Christmas!!

Christmas is in full swing at the Sokolewicz house. It's hard to believe I almost cancelled it last weekend!

I'm almost done with my shopping, I've started wrapping (my least favorite part), the stockings are hung, I've started making (and consuming) my fudge, and best of all - Jacob has begun to wear his Christmas clothes! I personally think Christmas is the only holiday that can be celebrated weeks in advance.

Here's a few adorable photos of Jacob in his Christmas clothes.

Jacob's First Snow

We got a dusting of snow overnight and I was SO excited to document it! Jacob loves the cold weather, so he didn't mind going outside and admiring it for a minute or two.

Jacob Meets Santa

One of the moms in my play group had a play date at her parents' gorgeous home in Melissa. Gorgeous is really an understatement, especially this time of year. Her mom starts decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween and literally has thousands of Santas and decorations. I couldn't believe it!

Anyways, her dad dressed up as Santa and we all got to take pictures in front of their 15-foot tree. No lines, no germs, and free! And so much cuter than the mall!

Jacob was intrigued by Santa's beard, and then just kinda stared at the camera. Thankfully he didn't scream bloody murder. Here are some cute pics.

Jacob - 6 months

Age: 6 months

Height: 27.5"

Weight: 20lbs 1oz

Milestones: Jacob has been sitting unassisted really well for a few weeks.  Now that he can do it, that's ALL he ever wants to do.  Sit and watch everything and everyone around him.  He still hasn't rolled tummy to back, but he sure wants to!  He has also started making crawling attempts/movements, but nothing so far (thank goodness).

Sleep: He's still sleeping pretty well at night - goes to bed around 7:30, wakes around midnight to eat and then wakes around 7:30 for the day. He's also still only napping 30 minutes at a time, usually 3-4 times per day.

Eating: He's still mostly breastfed.  We do 2oz of solids (usually a fruit) in the morning, and attempt 1oz of solids (usually a veggie) around 5:30 for dinner, but he doesn't really like vegetables (sounds like someone else I know...cough, cough...Josh). Foods he's tried include: sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, apples, pears, avocados, peas, green beans.

Clothes size: 9 and 12 month

Diaper size: Size 4

Best Moment: Gosh! We've done so many fun things this month, and he's just been so good! But I'd have to say his first Thanksgiving was really fun, and of course - he was an angel.

Worst Moment: He went through a wicked 6-month growth spurt about 2 weeks ago, that lasted about a week.  He was up every 3 hours at night. Owe! I wasn't used to that :)

Favorite toy (I'm adding this): He is currently obsessed with a plastic serving fork (yes, from the kitchen) and a Baby Einstein piano that his Uncle Doug & Aunt Jenny bought him. He's also really enjoying his Baby Einstein jumperoo.

Teeth: No teeth, and no teething!

Looking forward to: His first Christmas! He loves looking at our Christmas tree, and the lights on the house.  I can't wait to take him to church to hear all that beautiful music!

5 minute face

Being a mom definitely limits your time, so I've had to adapt my beauty routine. I can now put on my "face" in 5 minutes, and I think I look pretty darn good!

The below is what I wear if I'm going to leave the house. If I'm staying in, I just do mascara and lotion. I use Vaseline Aloe Fresh lotion every single day after I wash my face with basic Oil of Olay soap and hot water.

1) Clinique All About Eyes Concealer
2) Almay Intense I-Color
3) Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion
4) Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder
5) Clinique Blushing Blush Powder Blush
6) Revlon Colour Riche Lip Balm

Sokolewicz Family Christmas Pictures 2012

We took pictures last week for our Christmas card and to document Jacob at 6 months (I know, I cannot believe he is 6 months old...more on that later). And I am SO happy with the way they turned out. I hope you are too! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bah humbug

Yesterday, I had a meltdown of epic proportions. I turned into Mr Scrooge himself, and almost swore off Christmas altogether.

Thankfully, I have the most amazing husband and mother, whom both talked me off the ledge and got me back into the Christmas spirit. They helped me realize that most of the pressure I'm feeling is put on me by MYSELF and my expectations are always pretty damn high.

Once the Grinch left the house, I decided to put up HALF of our 9-ft Christmas tree, because let's face it - 9 feet is a lot to decorate and takes up a lot of room in our already cluttered house (hello, a-type personality!). Josh started the outside lights and I even wrapped the front tree!

