Pajamas

Woo Hoo! It's the weekend and I am super excited about it. We have zero plans for the next few days. I do want to watch Divergent this weekend though. And get in some pool time of course. Other than that we have no agenda and it feels good.

Campbell is this close to growing out of his pajamas and I don't know why but it's making me so sad!! This is the very first thing I bought for him when I found out I was having a boy. I love these Kickee Pants pj's and they're so sentimental to me. I'll keep them forever for sure. He's still in his 0-3 month pajamas but I think in another week it will be time to make the switch to 3-6 months. I will so miss his cute pj's that he's been snoozin in these last few months. However, some new Kickee Pants pajamas are on their way and set to arrive early next week and I'm excited about them! Scott rolls his eyes at me but I really only like for Campbell's pajamas to be Kickee Pants. They're just so, so cute to me. And soft!! I definitely have a Kickee Pants pajamas addiction. I do not wish to seek help for it.

I'm in the mood to do some decorating in my house. I'm bored and need a project to occupy me. We've been in our house for 2 1/2 years now but there's still some spots here and there that I've never quite finished. Campbell's room (seen here) is the best room in our house I swear. It's perfectly decorated and not a single detail went unnoticed. Being up there all the time makes me want to make the rest of my house that way too!!

Look how happy my little peanut looks after taking a long nap in the Rock N Play....while swaddled. :) My Grammy calls the swaddle his straight jacket. Ha. I actually am slowly trying to get Campbell to learn how to nap in his crib. Every day this week I've made him take that first morning nap in his crib, without the swaddle of course (no swaddling in the crib. He moves around too much!!). It's been hit and miss. Two naps went well....the others, not so much. I'm sticking with it though. We'll get there eventually!! #MomProblems

How I Conquered The 45 Minute Intruder

One of the most frustrating things about motherhood is when your baby wakes up halfway into their nap. It can literally ruin the rest of your day. Naps and babies can be really hard. There are many books and countless websites offering advice simply on how to get your baby to nap.
I have always struggled with Campbell and his naps. He sleeps wonderfully at night but nap times have always been a challenge. I could/can get him down for those naps very easily but about 30-45 minutes in, he would wake up crying. This resulted in me having to run up to his room, work to get him back to sleep, then hold him the rest of the time so he would get in those 2(ish) hours that he needed.

I spent so much time on Google trying to find a solution to this 45 minute nap intruder. Every website offered the same advice, none of which was the problem. 

Is your room dark enough? Yes.

Do you have white noise? Yes.

Is the baby hungry? No.

Is the baby overly fatigued? No.

Is the baby not tired? No.

Is the baby on a schedule? Yes. A very rigid one actually.

After doing my research, I decided that Campbell was a habitual waker---A baby who was waking up after 30-45 minutes into his nap out of habit and not from hunger or distress. Why was this happening? Apparently babies are in their REM sleep for the first 30 minutes before they transition into that deep sleep. Some babies need help making the transition into that deep sleep. Enter the 'Wake To Sleep' Method. The idea behind it is to "support" your baby into that next sleep cycle by lightly rousing and gently easing them into that deep sleep. 

It all sounded like the solution to my problem but how in the world was I supposed to do this? That's pretty risky business waking, but not waking, your baby up from a nap. I thought about it for a minute when suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. I was fairly certain right then and there that I found the solution to our nap problem.

Campbell takes naps in the Rock N Play, in his swaddle, with one arm out. The little peanut snoozes hard in his crib for 11 hours at night without a swaddle but that just does not work for naps. While the Rock N Play was working better for naps than the crib, he still wasn't getting in that full nap like he needed to. Enter the 'wake to sleep' idea.
The Rock N Play has a vibrator button on it. I wondered if I tip toed into Campbell room after he had been asleep for 30 minutes and flipped that vibrator on if it would wake him just enough to get him to pass through into that next sleep cycle. So I tried it.
Sure enough, I figured out the solution to the 45 minute intruder!!! It's as simple as that. Turn on the RNP vibrator after 30 minutes.

Why yes, actually, I would be happy to take a minute for a round of applause.
...........................................................................................

