Miles {1 month}

This kid is one month old (ok, 6 weeks upon this posting but who’s really counting besides me).  I was wanting an “official” weight before posting and got it this morning.  We don’t have his official appointment until next week, but Miles is a part of a U of I study called Illinois Strong Kids and he had his 6 week visit today where they weigh him. (side note – if you’re having a baby soon here in C/U you should sign up for this study!  Every visit they do comes with gift card!)

He’s 12 lbs, 4 oz!  Holy cow, no wonder he’s in size 2 diapers and in 6 month clothing.  I had to exchange several packs of diapers that were too small.  I’ll admit I was a bit sad packing away his untouched 0-3 clothes as I didn’t get to cuddle a small newborn for very long.  But I’m so thankful he’s healthy and a great eater!Eating: He’s a great nurser and is getting on a good eat, play, sleep pattern.  He takes a bit longer to eat than my first two did and definitely has to eat from both sides.  He is an awesome burper when he’s done.  Thankfully, his little body is dealing just fine with the copious amounts of caffeine I’ve been drinking. :)Sleeping:  Knock on wood, he seems to be a better sleeper than my first two.  But he HAS to be swaddled.  If he so much gets a fingertip out of the swaddle, all bets are off and he’s screaming.  We even use the swaddle blankets in the car seat to make those rides more enjoyable for all of us.  Having firm pressure also is the best way to calm him as opposed to bouncing or rocking.  Day naps are falling into a 5 nap “routine” and his bedtime is slowly moving up.  He usually goes down between 8-9 and sleeps until about 1 (twice he made it until 2:30!).  But from them until the morning, he’s usually awake every hour or two.  Because Owen and Ellie still get up in the night (ugh) William is in change of those two and I focus on Miles.Random info:  He has an adorable dimple on his left cheek (just like his sister).  His first 3 weeks, he HATED diaper changes but I think that’s starting to get better.  He loves his pacifier.  His eyes are blue/gray and definitely lighter than the other kid’s.  Still not sure if they’ll go brown like there’s though or stay in the blue family like mine.
How we’re all doing: Well, in general I’d say really well.  I think I was a bit worried about the transition to 3 from everyone who keeps saying “you’ll be outnumbered.”  “You’re going from man-to-man defense to zone defense, etc.”  But so far, it’s felt pretty doable!  Yes, you just need to plan an extra 45 minutes or so to get out the door.  That means packing up the extra stuff and fitting in a feeding.  But I’ve gotten out by myself quite a bit with all 3.  Just not grocery shopping.  That’s happening in the evenings now with just Miles in the Ergo carrier.  For me 1 to 2 kids was harder than 2 to 3.  I also like that Owen and Ellie can play (and fight) together while I’m occupied nursing.

Bed time is hard.  With 2 older kids that have a hard time going to sleep and staying asleep, William and I both dread this time. 

Owen loves him and gives him kisses, but isn’t too interested in holding him.  Ellie loves giving him a pacifier, but whoa is she needy!  I kind of figured she’d be the hard one and that’s proven true.  She’s whinier and needs to be held all the time!

Oh one other thing.  I felt like my bonding took a little more time with Ellison than it did with Owen.  Maybe it was just learning how to give 2 kids what they need.  But with Miles it was instant.  Maybe it was watching him being wheeled away to the NICU without me.  But wow if I didn’t fall instantly and completely in love with this little guy.So in general, I love it.  I love that while before, William and I each could have a “kid.”  But now we’re a whole team.  And yes, everyone asks if we’re done.  And I don’t have an answer on that quite yet.  But I will say that if I had to answer today, I want 4 and William’s fine with 3.

We love you Miles Grayson Pool!

Some more pictures from our 1 month shoot:    

Owen’s sleep

As all of you faithful readers know that Owen has never been a good sleeper.  Since he turned 2, we have had short periods of time where he sleeps through the night, but the last couple months have been awful.  He was waking once of twice and would SCREAM or run to bang on his door.  He would get even more upset if William tried to help him, going rigid or yelling at William to hold him standing up, weird things like that.  So that meant I was doing double baby duty at night. (I’m already praying if we ever have a #3 that God would be ever so gracious and give us at least one sleeper).

