Stumped

I wish I had some great news to report, that Mason was sleeping throught the night, but no. We've had some rough nights around here. Not just Mason either, Alyssa has been waking up at night which is completely out of character, ugh. So for a few nights when Alyssa was waking up every couple hours from 11-4, I had no energy to do anything but feed mason when he woke up at 4:30. The only problem is now he won't even go back to sleep when I feed him! He stays quiet about 20 min, poops and then won't go back to sleep. Any ideas on how to alter his potty schedule? Last night we let him cry about 20 min before I fed him, just to see if he might go back to sleep. No luck, so I fed him and he was up 20 min later with a dirty diaper. Changed him put him back down. We knew he was fine, fed and changed. So we let him cry for about 40 minutes. When we went to get him he was hysterical, hyperventilating and he had rolled over onto his tummy (another new problem). He would not calm down so I fed him again and he was out, well for an hour until I woke him up to start the day. I just cannot accept that 4:30am is morning, but it seems that Mason thinks so. The only thing I'm hoping for now is that he outgrows the 4 am wake up really soon.

Night 3 and 4

Well last night didn't go as great as I'd hoped. He woke up at his usual time 3:45am, he wasn't that upset at first and was tempted to let him fuss a while but he started getting more upset so I went in and had him calmed down in about 5 min. I thought, yay that was quick. He made a little noise at 4:30am but went back to sleep. Then we heard him again at 4:50 am and had to go in. Took 15 min to get to to sleep. Up again at 5:30, took another 10-15min. He was very restless. I could calm him down quickly but he just kept stirring and would not sleep for more than 20-30 minutes. Finally he slept from 5:45 - 6:15 and then I fed him awake and laid him back down. He stayed in bed til 6:45, awake I think, then we were up for the day. So I'm not really sure what to think. He is just so restless after 4am. This was the case before too. I would feed him around 4am and then he'd be up 1.5-2hrs later. So I'm not sure if he's restless now because he's hungry or if it's because it's just a restless time for him. I'm hoping that it will get better cause I'm exhausted. I know that I have to stick with it a little longer to really see results, but I just wonder why he won't stay asleep. They don't really address this in the book, I need answers!! The other thing is with the "dream feed" I'm not able to go to bed early to try to get more sleep. I have to say up til 10:30 or 11pm to feed him. At least naptime is continuing to go well.

Night 4

I caved....I fed him at 4:30am. I just don't know. He woke up at 4 and I tried for 30 min to calm him.. He would calm down and I stood there to make sure he was asleep. I would climb into bed and he would start up again. This happened several times. He would calm down but would not stay asleep. He seemed hungry and thats one reason why I thought he wasn't able to sleep. So I fed him and he was semi awake when I put him back down, he slept til 7am. I was so exhausted I just did not have it in me to keep going to morning. I picked a bad time to do this too cause Nate hasn't been able to help much (checkrides, TDY). So I'm not sure if I'm going to keep trying this or if I'm going to go back to the 7:30pm til 4am, feed at 4 and then do the patting if he wakes up before 7. He just seems to be stuck at a 3-4 am wake up regardless if he has a dream feed or not. If nothing else, naptime is still going well so at least we fixed that problem. Why is this so hard!?

NIght 2 Day 2

Last night was better than the night before. Nate got up with him so I got a little break, but still didn't sleep from 4- 4:45am. Mason woke up at 4am and Nate went in and did the sh/pat. He didn't even need to be picked up at all. It took about 15 minutes and he was asleep. About 5 minutes later we hear him again. Nate went in but by the time he got there he was already settling back to sleep, so Nate didn't have to do anything. About 20 min later we hear him again, Nate went in and gave him his lovey and he went back to sleep. After that he slept 1hr 15 min and woke up at 6. Nate tried to get him back to sleep but he seemed hungry so I went in and fed him with the lights on and made sure he didn't nurse back to sleep. I put him back down awake and he was quiet til 6:45 when I went in and got him to start the day. I don't know if he slept for those 30 min or not, but he was quiet. I put him down for his nap around 8:20 and he went down great and is still asleep at 9:10am. Now the hope is that he will take longer naps without waking up and that he will sleep til at least 6:30 in the morning. I'm really, really glad we did this. The last two days have been so great and stress free!

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The rest of the day went good. He slept 1.5 hrs for his morning nap and 2hrs 15 min at his second. He even woke up and fussed a little at the 2 hr point and went back to sleep for another 15 min. I didn't put him down for an evening nap today which I probably should have. He was fussy tonight. It seems like he wants to sleep more now that we've started this. Kinda weird, but good. So, I hope tonight gets even better. I really hope that he will sleep until at least 6:30am. This has been pretty tiring, but worth it so far. This probably isn't very interesting to most people, but I just want to have a record of everything we did so I can remember it down the road.

