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Full Hands, Full House

Saturday.

We had both our hands and house full this weekend! Mazen had lots of fun with his aunt, uncle and grandmothers, and we enjoyed our first major outing and lots of delicious food.

I had a simple breakfast when I got up while my mom played with the baby – cereal (raisin bran) with mixed fruit and milk. I was craving oatmeal, but didn’t have enough time to make it since we had plans to leave the house!

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When we were all fed, we set out on a walk downtown to the city market!

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Maze went in his carrier (for germ protection and mommy comfort) but we took the stroller as well. It was a bit scary leaving the house – I had no idea what to expect! The Bugaboo was great with the car seat adaptor. {We got the Bugaboo as a hand-me-down from a friend of a friend.}

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The weather was amazing and it felt GREAT to be walking!! My body was definitely ready for some movement. I’m feeling nearly all healed, although it will still be weeks before I’m ready to do much more than walking. That’s just fine with me though! Walking is great because we can do it together.

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Daddy had to be up at 5 to work, so we went to see him first.

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And several friends were waiting to meet M for the first time!

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Mazen did great (although by this point I think we were both sweating all over each other!) and slept in the wrap the whole time we were out. We stopped by Paradox Pastry on our way home to pick up desserts for the night and he woke up hungry. I quickly sat down to feed him in the corner, which went better than I expected.

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Afterwards, we put him in his stroller and were pleasantly surprised when he loved it and snoozed the whole walk home!

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LOVE my diaper bag!! It’s Skip Hop and snaps onto the stroller. So convenient! The big outer pocks and water bottle holder are also so nice.

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Once back at home, I made salads for mom and me while she was on baby watch

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Greens, noodles, leftover chicken, figs, Woodstock dressing (forgot how good that stuff is!), candied pecans

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A little Guinness on the side, but I didn’t end up drinking more than a sip. Water is the preference! So far breastfeeding hasn’t really made me much hungrier than normal, but my thirst is most definitely over the top.

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I don’t even remember how we spent the afternoon since my days are blurring together a bit, but I got in a short nap and Maze got a long one. We don’t always have luck getting him to sleep. He seems to take 1-2 long naps a day, but I feel like he should be sleeping more!? Any tips on getting a baby to sleep other than Happiest Baby on the Block techniques? We just got the swing down from the attic, so we might try putting him in that soon.

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We all gathered on the porch for cocktail hour.

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Mazen enjoyed a milk-tail while Larbs, Matt and Matt tried this fancy Dogfish variety

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I saved my taste for a little glass of the Schlafly Pumpkin!!

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One of my favorite pumpkin beers that was on tap at Beer Run so we picked up a growler when I was in labor : )

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We hung out on the porch all evening. Totally normal to have sheep in the picture now Winking smile 

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Long enough that Larbs and Matt learned how to shush : )

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And then headed inside for a wonderful dinner that Matt made

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Davis Creek Farm steak with grilled okra and roasted potatoes. I covered those taters in ketchup!

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We shared 4 amazing kinds of dessert: leftover birthday cake along with Paradox Coconut Crème Tart, Peanut Butter Torte and a vanilla layer cake

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YUM!! I love dessert variety plates : )

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We are doing pretty well overall around here. Breastfeeding is going a LOT better (pain is almost gone – I will be thrilled if I have gotten past the worst this early – meeting with LC on Wednesday anyways) and sleeping is going OK too. We are just making our nights really long – 9pm – 9am – and in those 12 hours, getting 6-8 hours of broken sleep plus one nap a day. I generally feel pretty great during the daytime and just crash a little in the early evening.

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I am loving being Maze’s mom!

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Comments

  2. I love your baby carrier, from both the baby’s viewpoint and yours. Talk about comfort!!

    First outings are always fun. I remember when my first daughter was born, and at 5 days old, we went shopping. Low and behold, my husband locked the keys in the car, so there I was, breastfeeding while sitting on someone’s front stoop waiting for AAA to come and unlock the car.

    Thanks for bringing back a wonderful memory!!

    Reply

  4. Love reading about your baby days!! I have about 4 weeks left and had a quick question for you. You had mentioned when you were pregnant that your taste buds didn’t seem to be the same as before pregnancy. I know mine were so off in the beginning, got better in the 2nd trimester, but have been off again since about 32 weeks. Have you noticed whether yours have gone back to normal?

