Geoffrey in Florida

Geoffrey is doing so well in Florida! The first night, he woke up a few times - none of us slept very well. However, the next two nights he slept from midnight until 6:30 (waking once but falling asleep within 15 minutes) eating at 6:30, and then sleeping until 10:30 - 11:00. What a good boy!

He is getting much better with his sitting up! He can start to correct himself if he begins to lose his balance sometimes!

We lucked out on our first day because we found a lady on craig's list who is moving. We bought a play mat/gym, an exersaucer, and a shopping cart cover for $35. This is nice because Geoff can play and stretch after long days in his stroller!

Last Night

Last night went so much better!!!

Yesterday, I made an extra concentrated effort to feed Geoffrey enough. When he stopped, I didn't give up (most of the time.) Also, he seemed tired a lot, and I took advantage of his more tired, down times, to feed him. Finally, I just settled in for an hour of feeding most times to combat his activity.

I fed him solids twice, sweet potatoes in the morning and apples in the afternoon. He still does not seem to like apples, even mixed with rice cereal. It is the only different reaction I've seen to feeding him any kind of food - he sticks out his tongue and lets it drip out - he doesn't even try to eat it. (Yet, the other day he grabbed a lemon out of my water, and as we waited and watched for what we were sure would be an amusing reaction, he just happily licked it / put it in his mouth, with no sour face at all!)

For his last feeding, we were going to try a bottle mixed with rice cereal (1 tablespoon of cereal to 8 ounces of milk). He was so hyper and so full of energy, he would not sit still for the bottle. He wasn't fussy or hungry (in which case I think he would have taken the bottle). He had just nursed for an hour  and had some solids. I was just trying to cluster feed / tank him up. He was at that last big burst of energy before bedtime. So, he wouldn't take the bottle, but he would nurse from me (it helped him calm down), so I went ahead and nursed him.

He fell asleep and woke up 7 1/2 hours later to eat! Huzzah!!! Then he slept for two more hours. So hopefully think means my hunch was correct, and he was not eating enough during the day. Hopefully this plan continues to work!

At WDW - we can spend lots of time in the baby care center, or we can do lots of smaller feeds more often (15 minute feeds every 2 hours or so). This has worked for us in the past, and can work well if we're, say, watching shows at the parks.

I feel better. I know it is only one day - but it is amazing what a nice long chunk of sleep will do for you!!!!

 

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(¸.·´ (¸.·´*Bobbi Jo*
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Tough Night

Geoff is still not doing well at night. He has been waking up 3 times for the last week or so. Ferberizing doesn't seem to help. Pushing off feedings doesn't seem to help. Last night, I fed him twice. Bad mommy? Maybe - but it is not like we haven't tried the other methods for a week. I am just too tired today.

I think I am going to start over, from the beginning, with ferberizing. 5 minutes, then increase. 3 hours between meals, then increase.

And I HAVE to find a way to get this kid to focus and eat more during the day. He did awful yesterday with his feedings.

For the most part, though, I am not stressed about Florida. We have a condo at WDW, so his crying won't wake anyone up, and we can continue working on the problem. WE don't need to go to the parks all day, so if we're tired and go just for the afternoon / evening, then that is fine. The cruise is a little worrisome - he can't just cry at night there (thank goodness mom and bobby are on one side of us!) but that is still weeks away, so who knows what will be happening then. With any kind of luck, the motion of the ocean will help him sleep, as many others have reported.

5 1/2 Month Dr. Visit

On Tuesday, Geoffrey had his 5 1/2 month doctor visit. Geoffrey looks healthy and is doing well. Dr. Chang said that if he rolls over at night and we see when we check on him, then we should put him back, but it is ok if he rolls back over again.

He grew an inch - and is now 27 1/2 inches long (90th percentile), but he only gained 2 1/2 ounces (16 11 1/2) which puts him at the 50th percentile for his weight. This was a little concerning, but I know he hasn't been eating well since he gets so distracted lately. This is similar to what happened 2 months ago. I just need to make sure Geoffrey eats for a good 10 minutes on each side - which is proving to be easier said then done, but it's our goal.

