And She Stands!

Last weekend Abigail pulled herself up on Jackson's potty and stood up. Time is flying with her. Here is a picture of Jackson standing for the first time around 8 months. We have already had to move her crib to the lowest level.

Around 6 months old I changed her to her new schedule and hope to keep this till she turns 1 year old. This schedule consists of two big naps a day. Of course it is different since I have a toddler at home and many days she does not get but a 45 minute nap in the morning because we are out doing fun stuff with Jackson.

Here is her schedule that works best for her and us

7:30 Wake up (Diaper change before each feeding) Eat 8 ozs and pears and many days 2 ozs of Pear Juice as well which helps with constipation

10:15 Nap till 11:30 or 12 pm (try for an hour and half nap but some days it is just 45 minutes if we are out)

11:30 6 ozs or 8 ozs sometimes takes her an hour here to eat her bottle, pears, cereal, etc.

3:30-5:30 Second Nap of the day. If she has only slept 45 minutes in the morning she will sleep when Jackson sleeps (2-4 pm is when he sleeps)

6 pm Dinner 6 ozs squash or some sort of vegetable here

8 pm Bath time for both babies

8:30 usually passes out in Charlie's arm

9 pm Last bottle of the day 6 ozs. The last few days she has stayed asleep for the 9 pm feeding so she is really going to bed at 8:30 pm. We are so blessed! I do keep my babies up latter because I do not want them up at 6 am ready to go.

The hardest part of the day for us is the second nap of the day. Jackson is already down and their rooms are right next to each other so I really do not like to let her cry it out like I do for the morning nap. Some days wrestling her down for a nap is like trying to wrestle a small alligator. She could stay up for 7 hours straight and be fine. Her VBS teacher could not believe how much she would not sleep because she did not want to miss out on anything. She hardly slept at all for her!

She is doing so much better now that she is not struggling with constipation. She is sleeping through the night!

Just pray she does not get hand foot and mouth disease. We did have to take Jackson to the doctor and he has blisters all down his throat and he is on motrin 2 or 3 times a day. It will be a miracle if she does not get hand foot and mouth disease since Jackson likes to secretly drink out of her juice cup.

Update on Abigail: Five Months Old

Abigail is still funny as ever. Her laugh is hilarious. I really wish I could catch it on video. She has such a fun sweet disposition, a lot like my grandmother. However, Abigail has been fussier recently. Mother's Day really wore her out and she went to sleep (actually a coma) early with only have about 25 ozs. That night she woke up every 2 hours and we would flip her back on her stomach and she would go right back to sleep. So then she got constipated and now it seems every other night she is waking us up every 2 hours. She wakes up on her back and I know she wants to be back on her stomach. Today she has eaten a ton of pears and drank a lot of formula. However, overall she is more fussy during the day. It is just hard to get adjusted to because most days and weeks she would never fuss, not even a little. I am pretty sure she is already struggle stomach issues, mainly constipation. Her bottom two teeth also look like they are about to come through. Do yall have any advice on how to alleviate her waking up upset on her back?

Doesn't she look beautiful in her church outfit? She finally has enough hair where the bow will really stay in. Yay!

Added later: Her schedule:
7:45 am 6 ozs bottle (sometimes 8 ozs) Pears
9:30 or 10 am Nap till 11:30 am
11:30 am 6 oz bottle Pears
1:30 pm Nap till 3:30 pm BOTH BABIES SLEEP WHICH IS GLORIOUS
3:30 6 oz bottle Most days takes a 45 minutes nap after she has been awake for 1 and half (which Baby Wise recommends)
6:30 6 oz bottle Pears
9 pm 6 oz bottle
10 pm Bed

She eats 5 times a day. I am not nearly as strict about her schedule as I was with Jackson. Mondays and Wednesday she does not get much of a morning nap because we go to the gym. We are working towards just 2 naps by 6 months of age and her taking her night bottle at 8 pm and going to bed by 9 pm. I have discovered on the nights she goes to bed early though she ends up waking up every 2 hours and the nights she goes to bed late, like 10:30 pm. she has no problems. That is a mystery to me.

Happy Late Valentines Day/Abigail's Schedule

Of course, this was Abigail's first Valentine's Day and her Sunday School teacher sent her a Valentine's Day card and she was able to hold it (it is the little things that mean so much). The people serving at First Baptist are wonderful.

