He's a maniac!

I'm sure these videos are going to be overkill (since they are all essentially the same thing), but they're so freakin' cute!

Here's a little background....
Hudson is addicted to Signing Time DVDs. The one DVD has a music video for this techno/dance song. This morning as soon as the song came on, he jumped on his zebra, and started to bounce like a maniac. I got him halfway through the song (the 1st video). Then he jumped off and asked me to play the video again. As soon as the music came on, he started bouncing again. You can also see his love for Rachel (the host). I ask him where she is and he points to the TV.

After seeing these videos, it's no surprise that he took a 2.5 hour nap! :)

Probably a bad idea...

...to teach Hudson to play ball in the house!

Night #7

Well, we have another successful night! I'm considering sending Kim West (the Sleep Lady) a diamond necklace or something! We can't begin to thank her and her book enough! As someone who believes in Attachment Parenting, I never thought I would find a sleep "training" that felt right. I'm so glad that this method not only worked with Hudson, but also fit into our parenting philosophy.

Hudson took a nap at a much better time finally. He slept from 12-2p.

Well, the bedtime wasn't as great as last night. I nursed, Ryan bathed him, read to him, and put him in bed. Ryan stayed in the door way again. Although we already did 3 doorway nights, we skipped the 3 nights of moving halfway across the room since his room is small. So we figured it might be a little too soon to move to the hallway.

Hudson walked around and played for a little. But all of a sudden Ryan said he sat in the corner and started to scream and cry. He hugged him and calmed him down. Then he snuggled with his blankets and went to sleep. So it wasn't bad by any means, but he did cry a little.

But the night time was amazing...he didn't even wake up ONCE! So I never heard him cry at all. At 6:15a I did start to panic and wonder if he was still breathing. At 6:40a, we heard him in there talking to him self. So not only did he sleep all night, he also woke up HAPPY!!!

Kim West, I love you! :)

Night #6

Well, we had our best bedtime yet this evening!
I decided to nurse before Hudson's bath. It seemed like nursing afterwards would get him drowsy, but then when I would put him down he was like "Hey, what's going on here???" and would protest. So tonight we did:
Nurse
Bath
Pajamas
Books
Lights out with music box on and Daddy in the doorway on the floor

I was downstairs cleaning up and I didn't hear anything. About 30 minutes later Ryan walked into the kitchen. I was confused...I didn't hear any crying. Well, that's because Hudson didn't cry at all!! Ryan said Hudson was walking around in his crib and he kept putting his head down on his blankets and then would get up and walk again. Finally he just put his head down and went to sleep. We think that he's starting to become comforted by his blankets.

Unfortunately, the night wasn't as great. he woke up a few time (I wrote them down in the dark and can't read them). Ryan had to actually go into his room twice because he was worked up. Ryan just hugged him, put his music back on, and he was back to sleep in about 10 minutes.

He woke up around 5:40a. He was fussing, so he probably needed to sleep more, but it didn't happen.

NIght #5

After the early morning wake-up, Hudson took his nap from 10:15a-12:15p...WAY too early!! The Sleep Lady advises that the child go to bed 4 hours after he wakes from a nap. Since a 4p bedtime wasn't going to happen, I was hoping that he would take another nap...no such luck. Fortunately, he made it through the day and evening and was relatively pleasant. He didn't want the meatloaf that he scarfed down the night before, so he had a dinner of diced apples and some edamame (not sure how this kid didn't inherit mine and Ryan's love of food!). Ryan got him his bath, I nursed and read, Ryan put him down. I came downstairs at 7:01p and he was quiet for a long time. I was shocked to think that he went to bed without a fight! But, lo and behold, he eventually started to cry. Ryan came downstairs at 7:50p. He said that Hudson was playing for a while (when he was quiet). I think the nursing gives him a second wind because he's really drowsy while nursing, but wide awake afterwards. So we're going to have to move that (maybe to before bathtime) until it's cut altogether).

He started to cry at 9:15p. He seemed to be escalating, but we continued to wait. He was back to sleep on his own within 2-3 minutes.

He woke at 3:19p and was pretty upset. Ryan went in. He doesn't remember the specifics, but thinks that Hudson was back to sleep within 30 mins. Ryan just sat in the doorway - he didn't pick him up or anything.