Geoffrey had two shots today. They were given by a new nurse who is training. WHen it was time to get ready for the first one, I had his hands, Grant was dangling a toy, and Nurse Florence, who was supervising the new nurse, was making funny noises. Geoff thought all of this attention was great! When the nurse put his shot in, Geoffrey looked down at it, and smiled. SMILED! What? We all busted out laughing! Nurse Florence was like, "Geoffrey! You never do that for me! My ego is hurt!" Shot number two didn't earn a smile - in fact a look like he was going to cry passed over his face for a brief instant - but all of our attention kept him happy. It was the best shot experience ever! Nurse Florence was laughing about this 10 minutes later while we were checking out!!!

His next visit will be Sep. 17th - he'll be almost 7 months, and that's when he'll get his 6 month vaccinations. 

New Stuff

Geoffrey tried applesauce yesterday - He didn't seem to like it at all. It was not mixed with rice cereal, so the flavor was probably very strong for him. He certainly does not seem to love solids at this point. He is pretty much indifferent.

Today, we introduced water in a sippy cup. Of course, he just sort of looked at me like I was odd while water dribbled out of the side of his mouth (o:
 For now, when I am giving it to him, I take the valve out so the water comes out easier - but then I just leave it with his toys so he can play and then I put the valve in. Fun times!

Camping

We just returned from a camping trip at Lake Edison.

On Sunday, Angie, Andrew, Cori, and Andrew's friend AJ, and Grant, Geoffrey, and I drove to Fresno. We ate at John's Incredible Pizza, and then spent the night at a Marriott Residence Inn. The next day, we drove up to the campground. The last 18 miles heads up over the Kaiser Pass on a one lane road that I thought was pretty scary. It took an hour and a half to travel those last 18 miles. Poor Geoffrey's ears hurt!

The campground was beautiful. They had two sites reserved for us (Gary and Belle drove up on Monday and met us at the Marriott.) The sites were both in a small valley, so it was like we had one big campsite.

We spent our days walking around, playing, and relaxing. We found two geocaches - one at our camp site and one across the lake. We went swimming in the lake (which we estimated to be high 50s/low 60s). Angie brought a telescope and we went down to the lake to stargaze.

Geoff did very well - as Grandpa Gary said, he was a happy camper! He slept in his pack n play for most of the night, but once the sun came up, he slept with mommy and daddy under the sleeping bag. He loved being in the carrier and walking around!

Of course - there was the bear visit! A bear broke the window on our van and got away with some of our dry food goods! I didn't hear it, but poor Angie did - didn't exactly make for a good night's sleep!

Camping dinners are, of course, yummy. We had hamburgers and hotdogs, beef stew, chicken and dumplings, and pot roast. We also had campfire pie, finally, which everyone agreed was a hit! (We used apples and blueberries.)

We camped for five nights, and drove home on Saturday. We followed eachother down the mountain, and then separated. Grant and I had to stop a few times to adjust the tarp that was covering the back broken window, and to feed Geoffrey. We ate at The Elephant Bar - so yummy! I would LOVE if they opened one closer to us!

All in all, we had a great vacation! I love summer! I love Grant! I love Geoff! I love Belle!

More Geoffrey Updates / Disneyland

Feeding: Geoffrey can pretty much feed himself a bottle. So cute! As for solids, he has now had bananas (on the camping trip and then on the Sunday we got back) and he had peas on Friday. He pretty much treats all solids the same - he doesn't love them or hate them. I guess he shows a slight preference to bananas - but he really doesn't seem to dislike the peas or anything.

As far as feeding on our upcoming vacation, we're going to continue feeding him just once a day, so that we can continue to introduce new foods, but not to feed him so much that his poop really changes too much, or that he starts to "need" the solids. This way, though, we'll have more foods that we've tried and know that he can tolerate when the time comes that he DOES need solids.

Babbling: After three days of babbling, he's sort of use to his new skill, and it isn't constant now. It has been very hard to catch on video tape. As always, when he sees the camera he just stares at it!

