I Didn't Forget

I swear. I didn't forget to blog on Friday. We were without an internet connection from Friday morning until yesterday. Dan got a new TV for the living room and we moved the old living room TV to the bedroom along with a new DVR box. The man from DirecTV disconnected our internet connection when he installed the new box and the rest is a long story.

So, the boy... Nate's completely out of his swaddle and I actually don't know what to put him to bed in. There have been a couple times that I've put him down in just his diaper because it was so hot. I put him down in footy pjs once and don't expect to do that again until he's sleeping through the night. Changing his diaper and getting the snaps all done up was ridiculous! For the last several nights I've put him down in the pjs that are open at the bottom with elastic to help keep his legs inside and those seem to work best even though it looks like I'm putting him in a dress. Of course I figured this all out after buying and washing several pairs of pjs.

Nate is starting to grab at things and particularly likes Al E Gator, this adorable courduroy alligator stuffed animal that we got as a gift and I wish I knew who gave it to us. He likes sucking on Al's foot and tail and he wrestles him sometimes. It's quite cute. Oh, and I know you're thinking "Wow Shannon, you are so creative in naming him."

Nate and I have slept in his room two nights now, Nate in his crib and me in the bed up there. He woke up at his usual time to eat, right around 1:50 am, and both nights I was awoken by crying (screaming the first night) right around 4 am. Nate doesn't cry so it scared me quite a bit. The first night he had his leg stuck between the slats of the crib. Of course, I don't have the padded bumpers because of the SIDS risk and I read in several places that bumpers are unnecessary. Well, I went out that day (yesterday) and bought breathable bumpers. Last night I heard a little thud right before the crying. I think that he bonked his arm on the railing. He moves around so much when he's in the crib and never moved when he was in the pack n play. When I lay him with his head on the right side of the crib, he rotates himself so that his body is lying the short way and his legs hit the railing; he's started lifting both legs and pounding them down on the mattress (he's been doing that for several days, even in his pack n play). The one time that I laid him down with his head on the left, he scootched towards the middle of the crib and close to the railing, which is why he bonked his arm. I'm hoping that he gets used to the crib and this stops happening! Poor kiddo!!! By the way, thanks to Mom for sewing the blackout curtains and Dan W for hanging them. They are installing the stained glass windows over the next two weekends and then I will post pictures of Nate's room.

This deserves it's own paragraph: yesterday Nate put himself to sleep. Usually he falls asleep while eating after his bath or Dan rocks him to sleep. Last night, he fell asleep while eating but woke up when I put him in his crib. He wasn't fussing so I let him lay there and he just sucked his fist until he fell asleep. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen again consistently but I'm excited that it has happened once. I'm still waiting for that 8 hour stretch of sleep that he teased us with a couple times but it has alluded me for a couple weeks.

I have been doing the grading for my substitute so that I'll have a better idea of how the students are doing when I go back. I've been able to do the grading at night when Nate's asleep or during the day when he entertains himself on his playmat or in his swing. I'm hoping that when I go back, I'll be able to do the bulk of the grading during my prep period and at lunch. I've been thinking more and more about going back and know that the next 2.5 weeks are going to go by so quickly. I'm sad but excited at the same time. Being on campus to pick up the quizzes to grade has reminded me how much I love my job but I'm going to miss Nate soooo much!