Baby Boot Camp, nights 2 and 3

And the saga continues...with a very HAPPY ENDING!


Friday night was a bit better for Pollard, but not so much for Pollard's Mommy. He fell fast asleep on the sleep positioner and didn't wake until 4 am, an improvement from Thursday night! I however, was a nervous wreck ALL NIGHT because Jennifer(Britton's sister/my sister) and Bobby went in to be induced!!!! I couldn't sleep a wink, which was disastrous. Every time I would wake up (like every hour), I would think "I wonder how Jenn is? I hope she's not in any pain! I wonder if she's gotten her Pitocin...I wonder...blah blah", you get the drift. Worried sick.


When he awoke at 4 am, I was already awake, but bless his sweet heart he cried for 30 minutes straight. This time is was a cry. A sad cry. It was TERRIBLE!!!! But this isn't called "Pick-your baby-up-when-he-cries Camp", this is BOOT CAMP, daggumit. So I let him be.
But at about 4:26 it stopped and when I went in to check on him, tummy time had started. His butt was in the air, it just made me laugh. Looked a LOT like this...



(see, you're laughing aren't you? What a hiney my kid's got!)
Anywho, he then awoke at about 7 and got his bottle. Great job kiddo! I was delusional (sp?) but we RACED to the hospital when Britton's Mom called to say Jenn was 5 cm!!!!
[see next post for whether we had a BOY or a GIRL!]

Last night, night 3 of boot camp, started on time with Britton putting him down at about 10:15. We decided to take him out of the little short-sleeve onesies that he usually sleeps in and put him in some footed PJ's that one of Britton's co-workers gave him. [ Note: It was a 9 month outfit, fit perfectly] He looked so dang cute with his hair all brushed and his little sleep suit on. I was, again, delirious, so I didn't make it to the camera. I'll get one tonight. I digress.
The babe when fast asleep immediately!
And you will never guess what happened...

HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[This is not to be confused with I slept through the night]

I got up at 1:30 and 5:30 to check on my tike. At 1:30 he had wiggle-wormed his way half way off the sleep positioner, but I didn't dare touch him. Then at 5:30, he had wiggle-wormed his way all the way off of it, onto his tummy, facing the complete opposite direction!

Back to bed I went with a large grin, and when he awoke at 6:30 Britton popped up to get him and thank him for his good deed. I told him if he were old enough we would have given him a cookie for breakfast.

Then we realized that today is P's 4 month birthday...what a big boy!! I guess he figured it was time to grow up, and set a good example for his new cousin. That, or he realized he could whine all he wanted at 4 am but no one is coming in there.

Yay for my sweet angel!!! Let's hope this wasn't a tease and it will continue this way FOREVER.

I'll report back...

A morning with cousin Johnny

Johnny's school was closed today for a teacher in-service day, so I got the pleasure of spending the morning with my big buddy. This kid just SLAYS ME!

Somehow, after Britton left for work, my boys ended up in OUR BED, holding hands, watching Playhouse Disney...

Since Pollard's new obsession is his feet, Johnny wanted to show him that he could do it too...

It is amazing to me how much these boys have in common. I mean, I know their Daddy's are brothers, but take a look at these incredible similarities. They just couldn't be more alike!

The profile! (although P's chipmunk-esque cheeks make him stand out)


The Pot Belly!

The famous frog legs!

And of course, the finger-sucking, a true favorite.

We had the BEST morning together until my Johnny headed back to his Daddy's house for a nap. I'm pretty sure I wore him out with the watering of my flowers, picking dandelions, picking up sticks and taking them to the street, rolling back the trash can...whew. All in a morning's work. And all on about 4 hours of sleep.

Baby Boot Camp: Phase 1

Yesterday I was much too ashamed to post in regards to my previous one about not swaddling the big man. Britton and I totally chickened out. We laid him down, Britton sang him his little song, and after 15 minutes of grunting and whining and whimpering we just gave in.

NOT GOOD.

We put him in his swaddle, we put him on his sleep positioner, exhibit A:

This kind of snugs them in and helps them feel secure. In my case, it helps Pollard not to flip over like the gymnast that he is. When I went to get him at his usual 3 a.m., he was in fact not on his face at all, still miraculously on the sleep positioner. The problem with the previous sentence is the still waking up at 3 am bit.

So last night was THE night. I put him in his night-night onesie, sang him his song, and onto the positioner he went, sans swaddle. Somehow, some way, because of God's great mercy, he fell fast asleep. I prepared myself mentally for the night that was to come.

At midnight he started in. First the grunt, then the whine, then right into the annoyed cry. Not the "oh my gosh help me something is terribly wrong" cry, just the "why is no one coming?" cry. By 12:09 he was back to sleep, hard as a rock. Man, that was awesome!

I crept into his room at about 12:15 and he had somehow pushed the positioner to the bottom of his crib and slid onto his tummy. Amazing.

He stayed this way until 4:00 when he really started in on the howling. I let him do this for 30 minutes...can you believe it?!?!? Me, who can hardly stand to hear him whine a little let alone cry! But it wasn't a sad cry, just an annoyed cry, so that made it a little easier. At 4:30 I went in and gave him his pacifier and rubbed his back for about a minute and he was out like a light until 6:30 when I gave him his bottle.

HE MADE IT!! HE DIDN'T DIE OF HUNGER WITHOUT A BOTTLE!!!!!

I have to admit that Britton is the weak one of the 2 of us, and I totally thought it would be the opposite. He wants to go in and check on him all the time, and open his door, etc. I just wave my finger and say "DON'T move, don't get up, DO NOT GO IN THERE." Who am I?!?!?