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    • My taste buds are pretty normal, but my appetite is still kind of off. Like I get full faster than I used to. Maybe my stomach is still shrunken down?

      Reply

  7. The one thing I’ve learned about newborn sleep over the past 15 years with my three boys and all the reading/training I’ve had as a postpartum doula and infant massage instructor is that you can’t wake a baby when they want to be asleep and you can’t make them sleep when they want to be awake! LOL

    The other thing–and this is one I hated to discover with my third son–is that every baby is different and every baby’s sleep requirements vary greatly. My first son was a major sleeper and routinely took 3 hour naps every day until he was a little over 2 years old. My second son didn’t sleep quite so much–maybe more like an hour and a half nap a day but my third son–he took the cake! He NEVER–and I mean NEVER– took more than a 30 min nap each day. He also required much less sleep at night than the other two. And now that he’s 10, he still shows this same sleep personality. So all this to say that each baby will have their own unique sleep requirements and unfortunately, some require very little as compared to other babies! I often wondered how my third son wasn’t walking around like a zombie…but he wasn’t and still does just fine on very little sleep. It was a tough “babyhood” with him because of this but he’s such a wonderful young man that I don’t look back and question it now–it’s just who he is 🙂

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    • I agree with Nicole, had similar experience with my two kids. My son, you could set a clock by him, he was so regular in his sleeping patterns, my daughter, if she slept more than 20 minutes at a time ever during the day it was a miracle, however, she went to bed at 7 and slept till about 5 the next morning once she started sleeping through the night. Both kids were sleeping through the night by 8 weeks. As much as you might “want” to go by the book, all babies will do it their own way and I have no doubt you all will find a routine that works for you all.

      Reply

    • I can’t agree more. We had our non-sleeper first and our sleeper second. I thought I was doing something wrong with our first until our second came along and then I realized that people are just born with personalities and that they’re all different from the beginning! To this day, our son (age 9, the non-sleeper) requires much, much less sleep than our daughter (age 7.5, the sleeper).

      Reply

  9. Seriously you’re making it all look very easy!! I hope my expectations aren’t being set too high for our expected arrival in December!!

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  10. One trick to get the baby to sleep or at least callmed down is to hold the baby securely and bounce while seated on an exercise ball. This worked for my brothers 2 LOs and mine. I found that my baby sleeps when he wants and my job is to keep them happy and comfortable until ready for sleep.

    Being outside also improves my baby’s mood almost instantly.

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  14. All the pictures are gorgeous. I clicked on the link you had in an earlier post and saw them all! But today I just love the one of Grandma Buzz! She looks overthetop happy. Uncle Matt looks pretty comfortable with holding a newborn!! And those salads look amazing. I need to buy figs!!
    I just knew you would love being a mother and you are doing a great job!

    Reply

  15. We would bounce on the exercise/birthing ball with our son, Mason :-), to get him to sleep during his first few months. We got into a rhythm of bouncing and then transferring to the baby swing and he slept great. The ball really was like magic…if he was fussy, we’d bounce him and he’d be happy. Worth a shot….

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  17. I had my kiddos on a “schedule” as early as I could. We did the wake, eat, play, sleep thing over and over throughout the day and then at night just let them sleep as long as they could. They ended up being amazing nappers and sleepers!
    While I have no tips on how to get them to sleep, I do remember one thing I learned which is that babies often start to wake about 45 minutes after falling asleep, but they are really just moving from one kind of sleep to another, and if you let them fuss a few minutes, they go back to sleep. I remember it was always 45 minutes on the dot, but if I didn’t get them up, they often slept another hour.
    I am still fascinated with the shushing. Wish I had known about that when I had my kids!