We went to DIsneyland last Wednesday evening. Geoff had his first "aware - scare." We were walking be the matterhorn when the monorail came by and blew its horn - it scared me - made me jump, and I looked down and saw Geoffrey startle, and then look around, and be aware that the horn scared him - so he started to cry. Poor guy!

Sleep! Well, things have been much better in the sleep department. We started delaying that first feeding by 30 miuntes each night. If he wakes up before his feeding time, we ferberize. Lately, he has been waking up once too early and falling back to sleep in 10 - 30 minutes later (the first night it took an hour and a half!) Then he wakes up a 2nd time to eat, and sleeps a total of 11 - 13 hours. Last night, for example, he went to bed at 10, woke up at 2:30, fell asleep at 2:45,  woke up at 7 to eat, and then woke up at 10, happily, ready to start the day,

When he sleeps at least 11 hours at night, he does better during the day, too - napping for longer and napping only twice. He is also much happier and much less fussy. We feel really good about the way things are going now!!!!

I know I need to just trust my instincts with this stuff, but it is so hard when I am tired!!!! When I am tired, I doubt myself the most. But Geoff does well on long night sleep, and even his daytime sleep is better!

His schedule is something like this:
10: Wake Up
11: Eat
1: Nap
2: Eat
4: Nap
5: Eat
8:Eat
10: Eat
10:30 Bed
2: Wake up for 20 minutes
AM Feeding (4 - 7 - very variable for now)

Development Update - 5 Months

Last week during our camping trip, Geoff turned 5 months old!

Sleep: Well, sleep is sort of a prickly issue right now. Prior to our camping trip, we were trying to to cut down on Geoff's night feedings. Since Geoff sleeps around 11 hours at night, we decided that one feeding, at this age, was not unreasonable, but two feedings was a bit much. We started by pushing the first feeding back by 30 minutes each night - but he was very ready for it and it was rarely a problem. He was going to bed at around midnight, waking around 7 or 8 to eat, and then sleeping until 10 or 11.

As the camping trip approached, we started putting him to bed a half an hour earlier each night. During the camping trip, he would go to bed at around 10, wake up around 2 to eat, and wake up around 5 again when the sun started coming up. At that point, I'd bring him into bed with me and he'd sleep/nurse until around 7:30 - 8.

Now that we're back, things have been wacky. I knew that it would take some adjustment, of course - but he's been waking 2 or sometimes 3 times a night. Some wakings are not food related at all - I mean, waking up two hours after his last feeding? Part of it is me - I thought if I got him out of bed after the 2nd time he woke up, he would eventually start stretching out his sleep - you know, he'd get tired and sleep longer. It is always that debate for me - if he wakes up after, say, 9 hours of sleep, do I keep the room dark, feed him, and put him back down knowing he'll sleep more? Or do I start his day then? Well, big mistake on my part -  he definately needs to go back down. The two days I got him up, he was cranky all day. So now, I am back to making sure he sleeps at LEAST 10 hours, and I am just going to work on pushing that first feeding back in 30 minute increments like I did before the camping trip. It worked well, so I don;t know why I didn't do that this time - except that the "average" 5 month old sleeps about 9 1/2 hours at night and I was afraid I was being selfish by putting him back down so that I could get more sleep, too. Turns out, my kid just does better with night time sleep. Well - look at his parents.... (o:

So, I'll update you on the sleep situation later. FOr now, the plan is to aim for a 9 AM wake up time, to move to an 8 AM wake up time next week so that our travel day to Florida won't be to off schedule for him (and then he'll adjust easier to waking up at 10 on Eastern time, too.) IN addition, I plan to push back his first feeding by 30 minutes each night in an effort to get back down to one feeding.