Since he responded well to a sticker chart for potty training, we decided to give it a try for sleep.  Well, a sticker chart alongside yet another round of tough love. When he woke up, I put him back in bed Super Nanny style with an “I love you, but it’s time to go to sleep.”  I would repeat 2-3 times and then let him cry.  The first awful night was about 1.5 hours of crying.  But night 2 was only 25 minutes and night 3 was 5 minutes.  Then, the next 3 nights he earned a sticker by not waking up at all or crying for us!  When William got home from work, they got to make a guy trip to the store and pick out any car or truck.  Score for William showing him a clearance truck that he loved!  haha His next sticker chart, he had to earn 4 stickers which he earned in 5 nights!  We are now sticker chart free and (prayerfully) will continue with his better sleeping. PS – doesn’t he look cute in his leather jacket and corduroys?  :)

2 months!

Ellison Jakeh is 2 months old.  Ok, and a week, but I kept forgetting to post this.  The weeks are flying, yet at the same time it feels like she’s been here forever!
Measuring
She growing good, that’s for sure.  I’ve packed away all the newborn and 0-3 clothes and her 3-6 months clothing fits great.  She’s also in size 2 diapers already.  At the doctor, she’s weighing in at 12 lbs, 6 oz (87th percentile)  and is 23.1 inches tall (80th percentile).  I thought these sounded huge, but looking back at Owen’s stats, she’s smaller in both ways than he was.   She got 2 shots, Pc and Hib at her well-baby appointment.  Dr. Melvin was fully on board with our delayed/refusal schedule. It just means I have to take her in every month instead of every other, which is harder with 2 kids, but worth it to me. Schedule
We’re definitely not on any definite time schedule yet, but she’s falling into a predictable routine that is somewhat helpful for planning our days.  She’s usually up for good at 7, eats, and is back down by 9.  And by down I mean in her swing.  That’s where she does almost all her naps.  I swore I would put her in her crib from day one.  Hahaha, eating my words.  Up by 10:30, eats, plays, down again around 12/12:30 just in time for me to Owen down.  She usually sleep for a good 3 hour chunk with maybe a quick wake to eat.  Love this as I can finally get something done take a nap.  Then we’re up again around 3.  Short cap nap around 5 or 6 and then it’s screaming for the rest of the night until bedtime around 10.  I will say that towards the end of this month, this has been getting better.  Looking forward to more wake time during the day which means earlier bedtime and me time again!  Sleeping:
Well, as you can see above in our schedule, she’s right on “track” with what her sleep should be looking like with about 4 naps a day.  Again, thank goodness for the swing.  I’ve been pretty lazy about swaddling her, so she’s turned into a side or stomach sleeper.  This would have scared me to death with Owen, but hey, if she’s sleeping good and I have my video monitor, I’m not as worried.  At night, she’s still snuggling in bed with me and has been giving me a 5 hour chunk at the beginning of the night!  And usually only nursing twice.  You go girl.    Feeding
What, you mean she’s not supposed to be eating solids in her highchair yet?  Just kidding.  She’s a great nurser.  And she should be great at it, since she does it ALL THE TIME.  She’s still refusing anything that resembles a pacifier unless it’s my boob.   And since she’s really fussy in the evenings, she’s nurses pretty much all evening until she’s out for bedtime.  While I do love nursing, I look forward to having some me-time back eventually.
Pooping
Where did all the poop go?  Owen’s pooped slowed down around this time too.  It’s nice to be able to look back at blogs about him to know that it's ok!   I was so worried about his little system.  With her, I’m just enjoying the every other day blow out and try to help her out by doing bicycle and tummy time legs to get the gas out. Little milestones
She's moving her head to follow sounds and people and she'll follow me with her eyes and head around the room.  She's reaching out to grab things with both hands and is enjoying her activity mat more.  She also is getting interested in watching toys that you hold up for her.  She’s smiling!   Lots!  So adorable.  I hope she keeps it up as it’s fun to get a different reaction than just a stare or frown.  Just staring to hear some cooing and other sweet noises from her! More about Ellie
I’m still not sure what color her eyes are going to be.  They definitely look more blue than Owen’s ever did but still need a bit more time for us to say for sure.  She ALWAYS has bubbles and drool coming out of her mouth.  And she’s much more of a puker.  Owen never did this, so it’s strange always having to keep a burp rag handy.  We also call her squeaks, because this girl is LOUD!  Her nose always sounds like it’s stuffed up, even after the booger sucker has helped.  And there’s no being discrete about nursing, because she slurps and snorts while eating. :)

