big boy bed: night time.

On Tuesday I converted Malakai's crib to a toddler bed. Nap time was interesting but I count it a success as I was anticipating much worse (like no nap at all and a lot of screaming). I figured that bed time would be a whole different story. It's dark, it's a longer stretch of sleep, and it usually takes him an hour to fall asleep anyway.

Following some advice I read in all my "toddler bed transition" research, we started bedtime early. (also because he only slept for a little over an hour at nap). It was going to be an hour earlier, but we got distracted by watching Malakai run back and forth across the house and purposefully fall down and then belly laugh. So, it was only half an hour earlier than usual.

At 7:30 Ben + Malakai went to settle down and have some quiet play time while I ran the bath. As per our usual routine, Ben gave him his bath. We let him linger in the tub a little longer to get all sleepified. Then I met them in his room and after getting his jammies on Malakai climbed into his bed on his own. He put his head on his pillow (which is a new addition) and kicked at the quilt (also new because of this). I snuck out, which is a newer part of the routine within the last few weeks because he's been acting severely attached to me.

Ben left his room and we sat in our bed next to the monitor to listen while surfing the internet. Malakai fussed for a bit on and off and then got super mad. What was strange is that we didn't hear him get out of bed as expected. When he sustained his crying for longer than we were comfortable with Ben went in, and Malakai was still in bed! Ben tried to soothe him but he wanted to be held. So he held him and walked him around the room for a little while and after a few refused attempts to put him down he left with the door open a crack so we could peek in.

Malakai fussed about being put down but calmed down rather quickly. He tossed + turned and fussed for a little while and then was quiet. By 8:30pm he was passed out, laying on his pillow, with his quilt pulled up to his ears.

We were SO PROUD! We couldn't stop gushing to each other about how amazed we were that he fell asleep so quickly and never even tried to get out of his bed. Although I did say that I wasn't going to celebrate yet, he could still easily wake up prematurely.

At 2:30 am Ben and I were startled awake by a crashing sound. Ben jumped out of bed but I stopped him and told him that the sound didn't come over the monitor so it wasn't from Malakai's room (which is what we both though at first, of course). Ben searched the house and found that our wireless switch for a hard-to-reach lamp had fallen off the wall, right outside Malakai's room. Kai made a slight stirring sound and never woke up.

He slept in his bed, all. night. long! How does that even happen? On the first night?! It was a miracle, I'm telling you. This morning we were beaming with pride at how quickly our sweet boy had adapted. Even more so when he woke up at 7am and chirped happily to himself, still in his bed, until I came in at 7:20 to get him up for the day.

{Miracles do happen people}

Again, I'm not going to celebrate too early and think that the rest of the transition will be as easy as this, but I'm still so proud of how well he did. All of this pride and celebration stems from our son's terrible sleep history. He did not sleep through the night until he was 15 months old and every time we'd travel or he'd get sick we'd have to sleep train all over again (No Cry Sleep Solution, Pantley). Hence our shock over such a painless transition.

Here's to hoping he continues to do so well, especially during the recovery from his upcoming surgery.








Don't forget to come back later today for Thankful on a Thursday!

big boy bed

After much debating, asking for advice from message boards and facebook friends, talking it over with Ben  on numerous occasions and weighing all the factors against each other, we converted Malakai's crib to a toddler bed.

I started to get tears in my eyes while I was taking the front off of his crib. It just looked so...grown up. Malakai didn't even notice that I was in his room taking his bed apart until I was finished, which was actually very helpful of course.

It was really easy to do and I'm so thankful that our crib came with all the necessary parts to make the conversion. It's funny how I didn't even want a convertible crib when we were shopping. I assumed we'd just use the crib for babies and get a toddler bed or use a twin bed when the crib was needed by the next little one. Now, with Kai's surgery pending and money being so tight, spending just $60 on a toddler bed is out of the realm of possibilities. We have roughly 6 months until the baby is born and possibly another six before he/she needs the crib so we've got at least a year before we need to worry about another bed.

We ultimately decided to make the change when not once, but twice, Malakai had gotten close to climbing out. His mattress has been on the lowest setting for a few months now and I surely don't want any broken bones. Originally we were going to hold out until he recovered from his surgery, even after it got pushed back by 4 weeks. Kai's climbing changed our plans and we figure we have just under 3 weeks to make the transition before his surgery. Ultimately if it comes time for his surgery and he's not fully acclimated to the bed we can very easily put the front of his crib back on during his recover and try again once he's back to his old self. Nothing's permanent.