Decorating always winds up taking a full weekend, and that's before having a baby! Talk about juggling a million things! I just felt stressed and overwhelmed, but I feel better now and the house looks festive yet simple.

Here's a cute picture of Jacob in front of the tree. Just ignore the drool and summer onesie (it was 90* out today and it's the only short sleeved onesie that fits).

Thanksgiving break

Oh what a glorious 5-day weekend we had! Filled with family, food, fun and relaxation.

For the first time in 5 years, we actually didn't put the Christmas decorations up the day after Thanksgiving, and I have to say - it felt pretty good! We plan to take our time with the decorations this year and will probably go pretty minimal. The energy it takes to put it up and down will be better spent elsewhere.

Instead, we spent most of our days lounging in PJs, eating yummy breakfasts, drinking coffee and playing with our BUSY BUSY boy! He's such a handful these days! It's so fun to see what he's learned and watch him grow. I love having Josh home to experience it with me.

In other news - I polished off the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch today. It's always a good feeling to get that out of your fridge. But this year, since I'm breastfeeding and always SO hungry, I'm kinda sad to see it go.

Anyways, here's some fun pictures to recap our break.

Jacob's First Thanksgiving

Love this little boy....

My BIG boy!

Jacob is sitting up on his own!! He's been doing it for about a week now, and let me tell you - he LOVES it! He refuses to lay on his back now because he can't see everything! He loves watching me walk around, the dogs play, etc. etc. He can't get enough!

Apples!

We have a winner!! Jacob {loved} apples! Wowwy woww woww!! He was grabbing for the spoon, opened wide and gobbled it all down! I'm so excited we finally found something he loves!

Jacob - 5 months

Age: 5 months
Height: He hasn't been measured since his 4 month check-up. I guess I could measure him...
Weight: 19lbs 15oz (this is how much he weighed 2 weeks ago, haven't gone to the doctor since)
Milestones: Jacob rolls back to tummy easily, but can't seem to get back to his back...we're working on that!  He can sit up unassisted for several minutes before slumping forward or falling over.  He plays with his feet ALL the time, especially when I'm changing his diaper, and has even managed to get them in his mouth!
Sleep: Hallelujah!  The child finally knows how to sleep!  We did have to do some serious sleep training with him for about a week, but its made such a huge difference in my attitude and his!  I can tell he's happier, more alert and focused.  He goes to bed at 8pm, wakes once around 3-4am to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 7am.  The best part is that he puts himself to sleep, so there's no rocking on 1 foot while whistling to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandee (not really, but really).  He's still napping for only 30 minutes at a time, I'm hoping this next month will bring longer, less frequent naps!
Eating: Jacob is still breastfeeding like a champ.  We've introduced solids: oatmeal, banana, sweet potato and butternut squash.  Of those, his favorite has been butternut squash.  He doesn't open his mouth and attack the spoon quite yet, but we're getting there.  I've been feeding him 1oz once daily, usually around lunchtime, but I'll probably increase to 1oz twice daily now that he's 5 months old.
Clothes size: 9 month onesies and 9 or 12 month pants.
Diaper size: Size 3
Best Moment: This month has been so great, I'm not sure?  But if I had to choose, I'd say when he rolled over.  He acted to surprised and confused - so cute! :)
Worst Moment: Going through the sleep training was tough, but we made it out alive and better!
Teeth: No teeth!
Looking forward to: The holidays! Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I'm so so so excited to start special traditions and make memories with our sweet boy.  I'm hoping to introduce green beans soon, so Jacob can have a Thanksgiving dinner with us (green beans, sweet potatoes and squash).  For Christmas, we're converting the guest bedroom into a playroom for him, so I'm excited to start that transformation (after Thanksgiving) and to start Christmas shopping for our little nugget!

Ferberizing Jacob - summary

Day 1 - Weds, October 24
Nap 1 - 60 minutes of crying, no sleep
Nap 2 - 50 minutes of crying, 15 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 (emergency nap) - 0 crying, 2 hours of sleep
Bedtime - Squirmed/fussed for a few minutes, fell asleep.
Woke at 12:45am, cried for 60 minutes.
Fed at 1:45am, fell back to sleep immediately after.
Woke for the day at 5:50am (8 hours, 50 minutes nighttime sleep)

Day 2 - Thurs, October 25
Nap 1 - 30 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 2 - 26 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 3 - 11 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 4 (emergency nap) - 0 crying, 1 hour, 50 minutes of sleep
Bedtime - Cried for less than 10 minutes.
Woke at 11:30, cried for 1.5 hours.
Fed at 3:30, cried for 5 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 4:00, cried for less than 10 minutes.
Woke for the day at 8:15am (10 hours nighttime sleep)