He was crying around 5:40a. I was thinking that he was still tired, so I sent Ryan to put him back to sleep (i.e. sit in the doorway). Ryan ended up bringing him to me. I don't want to begin to bring him into bed again, so I got up with him and came downstairs. He still seemed tired, but we were beyond the point where he would go back down. We're probably in for another early nap today....

15 month doctor check-up

Off to the doctors!

One of these days I'm going to insert info from all of Hudson's appointments so that you can see how he has grown. But that's going to have to wait until I have "spare time" (hahaha, yeah right!). So I guess you're just stuck with an update from today's appointment.

Hudson is weighing in at a mere 23 lbs (30th percentile) and measuring 31 inches (50th percentile). And his head circumference still is in first place: 65th percentile (48.5cm).

The pediatrician said that he looks great. At his 12 month visit, they took blood to check his iron levels and screen for lead. He was borderline anemic then, so she scheduled more lab work today. I cringed when I heard that because that meant holding him down so that she could draw blood from his inner elbow. It just broke my heart last time...tying his little arm, looking for a vein, draining his blood. So I was prepared for the worst. (Thankfully Ryan was there with me!). Well Hudson laid down and sat there calmly, watching inquisitively as they drew the blood. He never made a peep!! I was so proud of him!!

The two vaccines in the leg were to follow. He let out a little whimper, but then was laughing. Whatta tough little guy!!

Night #4

Last night, we may have had our best bedtime to date. I nursed very briefly and left Hudson with Ryan at 7:17p. Ryan walked him for a few minutes (he worked late and needed some cuddle time with his little monkey man!). He put him down, drowsy but awake then laid on the floor in front of Hudson's doorway (It was the first night of "shuffling" to the door instead of next to the crib. I asked Ryan if he wanted me to bring up a chair since the recliner in Hudson's room is too big to move and he said he wanted to lay down...must be getting tired from all of his great "coaching"!). Hudson cried at first, but again, it wasn't that all out, hysterical cry. It was just a step above a whine. He started to test Ryan again by throwing his music box and one blanket out of the crib. During our first night or two, we would give in and give him his things back. But we realized that we were getting duped for attention so that had to end (thankfully, Ryan's not a softie like me!). So Ryan just ignored it. Hudson laid down pretty much right after that. But everytime Ryan would get up to leave, Hudson would start to cry. So Ryan would sit back down. This happened a few times until Ryan came downstairs at 7:55p. While the actually time may have taken a little longer, Ryan didn't have to go and pat him or hug him at all after he put him down. Another accomplishment!!

As for the rest of the night....it was wonderful! HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!! I never thought this night would come!!

I guess I should clarify...Hudson did wake up at 2:50 and some other time that I can't read since it was scribbled. I heard him cry a little, but we just waited and he fell back to sleep. So, by "sleeping through the night", I mean that we didn't have to get out of bed.

Unfortunately, I was up a few times anyways. Once I heard him cry a little, I waited to see if he went back to sleep. When he did, I was like a kid on Christmas morning...my excitement was keeping me awake!! I can't wait until this loses its novelty and I can sleep again!

Hudson woke up at 5:55a. It was a bit early and I knew that he wouldn't make it through until his 12p nap. But he didn't seem interested in going back to sleep. So, I gladly celebrated this accomplishment with my happy, well-rested little monkey!

Night #3

I started to get a bit ahead of myself in the Night #2 post and mentioned his night #3 bedtime. To recap, he went in at 7:22p and was asleep by 8:11p.

After he was asleep, I read a little more of the Sleep Lady book. I am planning on weaning from nursing once we get through this sleep coaching a bit. In the book, it mentioned that Daddy should take over during the weaning phase. It makes sense - the little one has associated Mommy with nursing and sleep and is going to protest (loudly!) if she sits there and doesn't do anything. I asked Ryan to take over the entire coaching gig and he didn't even bat an eye and said yes (I really, really love my husband!)

He was crying at 9:53p. It didn't sound like a strong cry (moms, you know what I mean!), so I let him go for a minute. He put himself back to sleep very quickly, within a minute or two. So we didn't even have to go in!! Yay!!