    Reply

  18. Sounds like you’re settling in really well, and Mazen just gets cuter and cuter!

    There really isn’t anything you can do besides the basic Happiest Baby on the Block-type of stuff to get a newborn to sleep! They will sleep, eat and wake when they want to at this age. They really set their own schedules, and all you can do is go along for the ride at this point. I carefully tracked all of my baby’s sleep and nursing sessions for the first four months, and it wasn’t until the end of the third month that she started to fall into a discernible pattern. Each baby is different, and they change all the time anyhow! The best bit of advice I got in the beginning was sleep when the baby sleeps (obviously), and to enjoy any bit of good sleep while it is happening – things will get better and worse and better and worse in the sleep department over the first year (6, 9, 12 week growth spurts, 4 and 9 month sleep regressions, teething, hitting milestones, etc. can all make your baby’s sleep go south) so enjoy 6-8 hours a night while you can!

    I’m curious – how is cloth diapering going? We really enjoyed it from the day we got home from the hospital, and it’s still going well for us at 9 months. Are you trying out elimination communication like you wanted to?

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    • We’re waiting on the cloth until he grows into his Bum Genius and we get a little more used to being parents. And I’m not going to try EC until he’s older too and a little more predictable in the waste department. I think the websites says to start around 3-4 months.

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      • Cool! I didn’t know about the age to start EC, I don’t think I’d ever have the patience to do it!I can’t wait to hear about your experiences with it when you start.
        We chose prefolds and Thirsties covers in part because we could start right away (our girl was even smaller than Mazen when she was born and we could cloth diaper from day one w/out any issues). I’m sure you will love CD’ing when you do start; our girl is now 9 months old and we’ve never had a single diaper rash!

        Reply

  20. I totally agree with Nicole’s comment! My first son was not a good sleeper, mind you, he had other issues such as multiple food allergies and severe eczema that made sleeping intolerable. The only way to get him to sleep was to move with him…no sitting around…he loved movement. So I would take him for walks in the stroller and then bring the stroller insided and let him sleep in it. Sometimes, I would walk about the house pushing the stroller, other times I would walk around with him, he always fell asleep in car trips and I became a master at transferring him into a stroller in the house to continue the nap! As he got older, I would sing to him and rub his back to calm him. I had a special song for each of my boys that I would sing to them at bedtime. My second son…no problem with sleeping! He ate and slept in a schedule…still to this day he knows when he is tired and just goes to bed. Every child is different…there is no right way or wrong way…just their way. Figuring that out is part of being a mother! Good luck!

    Reply

  22. Oh, and this is a minor thing and I know you were walking and not driving around, but the buckle on the 5-point harness in the car seat needs to be at nipple/armpit level and not stomach level. My husband’s a firefighter so I have been well-versed in proper car seat protocol! 🙂
    Glad you’re enjoying babywearing! I loved my Moby when my girl was little.

    Reply

  24. I agree with you, my days would run together during those first few weeks after the baby was born. I know I was off work for 6-9 weeks for maternity leave (for my two babies) but I could not tell you what I actually did during the day besides eat, sleep, change diapers and nurse.
    My best advice for new mommies is to not try to do too much the first few weeks. You might feel like you can but the sleep deprivation will catch up with you. With my second, I sat around a lot the first few weeks and let people cook for me/clean for me/do laundry/etc. That way I could focus on the baby and getting some rest, it really helped my recovery time. It was also precious time I spent with the baby.

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  26. Glad you’re feeling healed already! That is great- I still wouldn’t say that I’m healed yet, and it’s been almost a month. (sidenote- geeze where did the time go?!)
    Glad breastfeeding in ‘public’ went well! I’m always super paranoid and nervous to do it anywhere other than my home. Ugh- it’s just not comfortable yet…..
    Dessert variety plate are my FAVORITES!!!!

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    • I love the dessert variety plate too. Why did this never occur to me, especially since I love dessert so much?! Glad to see the grilled okra as well. I started grilling mine too and it’s fantastic. Thanks for the tip!

      Reply

  27. It’s amazing how you learn to function off of less sleep. 🙂 Maddux had JUST started sleeping for 6 hours each night… until this weekend. We’re back to two hours at a time. I swear he’s teething early! Hope y’all get lots of rest!