Part of the debate over switching him had to do with his ability and tendency to climb other objects. His dresser isn't fit for the traditional latch locks so he could open the drawers or cupboards and climb up it. He hasn't done this yet, but I don't want him to discover it in the middle of the night. We're thinking of trying the magnetic "tot locks" (if you have an opinion or experience with this, email me!).

He also has a tendency to want to play, and play hard. He has never fallen asleep while playing so I was worried he'd never sleep. I know that's silly, but with Kai it's possible!

So yesterday after another fail at getting Kai to eat some veggies at lunch, we got washed up and changed for nap time. I went through the normal routine of reading to him, but this time it was while he sat in his bed, that he climbed into himself. Then I told him goodnight and left the room (with a baby gate secured in his doorway). He started to whine for me, which is a new stage he's just entered into, but usually just when I'm leaving. I had to reassure him multiple times that I wasn't leaving, that it was just nap time.

Finally I just had to walk away and let him be sad for a minute. It was probably even less than that before he was fine. He got out of his bed and wandered around his room. Over the next two hours I went in several times to reset him, I tried adding a comforter and pillow (both of which he doesn't sleep with) but the novelty wore off quickly.

 I tried laying next to his crib and he kept whispering "mama steepin". He lay down next to me at one point and started naming the parts of my face, then he proceeded to sit on my hip and bounce up and down.

Next I decided to just leave him alone and let him play until he was tired. He emptied the sheets + towels out of a cupboard, discovered he could reach his alarm clock, and knocked over a shelf. I removed all these things and more toys from his room. About 15 minutes later I heard him fuss, I peaked in and he was tucking himself in to his bed! I walked away for 5 minutes, peeked back in and he was passed out!

{blurry because I wanted to hurry so as not to wake him!}

Ultimately it only took 2 hours, which would seem like forever but I just made sure to stay calm, get support from some friends on facebook, and dedicate all my time to the task at hand instead of trying to get a chore done and being frustrated that he wouldn't sleep so I could work. It could have been much worse and I'm so proud that he actually climbed into bed and put himself to sleep.

But this was just nap time...









P.S. come back later today for the winner of the Cutie Clips Giveaway!

we have entered the twilight zone

otherwise known as the dreaded "4 month wakeful period"... I was really hoping to avoid this rumored event as it seems that Malakai is always pretty "wakeful" at night. What came as a surprise was that he was sleeping longer stretches, but wanting to play at oh...4 o'clock in the morning. Not to say that I don't feel blessed that the house is filled with his squeals of delight instead of torturous screams, but being awake at all at that hour can feel dreadful.

We've been keeping up with our pedi's recommendation of having Ben be the night time soother, including bottle feedings if he just won't go down due to hunger. I don't really luck out and sleep through his wakings though. First of all, it takes ALL of my self control to not go in and help. It's not that Ben doesn't know what he's doing...he's amazing, but I'm just so hands on all day, every day that it feels weird to not be able to even peek in the doorway (pedi's recommendation, but I break that rule often).
Second, I can't fall asleep when Kai's not asleep so I hang out and listen if I'm needed in our room.
Third, depending on what time it is and if he's hungry I'm up getting a bottle ready and/or pumping to relieve the discomfort of no longer nursing at night.

It's only been about a week of this as well as adding rice cereal at dinner and before bed. We've been putting him to bed around 9pm and he'll wake an hour or two later. At first it would be every 2-3 hours, then we had two rough nights of every.single.hour. The past three nights he's been a champ at the 4 hour stretch between midnight and 4am or so and it is great to get that much consecutive sleep...but then he's wide awake.

This morning at 4am when Ben went to soothe him back to sleep he was greeted by a loud squeal of delight and the biggest smile. How is our child so cute, even at 4am? So we knew we were in for another couple hours of what we call "wakey time" (cause yes, we are those people who use disgusting baby talk more frequently than we probably should). Since Ben has to get up for work at 5:45am or so, and he's been working 10 hour days with no break to make up for the upcoming holiday I told him I'd take care of it. I knew I'd probably get some sleep later in the morning and he only had about an hour before he had to be up anyway.

So...way too early this morning I was up with my precious little Kai listening to him blow raspberries and trying to be alert enough to interact with him. The sweetest boy went back to sleep at just before 6am.

 I'm sure as soon as we get ourselves used to this, he'll change it up just to keep us on our toes, like it's his job...which I'm pretty sure it is.