He was up at 1:10a. Ryan went in, but came back to bed by 1:13a. So either I wrote that down wrong or it was a really quick visit!! Ryan was a little sleep-deprived this morning and could recall the details.

He was up at 4:27a. As Ryan went in, I realized that my throat was a bit sore. I attributed it to the heat and the dry air and thus needed to drink some water. I thought Hudson might be having the same problem, so I brought him a sippy cup up. When I opened his door, I saw Ryan kneeling next to his crib patting him. I handed him the cup and Hudson saw and got worked up a bit. Therefore it took a little longer to get to sleep. He wasn't back to bed until 5:00a.

He woke up at 6:20a (I think - I forgot to write it down and Ryan and I are now debating whether it was 6:20 or 7:20a). When I got him, he still seemed a bit tired. I tried to lay him back down, but he kept getting up. I figured that it wasn't worth sitting with him for 30 minutes until he went to sleep since he would have to get up shortly thereafter anyways (he had a doctor's appointment this morning).

All in all, it was a good night. Ryan and I have talked about scaling back and making sure that we don't pat him too much and really just sit there (no interaction). The patting must be limited to the times when he's so upset that he's having a hard time breathing. We don't want to just replace nursing/walking with patting!

I was nervous for throwing his nap schedule off since I knew he would fall asleep on the way to and from the doctor's. He "napped" from 9:15a-9:30a and also 11:15a-11:30a. He wasn't pretty unhappy after that second cat nap, but I knew that it would be bad news for him to take him full nap that early. So, we got home and he had lunch. Joyce, our nanny, took over. We talked with her about the method and she was willing to try. She said that he was rubbing his eyes around 1p, so she took him upstairs and he was asleep by 1:15p! I'm not surprised - he's always better behaved for her!

Tonight we "shuffle" our way to the door instead of next to the crib. We're anticipating a spike in the protesting, but hoping it's not too bad.

NIght #2

We went out to dinner with some friends this evening, but we made sure we were back with enough time to get Hudson his bath and get him to bed. Due to his late nap, we figured that he would need to be asleep around 8p.

We gave him his bath, got him ready for bed, and I nursed/read books around 7:45. I handed him over to Ryan at 8p when he put him into the crib. He was asleep by 8:30p!! Amazing!!

He started to cry at 9:45p. I was just getting into bed to read so Ryan came up to get him. I stopped Ryan before he went in Hudson's room because he sounded like he was calming down. Ryan didn't go in and Hudson just went back to sleep on his own! We're definitely making progress!

He woke up at 11:03p. And I honestly don't remember if I went in or if Ryan did, but I wrote down that he was back asleep by 11:29p.

He was crying again at 3:40a. I don't have a "back to sleep" time written so either he went back to sleep without us going in or Ryan went in and I didn't get an update (as you can see, the sleep deprivation is getting to my memory!)

He was up at 5:30a. Ryan went in and realized that Hudson pooped. So changing his diaper made him upset and he was still a bit tired, so he started to get really worked up. I went in around 6:10a with some water because he was crying so hard. He didn't want the water. Since he didn't eat much for dinner, I started to wonder if he was hungry. I sent Ryan back to bed and I nursed Hudson, but didn't allow him to fall asleep at the breast. But when I would put him down he would get REALLY worked up. I think the nursing became somewhat of a tease to him and he was really protesting. It took all of my willpower to sit back and not take him out of the crib and nurse him to sleep. He was obviously still tired and had big tears rolling down his cheeks while he stood in his crib looking at me, his eyes begging me to hold him. It tugged at every one of my heartstrings. I finally picked him up, gave him a hug, and laid him back down. He put his hand on his little duck lovey/silky, and fell asleep within a minute or two. He woke up at 8:50a for the day (and he was actually happy and not crying when he woke up - he hasn't done that in a while!).

Ryan took him swimming this afternoon while I ran errands. They went to the gym a little late, so Hudson fell asleep in the car around 12:15. He slept until about 2p.

He was pretty fussy this evening. We struggled to get any dinner in him once again. He was rubbing his eyes and melting down around 5p. We got him into the bath a little earlier, around 6p. After his bath, we tried some more dinner. Then he played for a while. I nursed and read books around 7p and handed him off to Ryan at 7:22p. He was asleep by 8:11p.