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  29. Hey there…I recently found your blog and just love your updates! I have a 2.5 yr old son (and gave birth to a stillborn daughter 2 months ago) and am just getting back to reading blogs that involve new babies 🙂
    I’m not sure how schedule oriented a person you are, but with our son Sam, we started Babywise right off the bat. We didn’t follow it strictly or anything, but the whole feed, wake, sleep cycle really helped us figure out his sleeping patters, protect his sleep and help him thrive. Every baby is different, but Sam was so, so fussy around 6:30 every night, that we finally figured out he just wanted to go to bed for the night. He started sleeping 7pm-7am around 3.5 months and I was diligent about protecting his schedule and following that cycle. It seriously paid off!
    To this day, he thrives on his daily nap around 12:30 or 1pm, for about 2-2.5 hours. He goes to bed around the same time as well, unless we’re out for a special occasion or traveling.
    Good luck and I know we don’t even know each other, but I just love your blog! Mazen will do great, it’s just tricky these first couple months until they really start getting into a routine (and he will!)
    Liz

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    • Liz, I just read your birth story and that honestly was the most beautiful thing I have ever read. You and your husband are so inspirational and strong. I will be following your blog, if that is ok. Your son is adorable too!

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    • Liz,
      I just wanted to say how very sorry I am for your loss. I also had a stillborn daughter last December. My water broke at 5 months pregnant and my daughter passed before I gave birth to her later the same day.
      I just want to give you kudos for having the strength to give Kath mothering advice despite the fact that you are grieving. I hope that you find peace and comfort as you learn to cope with your new normal. ((hugs))

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  30. Congrats on your first (?) successful public breastfeeding! (I think you said you did it in the ped’s office, but in a restaurant or other public area is much scarier) That is a big milestone. It’s all downhill from there – soon you’ll be BF’ing just about anywhere 🙂

    I love that you are prioritizing your sleep. Do not stop!! Go mama!

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  31. Just tasted Schlafly Pumpkin for the first time at a tasting recently – and I think we’re going to tour the brewing facility this weekend and sample some more! Yum.

    I imagine you were self-conscious feeding M. in public, but it looks/sounds like you both did great!

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  32. Kath it’s amazing that you’re out walking around, totally have him in the wrap (Moby?) and look 100% comfortable, sat down to just nurse him in public like it’s no biggie…I remember struggling with all of that for a long time! If I didnt have the MyBrestFriend all lined up and ready to go, little Missy didn’t want to latch. And I love your black & white cover on yours! Congrats for getting the hang of all this stuff so quickly!

    And love the 4 dessert combo platter 🙂

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  34. Love the pics! Looks like you had a nice day out. He’s such a cutie!

    I showed the Mr the “shush” thing and he was amazed. (Ooh, that could be considerd a pun!) Does it work every time? He then tried it on me when I was having a meltdown and I laughed and then threatened him with bodily harm if he tried to make it a regular thing. HA!

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  36. Best advise for me which I wish I had taken was don’t compare baby sleep. I spent many hours frustrated comparing my daughters lack of sleep to “the baby in the book who slept from this time to this time” to friends babies who slept etc. etc. It didnt make her sleep any better and it didnt make me feel any better. Tricks to try, (we also read happiest baby on block) putting her in the wrap and bouncing on an exercise ball, she napped in the swing from 3 months – 5 months and than we bought her a baby hammock which she uses for naps. I also did the going to bed early, as you are, for the first 5 months, so I could get some sleep (she would only sleep if I was lying next to her), also we played music for her when it was nap time to associate with (James Blunt). We also would play this in the car, and try and plan trips in car at same time as naps. I agree with above comments every baby’s sleep is different. Trust your own mother instincts and do what feels best for you, when it comes to sleep, no one knows your baby better than you.

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  37. My oldest was not a good sleeper at all. He would sleep in two hour intervals all night long so my husband and I just had to split up the night in shifts.

    One thing that worked with my second son was giving him a bath at night and that would totally relax him and he would be asleep before I had the tub drained. (haha) To this day, any warmth of any kind such as a nice warm blanket on him and he’s out. He’s 8 now. 🙂

    I think the schedule you have sounds perfect! Maybe the less naps during the day will help him sleep longer at night.

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  39. Being a mom is pretty incredible isn’t it?! Things start to get into a groove and it starts to work like clockwork. There will definitely be ups and downs, but all in all, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done!

    Looks like a great weekend Kath! I’m so glad you got to spend time with your family!