Day 3 - Fri, October 26
Nap 1 - 33 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 2 - 1 hour, 5 minutes of sleep, 0 crying
Nap 3 - 35 minutes of sleep, 22 minutes of crying (in that order)
Bedtime - Cried for less than 5 minutes and fell asleep.
Fed at 8:18, cried for 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 11:38, cried for 1 hour, 12 minutes and fell asleep.
Fed at 3:37, cried for less than 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 4:13, cried for 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke for the day at 7:15am (10.5 hours nighttime sleep)

At this point, we changed our nap rules to a half hour instead of a full hour.  It seems that Jacob just isn't ready for a full hour, which is apparently very common for babies his age and was confirmed by his pediatrician. He's been going to sleep immediately for naps, with no crying, so we don't really have an "issue" there.

Day 4 - Sat, October 27
Nap 1 - 29 minutes of sleep
Nap 2 - 31 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 - 30 minutes of sleep
Nap 4 - 18 minutes of sleep
Bedtime - fell asleep immediately.
Woke at 11:50, cried for 32 minutes and fell asleep.
Fed at 4:11, fell asleep immediately.
Woke at 4:52, cried for 26 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke for the day at 6:45 (10 hours nighttime sleep)

Day 5 - Sun, October 28
Nap 1 - 30 minutes of sleep
Nap 2 - 34 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 - 31 minutes of sleep
Nap 4 - 1.5 hours of sleep
Bedtime - fell asleep immediately.
Woke at 11:16 and 11:55 and cried for less than 15 minutes each time.
Fed at 4:12, fell asleep immediately.
Woke for the day at 7:25 (11.5 hours nighttime sleep)

Day 6 - Mon, October 29
Nap 1 - 35 minutes of sleep
Nap 2 - 25 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 - 40 minutes of sleep
Bedtime - fell asleep immediately.
Woke at 11:48, 12:40, 1:08 and 1:34 and cried for less than 17 minutes each time.
Fed at 4:07, fell asleep immediately.
Woke for the day at 7:25 (11 hours of nighttime sleep)

Day 7 - Tues, October 30
Nap 1 - 31 minutes of sleep
Nap 2 - 38 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 - 1 hour of sleep
Bedtime - fell asleep immediately.
Woke at 11:52, cried for less than 10 minutes.
Fed at 5:03, cried for less than 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke for the day at 7:30 (11.5 hours of nighttime sleep)

Soo...after 1 week, we were down to 1 feeding per night.  We place Jacob in his crib drowsy, but awake, for all naps and bedtime and he successfully puts himself to sleep.  He still wakes up several times throughout the night and fusses, but typically its less than 5 minutes and he settles himself.  If he cries for longer than 20 minutes, it means he's hungry and I feed him (only if its after 1:30 - 6 hours after he eats last, or half way through "nighttime").

My advice for parents looking for a sleep solution:
1) Do your research, decide on a solution, and stay firm on your choice.  Do not deviate from the plan in the middle of the night.  Babies need consistency and repetition, its how they learn.
2) Make sure both parents are on-board and committed.  You cannot get through this alone.
3) Invest in industrial strength ear plugs.
4) Trust your instincts and know that you're doing what's best for you and your child.

Good luck!!
Kate

Ferberizing Jacob - the basics

If you're like me, you like to hear other people's experiences before jumping into something yourself.  And I don't want the fluffy version, I want all the full-blown, nitty-gritty details. So, for you moms that are desperately searching for sleep training advice and/or stories...here you go!

As I mentioned in my Day 1 post, we are sleep training and weaning from the swaddle and night feedings, so we had more to tackle than just a crappy sleeper.

The Ferber method allows for brief visits from mom and dad to reassure baby that you're still there, that you love them and that everything will be okay. I'm a firm believer in doing things right the first time, which is why I knew CIO was the best route, but I liked the visits allowed through Ferber. Below is a quick summary or breakdown of what we did. This isn't exactly Ferber's rules, we changed a few things to fit our comfort level.

• Put baby in crib drowsy, but awake. They should fall asleep the same way in which they will wake in the middle of the night/nap.
• We use a noise machine, and since starting this we've been giving Jacob an Aden+Anais blanket, since they are thin and breathable. We've noticed that Jacob likes to cover his face with the blanket (which is funny, because I do the same thing!), so we are very careful to watch him and move it before going to bed.
• When baby starts crying, start the timer and wait for the following intervals before visiting baby...

