Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Iris woke up at 4:10am, so a good 6 hours but had a rough rest of the morning, sleeping only 10-15 minutes at a time and awake for 30 minutes until 6:45am. Again really clingy in the morning with only enough time for me to make Simon’s lunch. Today mini chicken tacos with cucumber sushi (leftover from Safeway bought rolls), strawberries, and apple pears. Plus the same fruit snack since he didn’t get to eat it yesterday.

Simon put on his sweatshirt and said he was a “Mushroom Boy!” He showed us that he knows how to thread the zipper and pull it up himself, we had no idea he knew how to do it already.

Today’s art project of a caterpillar.

Iris had another rough nap day but she is so happy when I get home that I can hardly tell. Here’s that “grin” I mentioned that Iris does when she sees a camera pointed at her.

She happily will play if I’m around.

But will get upset if I walk away from her view. Once I come back, she will crawl directly to me and climb up my leg to get me to hold her.

Simon just chilling on the sofa.

Sleep training night #5: Iris got upset again during bath time and took a long time to fall asleep. I put her in bed at 8:05pm and she didn’t fall asleep until 9pm. I’m starting to think she might not be emotionally ready to sleep by herself because of her resulting separation anxiety and poor mood…

Monday, March 24, 2014

Iris woke up at 1am, comforted herself to sleep at 1:15am but woke up 5 minutes later so I went to her and kept on going to comfort her until she fell asleep at 2:20am. She woke up at 4am, 5am, and 6am and finally wouldn’t go back to sleep so got up at 6:35am. Needless to say, I had a very unhappy girl this morning. She did not want to sit in her high chair for breakfast.

But I had to make Simon’s lunch. Chicken nuggets, carrots, apple pear, blueberries, and a fruit snack which was a party favor from this weekend’s birthday party.

Artwork by Simon for their current unit of inquiry: Seasons.

Iris had a rough day at home with being very clingy and only wanting to be held. She took her morning nap in the car seat/stroller but couldn’t take her afternoon nap in the crib. Annie let her cry for a bit but ended up holding Iris to nap because Iris was too upset. By the time I got home, Iris just wanted me to hold her and when I went to give her a bath, she got very upset since I think she knew bedtime was coming.

Sleep training night #4: She went to bed at 8:06pm and fell asleep at 8:50pm. Since she didn’t sleep well during the day, she was really tired.

I almost missed taking Simon’s picture today but got this one while he was drawing his giraffes during bath time.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Iris woke up at 3:40am, so almost another 6 hours. I let her try to fall asleep on her own but ended up having to comfort her a few times before she fell asleep again at 4:10am. She woke up again at 4:25am, I went to her at 4:35am, she fell asleep again at 4:45am, woke up at 6:09am but put herself back to sleep, and woke up completely at 7:10am. Seems like things are going well so far.

She does seem a little more energetic in the morning (or maybe I’m just thinking that to make myself feel better about her “crying it out” at night)… this little girl loves the toy shopping cart, a girl after my own heart 🙂

Today Simon had a play date with one of his classmates since they mentioned to us yesterday a car building activity using Legos at Lawrence Hall of Science. They provide a motor and Legos for you to build a car to race. But I think the Dads had more fun than the kids for building the car with the motor. The kids just built other things with the Legos. The exhibit was only until the end of March so this was our last chance to go since we are busy next weekend.

Grandpa Chung came out to spend the day with us so with Iris, we explored other parts of the the Lawrence Hall. There is a baby-toddler area where Iris could explore.

That is, before she fell asleep but I still took her around to see the beautiful view and check out the new bug exhibit. Simon was scared of these larger than life bugs, the butterfly was pretty but the spiders and praying mantis were pretty scary.

Simon in other parts of the museum, the whale near the entrance, and with Grandpa Chung at the fountain.

Check out the kids’ new headpieces.

Sleep training night #3: Iris in bed by 8:22pm and fell asleep at 8:46pm. She woke up at 10:25pm and back to sleep by 11pm. Not off to a good start.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

So amazingly, Iris slept for 6 hours before waking up again around 4am. She had a little trouble getting back to sleep but I did the same thing, going back in intervals until she fell asleep again. I heard her whimper a bit around 7am but she put herself back to sleep in less than a minute and slept until 8:30am! I think this is the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. Other than the stress of hearing her cry 🙁

But after long night, Iris was hungry. She is finally completely well and eating well again. She likes her yogurt with pureed fruit.

Iris makes this face (a smile?) sometimes when I pick up the camera and take a picture of her.

Simon’s classmate invited him to a birthday party at Pump It Up. Basically an indoor facility with inflatable jumpers and slides. The kids used a lot of energy bouncing in the houses, sliding down the slides, running through obstacle courses, playing on the lifesize piano, and lots of screaming fun.

At pizza time they had a face painter and Simon asked to be a zebra… but it kind of ended up looking like a skunk.

Iris did a little bouncing too but was a little scared because of the instability. She enjoyed watching everyone run around. But she preferred to play with her toys at home.

Simon couldn’t fall asleep after the party but decided he was tired right before dinnertime so he lay down to “rest” but fell completely and totally asleep. He almost didn’t wake up to eat dinner at all.

Sleep Training Night #2: I put Iris into bed at 9:26pm, comforted her at 9:32pm, and by 9:44pm, she was asleep. Let’s see how the rest of the night will be.

Friday, March 21, 2014

As Simon requested, he got the same lunch as yesterday (homemade Lunchables) except with a change in the fruits to strawberries and muscat grapes.

Tonight was our night to eat out so we decided to try Macaroni Grill. Iris had a short nap before we headed out. She sucks her thumb sometimes to help her fall asleep.

There was a short wait at the restaurant to be seated which was great for hungry Simon. Both kids liked the bread.

“Hmm, what’s this?”

“Mmmm… pretty yummy!”

Simon must have picked up this “leaning” pose from somewhere… I love it!

I had one of their special drinks made with ginger and cream. It was refreshing but not very gingery. It was missing the “kick”.

Dinner was pretty good though. I had some lobster ravioli and these cheese filled tortellini-like pasta with butternut squash and pumpkin seeds. Simon even ate his spaghetti. He loved coloring on the paper tablecloths too. Another place to add on to our “family friendly” restaurants.

So I decided a few days ago that it was time to start sleep training with Iris. I have been exhausted with her waking up every 2-4 hours during the night and needing to nurse in order to fall back asleep. Ron did the sleep training for Simon where he let Simon “cry it out” until he fell asleep. It took about 1 week for Simon to sleep through the night (meaning 8pm-6am). I didn’t want to be so “rough” on Iris so I am going to try a modified “cry it out” where you put the baby to bed drowsy and go back in intervals to offer comfort but without picking up the baby. I decided to start tonight since if it didn’t go well, at least we could all sleep in during the weekend.

Since we went out for dinner, she got her bath late but at least she ate a good dinner and had a full belly. After her bath, a book, and a song, I held her for a bit, gave her a kiss, and put her in her crib and said “good night, I love you”, pat her on her belly, and walked out of sight. She started whimpering and crying so after 5 minutes I went to pat her back and quietly say “good night, I love you” again before walking out of sight. She was still crying and upset so I went in after 10 minutes again to comfort her then walked out of sight again. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after I walked away and slept for about 10 minutes with her face smushed against her bed.

She woke up again and readjusted herself and starting whimpering again so I went to comfort her and about 10 minutes after I walked out of sight, she was asleep. I went to check on her and she seemed comfortable.

So night #1 is off to a pretty good start.