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  40. Yeah for Schlafly Pumpkin! My hometown of St. Louis is very proud to have KERF as a loyal fan! Congrats on your beautiful baby and an AMAZING birth story. We used the Happiest Baby technique with our son as well. I would often find myself bouncing gently on the big exercise ball while holding him. Kind of took the load of my shoulders and back and he enjoyed the movement. Wishing you long stretches of uninterrupted sleep during this time which I fondly remember as “Baby Boot Camp”! Take care!

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  43. Sorry I missed meeting your Mom this weekend! Since I was gone so long Bob was in charge of the day’s agenda. A tip for baby sleep – the love bug has a big giraffe that makes some great sleep sounds in her crib. We could reliably put her in (on her side which she loves) and pat her a little, and the giraffe did the rest. And if you are not against pacifiers, get the perfectly round type for nursing babies!

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  44. I agree with the wake/eat/play/sleep. After about 2 weeks I did try to encourage my kiddos to have a morning wake time (my goal was 7 am, but I tried to stay within an hour of that). All three of my kids slept 10 hours a night by about 4 mos. I was very blessed. Good luck with your little guy; he’s adorable!

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  45. Loving the new format of your posts!! The shot of your Mom and Mazen is beautiful!

    Question: do you eat organic foods/vegetables? I’ve never been strict on it but thinking I should…your skin glows and wondering if org foods help..?

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    • Not a ton. I buy organic berries. Our garden is sort of organic. I buy organic greens. But most of our other stuff is just local.

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  46. Hi Kath,
    I just started reading your blog, and it’s quickly become my favorite. I have an 8-month-old and a 2-year-old, and before I had kids, considered going to school to become a dietitian. So, it’s great to read about someone on the same life path!

    ANYWAY, about the sleep issue: When I was on maternity leave, I was a big fan of taking baby to bed with me during the day and nursing her to sleep (on your side). Then I could either get a nap, or let her sleep while I read or whatever. As for getting your son to sleep in the crib, it will come with time. I don’t think either of my kids napped outside of my arms for the first two weeks!

    Good luck. You have a beautiful family!

    Meg

    Reply

  48. 1) Schlafly pumpkin rocks 🙂
    2) I agree on the dessert front- variety is best! (A little of this, a little of that…)
    3) This shushing thing is remarkable to me. I had never heard of it and will definitely try putting this in practice whenever my husband and I get around to the baby thing 😉

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  49. Re: sleep. The thing that helped me was to start soothing him to sleep THE MINUTE he started showing signs of sleepiness — at this point he probably doesn’t want to be awake for longer than around an hour. Still, it would often take a lot of rocking and shushing to get him to settle down for the first 2 months or so.

    Do you have “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”? Great resource. I would definitely check it out if you haven’t yet.

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      • My goal was to have her back asleep 2 hours after she woke up. So I always started about 20 minutes before. I had great luck with pacifiers (but only for sleeping!), and rather than sway, I swaddled her, put her on her side on my thighs/knees, and jiggled. Soon he will settle into a three nap a day pattern, but that’s still weeks away

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  54. Its hard to give sleep advice because every baby is so different.

    My son is 8 weeks old now and WOW, those first few weeks really are a blur. It does get better and better, sleep-wise, but it does take some work. In the early days, the baby really is on his own schedule. Until 5 ish weeks my son was up every hour and a half to two hours to eat… I really thought I would die of sleep deprivation lol 😀 But of course you never do.

    What worked for our son when he was in the first few weeks of his life was making sure his tummy was very full, swaddling him tightly, and holding him while we walked/bounced/jiggled etc. We could get away with the rocking chair once he was drowsy, but being up and moving around normally is really what put him to sleep (and still does!). He only likes certain positions and needs some white noise to help him drift off.

    Some random tricks that helped him fall asleep when he was a new newborn 🙂 :
    Hair dryer
    Vacuum cleaner
    The head jiggle from THBOTB
    Walking around the apartment while he was swaddled
    Standing in the bathroom with both fans and the dryer on 🙂

    Good luck and hang in there.