Me:
I had my post partum check up with Ellen  It was great to see her again.  I took her a birth announcement and a little Starbucks giftcard since she has to stay up all night when she’s on call. :)   I got a prescription for the mini pill which is what I did after Owen.  Still haven’t decided when and if I’m going to start it.  We are losing our insurance next month (a long story for another post) so I really can’t get pregnant.  Although with the amount this girl is nursing, I think it’s be pretty hard to do that right now!
Here's a few more pictures of my darling girl: I love you so much sweet girl.  It feels like you’ve always been a part of this family and I can’t wait to do more life with you!

a rare nap time together

My sleeping beauties:

sleep

I'll be taking you on a tour of new place as soon as there's a few more things in place, but just wanted to say thanks if you have sometime in the last 9 months prayed for Owen's sleep.  I'm always scared to blog about something good for fear it will change, but it's been a week and so far, so good.

Let me just remind you of Owen's normal night:

bath time - 5:30/6ish
quiet play time, books, nurse, bed - 6:30/7ish
9pm - wake up screaming, only calms with a hand on him or pick him up
10:30 - up again, wants to eat
12, 2, 4- up (would eat if I let him each time)
5 - up and won't stay asleep at this point unless in our bed or being held
6:30 - up for the day

Nightmare.  And nothing we did changed this.  Until we got home from the Habel's last week and he slept from 7-1 (6 hours is longer than he has ever gone.  Pathetic.  I don't really know how I'm still functioning at this point, but I digress).  Then he didn't get up until 5 and then up for the day at 7.  I chalked it up to being tired from traveling.  But every night this week, he's given me at least a 6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and has made it with only 1 or 2 times nursing!  I know, I know he doesn't even need this at his age.  He's been doing a 12 or 1am wake, and then again at 4, and he's up by 6:30.  I feel like a new woman!  And naps. . .while 2 are still at 30 minutes, he's taken this week a few at an hour, and even a couple at an hour and half!! 

I don't know what exactly to attribute this change to.  Him turning 9 months, us being better at making him cry, or moving into this new place (maybe his smart little brain was tuned into something at our old place that we weren't?)  So this is just to say thanks for praying for him and me.  And pray this only gets better and he realizes how great sleep really is.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming

Sorry for the bad blogging week. VLI midterms just about did me in. But I think I pulled off an A on one and a B on the other. Not to shabby. Add in sleep training and this is how I've been getting along. Nothing some Pandora, knitting, and assorted chocolates can't handle. :)
Thanks for everyone who's checked in to see how sleep training is going. All I can say is why did I wait this long?! I already feel so much freedom. I had no idea how much time I was spending in his bedroom fighting him on going to sleep. I won't bore you with the details on my sleep logs, but I will say that Tuesday night, he went to bed at 6:30, got up at 12, 4, and then 6:30 for the day. 2 wakings! Down from 8. I feel like a new woman. Not every night has been that great, and I'm still trying to figure out when to feed him and when to make him go back to sleep. Because I KNOW he can make it for longer than 3-4 hours. But I'm just following Julie's advice and feeding him if my boobs hurt and making him cry if they don't. :) His first morning nap is always the roughest and has cried for up to 1 hour, 15 minutes, but most of the time, he cries for maybe 5-10 minutes and then rolls over for sleep. Seeing the instant success has kept me going when he gears up for a fight.

I'm so happy to be seeing this on my monitor more and more:

crying it out

I thought cry it out meant the baby was supposed to cry, not the momma. But alas, I must admit to crying some big ol' tears.

