Carr Updates

HANNAH ~
On Moving About:
As of last week, Hannah is officially mobile! She can easily roll over multiple times to reach a destination, as well as twist and turn herself about, as well as inch herself along on her belly.

On Being a Sister:
She LOVES to watch Steven (even if he's trying to sit on her).

On ECing:
I'm very pleased with her pottying, as she's going 3-4 times/day in the potty. If I'm able to get to her right away when she awakes from a nap or sleeping, then she is often dry and goes in the potty (sometimes she is wet, but still goes in the potty when she wakes up). This should be enough to continue to develop her pottying muscles, as well as keep her awareness of these functions awake. Having two kiddos, I don't have time to be over-zealous. :)

On Sleep:
Hannah now typically has about a 4 or 4 1/2 hour stretch sometime in the night, otherwise she is waking about every 3 hours to eat (and go potty). As long as I have that 4 - 4 1/2 hour stretch, I'm doing good :). For awhile she was slipping a night in there every few days where she would wake more often than every three hours, which was difficult, as I knew she didn't need to eat, but I think we've pulled through that now - hopefully.

It seems to me that babies need to suck (or really want to) in order to fall asleep. There's a number of methods by which this can be met: breast, bottle, pacifier, thumb. I do not think it is necessary for babies to eat in order to fall asleep, however it's definitely the mom's perogative as to which method she chooses for her child. Steven had a "plug" (pacifier), Hannah has her thumb. As of right now, I much prefer the thumb. She always has it with her, it never gets lost or falls out, she can control it, etc. We'll see if I still prefer the thumb in 3 years :).

On Her Routine:
Hannah's general routine, for those of you interested, is as follows.
WAKE. She wakes up for the day between 7:30am and 9:00am. She goes potty/diaper change if needed.
EAT. Nurses.
ACTIVITY. Gets dressed for the day. She'll stay awake until it's nap time (normally 1 hour after nursing). During this time she'll often play on the floor with toys and watch Steven play.
SLEEP. Before her nap, I take her potty/change her diaper if needed, pat her back gently to make sure she doesn't have any burps, then lay her down on the Bonner Bed (co-sleeper next to my bed) and she gets her thumb and blanky and goes to sleep. I highly enjoy the satisfaction that comes when she goes to sleep quietly and contentedly on her own (which, by the way, does not happen every nap time.)
She'll repeat this basic routine, WAKE, EAT, ACTIVITY, SLEEP throughout the day, starting over roughly every 3 hours. She'll go to sleep for the night around 8 or 9pm. Throughout the night, she'll WAKE and be pottied, then EAT and go back to SLEEP. As I said above, she's been having a 4 - 4 1/2 hour stretch in there, otherwise she's waking about every 3 hours at night to potty/eat.

STEVEN ~
On Moving About:
He's enjoying going up the stairs in various ways: standing up while holding onto the railing, crawling up them, as well as going up sideways and almost lying on each step as he goes. He's still not a proficient climber (yes!) and often needs help getting onto furniture.

On Being a Brother:
He typically enjoys Hannah. He likes to give her kisses and hugs when he knows I'm looking. When he doesn't think I'm looking, he would like to experiment with slapping her on the head, sitting on her back or stomach, pushing her around on the floor, trying to roll her over multiple times, sitting and jumping on her, to name a few. These actions require my patience and loving discipline. For the most part, I don't think he's trying to hurt her, just trying out cause and effect.

On ECing:
This is the worst stretch so far on the ECing journey, as well as the longest lasting setback. Shortly after we moved, Steven started working on four new teeth and started doing poorly with ECing. He's still working on the last bit of those teeth, as well as fighting a cold and is still doing very poorly. He's dropped down to getting maybe two catches a week in the potty. During previous setbacks we seemed to still catch at least a couple a day. However, Steven is still very aware of the potty and when he needs to go. I do think he will get back on track once his teeth are in... time will tell.

On Sleep:
Steven still sleeps in his crib, however I've been thinking more of transitioning him to his toddler bed. Tonight he motioned that he wanted to sleep in the toddler bed (I've let him sleep there for naps at times), so I told him he could sleep there, but if he got out of bed he would have to sleep in his crib. If he stayed in the bed he could sleep there. I shut off his light, left the room and closed the door. Of course I was slightly nervous about him getting out of bed and moving around in the dark room, so I kept my ears peeled. A little while later, I thought I'd better check on him, doubting he was still in his bed. I opened the door and realized I should've done it more cautiously, as he was right where I left him. He lifted his head up, squinting eyes. I went in and told him he was doing good - reinterated what I said earlier about getting up, etc. Left the room. He did fine until a little while later, I think he was asleep and then awoke to go potty. After getting a new diaper and being laid back down. He decided to get up. So, into the crib he went. I think I'll keep doing this every night now. (I'd like to move Hannah to the crib soon, as she's moving all over the place.)

He'll typically take one nap a day - just after lunch time - and will sleep between 2-4 hours. His bedtime is between 7-8pm, depending upon how long nap time was (or if he took one).

STEVE ~
Keeping busy with a couple classes at Puritan via long-distance and work. He recently took a trip with his brother to the BWCA and had a nice time camping in the cold.

CRYSTAL ~
I'm doing a diaper drive for New Hope Uganda. If you'd like to help, please check out my website: http://www.carrbaby.com/ for details (click on the Diaper Drive page).

Have enjoyed an online diaper hunt. Check it out if you like cloth diapering.