIVE minutes and went to sleep. If he woke up he would scream, but he was only partially awake and was upset because he lost his binky. Since he's still too young to look for it, grab it and put it back in his mouth I have to help out a little with that. His other comfort item has turned out to be the burp clothes (cloth diapers) that I use when I nurse him (yes, we've developed another child with Wubbies - Sean's were white washcloths).

Even though it's only the second day, the great thing I've found about doing the nap time sleep training first is it allows me time to get chores done and start spending more time with Sean again. With Sean starting homeschooling at the end of the month it will be important to have both of them on a schedule.

Going this route for sleep training has kept me from feeling like a horrible mom (and being a sleep deprived one), since I know the crying is only for a fixed amount of time. Hopefully by the end of the week I can count this as a victory :)

More Eczema Drama

(Andrew's eczema)

Even though Andrew's eczema cleared up significantly after figuring out it was caused by the old bassinet mattress, I was still concerned about the raw broken skin behind his knees. I have been holding off using the antibiotic the pediatrician gave me, but I decided to give it to him the beginning of the weekend. Since I'm not a big medicine person, I had completely forgotten to give it to him the 3x per day as prescribed. So I gave the second dose on Sunday morning with the intention of setting reminders on my cell phone so I wouldn't forget. Later that afternoon when I was changing his clothes I noticed he was broken out all over his torso and as the day went on it was all over him. I've concluded that Andrew is allergic to Penicillin. Thank God I didn't give him another dose. Who knows what kind of reaction he would have had. And wouldn't you know... his skin cleared up again after 24 hours.

Eczema Mystery Solved!!!

Poor Andrew has been suffering from some pretty bad eczema the last couple months. With the Texas heat coming in full force it's done nothing to help the situation. He started to develop breaks in the skin behind his knees because of the moisturizer we have to keep applying and sweating from the heat.

Out of concern he would contract a secondary infection I took him to his pediatrician yesterday. True to form the doctor wanted to give him oral antibiotics to treat him in case he has a secondary infection (uuuuuu... not giving that to him if he can't confirm there's an infection). He also gave us a steroid cream. I'm not fond of medications, especially steroids for infants/children. However, I was willing to use it til it improved then use an over the counter cream to finish it off. This was all going to be temporary until I figured out the what was causing the reaction.

When I got home from the doctor I had to feed Andrew and I started going through every allergen he could come in contact with. We already use free and clear detergent for the family and I cut dairy from my diet. I was going to do wheat next. As Andrew nursed I was looking at him trying to figure out what could cause it ALL over his body. He wasn't congested so it couldn't be triggered by "hay fever". Then it hit me... maybe DUST MITES!!! We keep our mattress in one of those expensive mattress covers because of Sean's allergies. It was then that I realized we NEVER bought a new mattress for the bassinet, because Sean's was still in it and he only used it for 6 months. However, I realized it had been stored in the bassinet in our attic for the last few years. Who knows what the condition of the inner material. It could be breaking down or be full of dust mites. So off to the store I went to buy a new mattress. When I got home just comparing the appearance of the new to the old was obvious.

By the time I got home it was time for bath and bedtime. So I reluctantly applied the steroid cream behind his knees and put him to bed on his new mattress and clean sheets. This morning when he woke up and I was changing his diaper I checked out his skin. What an improvement!!! I sat down to nurse him and like I do countless times per day I just gazed down at him adoringly. Then I started to check his face and then noticed that the skin behind his ears weren't irritated and peeling from his eczema. I thought, wow that cream really... WAIT!!! I was told I couldn't use it on his face. So if I didn't put it on his face, that means it improved because I got rid of the old mattress.

Finally Andrew is on the mend and he's getting his beautiful baby soft skin!!! As for the steroid cream... I'll keep it around IF I need it, but for now it's put away hopefully to never be used again.

First Lost Tooth

A couple weeks ago when Sean was eating he complained that his teeth hurt. That's when we discovered he finally had a loose tooth. Over these past few days he kept asking if we wanted to see it and he would show us how it was getting more loose. I had been helping him brush his teeth for the last week because he hadn't been brushing his front teeth well (he had hurt his the area around his tooth a couple times). This morning I was brushing his teeth and he yelled "Ow!!" He went to rinse his mouth out and there was blood. We told him to pull the tooth out because it was ready, but he refused. I got a washcloth and told him that I was going to soak up the blood in his mouth, because it would make him sick to his stomach. The first couple times he'd barely let me touch his tooth. Then I finally convinced him that I just needed to hold some pressure on it to stop the bleeding. I had a good hold of it, so when he jerked away the last time I had his tooth, but he didn't realize it yet. Then Michael told him to look in the mirror. Sean turned to me and asked if I had it and I slowly opened the washcloth. So tonight Sean will get his first visit from the tooth fairy.

Catching Up - Andrew's First Easter

We celebrated Easter at Nana & Papa's house like we do every year. The bigger kids hunted 100's of eggs in the backyard. Hard to believe next year Andrew will be among them.