Nap Time Drama, Night Time Trauma

Over the past several days, at nap time or bed time, when I nurse Jonas, he seems to get a huge burst of energy. Could it be changes in my milk? Hormones? Perhaps Jonas doesn't actually need the nap, just a cuddle, some milk and a few moments of quiet before heading back into world of learning and discovery. I am not sure. Maybe when he starts rubbing his eyes and getting cranky, all he needs is a little quiet time and not an actual sleep. Yet today when he did this, I waited abit longer until he really looked more tired and then I just lay next to him without offering to nurse and he just sucked his thumb and fell asleep. hmmmm.

Night time has gotten a little out of control over these past few days. When we all get into bed together, Jonas will seem tired, then nurse, then get a huge burst of energy - he starts smiling and crawling back and forth between Jordan and I. Usually, after Jonas falls asleep, its our special time to read or relax together in bed. We need to do something different, but I am not sure yet. Jonas has always been a very easy baby to put to sleep.

Last night got so ridiculous that I ended up putting him to bed on the futon next to the bed. He finally fell asleep, but since he was not right next to us, he began to wake up every three hours(I think).

I will have to be more aware of whats going on tonight - but these nights that I am monitoring the situation, I don't sleep as well. But maybe in the long run I will get more sleep if I figure it out now.

I am thinking about having Jonas spend his first night away from us soon. hmm. Its harder than I thought, I keep avoiding it. Now that he is crawling I am even more apprehensive, but I think its something healthy that needs to be done sometime soonish....maybe this can be a little 'treat' for Grandpas Jerry and Jill when they get back from their travels in the Dominican...hehe.

Too Much To Remember!

In my memory, in my tired, tired mind, I remember the first six months with Jonas. As if they were years ago. But no, those first six months were not so long ago. Jonas ate, slept and needed his diaper changed all day and all night. I adjusted to motherhood and never felt guilty for feeling abit bored with my little lump of love. Of course he was sweet and great and it was one of the most exciting changes in my life - but WOW things have certainly progressed from any sort of boredom with motherhood.

Jonas 1 week old

It was right around the six month mark that Jonas was more than ready for solids; much to my surprise!

He has now weaned himself quite abit and although I occasionally feel a little weird that he is not so needy for my milk, I know that it is there for him whenever he wants. My milk production, in response to his weaning, has slowed down abit. I do miss the closeness of breastfeeding all the time, however, I am enjoying my freedom and the ability to fit into my old bras!

Since around the six month mark and his introduction to solids I can definitely say that Jonas has become a very exciting little guy. It seems like he started crawling and pulling himself up all at the same time. He is soooo fast. He likes to go up the stairs over and over again. He has this fascination with pushing items across the floor and following as fast as he can. He pushes balls, blocks, Tupperware....ANYTHING that moves across the wood floor. He talks and sings all the time. He loves to swim. He loves Bower the dog more than ever. At the moment he enjoys books with flip up pics. He likes to turn the pages. He plays with his puzzle board. Theres just so much going on right now.
He still sleeps from around 7PM to about 7AM with a few feeds in between. Since our US road trip, he sleeps with us each night; sometimes starting in his futon on the floor next to our bed. Throughout the day Jonas will last about two hours before needing an hour nap. So this means he still naps about three times a day. It is more difficult to get him to sleep now that he is a crawler. When once he always fell asleep with a nursing session, he now likes to be walked to sleep, which his dad does best. Jordan is the king of putting Jonas to sleep at the moment. Jonas just rests his head on his chest as Jordan paces around the house and he quickly falls asleep. Its his preference at the moment. I'm okay with that (haha)

One interesting development over the past several days is that Jonas is holding his pee and poop for the potty. I had been very keen to try diaper free. But being tired etc etc I just tried to do cloth as much as possible (more so in the past 2 months) and kind of just forgot about doing diaperless for any real length of time. Jordan began taking off the diaper as Jonas was pooping and leaving it off. All this time I have brought Jonas into the bathroom while one of us are going and telling him what is going on. And I can't even count how many times I have gone while Jonas is in his sling/carrier. So maybe Jonas already knew what to do. So to bring us to the present, Jonas is crawling around bottomless and we haven't had an accident yet. He still wears cloth for naps and outings, but for the most part is currently diaper free. Its totally cute because every time I sit him on his potty he grunts a bunch even when he is only peeing.

We took Jonas out for his first snowfall but at the time didn't seem overly impressed. He just stared and stared.

Over the weekend I took my little niece to The Nutcracker which was sooo great! My mom came as well, so it was a sort of three generational 'date'. Livia was in AWE of the sugar plum faerie and was so excited to talk with her after the performance.

Auntie Valerye and Livia at the show