Hoping for another good night....

Night #1

Not only did we survive the first night of sleep coaching (see previous post), we did great! Everyone said that it won't be as bad as you expect it to be. And I was thinking "well, they don't know my kid and his willpower!". But, fortunately, they were right! It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

Here's the timeline of what went down:

The Sleep Lady recommends getting good naps in on the first day you're going to sleep coach. So, when Hudson was looking tired at 7:30a (after waking up at 6:15a), I gladly nursed him to sleep. He only takes one nap each day and it's usually from 12-2 or 1-3p, so this morning nap was very unusual. He slept for about 1.5 hours. He then took his afternoon nap from 12:15-2p. Now the problem with this is that the Sleep Lady recommends your child should be asleep 4 hours after he wakes from his afternoon nap (although she says you can stretch it until 5 hours, but doesn't prefer that). So this means that Hudson should be asleep between 6-7p.

Okay, now to the nitty gritty....

At dinner, Hudson wouldn't eat much (not unusual) and started rubbing his eyes. I quickly had Ryan take him up for his bath. In the bath, he started to get fussy (which is a sign he's tired because otherwise he loves his bath). So we quickly got him out, put some lotion on/gave a little massage, and got into pajamas. Instead of Ryan reading to him and then handing him to me to nurse, we decided that I would nurse while Ryan read to him. That way, we could keep him awake while nursing. After a few books, I handed him over to Ryan and went down stairs. That was at 6:50p.

Hudson cried and fussed, but wasn't hysterical. Ryan picked up once or twice when he was really crying and gasping for air, soothed him and asked him to calm down. Then he would lie him back down. Ryan knelt next to the crib and Hudson grabbed him and hugged him. Ryan laid him back down. Hudson cried. Then he came to hug Ryan again, Ryan laid him down, and he just looked up and closed his eyes. This was at 8:01p.

He woke up at 10:48p. I went in the room this time. I told him it was time to go "night-night" and I placed him on his back (he was standing when I walked in). He protested a bit, but wasn't too bad. I just sat in the rocker and pretended to sleep by closing my eyes. A couple of times he got worked up and I would just go over, kneel down, hug him and tell him "night night". He has this music box in his crib (it also has lights that project onto the ceiling):

So he started to push the buttons for the music and lights. Then he laid face down onto his crib with his arm over the music box. And then just fell asleep! I couldn't believe it since that was the first time that I ever got him to sleep without nursing! I waited a few minutes and moved the music box a bit (since it's pretty hard and probably not a good snuggle buddy!). When I got back to bed it was 11:26p.

At 3:41a he woke again. This time Ryan went in. Given the time, I didn't get all of the details on what happened, but I know that he eventually laid down ON TOP of his music box (it was under his belly) and fell asleep like that. Ryan obviously moved him off of it. When Ryan got back to bed it was 4:48a.

Hudson was crying again at 6:11a. I wasn't sure whether I should try to get him back to sleep or if he was up for the day. So I tried to sit in the chair and tell him it was okay, but then he started "talking" and playing, so I took it as a sign that he was up!

We had a great morning. We took him to a playgroup and he usually falls asleep afterwards. When we got home, we gave him a snack and decided that it was nap time. I took him up and nursed until he was drowsy (this was about 11:55a). But once I would put him down, he would get up and start playing. He was just playing and walking back and forth - no fussing or crying. So I just sat there. Then I tried to nurse again to get him drowsy. But once I put him down, he was ready to play again. Finally Ryan came up at 1:11p. Hudson started to cry and was getting tired. Ryan sat with him and he was finally asleep by 1:30p.

He woke up during the nap and was holding his blanket. So Ryan laid him down and covered him and he went back to sleep and is still sleeping now.

UPDATE: He woke up from his nap at 3:45p.

With only 2 awakenings last night (compared to our normal 5-7/night), I would have to say that Day 1 was a success!!

Hudson meets his cousin!