Sleep Training Day 1

It was a really good day. Mason took 3 naps today and went down without any crying for all 3 of them. He even took the evening cat nap which he rarely takes anymore and would always take in the swing. He woke up from the 1st nap after about an hour so I went in and patted him until he settled. He slept another 30 minutes. The 2nd nap he slept 1hr 40 min and I patted him and he slept another 10 minutes. The goal is to get two 2 hour naps and a catnap around 30-45min. Today was way more than I hoped for. There was no stress and no crying. I know this is not the end of it, we will have some more rough days and nights, but it's encouraging that he made such great progress. Nate has night duty tonight. That means I get to sleep from 10:30pm to 6:30am! Haven't done that it a long time. Hopefully Mason will settle down half the time- 45 minutes tonight.

Sleep Training

I have decided to start sleep training Mason. We have had a really rough time with sleeping for about a month and a half. Prior to a month and a half ago Mason was a great sleeper, for naps and at bedtime. He would go down without a fuss and would wake once at night for a feeding. Then he started waking more at night wanting to be fed since thats all he knew, and then he started screaming at naptime. I did cry it out with Alyssa around this stage at naptime, and it seemed to work for her. Going in just made it worse for her. So I tried the same thing with Mason and he would cry for an hour and not go to sleep. Then I started going in every few minutes to calm him and it still took forver for him to go down for a nap. The middle of the night was bad too. I tried not feeding him, I tried rocking, bouncing anything, he would fall asleep but would wake up 5 minutes later. Nate tried too with no luck. So I'm trying the pick up/put down method of the Baby Whisperer. Last night I made sure he didn't nurse to sleep, (which he does about half the time) and put him down awake at 7:45. He went right to sleep which is pretty normal. It's the only time lately he goes down without crying. Then I did a "dream feed" at 10:30 which I haven't been doing. He slept till 3:15am. Then the fun began. I did a mix of patting/ shushing in the crib and pick up/ put down. I would pat him as long as he wasn't too upset and when he started really crying I would pick him up until he calmed down (up to 2 minutes) and would lay him back down. He would start crying immediately and I would pick him up again. Eventually he got a little calmer in the crib and I just patted and shushed. He finally went to sleep, without a feeding! But it took 1 1/2 hours. I'm so glad there wasn't a clock in the room or I think I would have been more tempted to give up. He slept from 4:45 to 6:20. So about 8 hours from his dream feed. I'm glad the first night is over. I wasn't sure what to expect today at naptime, I expected another long episode. But.....I put him down at 8am, did a little naptime routine, layed him down with his lovey and I never heard a peep out of him!!! That is the first time in weeks and weeks that he's gone down for a nap without a huge fit. I guess I'll see how long he sleeps, but that is progress. I know we have some more difficult naps and nights ahead but it's good to see progress so quickly. I'm really realizing how different babies are. I was really all for cry it out and thought it would work for most babies if people really stuck to it, it did for Alyssa so why not Mason. But he needs something a little different and I think and hope this will be it for him. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Football Weekend

This was a big football weekend for the kiddos. It was Alyssa and Mason's first Air Force football game and Mason's first Bronco game. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, perfect for football. I just LOVE fall in Colorado! We did a little tailgating before the game. We forgot the burgers, but we made due with buns, cheese and 4 hotdogs :) Alyssa was a bit tired before the game even started but we still managed to have a good time. Yay for football season!!!!










Pics with the Pop Pops



This is the first picture I have of Mason and Pop Pop Walker! How did that happen?!



Daddy's little football buddy



What a day

Visit to Nebraska

Ryan Thomas



I spent Labor Day weekend with my friend Emily in Nebraska. She just had little baby Ryan 2 weeks ago and it was so fun to visit. I took Mason with me and Nate and Alyssa stayed home for a Daddy-Daughter weekend. I've known Emily for over 5 years, we met in OK and then we both moved to WA. She is one of my closest friends and it's so sad not living near them anymore.



Our friend Erica also came to visit for a couple days. We all met in WA and I think this is the first time we've all been togther in 2 years. Back then there were only 2 kiddos, Alyssa and Caleb. Now there are 6! Emily, Caleb and Ryan Me and Mason, Erica, Aubrie and Isaac



The kiddos



Big brother Caleb







Little matching outfits. I can't believe how much they grow in 4 months!




Thanks for letting us come and visit Em!

Food for Mason

I decided to start Mason on some solids last week. He has been sleeping terrible at night so I thought maybe he needed something more. I was making guacomole one night and wondered if he might like avocado. He loved it. He actually opened his mouth and swallowed most of it.




Alyssa feeding Mason



A few days later I tried cereal. He did ok, but I don't know if he likes it that much. Adding solids hasn't helped a ton. He will have a great night and sleep 8 hours straight and then be up 4 times the next night. What am I going to do with this boy!!

Mini Golf

This was Alyssa's first time playing mini golf. We had fun, but I think she will do a little better in a couple years.