He also napped for an hour and a half on his tummy this morning (with about 85 breathing checks from his mother), and that never happens. His naps are so short, and that's what makes him so daggum ornery. But I'm gonna tell you this: After this long morning nap, he was just dreamy.

Tonight marks night number 2. Wish us luck. I'll report back....

Love,

Hitler

Sheer desperation...

Last night when Pollard woke at 3:15, as he does EVERY BLEEPING NIGHT OF HIS TINY LITTLE LIFE, I had it. I put his macho arms back into his swaddle, vecroe'd that sucker tight and stuck in the paci.
No such luck.
Turns out that now when he's really alert and awake he rolls straight over onto his tummy (more to come on this, pics, etc). So when I am walking out of his nursery, I see him topple over onto his face, right into the bumper. I see SIDS, I go running back. This is exactly what he wants me to do...
I flop him back over, he flops back on his tummy. I flop him, he grunts and flops himself. We do this exercise 3 times, and it's now 3:25. I resort to making a bottle, put it in his mouth, he sucks it down and back to bed he goes, swaddle and all.
In my concerned state about finding him face first 2 nights in a row now, I called Sheree, the all-knowing nurse at Pediatric Healthcare. She told me immediately that I had to take him out of the swaddle. This reduced me to tears. All I know about that is Allison took Riley out of his swaddle and he woke up every hour. Dear God save me from tonight.
Pollard is a beastly little baby, and when he grunts and throws himself around, he's not kidding. I'm terribly sleep deprived and exhausti-fied. HEEELLLPPP UUUSSSS.

A stolen picture...

I stole this picture from Abby's blog because I loved it SOOOO much...

Hannah was chompin' down on her strawberry ice cream, of course William is smiling it up (as always!) and Baby P, with the yawn. From this picture you can't tell that...

1) Hannah just fell in the hedges (poor angel)

2) We handed William to a stranger while inspecting Hannah for boo-boos

3) I was sweating massively

4) I had forgotten to tell Britton that I was leaving the suite, much less taking the baby and going on the football field...oopsie!

I *heart* the Simmons family :)

Poop, it's what's for breakfast

We all hear that rumbly in the tumbly at different times of the day, but for our dear son it always seems to be in the morning. God love him, he just has to get it all out to get the day started right.

At first, it was a massive squirt-like explosion that resulted in my whisking him away from whatever piece of furniture he was perched on for fear of leakage. I could hardly get him to the changing table before my robe had fallen victim and had to hit the washing machine. Ahh, those were the days.

Since we've switched from the boob to this...

the consistency of what comes out of his cute little tooshy has changed quite a bit.

You really never know what you're getting after the red-face push. It could look like this...

(except, of course, not this pearly white color...)

Or something like this...

(except not this shiny)

The good thing about Pollard is that he really keeps you guessing. He already knows how to keep us on our toes, and I must admit I do love that about him. I love it so much, I've even contemplated getting him this:

It's strange how your adult conversation falls by the wayside after you have a baby. What once used to be talks about who said what at work, or when Bunco is next week, you are having in-depth late night diatribes about the poo, or lack thereof. Instead of talking about it, we could have invested in one of these...

[and we ain't 'logging' sleep hours if you catch what I'm puttin down]

This way, in an effort to increase once-popular adult conversation, we can simply log the "logs" in this handy book, and refer to it throughout the day.

For now we will stick with what works, and that is communication. After all, if we don't keep up with his poo, who will? That's what parents are for.

War Eagle!

Yesterday was a red-letter day....Pollard's first visit to Auburn!!!! Abby and Jason and their two kids Hannah and William were there as well, so we coordinated outfits. This one was a little big on the boys, but since they cost an arm and a leg, we figured they could grow into them/wear them every other day through football season. Hannah is 2 1/2 and William is 9 months, but Pollard and William weigh the exact same!!! I guess this is what you do when you and your friends start having children, just start dressing them alike for photo ops!

Here is Big P up in the box, lounging in one of the chairs. He was really showing off his stuff, smiling and cooing for everyone. He was also, as you can see, showing off his thunder thighs.

Then Uncle Heath bribed him with his first taste of ice cream...Pollard was so excited! What are uncles for???

This picture really stands alone. Ladies, eat your hearts out. Big Cat coming in for the kill with the baby, even getting a laugh out of him. How does he do it? And again, Big P with the thighs...Looking good buddy!

After a good trip around the stadium ( I got confused on my lefts and rights and told Abby to go the wrong way. Very thoughtful of me since she was carrying William and Hannah was skipping along all over the place), we finally found the Simmons and headed up to the box for our photo session. When we got there, Mommy's little Tiger was fast asleep.
NO PROBLEM! I just popped him on the floor, and William was just enthralled...



HOW CUTE DO THEY LOOK?!?!?! And oh! Pollard, you woke up! William was really hammin' it up for the camera, just looking and smiling and laughing. What an angel. And look at Hannah-bug, looking so gorgeous in her dress! Couldn't quite pry a smile out of her, but those eyes say it all.

How cute do they look in their matching outfits?!?! Pollard had just woken up, so excuse the pouty lip and the very red face. Surprise in the diaper, bud?

Yes, THIS is how hard it is to get a picture of a 2 1/2 year old...

GOTCHA!

And here is our attempt at a family picture....Maybe it was Heath's monkey face that upset him?

(and no, I couldn't scronge up anything orange or blue...)

Here are Uncle Heath and Aunt Meghan letting him check himself out. He was just yelling and scooting all over the place! When you look good, you know it.

It was a fabulous day on the plains, and we all felt like this by the time we got to the car to head home...

WAR EAGLE!!!!