Settling into a routine

These last 2 weeks since I've been back to work have been exciting and tiring at the same time. Max has become super active in the past few weeks. We haven't been able to catch him rolling over on camera, but we know he does it becuase we find him in his crib most times either all the way on his tummy or almost there with one arm under him. He also turns circles in the crib while he naps/sleeps. We'll put him down laying in one direction, and he's usually 180 degrees and across the crib from where we laid him down. He's definitely a little mover and shaker! :)

The very exciting thing that happened in the last week is Max is finally sleeping through the night!! We thought he was ready to do it the past couple of weeks because more often than not he wouldn't eat well for his first 1-2 bottles each day. He had just gotten in a routine of waking up between 2-3am, and we just fed him because we didn't want him to get so awake that he wouldn't go back to sleep. Last weekend when Aunt Em was here to help, we decided to let him try to go back to sleep without eating that 2-3am bottle. Aunt Em was in charge of that feeding, and she heard him wake up through the monitor around 5am. He stirred quite a bit and she thought he was about to start crying, so she went to fix his bottle. By the time the bottle was ready, he was sound asleep again! So she went back to bed. When I woke up about 6:45, I asked her how well he had eaten, and she said "He hasn't!" We were hoping it wasn't a one-time thing brought on by a very busy day the day before...and it wasn't! We haven't had to feed him in the middle of the night in the last 7 nights! It's so exciting!! He usually goes to bed between 7:45 - 8:15, we wake him up for a quick bottle at 11pm, then he sleeps till 7am! Usually around 3:30 and again about 6:00am, he'll wake up and chatter for a few minutes, but he goes right back to sleep!

Max is also doing much better at Ms. Wanda's during the day. He always gets 3 naps that are at least an hour and 20 minutes to 2 hours. He's also eating much better there now that he isn't so stuffed from that middle of the night feeding! The only nap we struggle with is his 5pm nap. Some days he'll sleep from 5-7 and we'll have to wake him up to eat, and others he's wide awake at 6:00...which makes for a long rest of the evening! Luckily this is the nap that most babies drop around 4 months, so maybe we won't have to worry about it much longer! We feel so blessed to have him on this routine - it may not work for everybody, but it is very comforting to us to know what to expect each day, and to be able to plan things around his routine. We had our friend Rhonda come to babysit Friday night while we went to dinner and a movie, and she was so surprised that he slept, ate, played, and went back to sleep at almost exactly the time we told her he would. Very rarely now do we have to "make" him do anything - he knows when it's time for bed or a bottle, and he happily does it. Obviously there are still times/days that he gets a little off schedule, and we're OK with that. We know he'll pick it back up quickly and easily.

More pics are on the shutterfly site. I'm not taking as many as I'd like these days - hard to when I only see him awake for about an hour and a half each day! I'll try to do better on the weekends! Have a great week!!

Our favorite activity! Getting Max to talk back to us! :)

This is probably right after he pulled my glasses off - another of his favorites!

With Jiggs and Oma

Bumbo Seat - and not very happy about it! :)

Trying to roll off his boppy pillow

Back to Work!

This week I went back to work.....

The first day there was tons of crying, second day - not as much, third day - almost no crying...but enough about me. Max did great! :) No, I actually just had a little breakdown Sunday night before we went to bed, and didn't cry at all the next day. I just keep telling myself it's 1 day at a time. If I think about it being every day, every week, I can't handle it. Max did great at Ms. Wanda's. The first day took a little adjusting for him, but since then he has been napping and eating very well. I am exhausted after a full week of working, but it's not so bad. I still wish I could be home with him, but since that isn't an option we'll just make the most of it!

Max is getting so big and active! The video is our first attempts in "helping" him roll over. We think it won't be long before he does it on his own! In the video, you'll see Tip Top - I believe he made an appearance in my last post. Tip Top is quickly becoming a very important member of the family. If you look closely toward the end of the video (around the 52 sec mark) Tip Top falls off the ottommon and Max's face is pretty funny.

Max's Oma, Jiggs, and Aunt Em are here this weekend. He has had a great time showing them all of his new tricks. I'll try to post another video soon of him mimicking the sounds we make. So cute! :) Today we're going to have our first mall outing with Max...we'll see how that goes!

Hope you all have a wonderful (hot!) weekend!

The Family That Travels Together

Happy Hump Day! Hope you all enjoyed the pics from Max's first professional photo shoot. We thought he did a great job and were very happy with the pictures. For the Vardaman folks, my mom will bring a selection of the pics home next weekend for you guys to pick from. They can also be ordered from the shutterfly site if you don't find one that you want in the prints. He turned out to be pretty photogenic...surprising given his Dad's problems with taking pictures. :)

We went to Gatlinburg/Pidgeon Forge last weekend with Josh, Lindsay, Stacia, and Charlie. Had a great time! The cabin was big and had a wonderful view. The decor was slightly outdated, but Josh and I felt at home because of the tons of fake Magnolias throughout the cabin! The balconies were great - we could have sat out there the entire time - if it wasn't so hot! It was definitely interesting traveling with Max for the first time (besides going to Vardaman where we knew it wouldn't be much different from home). Max has decided he doesn't like to sleep very much in his car seat, which presented a challenge during the 4 hour trip each way. He did pretty good sleeping in his pack 'n' play in our room...we were a little concerned about it, but he slept almost as well has he does at home. All in all, he was a pretty good traveling companion (the others may say different of course...we're a little biased!). :)

Back at home, Max is settling into his eating and napping schedule pretty well. He typically takes three 2-hour naps a day, give or take 15 minutes. The fourth nap (5:00pm) is the one we have problems with. I've read that a lot of babies have a "witching hour" in the late afternoon and have trouble napping. We probably haven't helped this any because this has always been the time that we go somewhere if we're leaving for the day so he hasn't had consistent naps in his crib. He will usually sleep for a little while, usually while being held for this nap only. I can't say I'm very upset about it...I don't think I'll mind coming home and holding him for an hour or so while he naps after I get off work!

Speaking of work, I will be starting back next week! I can't believe these 12 weeks have gone by so fast! Part of me is ready to go back to work, but mostly I wish I could just stay home with Max all the time!! I know he'll love going to Ms. Wanda's, but we'll miss him so much during the day! It will definitely be an adjustment. Keep us in your thoughts next week as we all adjust to the new situation!

Here are a couple of pics from last weekend. Enjoy!

Max playing with his giraffe "Tip Top". He loves Tip Top!!

The view from the top of the sky lift mountain in Gatlinburg. So pretty!

Josh, Max, and Lindsay

The view from our front porch. We loved it there!