Sleep, Baby, Sleep!

So here's what's going on with Mr. Lance. He's really a good baby. he wakes up between 7:00-8:00, is awake for 1/2 hour-1 hour, takes a 1/2 hour-45 minute nap, wakes up again around 9:00, sleeps again around 11:30-1:00, and then takes another nap from 3:00-5:00. And then goes to bed around 8:00. He eats every 3 hours, about 7:00, 10:00, etc. So he has a decent day time schedule. The problems are, #1, he won't sleep laying down. Refuses. Even if he is so, so tired. He screams and screams. Then as soon as I put him in his carseat he goes right to sleep. Without crying. So it's hard to let him scream in his bed, because I know he'll go right to sleep in his carseat. I don't think he has reflux, because he'll play on the ground just fine for a long time, right after he eats. We've tried getting him to sleep on his stomach, too, but he doesn't like that, either. So my question is, do I let him just keep sleeping in his carseat, or do I make him cry it out? We go to the doctor tomorrow, so I'll ask him, too.

Our other issue is nighttime. He will eat around 10:00 Pm, and then again around 2:00, and if I let him again at 4:00, 6:00. The other night when he woke up at 4:00 I put him in his swing without feeding him and he went until 8:00. We started him on cereal the other day, and two nights ago he only woke up once, and last night he was up at 9:30, 11:30 (where I fed him) and then at 2:00. So at 2:00 I put him in his swing again without feeding him, and he slept until 7:15! So now I know he can make it through the night, so do I let him cry in the middle of the night when he wakes up, or just put him in his swing like I did last night. I think that's what I'll do for a bit, and hope it helps him establish the pattern of not needing to eat. If he still cries in his swing I'll feed him. But eventually I've got to figure something else out. So that's what's on my mind this morning. Any thoughts?

Randomness

This is the last picture that I took of Lily and Emily together. It was a day or two before Emily went to the hospital for the last time. She went to the hospital the day Lily turned 5 months old, and today Lance turned 5 months old. It's kind of a landmark for me, and I've been waiting for this day since Lance was born. I can't really describe why. I guess it's because 5 months is the longest I've ever had 2 kids at home-Emily lived for one more week but was at the hospital. And we just remember Lily at the age of 5 months so well, because she was just the thing that gave us a little bit of sunshine in an otherwise very gloomy time. I took this picture of Lily and Lance the other day, and didn't even realize that Lily was wearing the same shirt that Em was in their last picture together until I just went to put these pictures on the blog. You can see that Lance is a bit bigger then Lily was at 5 months! Probably because the kid still wakes up twice in the middle of the night to eat, and Lily was sleeping through the night easily by 5 months.

Ok, here's my other random thoughts. I love chocolate covered cranberries. I've eaten a bag the last 24 hours. Like about a pound. They're dark chocolate, and at least they're not chocolate covered peanuts. I therefore justify myself.

School with Lily has been fun. We've done it every day for at least 15 minutes-sometimes that's all of me she wants! Except yesterday. The van was dead and so Robby came home to jump start it for us and it just threw my entire day off. I'm hoping to get a bit structured and more into a routine.

I'm thankful for the bookclubs I go to. I've realized that I've read so many good books that I would have otherwise missed out on. Because I am not good at making myself read things other than airhead books! Some of the ones I've enjoyed are The Help, The Book Thief, Three Cups of Tea, and the list goes on. And of course we just all read Mockingjay. So thank you ladies!

Most of you who read this know that my dad runs a television station in Kabul, Afghanistan. My mom has put a commerical that the station created and aired during Ramadan. http://daveandjilladventures.blogspot.com/ If you watch it, keep in mind that during Ramadan the people are fasting from sunup to sundown. So the boy in the commerical has not had anything to eat all day. And the boy who is the beggar in the commerical really was a beggar. He was found by someone at the station and given the job of being a dubber, and in exchange is getting fed, an education, and a bit of money.

And my last bit of randomness, I'm thankful for a husband who does the dishes after dinner.

Lily's School

So I've been wanting to do some more crafts and things with Lily, but haven't really known how to-it's hard to find the time in the day! And I've kind of been wanting a new project, so last night I decided that Lily and I are going to have "school" every day after lunch for 1/2 hour. I'm not really sure what we're going to do for a curriculum yet, or what I want to do for themes, activities, etc. But I figure I have time in my day to spend 1/2 hour devoted to Lily and playing with her, and I'd just as soon have it be somewhat structured. Just for my sake. Not that we don't play at other times during the day, but usually it's more me getting her her toy, or playing with her for 5 minutes or so and then doing something else. So I'm starting another blog to keep track of what we do, so that I can go back to it later, or so that next year I can find the activities that we did. So here's the address if you're interested! http://lilysschool.blogspot.com. Here goes nothing!

Go BYU?

Robby is slightly obsessed with BYU football. Anybody who knows him will laugh and say that's a bit of an understatement. He went to the BYU-Washington game last week with his dad and brother-in-laws and had a fabulous time. He got Lance this shirt at BYU, and it's size 12 months, but fits him great. (I think the size was just wrong). This was before BYU started playing so awful yesterday. Lily loves putting things on her head and wearing my shoes. It makes us laugh. She also is now into Elmo and has an Elmo sing-a-long DVD that she LOVES to watch. We only let her watch it once a day-usually while I'm excerising or trying to feed Lance. She's figured out counting this week-I was mad at her and counted "one, two...", and she goes "THREE!" and was so proud of herself. It was pretty hard not to laugh. Since then she's been trying, but it goes more, "One, one, three, one, three..."

She put on this headband all by herself. And then she'll go "I pretty." She wears Emily's headbands all the time.

Lance watching his first BYU game last week.

Lily will lay down by Lance and play with him; in general she's been nicer this week. Her hair looks like this if I don't do it.

We went and saw Robby at work last week-it was Lance's first time being there.

Overall things are going well. I feel like I'm not getting anything done-I don't have any projects I'm working on or anything, which makes me feel like I'm wasting time. Not that being home with my kids is wasting time. Because it's not at all. I just know I could be also doing more than what I am doing. I've started teaching piano again, but don't have as many students as I usually do. I wouldn't mind having a few more. Lance does well during the day, but is only sleeping at the most 5 hours at night. The last few nights it's been more like 3 hours. Lily was sleeping 5 hours at a time by the time she was 2 weeks old, so considering Lance is 4 1/2 months old it feels like he's NEVER sleep through the night. At least he's healthy and happy!