When we went back to Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship game, we got to meet my brother's daughter, Riley, for the first time. She wasn't even a month old yet! It was amazing to see such a little peanut (she was only 5 lbs 9 oz when she was born!). While Hudson was never that small, I can't even remember him being little and delicate.
Hudson loves seeing little babies - he gets really excited to see someone smaller than him!

"Here is Riley's mouth..."

"...now I'm going to grab her nose..."

"...and now look how big I look next to her!"

We're in for a looooong night....

Well, tonight begins our first night of sleep coaching. After 15 months of sleep deprivation (and even more if you count all of those late night pee breaks while I was pregnant), I'm desperate for a solution to our sleeping woes. I went to a Sleep Lady seminar this week. The Sleep Lady (aka Kim West) has a method called the Sleep Lady Shuffle. Basically, what this means is that you put your child into his crib drowsy and then sit next to his bed until he's asleep. You can pick him up if he's really throwing a fit, but you don't want him to fall asleep in your arms. You're "coaching" him to fall asleep on his own, while being there in the room with him to let him know that you haven't just abandoned him (which is why I couldn't bring myself to do the Ferber method). You also do this same thing when he wakes up in the middle of the night (which I'm really dreading). You do this for 3-4 nights, then you "shuffle" your chair to the doorway (instead of next to the crib). After a few days, you "shuffle" yourself out to the hallway.

My wonderful husband has agreed to take on the first few nights of coaching. As I began typing this post, I could hear Hudson still upstairs crying. We started at 6:50p and I was expecting him to go for hours (Hudson has a willpower like no one else I've ever met). Well, I heard someone in our living room (I'm in the office on the first floor) so I ran up to see what the sound was. It was Ryan! I looked at the clock and it was 8:01p! After only 71 minutes, Hudson was asleep! Let's hope the rest of the night goes as smoothly!

I'll try to post updates throughout the week. (A little something called a dissertation has been cutting in on my blogging time!)

UPDATE: I was thinking that I'll post an update each night that we do this coaching so that maybe other people thinking about the method can learn from what we've done. I thought it would be most helpful to give some background information on Hudson and his sleep.

Hudson is 15 months old. When he was first born, he was a pretty good sleeper. Up until about 6 months, he would only wake up around 1-2x/night to nurse. Right at 6 months, his sleep went down hill and never recovered. I think sleep regressions and teething are to blame (for great info on sleep regressions, check out askmoxie.org or the book "The Wonder Weeks"). He started waking multiple times each night. Before we started to sleep coach, he was waking up every 1.5-2 hours all night long.

Early on, we fell into the habit of nursing to sleep. I nursed him to bed every single night. I would wait until he was asleep and then put him down. We never did the "drowsy, but awake" thing. If Ryan would try to put him to bed, he would have to walk him up and down our hallway for about an hour while Hudson rested his head on Ryan's shoulder and eventually fell asleep. At every night wakening we had to use one of these methods (nursing or walking). So you can imagine how exhausted we are!!

Every time Hudson would wake up (either in the middle of the night or in the morning), he would be standing in his crib crying. There were many nights where we would try to soothe him back to sleep by just patting him and shushing him (without picking him up) and he would stand up and protest. He could go forever! So we always caved and picked him up. I just want to highlight how ingrained our habits are. These are the reasons that I wasn't hopeful for any type of sleep training - Hudson has more stamina that Ryan or I do! Also, I've never once seen him lay back down after he was standing up, so that wasn't promising.

Part of the reason that I never wanted to "sleep train" was because we try to practice Attachment Parenting. After reading the Dr. Sears Sleep Book, one of his mantras was "Beware of sleep trainers". So I was afraid of breaking the strong bond that we have with Hudson. Dr. Sear's approved of the "No Cry Sleep Solution", but after reading the book, it looked like that method required way too much committment on my part (because it has to do with the nursing piece) and I wouldn't be receiving much help from Ryan. I was too tired to take on this massive task by myself!

So, here's to our attempt at the Shuffle. I'll tag all of these posts with "sleep", so you should be able to follow our progress. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Just since I haven't posted anything lately, here are some pictures of my precious baby (who's ASLEEP!!! I still can't believe it!)

"Driving" at the park

Rockin' the Elmer Fudd look

Signing "all done"

Being a ham and giving Mommy "squishy face"