Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Christmas & more...

Even though our planned family celebrations had already taken place, we still enjoyed good food and family on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. We took in an afternoon church service on Sunday and went back to Mom & Dad T's for supper and a chocolate fondue.

Micah hasn't grown tired of all the Christmas festivities yet...
Here's Keziah in her Christmas dress from Auntie Erin. I'm sad that she won't be able to wear it for much longer! Today she is 5 weeks old and getting chubby. She has a double chin and rolls on her legs - two things Micah never really had :)
Micah and Keziah hanging out...


Erik and I got a kid's table & chairs set for Micah's Christmas gift so we set it up and put it in his room while he was sleeping on Christmas eve with a couple of new toys on it. We heard him up at about 5:30 on Christmas morning and he played in his room for an hour before he was ready to come out and see us!

So peaceful...

Keziah's napping habits have been on my mind a lot in the last week. She seems to have fallen into a pattern of having short naps of 30-45 minutes. Then she wakes up, still tired, but unwilling to settle back down again. So, she sort of drifts in and out of sleep for the next hour or so (usually in my arms or in the swing) and then it's time for her next feed. After which I try to keep her awake for a little bit and then start the cycle all over again. I've thought of trying to get her to nap on her tummy. Not the recommended sleeping position these days but I've heard lots of moms say that it helps their babies sleep longer. Are any of your kids tummy sleepers? Here's my question - how do you get them onto their tummy to sleep? I tried the other day and Keziah just fussed and bobbed her head around. I tried stuffing the soother in but she couldn't keep it in while moving around so much. Maybe I need to wait until she's in a deep sleep and then transfer her to that position...

But I am very thankful that she sleeps well during the night. I really can't complain. I would rather her have nap issues than night issues any day! Last night she slept from about 10:30 to 5:30! That's 7 hours straight! Unfortunately Micah was up before the crack of dawn today. Erik is working in Langley for the next 2 weeks and he has to be up just after 5. No matter how quiet he is in the morning, Micah just seems to sense that someone is up and then there's no way to get him to go back to sleep.

The kids getting ready for bed on Christmas Day. I think Micah and Keziah look alike in this picture - something in their expressions, maybe...

On the potty-training front, we haven't had any success since about a month ago when Micah went twice in one week. I'm not ready to push it yet and he doesn't seem ready to accept ;)

Maybe the next venture will be trying to get rid of his soother once and for all. He only has it for sleeping, but he really is obsessed with it. I've heard of cutting the end of the soother off a little bit at a time to wean him and I've also heard of going cold turkey and letting him cry it out - or giving him something to replace the soother like a new toy (as if he hasn't had enough new toys this month!)
Any advice???

I had to include this video of Micah from the other day. Every time he gets a little upset he asks for his soother (or "nuk-ie") and lately it's turned into this whole long sentence that he recites every time: "want nuk-ie too sleep big boy bed all night!" Can you hear it?



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11 comments:

Bonnie said...

Good to hear you guys had a good Christmas! I have to admit ours just wasn't the same without Craig & Jen but it was still good :)
Very funny video of Micah...and i love the pictures of both the kids...they sure are precious.

Janelle said...

oh my goodness! i could have written the end of your blog for you! those are the two things Rod & I discussed on the way into the city last nite...potty training & suckies.
i have NO idea how we are going to get rid of the soother. it will be horrible. and i'm not sure if i really SHOULD get rid of it yet. Kamryn only gets it in her bed. no one really sees her with it. but is it better to do it now than later? i don't know!
and potty training. if WE put her on the potty - she'll go almost everytime. and she's started again going #2 and telling us when she has too. but for the other - there are NO signs that she knows when she has to go. so yes, i ask what you asked - when do you decide to put the pressure on? what age is this appropriate, and how do you know when they are ready? ahhh!! why can't every child be exactly the same so people can write books on this?
i think we'll just wait until you go through it & let you figure it all out first! :)
i love being in the same life stage as someone else...makes me feel not so lonely in Mommyland.
we'll pray for you guys!!
love ya.

The Keowns said...

the best way I think to get rid of anything (sucky, blanky, bottle etc. . ) is COLD TURKEY! worked everytime with my kids. Yes, a one or two first hard nights but then it was fine. If you do it gradually, you are in for a long ride so if you do it fast, it will be over quick
as for potty training, every kid is ready at a different time. Aidan was 25 months when he was completely trained. I started about after his second birthday. But it took a long, hard week were I didn't plan a thing and devoted all of my energy into this.

kelly ens said...

