Sleep Training and Such

Lately Oliver's sleeping habits have become a mess. He used to sleep pretty well only waking up once in the night to eat.  For several weeks (what feels like months) he has been waking up at night twice to eat and about a bajillion other times just because. He's usually pretty easy to put back to sleep, but it seems like he doesn't stay alseep for very long. A tired momma did some Googling and decided that it was time to start sleep training. A tired daddy agreed.

We are not those parents who have to do everything that "the book" tells us.  We don't care how you hold him, burp him, change him, feed him, etc. He's pretty laid back and we are too so as long as you don't drop him on the floor we are okay with whatever.  I didn't read any parenting books (and Riley doesn't read. Period.), but I did seek out help on getting a little one to sleep through the night. After some internet research I found the Ferber method. Essentially, you put baby to bed awake, let him put himself to sleep, and anytime that he cries you wait a certain length of time before comforting baby without picking him up. 

Riley was game for it since it meant sleeping through the night as an end goal for all involved.  I was fully expecting an hour of crying with us comforting him every so-many minutes. I wasn't looking forward to putting him to bed awake. Typically, I nurse him, put him to sleep, and snuggle for a while. It was hard to swap snuggle time for sleep time. 

We gave it a try for the first time last Friday and have been at it since. It is amazing. Oliver puts himself to sleep without any problem. He simply rolls around for a while and is out. He only wakes 1-2 times, cries for a couple minutes, and puts himself back to sleep. Most nights we don't ever reach the 3 minute mark to go comfort him. Several nights we haven't heard him cry at all. Yay for sleep training and an easy baby that picked it up quickly.

Here are a few photos of a happy baby after a full night's sleep:

In other news...

We got a hand-me-down exerersaucer from my friend, Katie, when I was pregnant.  It's been stored in the garage since then and I figured that Oliver was probably big enough for it.  He loves it.  I can get things done around the house while he is entertained.  I think I love it as much as he does.

Grandma Marcia, Grandpa Jim, and Uncle Shelby attended the Seneca Car Show last weekend so we decided to surprise them with a visit.  It was a toasty outing to say the least, but we still had fun.

First Day of Preschool ... sort of

Ollie had his first day of preschool today.  Well, kind of.  He came to preschool summer camp with me Tuesday because his daycare was closed. 

 (Sidenote -- that also reminds me that I haven't given an update about his daycare.  Although we loved Lacey and she was wonderful with him, the travel distance wasn't working so we had to break it to her and find somebody new.  As it turns out, she actually gave us notice about not being able to take care of Oliver as she accepted a job at her son's preschool that begins in August.  It worked out just fine and Oliver is now attending daycare in Wamego with a lady named Anna.  It seems to be going well and Riley enjoys not having to drive so much.)

Anyway........ back to the reason for his post.

Ollie came with me to preschool for the day.  He was a little nervous as I explained to him that he had to go to preschool ALL day with a whole slew of little kidlets. 

I explained to him that he would get to spend the whole day with mommy and all the kids would love him.  He decided that he would give it a try. 

Now let me just say that the end of July is when things get a little hairy around the preschool. It's hot, kids are tired of each other, and they are ready for a new school year with a new group of people. At this point they are super whiny and I'm over it just as much as they are. 

  

Bringing Ollie to school was the most calm, non-whiny day we have had in a very long time. They were all so amused by him. I very easily convinced the kidlets that Ollie would get sad and cry if kids whined, tattled, yelled, fought, etc. They totally bought it and were angels the entire day. 

Plus they were quiet and actually used inside voices so Ollie could sleep.  (Seriously it was so awesome that I'm contemplating bringing an empty car seat and convincing them that there is a sleeping baby inside so that they will use nice quiet inside voices the rest of the summer.)

He looked so tiny on a preschool cot. 

My favorite two quotes of the day were:

"He's cute. Can I pet him."

I put him down for his morning nap and he fussed just a little. A girl look at him, sighed and said, "It's like the worst time of his whole life."

It was an enjoyable day and my summer camp kiddos have already been asking when Oliver gets to come back.  I hope that in a few years his real first day of preschool is as successful as this day.

Baby Blues

As I was uploading photos to my computer the other day I came across these photos that I had forgotten about taking.  On this particular day (back in June, I think) his eyes were really blue and glassy.  As a stranger told me the other day, "Those eyes are too pretty for him to be a boy."  Oliver may not appreciate that statement, but he sure does have pretty eyes.

Little Fishy

Ollie is quite the little fishy.  He loves being in the pool.

At the beginning of the summer he wasn't sure about it and we encouraged him to splash.  Now, we can hardly get him to stop splashing.

All that splashing makes for a tired little boy...

...or maybe just a few more splashes before its time to get out.

Trying Squash

Although we have tried many times, Ollie really isn't into cereal at this point.  We have done both rice and oatmeal, but neither seem to be all that appetizing to him.  I can't say that I don't agree though because I've tasted them both and they are pretty bland.

We decided to give squash a try to see if something a little more flavorful helped.  He just doesn't quite have the whole swallowing thing down yet.

Five Months Old

Oliver is 5 months old.  He is still in 0-3 month clothing, but I think he will be able to size up pretty soon.  He likes to roll over - mostly from his back to his tummy so he can look around and see what is going on.  He must be starting to cut teeth because he is a drool monster and puts everything in his mouth.

I love to see how he changes from month to month.

Independence Day

Wamego is known for its awesome fireworks show so we invited our families down to celebrate the 4th.

We had lots of yummy food.  I forgot to take photos of the delicious spread, so the only photos I have are of the desserts.

Here is the parade watching crew, minus Haley who took the photo.

Riley, Oliver and I were in the parade with a tractor and a grain cart --- a 8345R John Deere tractor and Brent 1196 grain cart to be exact.

  Ollie was happy all during the parade and had a great time.  As we drove down the street we could read people's lips as they said, "Oh look at that cute little baby."  We think he's pretty cute too.

After the parade we all met back at the store to grill and hang out until the fireworks began.

The kids kept us entertained as we waited for the big show.