But let me back up.

I have always been pro-cry it out (CIO). I used it during my many years of babysitting and scoffed (yes, I've repented) at moms who said they just couldn't let their kids cry. Then I had Owen and ate every single one of those words. It's a different story when it's the baby you carried IN you for 9 (10) months that is screaming and when you know that you're the one thing that could calm them down quickly. And on my quest for sleep answers and reading the 20+ books I did, many of them talk about the major consequences of doing CIO, the main one being trust. Even in the book I really like, The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, Hogg says that if you try CIO, you will have to go to extreme measures to earn the trust of your baby back. There is so much written out there (especially in the blog world) on both sides of this method. And most people are passionate about the side of the camp they fall in.

So what's a momma to do when her precious babe just isn't getting the sleep she knows he needs? She follows her mommy-gut. I was trying to explain this to a mommy-to-be at her shower this weekend. Mommy-gut is that stuff you somehow just KNOW when you have a baby. It comes from being the one person that knows your baby the best. And I'm hoping my mommy-gut also comes a lot from the Holy Spirit since he's way smarter about all this than I am. Every momma has a different mommy-gut. And not one single mom's is better than another. That's why we all raise our kids differently and find that some things that work for others don't work at all for us or our little ones.

So to get to my point, I felt that Owen was just ready to do this. He's exhausted and so am I. So I looked around me at some families who I know have done CIO. They have happy, well-adjusted children who adore them and from what I can tell, trust them completely. So this past week, I've asked a bunch of questions, gotten some great advice, and decided to jump in. Last night you could find me curled up outside his door, with my video monitor and my phone being used as a timer, crying right along with my little guy. And the 2nd round of sleep training begins. . .

uggh

He's already been awake twice since putting him to bed. It's going to be a long night. . .

Here's your sign

Signs that you may be sleep deprived:
Yesterday, I finished my bottle of Bath and Body Works bath wash and William being the recyling nazi that he is, took it out to the garage and put it in the plastics containter. So this morning I opened a new bottle and was sad to realize that the cap was broken. This meant I would have to unscrew the lid each time I used it (read: annoying). So tonight I asked William if the old bottle was still out there because I was going to pour the new soap into the old container. He looked at me like I was crazy and then asked "why don't you just take off the old lid and use that."

Duh. Glad this conversation didn't happen while I was trying to figure out how to get all the soap out of the bottle. :)

Help

Just asking for prayers. I knew a regression would happen, but these last 2 days have been awful. Tonight he took 2 hours to go to sleep and has been up at 11:45-12, 1-1:15, 2:30-2:50, 4-4:30 and is now crying again. I think I'm delirious from lack of sleep and my well of patience is running dry.

Any good sleep training success stories out there to keep me going?

:(

Why does posting things on the blog always mean that it won't be true anymore. Haha. His last nap and bedtime were really rough tonight. Maybe that regression is happening a bit early? That's ok, we press on. And Grammy gets to tackle one nap tomorrow so that will be a nice break!

sleep training update

Just thought I'd update on how our sleep training is going. For the record, I will say that I'm more exhausted doing this than I ever was on my lack of sleep. But I know it's worth it in the end. If you ever do this, just be prepared to 1) cry yourself, 2) almost give up, 3) have a very sore back (from all the pick up/put downs as they're called), and 4) eventually fall asleep on the floor of the nursery.

I've kept explicit notes the last 4 days and plan on doing so for the next 2 weeks just so I can get a really good picture of this kid and his patterns. I made a log in excel created. (side note: why does Google docs turn everything into ugliness?) Anywhoo. Check out the binder that now holds all of these said logs:
Day #1 - Saturday
On our very first attempt at a nap on Saturday morning, I prayed and then geared up for a long haul. And it was. It took over and hour and 35+ pick up, put downs. I shhhed him and also repeated over and over "mommy loves you but it's time for you to go to sleep." His longest nap was still only 45 minutes though. Already by bedtime that night, the number of pu/pd was down to 3! He went to bed at 7:30. I tried to wake him for a dreamfeed, but couldn't get him to wake up. He woke to eat at 1am, 4:50, and then was "talking" in his crib at 6:05. I let him stay there until he got grumpy at 6:25 and then got him up for the day. Total sleep time for the day=14.4 hours.