I leave you with the latest photos and will be back after Thanksgiving to post photos of Kai's first big holiday and our Christmas tree outing that is planned for Friday.

Just after a bath

sitting in the bumbo and his first time in the stroller w/o the carseat

discovering the scruffy texture of Daddy's chin

crib wars

After all the searching and researching, the money my parents spent and all the time it took to put it together  -Malakai would not sleep in his crib. Not at night, not for naps.

Since he was born he's preferred to sleep in mama & daddy's bed. I'm not complaining about this part, I've loved having him sleep with us. However, lately he's not been sleeping so soundly with us and he always gets so sweaty. Ben and I have both read up on co-sleeping/bed-sharing/whateveryouwanttocallit. It's possible that sometimes it can cause restlessness in children. Where he used to sleep best with us, we've now been having him sleep in his swing next to our bed (where he usually naps).

When I took this photo, about three weeks before Kai's birthday, I never thought that he'd sleep in the swing to the right more than the crib!


We've got some use out of the crib. When little Henry comes over he'll occasionally nap there. But he too has been on a crib strike (at my house anyway) and I've had to put him down in the swing or his carseat! You'd think there was something wrong with this crib, the one we thought was so perfect for our little nursery when we were putting it all together.

This past weekend, we decided to tough it out and just keep putting him back in the crib. No matter how many times he woke up we were determined to get him to sleep in the crib for longer than his 30 minute cat naps.

Saturday night was our first go and I honestly can't keep track of how many times we were both up soothing him back to sleep, but I think his longest stretch of sleep was 2 hours. We were pretty excited about that measly little 120 minutes.

He also napped for at least two hours on Sunday in his crib... this is just UNHEARD OF!

Daddy always puts Malakai down to sleep. On "work nights" if he wakes between whenever we went to bed and before midnight daddy is pretty much still on duty. If it's later than that, I get up and let Ben sleep. Other times when we've tried to get him down in his crib, he keeps waking up and Ben usually just brings him to bed so we can all get some sleep. Honestly, I'd stay up all night with him if it would help...but Malakai wasn't getting any sleep either and that was my main concern.

Last night was our second try and he was hard to get down at first, but he usually is. He'll fake-out and sleep for 30-60 minutes sometimes and then wake up every time you set him down. He did a bit of this and Ben kept soothing him back to sleep from about 9pm to 10pm.

Kai woke up again at 11:15pm and I got up (Ben doesn't get up once he's fallen asleep unless I shake him) and soothed him to sleep. We didn't hear from him again til 2am! THREE HOURS! I got up and fed him, he fell asleep eating and was back down by 2:25am til just before 6am this morning! MIRACULOUS! It's like something just clicked and he decided the crib is an okay place to be.

At 6am Ben was getting up for work. He went to check on Kai and he was laying awake just looking around quietly and grinned big at daddy when he spotted him. Ben brought Kai to me in bed, I fed him and we both fell back asleep. I was kind of glad to do it this way so I still got my cuddle time with my sweet boy this morning.

I'd bedshare forever if I could, but once Malakai's sleep was getting interrupted, that's when we decided it was really time to get him in his crib. Plus, Ben's sleep patterns are a bit erratic. He walks and talks in his sleep on occasion so I have to sleep very lightly to make sure he doesn't move and harm our little guy.

So- here's hoping that he continues to sleep soundly and happily in his crib and that mama can get some sleep without her little cuddle bug.

It's fall out there

One thing I'm really missing since staying home is the weather...more specifically the changing seasons outside my door. I don't leave the house much during the day since Ben has the car. And when the weather was transitioning from summer to crisp sunny fall days, Kai was sick so I didn't get a chance to go for walks and experience the changing leaves, one of my favorite things each year.

The other day was sunny and beautiful so when Ben got home we all ventured out for a walk through the park across the street and through the neighborhood. We weren't out long because the crisp air started to get a bit too chilly and I didn't want the little one to get too cold.

We took some photos of course.

This was the first time Malakai faced forward in the "moby" wrap (which isn't really moby, I made it)

He did such a great job, and I think he was really in awe of all the things he saw. He was quiet and observant the whole time.

Ben did a really good job taking one of all three of us with the bulky SLR camera...the girl in the background walked up and offered to take the next shot.



Malakai- enjoying the view


He PASSED OUT when we got home. He doesn't sleep unswaddled yet, so I had to get this photo. Unfortunately, he doesn't sleep in his crib for more than 30 minutes at a time either...it's like clock-work and this occasion was no exception.