So, I was looking back at my blog when Jackson was Abigail's age and this is what schedule we are moving to. In a perfect world, this would be her schedule till she turns 5 or 6 months old but of course since she has an older sibling her schedule has to be more flexible than Jackson's was at this age. It is good to have goals so here it is:

11 weeks

8-8:30 am Wake Up, Diaper Change and Eat 6 ozs
8:30-10am Wake Time (in her chair and on her matt)
10-11:30 Nap Time (wrapping Abigail very tight in a swaddle---learned it from the dvd Happiest Baby)
11:30 am Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
11:30-1 pm Wake Time
1pm-3pm Nap Time
3 pm Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
3-4:30 Wake Time
4:30-6:30 Nap Time
6:30 Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs Wake Time
6:30 on no more naps unless she is fussy
Bath time 7:30pm
9:00 Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
10:15 Bed Time

We would love her to eat at 8 am, 11:30am, 3:00pm, 6:30pm, 9pm roughly. If she cries before her feeding I try others things like giving her passy, but if that does not work I feed her as long as it has been 2 1/2 hours from the start of his last feeding. Also, we try our best to keep her awake for an hour and half from the beginning of her feeding. This is getting easier and easier.

Basically we try to let her have 3 big naps at 1 hour and 30 min minimum. If your baby does not sleep for at least 1 hour and 30 min times he will be fussy (swaddling her tight is crucial...we use the swaddleme kidd. swaddle) She can get 32 ozs of milk a day but usually only takes 27 ozs during the day. The doctor said for the first year they need 24 ozs of formula minimum and no more than 32 ozs in one day. Since Abigail is now probably 12 pounds he can take half of his body weight each feeding (6 ozs). Also, during the day I do not let her go more than 4 hours without eating so she does not get her days and nights mixed up.

According to Baby Wise, we are on Phase Two: Extended Night and will try to do this schedule until she is 5 or 6 months old.

However, the earliest we have gotten her to go down is 10:45 pm and then she actually slept till 7:30 or 8 am in the next morning. Sometimes she eats at 8:30 pm and then has to have more ozs at 10:30 pm to get enough ozs in for the day. Therefore some nights it is 11:45 or 12 pm before she gets to sleep which is crazy. However she sleeps a good bit in the morning (especially in her swing) which I do not mind because we have therapy Tuesday and Thursday morning with Jackson. I would just rather her go to bed latter and get all her formula in for the day then wake up at 4 am. Also, we have started to put her in the bumbo seat for short periods of time because it instantly makes her burp. She is already watching Dora with Jackson....poor baby.

It is always good to have goals for your children even as young as Abigail is. Babies thrive on schedule and routine. Do you try to put your baby on a schedule? Does it work?

With Jackson, Tuesday morning and Thursday morning he has therapy. I have started to try to have "circle time" with him before we do any activities. We pray and read a quick story (most of the time from our Puggles hand out or our hand out from Sunday School.) I actually have ordered him a new toddler bible and the One Year Children's Bible we are going to try to read out of everyday. Tuesday night, Friday morning, and Saturday morning we try to go to the gym, just us, while Charlie is at home with Abigail. I try to cook Monday night, Thursday night, and Saturday night, Wednesday night and Sunday night are church so we are staying busy. This upcoming weekend Charlie has something every night for 4 nights straight so it will be a little crazy around here and I need to plan stuff so Jackson does not get so bored that he starts climbing on everything. Lastly, I am trying to play with Jackson everyday. Monday we play with blocks and cars, Tuesdays-bubbles, Wednesday-puzzles, Thursdays-animals, Friday- coloring. I will post more about Jackson's schedule and an update on him soon.

This schedule works best for our family since three nights out of the week we are out late with church activities and we do not have to get up at 5:30 or 6 am for school yet.

Added later: This was her schedule and I am so crazy I got her on this schedule in the hospital. This was her schedule till about 8 or 9 weeks old and now some days she does eat again at 10:30 am which I am fine with.

7 am morning feeding time (diaper change before each feeding...she smiles during diaper changes because she knows bottle is coming up next) usually she will drink 4 ozs each feeding

10 am mid-morning feeding (try to have wake time from 10am-11:30ish and then nap time in the swing in the morning)
1 pm lunch time feeding (wake time, nap time)
4 pm another feeding (same)
7 pm dinner (same)
10 pm last feeding

*Note at first babies sleep like 20 hours a day so I did not worry about "wake time" and the first 3 or 4 weeks she would wake up at 3 or 4 am to eat. Because our babies are small the first 2 weeks we would wake her up to eat at 3 or 4 am and she usually would go right back to sleep.

Our Schedule with Two Babies

Our Schedule Right Now (I am sure it will change...maybe even change next week)