Day #2 - Sunday
This day was kinda hit or miss with success. His second nap of the day was 45 minutes, but I went back in and did 2 pu/pd and he fell back asleep for another 45 minutes! That was his first nap of more than 40 minutes. But then I let him stay awake too long and had to do tons of pu/pd for his next nap in order for him to settle down. I was really nervous all day about taking him to small group because of all the work we had done in the 2 days. I'm realizing how many decisions parents have to make about what is best for them vs. best for baby. We decided that small group needs to be a priority for us (yeah Jesus) so we would deal with the ramifications of sleep later. I'm so glad we went (more on that in a later post). It was an awesome time and Owen took a short cap nap, but was not grouchy at all. He fell asleep on the car ride home and then after eating went back to sleep around 10ish. Total sleep time for the day=11.7. :(

Day #3 - Monday
Monday we started working on extending naps. The Baby Whisperer has 2 main solutions for doing this. Her basic premise is that our human sleep cycles are about 45 minutes. Most babies who are short nappers can't transition from the first to the second sleep cycle without waking themselves up. So, her first solution is called Hold Through the Jolts (httj). This means that I got in a few minutes before he usually wakes himself up and apply soft pressure to his arms and legs. This prevents him from jolting which is what usually wakes him up. You can release when his breathing has calmed down and for Owen, when his hands stop moving. The other strategy that we did today was called Wake to Sleep. A few minutes before he usually wakes up I go into his room and gently stir him. For us, that means rubbing his cheek. What this does is re-start his sleep cycle. I also hold with this one. If he becomes fully awake, then you have to go back to the pick up/put down which usually means another 20 minutes. Total sleep time for the day=15.9 hours!

Day #4 - Today
This morning he got up for good at 6:45 (still working on extending that to 7 or 7:30) and I watched the clock like a hawk. I'm learning that 1h15 min is the optimal time for him to be awake first thing in the morning. Then we did our wind down routine (turn lights low, 2 books, sing Jesus Loves Me, give him a kiss and lay him down. What did he do. . .rolled on his side and went to sleep. I had to do 0 (yes that's a zero) pick ups/put downs and even though I stayed in there 10 extra minutes, I didn't even need to hold his arms through any jolts. And for his second nap, after I held him through a few jolts, he slept for 1 1/2 hours and got up happy ready to take pictures with Auntie Jenna.

Thank you Jesus. I feel empowered and am so thankful that my little man is going to start getting the sleep his body needs! I know that there is a regression coming (I've been warned around day 6) but I'm ready. This is working!

haha

SLEEP TRAINING FROM A BABY'S PERSPECTIVE:

OK, here is my situation. The first few months I was here were great - I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few days, she has been trying to get me to sleep thru the night. At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I have talked to other babies, and it seems like it is pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 3-5 months.

Here is the thing: these Mommies do not really need to sleep. It is just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just do not need it anymore. So, I am implementing a plan. I call it the Cry-baby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you are fed. I know, it is hard. It is hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it is for her own good.
Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you are fed.
Night 3 - every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Do not give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT IS HARD! However, she really does not need the sleep; she is just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:

• My sleep sack tickled my foot.
• I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
• My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
• I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what is up with that?
• The cat said "meow". I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day.
• Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
• I heard the grass growing.
  
• Too hot, too cold, just right--does not matter! Keep crying!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4 am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30 am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Do not let those rubber things fool you; no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

I think we may be onto something

First night of sleep training:

7:35 - Owen asleep
9:40 - tried to dreamfeed, but he never woke up enough to eat so I just laid him back down and then went to bed myself
1:03 - woke up and ate
4:50 - woke up an ate
6:15 - babbled in crib and got up for the morning at 6:30

Who is this kid? Count them: I got almost 8 hours of sleep with basically 2 interruptions. And he's back down now for a nap (we're being bad and missing church today since we're going to small group tonight and I didn't want to totally screw him up.)