Number of minutes to wait before responding to your child
Day 1 - 3 min (1st wait); 5 min (2nd wait); 10 min (3rd wait); 10 min (subsequent waits)
Day 2 – 5 min; 10 min; 12 min; 12 min...
Day 3 – 10 min; 12 min; 15 min; 15 min...
Day 4 – 12 min; 15 min; 17 min; 17 min...
Day 5 – 15 min; 17 min; 20 min; 20 min...
Day 6 – 17 min; 20 min; 25 min; 25 min...
Day 7 – 20 min; 25 min; 30 min; 30 min...

• When you reach the maximum number of minutes to wait for a night, continue to leave the room for the same interval until baby falls asleep while you are out of the room.
• If baby wakes during the night, restart the schedule from the first waiting time and work up to the maximum.
• Continue this routine after each waking until a time in the morning (usually 5 or 6 am) after which it is unlikely baby will fall back asleep.
• Naptime: Use the same waiting schedule for naps, but if baby hasn’t fallen asleep after an hour, or if he is awake again and crying, end the nap. If he hasn't slept much during the day (parent's discretion), initiate an "emergency nap", use old nap time approach, to avoid an overtired baby at bedtime.

We're on Day 6 now, and I've noticed significant improvement.  Today I feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Such a great feeling!  We still have a few kinks to work out, but I'll post our final summary when we're all done.

Good luck!
Kate

Ferberizing Jacob - Day 3

I think I see light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel.

Naps were much better on Day 3 - he took a 1 hour nap with NO rocking or swaddle IN his crib!! This has never happened.

Nighttime was better too, and more tolerable for me. I can tell he's not crying quite as hard, he's more babbling and whimpering.

We also discovered the timer on my iPhone, which makes night waiting much better - you can actually close your eyes during those 12 and 15 minute periods.

Here's our Day 3 recap:
Nap 1 - 33 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 2 - 1 hour, 5 minutes of sleep, 0 crying
Nap 3 - 35 minutes of sleep, 22 minutes of crying (in that order)
Bedtime (since we didn't give Jacob an emergency nap this day, we put him to bed a little early.  He didn't eat really great before bedtime, so I nursed him when he woke up the first time.) - Cried for less than 5 minutes and fell asleep.
Fed at 8:18, cried for 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 11:38, cried for 1 hour, 12 minutes and fell asleep.
Fed at 3:37, cried for less than 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 4:13, cried for 10 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke for the day at 7:15am (10.5 hours nighttime sleep)

Ferberizing Jacob - Day 2

Night 2 definitely wasn't as easy as Night 1, but naps were better and I can see that he's learning to self soothe. I got pretty upset last night, almost to the point of throwing up. My stomach was in knots hearing him cry for so long. I just had to bury my head in the pillow, and Josh had to keep telling me to stay strong. But, we survived! And I'm really hopeful that we start seeing better results soon.

On a side note, I think he's scared of his room now. LOL! Every time I go in there to change his diaper he whimpers.

Here's Day 2 recap:
Nap 1 - 30 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 2 - 26 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 3 - 11 minutes of sleep, 27 minutes of crying (in that order)
Nap 4 (emergency nap) - 0 crying, 1 hour, 50 minutes of sleep
Bedtime - Cried for less than 10 minutes.
Woke at 11:30, cried for 1.5 hours.
Fed at 3:30, cried for 5 minutes and fell asleep.
Woke at 4:00, cried for less than 10 minutes.
Woke at 6:20 (for what I thought was the day), I brought him into our room for our morning snuggles that I do every morning, and next thing I knew he was asleep! And slept until 8:15!  I'm not entirely sure if this totally effs up everything we've done, but I didn't do anything to get him to fall asleep, so I'm going to consider his wake time to be 8:15 (10 hours nighttime sleep)

On to Day 3...!!!

Yumm bananas!

Jacob enjoys bananas much more than oatmeal... But mommy doesn't like changing banana diapers. Ewww!!

Ferberizing Jacob - Day 1

Wednesday started like any other day - Josh spent nearly an hour and a half (4-5:30am) trying to rock Jacob back to sleep after his THIRD feeding of the night and probably the SIXTH night waking. If you think I'm exaggerating, I'm not.  This kid is one high-maintenance sleeper.  Hence our reasoning for researching and starting sleep training.