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  55. kath, congrats on your beautiful, perfect baby! curious if you’d be willing to do a post on alcohol and breast feeding? i’m 28 weeks, and have been doing some research, but everyone seems so biased based on their opinion of the matter… but i can’t wait to (hopefully) enjoy some holiday brews this winter after our little one arrives!

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    • Not something I am authorized to discuss 🙂 But talk to your doctors and lactation consultants. Mine all said a drink here and there was totally fine. A few even recommended it during the “witching hours” of the evening.

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  56. picked up some pumpkin ale at whole foods this weekend and though of you! no schafly though – just big boss. they did have a 22 oz pumking that i considered though! looks like an awesome weekend. we handled the sleep similarly to you (just made the nights super long). and i will say that the bfeeding hunger did take a couple weeks to set in but it DEFINITELY did hardcore!

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  57. Thanks everyone for your kind words about me with my new buddy Mazen. I’m wondering what Kath and Matt would think if I moved into their guestroom….

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  60. You just make me so freaking happy! Seeing you as a happy mom is totally inspiring. I feel like I am the same way with my kids but am bombarded with negative parent agenda all the time. It’s so encouraging to really feel the positivity somewhere other than my own mouth haha.

    Naptime tips? Well, my two are opposites. With my first it was a matter of swaddling, paci and setting him in his crib every time his eyes sagged a bit. With my second it’s a matter of nursing, rocking and laying him unswaddled on a soft surface like my bed or a thinish pillow. My first took four to five naps a day and my second takes two or three suuuper long naps (2-3hr). Hope that helps!

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  61. I just tried the Sah’Tea on Saturday too! I liked it a lot. After drinking a million pumpkin beers, the chai spice was a welcome addition to the fall beer line-up.

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  62. Glad everything is going so well — you seem like a natural! If Mazen isn’t acting fussy, then he probably isn’t tired, so I wouldn’t worry too much about him not getting enough sleep. They tend to be really good at letting you know when they’re tired, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Our daughter could be hard to soothe to sleep, but bouncing on the exercise ball plus white noise worked like a charm. Unfortunately, bouncing on the ball at length was ultimately quite hard on my back, and I had to go in for physical therapy when she was about 5mo and “wean” her off the ball. As he gets bigger, to avoid aches and pains, remember to keep carrying him in the center of your body rather than on one side.

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  64. CONGRATULATIONS! Mazen is so handsome. 🙂 So happy for you, Matt, and the rest of your family! I love that this post has the perfect balance of food and baby pictures and love that wrap carrier… you wear him so beautifully. 😉 Good luck getting him on a sleeping schedule that is more restful for you both.

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  65. Sweet baby feet! You are doing a great job, Kath. Newborns don’t settle into any kind of real routine until they are around 3 months old (usually). He seems like he is sleeping really well. Newborns just doze around the clock.

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  67. Hi Kath, I’m sure this has been mentioned but Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child was our sleeping bible! I had no idea how much sleep a baby needs and turns out we were mistaking signs of being overtired for hunger. We refer to those few weeks as operation overfeed. 😉 we quickly learned to put baby down after no more than 90 mins to 2 hours of awake time until regular nap times began to develop at around 4 to 5 months. Worked out great for us and now we have a good sleeper who loves her crib. We’re doing the same with the twins and so far so good.

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  69. Best sleep advice I got:
    – For the first 3-4 months, get them to sleep any way you can. Rock, nurse, bounce, swing…whatever it takes. We personally did a lot of swaddling/rocking until drowsy and then let him nap in his swing. He would stay asleep the longest with movement.
    – By 3-4 months, transition to non-motion sleep. I still swaddled and rocked him but put him to bed in his crib. This is when that stupid 45 minute sleep cycle was killer for us. I would try rousing them around 30-40 minute (just barely) and patting them back to sleep; I would try rocking them back to sleep after they fully woke up. Everything was sort of hit or miss but by 6-8 months they were both napping better again.
    – Don’t let him get over tired. I didn’t read “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” until my first was 6-8 months old but I was prepared for baby #2. I was honestly shocked how much more often our second child napped. I don’t know if he just requires more sleep or if I was more educated…probably a mixture of both. Our first child would literally take 2-3 cat naps a day until he was about 8 months old. The second one….he’s a totally different story. The second one was never awake more than 45 minutes at Mazen’s age. By the time he was a few months old he could make it an hour to an hour and half. By six months, he finally could stay awake about 2 hours. Just watch him for sleepy signs and then have a routine…I would always change his diaper, swaddle him, turn out the lights, turn on the sound machine and rock him until he fell asleep. They start to understand routines and it gets easier.