Oooh, Keziah's napping patterns sound SOOO familiar to me, until only about a month or so ago! What we tried with Taeya when she was too little to move herself, was have her sleep on her side. We rolled up a blanket and put it behind her to keep her from getting onto her back, and we had a mini pillow (kind of like a magic bag) for her front (but you could use a receiving blanket rolled up. She slept WAY better then!
for the soother thing...no idea. i'm dreading the day I'll have to get rid of Taeya's, but for now i'll let her use it cuz she's finally sleeping well! :)

Amber said...

LOVE the picture of your 2 beauties lying in their diapers!!

I'm glad you are enjoying every moment of your Christmas celebrations!

ps - I'm back blogging again at underourtinroof.blogspot.com

KDees said...

Great pictures and video! I especially love the one of Micah and Keziah in their diapers! Well, we're about at the same place as you guys for potty training and the soother issues - none are terribly urgent yet, but it's coming....so I can't help you much on those. And, sorry I can't help you with the napping either - Tyler always was and still is a great napper. Hope you can find some other wise mom to give you advice, and then when I need it, I'll come to you, since you'll be such an expert by then! Glad to hear Christmas was good for you guys. Any plans for New Year's?

Christy said...

I got the link to your blog on one of the other Mommy blogger's blogs! My name is Christy and I have been checking out your blog for a few weeks now so I thought I would introduce myself and not be a lurker anymore!

I have to agree with the Mommy that said they had to take the soother away cold turkey. We did that with our son and it worked great! Although a few weeks later he took up sucking his thumb full time (which when he had his soother, it wasn't very often). So I am not sure what's worse? haha

And I am in the same boat with potty training. My son will be 3 soon and we are expecting a daughter in February and I always said I would never have 2 kids in diapers but it's looking that way! But I am the same as you and I don't want to push the issue.

And as for putting your baby on her tummy to sleep. Our son would not sleep on his back ever and he hated being swaddled. I tried him on his tummy and he slept amazing. Maybe he gets that from Mommy because I love sleeping on my tummy too. He would bob his head around the first few times too but then he eventually he stopped and slept awsome!

Good luck!

My blog addy:

http://christysblogofun.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Jamie-
I love the photo of the two in their diapers!! Very cute! We just got your announcement in the mail and Dan caught Jake kissing Micah's photo... what a goof. Jake is very interested in your photos on the blog and seems to like Micah's 'baby'. Your little cuties are changing so much. Keep posting photos. Sometime soon we'll have to come up and meet your kiddos.

Drea said...

I love that dress she has on... so cute... :-)
Its amazing how quickly they put on baby fat... wont be long and our Taite will develope those oh so cute rolls!

The tummy sleeping thing... You know I have no clue how you'd get them to nap on their tummy haha. Taite will fall asleep on me laying on his stomach... usually because i will burp him and he zonks out while I do that. So I just let him sleep... but Ive never had a baby to sleep on their stomach.

Caleb always preferred his back.

I am glad to hear she sleeps well at night! thats really a blessing...especially since you have Micah to deal with as well.

The photo of them in diapers id precious. I have to do the same thing!! haha.

So thanks 4 the idea!

Renee Shaw said...

I put Preston to sleep on his tummy starting when he was really little. This was my routine: during the day when he napped he was on his tummy, but at nite we wrapped him and put him on his side. Tons of people told me not to do the tummy thing at all, but what do they know about my kid?? lol Gradually as he started getting a little bigger we did tummy all the time for sleeping. We obviously didn't wrap him when on his tummy, but we put his hands up rather than at his side and covered him. He liked it, but some babies don't. Now that he is almost 1 we still start him off on his tummy and sometimes he goes right to sleep, or sometimes he'll roll over and play and then just fall asleep however he's laying! lol

The soother thing...I don't know. My son is only 11.5 months now, but we don't let him have the soother very often anymore. As he was getting older I gradually weened him off of it. Now he only gets it if he's sick/teething/bedtime or if we are going out for long periods of time. One thing I never did with him was let him have it if he was happy. When he was still little he didn't need it very often, only if he was a bit fussy, but as he got a bit older a started teething (which he did early) we gave it to him more...but never if he was happy and a lot of time at home I would just deal with him being a little fussy rather than plug him all the time! lol I haven't totally decided how I'm gonna ween him off but I think I agree with whoever said cold turkey. A few tough days is better than weeks of on/off days.
Anyway hope I helped!

The Danek Family said...

This is what my mommy did to get me to sleep on my tummy. First buy one of those flat soothers, like mine, (there are pics on my blog if you need to see one). That way it will not pop out when she turns her head. Then wrap her up tight with her arms at her sides. Worked like a charm for me! The only down side is, I still like being swaddled and I'm 7 months old.