The Cars

Gianna and Hudson got new license plates for their cars! So Cute -- Thanks Grandma J!!





And here are more photos of Gia and Hudson. They are definitely more interested in each other.



And mommy and happy Hud:

Laugh Out Loud

Sitting Big

Hudson is getting good at sitting on his own like a big kid!!

Though he still tips over...

Another Day in Big Bear

Our little family packed the car and headed to Big Bear on Friday night after Hudson's went to sleep - JR, myself, Hudson, Jagger and Maya. It was definately colder this time than it was just a few weeks ago and we all need to get warmer clothes for next time. It was a typical weekend for Hudson -- he drove around in his car, went on a swing for the first time and had lots of fun!

Kickin' Back

Hudson likes to hang out on his side now. You can tell that he is trying to balance in this position and not fall onto his back or his stomach.



And he is definitely very interested in the dogs. When he is in his walker, he inevitably scoots right over to where the dogs are and gets as close as he can. Our dogs are really good with him. In fact, they arent all that interested in him. They usually sniff him and then go lie down and forget about him. I still keep a close eye on Hudson when he is around our dogs (I read that 50% of kids are bit by their dogs -- Parenting Magazine) because you just dont know (and Maya is a little cracked out).

Sleep Update

Well, I must say that I am touched by everyone's comments on my recent sleep (or rather, lack thereof) post so I decided to write an update. After getting through some of the Pantley book I got some tips (which were directed for those of us who breastfeed their babies to sleep - which, I admit, is me on many/most occasions. Especially on those occasions when I am TIRED). Here are the tips we implemented immediately:

1. No more nighttime bath. Pantley actually recommends night baths to calm and relax your baby. But Hudson does not come out of the bath calm. He LOVES his bath but it is MAJOR play time in our house. So we moved those to mornings since I think it works him up in the evenings.

2. Bedtime needs to be much earlier. Hudson was going to sleep between 8 and 830. He is now going to bed between 7 and 730. I think we were missing his tired 'window' which caused him to be overtired and harder to put to sleep later.

3. Naps are important. Hudson was a bad napper. Pantley suggested basically doing whatever it takes to get your baby to take two scheduled naps (two at his age anyway), whether that be in the carseat, or in the stroller or in someone's arms. Daytime sleeping positively impacts nighttime sleeping and is important for baby to get a good night's sleep.

4. Get Hudson to play in his crib during the day so it isnt just a nighttime/alone place but a place of comfort and safety that he knows and enjoys. He never really goes in his room during the day (except for naps) so it really is just a sleep place. Maybe I need to make it a fun place that he knows when he is awake so that when he does wake in the night, he will be comfortable. Maybe this is a stretch but it is not a difficult idea to try out.

5. Remove the boob before baby is asleep. OK, so this one was obvious but it is really hard when you are tired in the middle of the night and you know it makes him fall asleep and all I want to do is sleep...

On Monday, he slept 7 1/2 hours straight. On Tuesday he was up 5 times. On Wednesday he only got up once. To be honest, the nights Hudson seems to sleep the best are the nights JR puts him to bed (which also means Hudson is not, obviously, falling asleep on my boob. In my defense, when Hudson is with me, he knows he can get the boob so he freaks out more with me until he gets it.) So basically, Daddy has a new job... and he is good at it. I hear him singing songs (songs that he makes up about the dogs and Hudson) and it seems to work!

I do also believe that Hudson goes through stages that affect his sleep. Some nights are better than others and there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I think we are at a stage right now - a few stages actually. I think he is getting his third tooth. I think he is growing. And I think he is also starting to get 'attached' to me - which I am not saying is a bad thing, but just maybe he misses me at night :). I understand that I might not have the baby who ever sleeps 12 hours straight and that is ok. But I know he can sleep 7-8 and I will keep trying to get that to be more consistent in our home.

It is good to know that there are others out there in the same/similar boat and I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I do wish great sleep for all!