Unless you've been there, you have no idea how good this feels. Not just that Campbell gets in some super awesome naps now....with zero crying....but that I was able to figure this thing out, Mommy brain and all!
I have no idea what I'm going to do when Campbell gets too big for his swaddle....and the Rock N Play. Can I custom order both in an extra large? 

Wordless Wednesday

High Chair

Since Campbell is eating his solids now we decided it was about time to get him a high chair. We ordered one Thursday night and to my delightful surprise, it was on our doorstep by lunch on Saturday. Gotta love Amazon!! Scott and I searched and searched (and searched) for a cool high chair and we ended up settling on the Boon Flair.

So far we really like it! It comes with different accessories so you can change out the color of the seat pad and the tray if you want. The orange is fun but we're going to get a grey seat (shocker) and clear tray so it will match our house a little better. I figure this high chair is going to be sitting in my dining room for many years to come. It may as well match and try to blend in as much as possible. All of this baby stuff is really cluttering up my house y'all. My OCD has handled it pretty well. I am looking forward to the day when Campbells activity mat, bouncer, and jumper are no longer in my living room though.

I love giving Campbell toys now. He takes them from me, holds them and stares at them, then ultimately ends up sticking them in his mouth. It's pretty entertaining to watch! He's turning into a big boy so quickly these days. It's so much fun.

Earlier today I took the girls for a bye bye ride to Sonic. I feel bad for them having to stay cooped up in the house all the time. Sometimes when I get out of the house with Campbell, I feel like they look at me like "why does he always get to go and we don't?" Those looks crush my heart. I want to make more of an effort to take them places so I told them today that we're going to have weekly Sonic dates. They enjoyed our first afternoon Sonic date very much! Goodness it's hard trying to make sure all of my babies get plenty of attention. How in the world am I going to do it when human baby #2 comes into the picture? Sheesh.

#Jax'sDirtyThirty

This weekend we celebrated my friend, Jacqueline's, 30th birthday!!

A big group of us went down to Fayetteville for drinks, dinner and dancing! We had a great time and it was fun getting dressed up and hanging out with my friends. Scott and I got home a little before 1 am. I can't remember the last time I was out that late! I was a tiny bit tired the next day when my alarm, named Campbell, woke me up at 7 am but it was totally worth it! If felt good to get out with friends for the evening.

Jax and Craig moved into our neighborhood a year ago this month. These are some of my favorite Hyde Park ladies. I've recruited 3 of my closest friends to live in my neighborhood now and it is a BLAST! I never want to move away from here!

The next day Mom, Grammy, Scott, Campbell and I enjoyed lunch on the patio at Houlihans. They have the best french dip FYI. Campbell doesn't just love sitting still for too terribly long but I've found the key to going out to eat with him is sitting outside. He's perfectly content that way! Of course we pull out the iPad so he can watch Mickey. That's pretty crucial! Nobody was eating on the patio so we had it all to ourselves which made it even better!

It was a fun weekend! All of that plus a little relaxing at the pool and I would say it was a pretty good one.
Happy Birthday Jax! I hope (and feel) that 30 will be your best year to date! So happy to call you one of the best friends I've ever had!

Toys and Food

Happy Friday everyone! I hope your day is off to a good start. Mine definitely is and I'm very much looking forward to my weekend. I have a lot of fun events planned out. My Mom and Grammy are currently on their way up to my house so they can watch Campbell for me this weekend. I've told the girls that Grace is coming to see them and they're anxiously awaiting her arrival.

I took Campbell to Target this week. I've been thinking that he may need some toys to play with because he's able to hold and grab things now. I got him this little toy and he loves it! I let him play with it while I finished my Target shopping and he was perfectly content and entertained so I was able to browse and take my time! I love, love this Infantino brand. We have a lot of their stuff and I think it's all so cute!

Campbell has been loving his Ella's baby food. We've tried all of the 4 month options and he has happily gobbled up all of them. Like I told the pediatrician yesterday, he'd eat our pantry if we let him. This kid LOVES food. I really thought the solids would help the little peanut put on some weight but obviously not. The doctor told me that I shouldn't be even the tiniest bit concerned that he's in the 5th percentile but goodness gracious.....he doesn't have a fat roll anywhere! Oh well. At least he has a big appetite!