Motor Development: Geoffrey is quite the wiggle butt. He LOVES kicking those legs, and he's quite good at rolling over and roating on his blanket to get new toys. He LOVES his exersaucer now and can balance in it quite well, as well as purposefully use the toys on it. He is sometimes quite focused and intent on what he is doing. He is getting good at turning the pages of the little electronic book on his exersaucer, and tries this skill with his board books, too. He can sit by himself for short periods when you prop him into the tripod sitting position (with his arms on the ground in front of him.) He did this for the first time on the campout.  Also, since we've been back, he's become quite the crib gymnast - when we put him down for a nap, if he's overtired (which happened often between my dumb-ass getting him up earlier and adjusting to being home from the camping trip) he'll cry a lot and when we check on him, he'll be on his stomach, rotated 180 degrees, etc. etc. Fun fun fun (cute and funny, as long as I don't worry about his little hands and feet getting caught between the crib bars!!!!)

Speech: This has been the biggest thing... all of a sudden (literally, overnight) Geoff has started babbling with consonants! We drove home from camping on Saturday, and nothing. On Sunday, it is bababadadadablablabla all the time! He is so enamored with his new ability that he does it when he's happy and when he's sad - instead of just crying, he'll cry and babble at the same time! For three days, it was almost constant babbling (unless, of course, I pulled out the video camera). He even wakes himself up at night babbling - practicing in his sleep (which also probably contributes to the new sleep problems.  Now that he is more use to it, he doesn't do it quite as often - but it is so cute!

I can tell we're gearing up for the next 6 months - sitting, crawling, standing, walking.... he is developing so quickly!!!!

Babbling

I know I am behind on blogging but I just have to tell you - recently - like yeaterda, Geoffrey has discovered how to make babbling sounds with consonants - ma - du - da - ba ba ba - and today, he is obsessed with this new skill! Whether he is happy or sad, he is babbling!

When he went down for his nap, he cried for five minutes - but cried and bablled at the same time.... "waaaa ba ba ba waaaaaaa ba da da..... cry cry cry wail ....ba ba aaaa" so cute!!!!

Sleep

Ok - The real Ferberizing begins!

Naps - So Geoff is now pretty good about taking naps in his crib. We are out and about a lot, so our goal is one nap a day in his crib, which seems to work well. The other naps he takes in his stroller or car seal, unless we are home.

Night - He's always been really good about falling asleep at night, so no issue there. His current routine is a feeding at 11:30, followed by a book and a song, and then in bed by around 12:15. He usually sleeps until about 10:30 - 11:30 the following day.

Middle of the Night - So here is the new part. Geoff can go 9 - 10 hours without eating, so he only needs to wake up once to eat (if at all.) At this point, I am ok, with one night feeding, but I'd ideally like to eliminate it by Disney World - we'll see though.

So what we're doing is extending the time between feedings - I know he can go 8 hours, he's done it before - but we started with 5 hours. So the first night, I fed him at 11:30, and was not going to feed him again until 4:30. He woke up at 2:30 (He must have known something was up because he never wakes up at 2:30!) So we used the progressive wait approach (Ferberize). We started with 15 minutes, because that's what we're up to a nap time. He cried for 15 minutes - so I went in to tell him I loved him, but I didn't pick him up and I didn't feed him. Next, Grant took the monitor down stairs with him (he was still awake) and came up at 3:05. Geoff was still crying while Grant walked up the stairs, but when Grant reached the door... silence - Geoff had fallen asleep! Grant waited 10 minutes to be sure, but indeed, Geoffrey was asleep. He didn't wake up to eat until 7:00!

Last night, I pushed back the waiting until 5:00 - and he woke up to eat at 5:30. Although we probably could have used the progressive wait method again, and not fed him until later, I didn't because I am ok with feeding him once at this point (and he didn't wake up again until 11:30) and beause I am going to keep pushing it out - tonight, I won't feed him until 5:30 (if he wakes up earlier, etc.)

Camping may throw a kink in it - we certainly can't let him cry at the camp ground in the middle of the night! But once we're back from camping, I'll start again with this and see how far we get by Florida. Since we'll most likely have a condo in Florida, I can still do this and not worry about his crying waking the neighbors (if it gets to that! Last night, we didn't have a middle of the night crying session, so you never know!) Hopefully by the cruise, he'll be sleeping all night - or up for just one feeding!