Sit Ups

Hudson now does 'sit ups' constantly. He lifts his head when he is on his back, almost like he is trying to sit up. I was getting his bath ready today and this is what I looked back and saw:

Jumper

Hudson's first time in his new jumper:

10...2...5

Ferber Schmerber. Ok, I cant really throw Ferber under the bus because I never finished the book and never read what he said to do when a baby wakes up in the middle of the night. After talking to some people about him though, I think I was supposed to let Hudson cry himself back to sleep checking on him in the increasing intervals, like I did when I put him to bed. Now, I was ok with the small amount of crying at bedtime because I knew that he was full, tired and had a clean diaper. When he wakes up at 2am, I am not sure of any of those things and I was not comfortable letting him cry without finding out if his needs were met. It is hard to know if a baby is full, tired, in pain from teething and sitting in a clean diaper without picking him up -- so out the window went the Ferber method for me. I was not going to let him cry if he was hungry or wet or teething... I am not sure if it was a fluke that he happened to sleep the first few nights we did it. Somehow though, on night 4 he started waking up and now continues to wake up at 10pm,2am and 5am. He is usually really hungry during one of those times (2am) and usually has a dirty diaper at one of those times (usually 5am, sometimes 2am) and he is probably teething during all of those times. Now I am back to square one. There has to be other ideas out there that fall somewhere between "cry it out" and "mom just has to get up because babies never sleep"... This idea has lead me to Elizabeth Pantley's book called No Cry Sleep Solutions. All my eggs are in this basket right now - I am trying to read as fast as I can.
The other thing I realized during all this is that many people's babies do not sleep through the night during their first year -- in fact, I would say MOST do not sleep through the night. I have read a lot of books recently on this subject and talked to a lot of friends and I think it is the norm to have a baby that doesnt sleep through the night. The book that I mentioned above promises a little more sleep than I am currently getting and that is all I am looking for!!

Hudson's New Car

Grandma B got Hudson and Gianna new cars and they LOVE them!! I thought he would be too small, but he is holding himself up great! Here he is cruising around:



Love this one with one had on the wheel and one hand hanging out the side:

Lots of Cousins, Lots of Fun!

This weekend we babysat our two nephews and our niece (Zachary, Austin and Ana) and we all had a great time! With four kids we had to keep busy and by the end of the day everyone was tired and everyone was in bed by 8pm (yes, even us!).



Lots of jumping!!

Decorating cakes!


Thanks to Auntie Tracy for all her help!!

First Beach Day

Hudson's first beach day was last week on Balboa Island. There were lots of other kids there and Hudson seemed to like it. I know he wanted to be able to do more though, like run in the water and crawl on the sand.

Islands

I cannot believe I havent written about this dream of a restaurant yet... it is a place we never frequented pre-Hudson but now go to up to once a week. Islands. Yes the chain restaurant and I am not afraid to admit it. They are incredibly baby friendly, lots of stuff for kids to look at like plants, lights, birds and televisions, and no one seems to mind if your kid is screaming because practically everyone there has a kid.

Here is a photo of 'the nets' that they have. I have yet to see these at any other restaurant though they are fabulous and very useful for pre-highchair babies.


They really dont care if your kids are on the table at Islands....


Or sitting on their wall looking around...


And here is a cute photo of Gia and Hudson at dinner.

5 Months Old

Hudson is 5 months old today... Where did the time go?? He is getting so big and can do so much more than he could just a few weeks ago. It is amazing how fast the time flies... He gets up on his knees and scoots around pretty well (not crawling yet though!) We also had to lower the mattress in Hudson's crib today because here is what I saw on the monitor the other day when he was supposed to take a nap...
Here is my first attempt at uploading a video... I just figured out that my camera takes videos and then I finally figured how to get them on to the blog. So here is my first clip - nothing really special but you get a little taste of Hudson talking...

Ferber Update

Night 1: Hudson slept 8 hours and 15 minutes straight. He cried for a total of 12 minutes before falling asleep, with me going in there to calm him down (and calm myself down) twice. He went back to sleep for two more hours after he woke up and ate and got a diaper change.

Night 2: Hudson cried for a total of 7 minutes before falling asleep and slept 5 1/2 hours. It sounded like he had a nightmare when he did wake up so I soothed for a couple minutes, then left the room and he fell back asleep on his own.

Night 3: Hudson did not cry at all when I put him in his crib. He slept 8 hours straight, woke up ate, got a diaper change and went back to sleep for 2 1/2 more hours.

Maybe this is working... we will see!

Ferber ... ??