So far I'm a believer.

sleep, or lack thereof

This week, I'm thankful this week that I'm a quick reader. And by quick I mean that I've plowed through about 11 books on sleep. They range from Babywise, Great Sleep Habits Happy Baby, SleepEasy, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, The No-Cry Nap Solution, Good Night Sleep Tight, Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old, and a few more. No area has caused me more grief over what to do than sleep. I feel really good about most other things about parenting, but with such varying beliefs about sleep training and the like, I feel like I was drowning in everyone else's opinions... even those people who don't have kids yet. Before Owen arrived I full believed in crying it out. And then I tried it once and about died listening to my little man's screams. He cried so hard he threw up. So that was out.

But he doesn't sleep. And now that we're going on 100 days of not getting more than a 3-4 hour chunk of sleep, you can tell why I'm feeling desperate. And when logging his naps, he's only getting about 1/2 the sleep most of the books says he needs. He wakes up groggy, with rings under his eyes and overall, he's just not a super happy kid because he's always fighting sleep.

But I still really believe in not being a "baby-led" household. NO offense whatsoever if this is more your philosophy. One of the biggest things I'm learning as a mom is that you know your kid and your personality as a mom the best. So do what works for YOU and never apologize for that! Sorry, I digress.

So after my months of research, I think the book after my own heart is The Baby Whisperer. I've actually only read her handbook called The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems By Teaching You to Ask the Right Questions.
I know, obnoxiously long name. She's not a sleep doctor and she's from England so when I read it, I picture the Super Nanny reading it to me with an accent. :) Now I read the book in one sitting, so now I'm going back and re-reading and scouring the forums at www.babywhispererforums.com. Her main approach is using the EASY (eat, awake, sleep, you) approach. And since we've already followed that routine from day 1, this book makes sense to me.

Here are my 3 main goals of "sleep training":

1. Owen will be able to lay down for a nap or bedtime without the 20-30 minutes of rocking/walking that we've been doing.


2. Owen will extend his naps from one sleep cycle (45 minutes) to 2 sleep cycles (1 1/2 hours)


3. Owen will sleep for a 4-5 hour chunk at night and then be able to go back to sleep. Also, Owen will only need 2-3 feeds at night, instead of the 6 he wants right now.

We jumped in headfirst today even though I don't know exactly what I'm doing. While it's much more involved than this, here is what the basic premise is for going to sleep. She says to have a wind down routine and then kiss and put your baby down. If he starts crying pick him back up, pat and shh until he calms down. The minute he calms, lay him back down in the crib. Even if the minute he leaves your shoulder, he starts crying lay him all the way to mattress before picking him back up. Also keep a hand on him at all time and talk softly (I repeatedly said "Mama loves you, it's time to go to sleep.") Repeat until asleep. That is way oversimplifying things, but that's the general jist I used today. I felt like it was a good middle ground approach.

Our first nap, I was in his room for about an hour. I picked him up and put him down about 30 times. But the second nap, I picked him up 4 times. And for bedtime tonight, I picked him up once before he turned on his side and went to sleep. She recommends staying with him for 10 minutes repeating your phrase to be sure he's truly asleep. While it was an exhausting day, I think I'm going to stick with this. She's got some good strategies to extend naps which is what we'll start to tackle next. I've canceled many of my normal activities this week so we can really focus on this. I'll keep you posted on the results and if I would recommend this method to any other sleep deprived momma.

nap time

YES! Our first successful nap in the crib (as opposed to the pack and play). I put him down awake and without too much crying or squirming, he fell asleep on his own listening to his Dr. Jean Bible Songs CD. I'm thinking the pack and play in our room is on it's way out. It would sure be easier for William to get ready in the mornings without having to worry about not making too much noise or turning on too many lights.

All I can say is thank goodness for our video monitor. I thought it was such a frivolous thing to put on my registry, but I'm eating my words. All I've done for the last hour is watch him from the comfort of my couch while also trying to watch my VLI video for the week. Love that thing so thank you Grandma Pool!