Around 7 am feed Abigail
8 am, Open the door for Jackson turn on his dvd get him nutrigrain cereal bar and bowl of dry cereal with his juice
8:30 am If it was a hard night or if I did the middle of the night feeding I go back and lay back down with Abigail till about 9:45 am while Jackson watches his shows and then he comes and lay down with me in the bed. No matter what this is rest time for mommy right now
10 am-11:30 am Feed Abigail again, do educational activities with Jackson. Usually consists of: signing time dvd’s, reading books to him, review signs, working on his speech, and working on learning his ABC's and 123's
10:30 am Snack time for Jackson (after this I try to get a shower by putting Abigail in her crib and I have the monitor on in the shower…but some days this does not happen)
12 pm Lunch time for Jackson (grilled cheese usually)
12:30-2 pm We try our best to have fun activities to do like going outside to play, and playing with his toys inside. I am trying to alternate playing with his toys (thanks to the advice of one of the best blogs I have seen: http://www.preschoolersandpeace.com/) and Mondays we try to play with blocks and car, Tuesdays we are going to try to play with bubbles, Wednesdays puzzles, Thursday animals, and Fridays coloring)
1 pm Feed Abigail
2 pm-4 pm Try my best to get them both down for a nap. This has worked out a lot…what I blessing!
4 pm Feed Abigail, Jackson has a snack
5:30 or 6 pm Dinner for us three
7 pm Abigail eats, Jackson plays with daddy
8 pm Bath time for Jackson practice Abc’s using bath letters
8:45 pm Bed time for Jackson and Family devotion
10 pm Abigail eats
11:30 or 12 pm Abigail goes down for the night. She loves to be awake till about midnight or so right now. Some days I do not give her a bath till 11 pm which is crazy but will not last long.
3:30 am or 4 am Abigail usually wakes up to eat as long it is not a Saturday night or a Tuesday night Charlie and I will take turn with this feeding and then the other person gets to sleep through the 6:30 or 7 am feeding. He is such a great husband!

Wow, no wonder I am exhausted!

The key is to not feed your baby but every 2 and half hours from the start of the last feeding. If you let your baby eat sooner than that then they will be snacking all day and never get full and in turn will be miserable. I am very laid back about this schedule and every day she gets off of it and I just try to push her 15 minutes further each feeding to get back to this schedule. If she gets used to eating around the same time every day she will be happier Also, it is good to try to give them 30 minutes to eat.

I wrote that schedule out last week and for the last three nights Abigail has woken up and I have put her in the bed with us and then back in the pack in play and she has proceeded to sleep till 5 am! Then she will not eat again till like 9ish, so she is dropping a feeding but eating 5 or 6 ozs some feedings to make up for it. We have Abigail on the top part of the pack in play in our room because it is just easier when she wakes up all through the night. We have a mattress for the pack in that will go on the top part of the pack in play (the basinet part) that we bought when we had the fire.

How do I get her to sleep for so long?

• Breastfeeding is best but doctors will tell you that babies digest breast milk a lot faster than formula. Therefore, if I was breastfeeding I would probably supplement her with a bottle for the night feeding to help her go longer between feedings at night. I think since she is bottle fed she can go longer between feedings
• She is swaddled in kiddopotamus swaddle me blanket
• We got a sleep positioner that one of my friends told me about…it helps them feel like they are being held

Does anyone have any more suggestions on how to get a baby to sleep for more than a couple hours straight?

Spiritually:

This year I am going back to reading MacArther Daily Bible in my reading the Bible through in a year. It is not to late to start! I somehow did read the Bible chronically through last year although December was a blur.

What about you? What are some of your spiritual attainable goals for this year?

I will hopefully be writing about some more issues that we are going through in the next couple of days.

Abigail's Jaundice Levels are Down-Thank you for your Prayers!

We are so thankful that Abigail's juandice levels are down! God get all the glory! I braved the doctor's office by myself, since I am feeling so great (I wanted to get the exact instructions on the bili blanket if she had to be on one), and I could not believe that her levels were down. The doctor said that once they go down they continue to go down. She is eating 3 ozs every 3 to 4 hours but she somehow lost 1 oz and she now weighs 6 11 pounds. She was starving and ate right after they weighed her so she would have probably weighed three more ozs than she did. Dr. Greeenhouse wants to see her Tuesday morning just to make sure that she continues to gain weight. I was hoping that with Abigail we would not have to go to the doctor every day like with Jackson, but we will end up going to the doctor four times in her first week of life! My parents are taking Jackson from Saturday to Tuesday so we will have it easy for four days with just one baby. Jackson has done really well with her and loves her. He does get frustrated though when she gets all the attention when people come over and he does not get the attention.

As far as a schedule. We are trying our best to get her on eating at
7 am (Diaper change before every feeding)
10 am
1 pm
4 pm
7 pm
then push her to 11 pm
2 or 3 am
then 6 am or 7 am

Of course you cannot get a baby on a schedule very well for the first 2 or 3 weeks because they sleep like 20 hours a day and if she is crying and it has been 2 and half hours fromt the beginning of the last feeding we just feed her and do not worry about a schedule. Our goal is to have her use to eating at these times by 6 weeks of age.

She loves her boppy seat that Ashley and Bridgette gave us. She is in it all the time and even sleeps in it sometimes after the middle of the night feeding. Charlie and I take turns and every other night one of us has the 3 am feeding...that is a huge blessing that probably will end once he goes back to work Monday.