Ok, so I have been doing some reading on babies and sleeping... Hudson was sleeping really well... emphasis on was. He was sleeping 7-8 hours straight, in his crib, and then when he turned about 4 months something changed. He started waking up about every two hours. Now after a few days, and then weeks, of waking up and getting up with him every two hours, you start to lose your mind a little. You start to go crazy. Now of course, I never took it out on Hudson.... I took it out on myself... for not being able to figure out what was wrong - for not doing a good enough job.
Well so I started reading the books and realized I wasnt alone. Something does happen around his age, according to the books: babies around 4 months become aware of their environments. Before this week, we were putting Hudson in his crib when he was already asleep. Usually he had fallen asleep on one of our shoulders, or being rocked to sleep, or while eating, etc. Recently when he would wake in the middle of the night between sleep cycles and was no longer on a shoulder, no longer rocking, no longer eating, he would freak out... The Ferber method compares this situation to when an adult wakes up and his/her pillow is missing. You dont just go back to sleep; you wake up and find your pillow. Hudson was waking up and screaming until we got in there and recreated the situation to which he fell asleep. All this really just means that Hudson did NOT know how to fall asleep on his own. He required our help... which is not good for anyone, especially him.
On Monday I was not really ready to try any method that involed Hudson 'crying it out' so I tried my own method that still involved Hudson being awake when he got in the crib so that he could learn to fall asleep on his own... but I would pick him up each time he cried and calm him down and then place him back in the crib. Well... it went all right... but by night two Hudson had outsmarted my method. When he felt me getting near the crib, getting ready to put him down, he would cry, knowing that I would then soothe him again and not put him down. This went on for awhile until I realized every time I moved toward the crib he cried and he wanted me to hold him until he fell asleep.
Ok, back to square one. So today I bought Dr. Ferber's book to read exactly what this method entails. The Ferber method suggests putting your baby to bed while he/she is awake so that they can put themselves to sleep. The first night the method suggests going in to soothe the baby in intervals starting at 1-3 minutes. Tonight I put him to bed later than usual, as suggested, so that he would be extra tired and then walked out of the room. He was fine for a bit then started to cry. At which point I let him cry for 3 minutes. Now 3 minutes might sound like nothing, but when your baby is crying for 3 minutes and you are just sitting there doing nothing, believe me, it feels like 3 days. But the Ferber method claims to have immediate success -- within a couple days your baby can be putting himself to sleep easily -- and keep in mind I have a video monitor, so I am watching everything he does and I know he is fine. So I let him cry for 3 minutes then went in and soothed him (but did not pick him up). Then I left again. He started to cry a few minutes later and this time I wasnt supposed to go in and soothe for 5 minutes. Again, an eternity... I went in a second time to soothe and could tell he was sooooo tired. I left again (and poured myself a glass of wine to get through this because this could go on all night and I needed to be strong and at least give this an honest go). This time, I was supposed to wait 10 (TEN!!) minutes before going back in (10 minutes was the maximum tonight I would let him cry, though the book suggests gradually making that time longer in upcoming nights.) WELL... GOOD NEWS... I did not have to wait 10 minutes... Hudson fell asleep on his own in just 4 minutes. THANK GOODNESS. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he sleeps longer tonight! At least he wont wake up and be shocked that he is in his crib since that is where he put himself to sleep tonight!
On a side note, Hudson likes to sleep on his face now -- it is really scary for me to see, but I know he strong enough to roll over (though I still constantly check him)... Here is a photo of him sleeping:

Look-Alike Poll

Which photo does Hudson take after?
	Photo A
	Photo B
	Mix of A and B
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COUPLE PICS OF HUDSON



PHOTO A


PHOTO B


And by the way, neither photo is of me - they are all males.

One New Hat, Two New Teeth

The Walker

Hudson's new toy...

Hudson's First Sleepover

Mommy and Daddy's first night away from Hudson!

JR and I went to Pechanga last night. It was our first night away together post-Hudson. Hudson stayed with my mom. I felt bad leaving him since he has not been sleeping well lately. And what do you know, the little guy gets his second tooth while I am gone. On the bottom, right next to his first. Hopefully he wasnt teething too badly!!
JR and I got to Pechanga around 400pm and hung out by the pool, then went to dinner and saw the Gispy Kings in concert. We had a great time but I think I came back more tired then when I left. We had some drinks and stayed out late with friends and so unfortunately I did not come home feeling very rested. Next time Hudson has a sleepover, I think I will take some Tylenol PM and catch up on some much needed sleep...