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  70. I look at the amount of steak you have on your plate to what I normally have and realize that I need to re-evaluate my carnivorous ways. I try to use a scale and weigh 4 ounces cooked, but it mine still looks like a brontosaurus burger than a piece of steak.

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  72. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is the BEST book about sleep! I love that the author doesn’t tell you just one right way but gives you many options so you can figure out what works best for your family. It’s an invaluable tool.

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  74. LOVE the last photo on the dressing table…precious. Also, cracked up when I saw the sheep because i’m pretty sure its a sound-maker (could obviously be wrong) and if it is….we had one and it slowly became part of our little family…the boys loved it, especially for bedtime!

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  75. that picture of your hand with M’s feet is to DIE for….absolutely a dream. i bet life overall is so surreal right now but so amazing as well.

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  76. I have twin girls who were born premature. For so long they ate and fell right back asleep. A little past their due date they started being awake more and more, and not necessarily falling asleep immediately. After one day of virtually no naps, I went back to the books. I followed the eat/activity/sleep pattern. They napped with each feeding (they ate every ~2.5 hours). It gave a rhythm to things, and the swaddle helped them realize when it was sleep time.

    Also, when babies get overtired, it gets harder and harder for them to fall asleep. Faster rocking can help on those cases. I knew people whose babies would only fall asleep on the fastest swing settings. Mostly, it’s trial and error!

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  80. i recommend babywise for sure. white noise in the bedroom is a must. when his hearing gets better, you’ll be glad you have it to drown out other noises while he sleeps. double swaddle. (wrap in muslin wrap very tight then a velcro swaddle over it; the summer infant swaddles are best. dress him in only a onesie if you are worried he will get too hot. that’s a night nurse trick we learned that works wonders)

    also- wait until 6 mos. (seems like a while away, but it flies, trust me!) at 6 mos, his waking early (typically 45 mins in) during naps will subside and he will sleep longer stretches. it’s a chemical that kicks in and they are able to sleep past that mark.

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  81. I really, really like these long summary posts vs. Three smaller posts! Sort of like a large meal vs. Grazing all day. So much fun! And you are looking fabuloussssss! So healthy and vibrant in your market pics. 😎

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  83. I love the comment about sheep being a totally normal part of the photos now and I also loved the photo of his adorable little feet!

    It looks like you guys are doing great with Mazen! So wonderful! Just curious, did you ever see the woman who appeared on Oprah for her ability to understand babies’ language? Her name is Pricilla Dunstan. You can watch the video of her spot on Oprah on youtube. It was fascinating to watch and although my “baby” is 16 today, I would have loved to know about her techniques back then! 🙂 Here is a link detailing some of the info for first time mothers, if you are interested! 🙂

    http://www.dunstanbaby.com/first-time-mother/

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  85. I’m loving all of your posts lately. Glad you are enjoying time with family and are loving being a mom. Have a wonderful TUESDAY <— just in case you forgot what day it was. 😉

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  87. Hi Kath. Congrats on baby Maze. I’m due with my first in 7 weeks and I’ve been reading a few books that friends have loaned me. One of them is Babywise, and while I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the book, I do think that getting the baby in a pattern of sleep, eat, awake, sleep makes sense to help with the sleeping (rather than nursing to sleep–which I obviously have no idea if you are doing or not doing). It doesn’t seem that newborns take well to scheduling, though, so it might just take time. Good luck! You are doing great!

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  88. We’ve always done Babywise with our boys -Eat Wake Sleep. Another good reference is Marc Weissbluth, M.D’s book: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. He mentions that babies have a wake window of 45min-2hours. It’s like riding a wave and catching it. If having trouble with fussiness he recommends cutting back on your wake times by 15 min increments till you get it right. That being said our 4th boy, almost 9 weeks, is fussier than all our others and does not lay down for his naps during the day as we think he should. We are still working with him, but some of it may just come down to personality!

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