At first, I was really hesitant to start sleep training, especially Cry It Out (CIO) methods, but after 20 weeks of the above scenario playing out night after night, we decided this was best for us.  And by us I mean Josh, myself and Jacob.  Jacob needs sleep too, and he needs to learn how to self soothe.

We decided on the Ferber method for several reasons, but honestly - I don't feel the need to explain myself or our decision.  Just know I did months of research and was very well-informed.  I'll do a separate post later on the exact guidelines of Ferber and what we did.

But also please know that we hadn't yet completely weaned Jacob of the swaddle and he was still waking 3x/night to eat, so we were actually sleep training and weaning at the same time.  A rather hefty challenge, but we were ready for it!

We started sleep training on Wednesday, October 24 during the day.  Here is a recap of Day 1.

Nap 1 - 60 minutes of crying, no sleep
Nap 2 - 50 minutes of crying, 15 minutes of sleep
Nap 3 (emergency nap) - 0 crying, 2 hours of sleep
Bedtime - Squirmed/fussed for a few minutes, fell asleep.
Woke at 12:45am, cried for 60 minutes.
Fed at 1:45am, fell back to sleep immediately after.
Woke for the day at 5:50am (8 hours, 50 minutes nighttime sleep)

I'm not "spiking the football", as Josh would say, but we had a very good night and we're both very optimistic.  I'll post daily blogs through Day 3, then will post a final summary when our sleep training is complete.  Wish us luck!!!

Pumpkin patch

I took Jacob to a local pumpkin patch today. He was busy people watching and was pretty mellow the entire time. Such a sweet little boy!

We went with a bunch of other moms and babies that are members of a play group that I recently joined, Baby Buddies. There's 83 moms in the group and 40+ attended the play date at the pumpkin patch! Crazy!

Here's some pictures I took on my phone and ran through Instagram. There was a professional photographer there, so we should get better pictures of Jacob later this week. Enjoy!

First attempt at solids

We got the go ahead to start solids from our pediatrician at Jacob's 4mo check-up on Friday, so of course I tried them Saturday morning...and Sunday morning...and will continue to try until he likes it!

Yes, that's right folks - he hated the oatmeal. He just screamed and screamed and wouldn't swallow. Oh well! Like I said, we'll keep trying!

Here are some cute pics...

Jacob - 4 months

Age: 4 months
Height: 25.75"
Weight: 18lbs 14oz
Milestones: Jacob has mastered the head hold, he sits up unassisted for short periods of times and has recently found his feet.  He's still trying to figure out how to reach his feet, so its really cute to watch!  He spends a few minutes each day in his jumperoo, he really only likes the lights/music part of it so far, and he hasn't really figured out how to jump in it yet.  He still loves his playmat and Bumbo.
Sleep: Jacob is still a terrible sleeper - he wakes atleast a handful of times each night and eats 2-3 times each night, depending how things go.  We're currently in the process of weaning him of the swaddle, so that's been a real beat down.  He's still napping in his crib too.
Eating: Jacob continues to eat like a champ! He eats every 2.5-3 hours during the day and he's still exclusively breastfed.
Clothes size: 6 month onesies and 9 month pants
Diaper size: Size 3
Best Moment: Seeing his excitement when we put him in the big boy stroller was super fun!  And he's started belly laughing, so its always fun to see what will get him chuckling.
Worst Moment: Ohhh...mostly the nights :)
Teeth: No teeth!
Looking forward to: Starting solids!  We got the go-ahead today from our pedi to start solids, so we'll give him oatmeal for the first time in the morning.  I can't wait to see his face!  Once he's mastered the oatmeal, we'll move onto vegetables and then fruits.  I plan on making all his baby food, so I will be making lots of baby food this weekend! Yay! :)

1 year ago...

1 year ago today we found out that we were pregnant with our little man. It's crazy to think back to that morning - how excited, happy, nervous, scared we were and here we are now! With an almost 4mo old! Love this little boy...

Big boy stroller

A "cold front" blew through this weekend, so we took full advantage of the cooler temps and went on 4 walks in 2 days! The first walk of the weekend was Jacob's last time in the carseat attachment on the stroller - tear! He was squirming all over the place in the carseat, so when we got home we tried out the toddler seat and he fit great! And loves it! We wound up going to lunch at Twisted Root on Saturday and Whole Foods on Sunday - both in the big boy stroller!

Here are some cute pictures. What a great weekend!