Big Family Steps

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Elijah 365- Part 18

Things have been crazy around here. Eli has been keeping me busy as we finish sorting out his sleep schedule, and Zach has been going through a growth spurt. We've been super busy and I'm totally exhausted! Even though my life is crazy, we are making time to make family memories together. This week we hung around the house often, but we stayed busy! Elijah is really a happy boy, and I think having good sleeping habits is helping that. He's showing a lot of alertness now and I am able to put him down to play now. He's loving his play gym! He's also busy getting lots of love from his big brother. He sure is spoiled!

And, the photos...

Day 128- Jan 14. Eli was warming up before going for a walk with mommy

Day 129- Jan 15- Eli was getting love from his brother, who was giving him a blanket

Day 130- Jan 16- I call this his flirty face. He's looking mighty handsome in his yellow diaper!

Day 131- Jan 17- Playing again!

Day 132- Jan 18. Hanging out. I love this shirt on him!

Day 133- Jan 19. He's loving the links on his playgym!

Day 134- Jan 20. Helping Mommy snap some photos for a certain holiday coming up. This is just a preview of what's to come!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Rain, Rain, Go away? Come again another day!

It rains in Okinawa. A lot. If there's one thing I'm not going to miss about Okinawa it is the rainy season. Last year it began early February and ended in June. It's a long few months for someone who doesn't do well without Vitamin D. Instead of being bummed about it this year, I decided to embrace it. Who knows where we will be moving next. It is very possible that we may be missing the rain someday. So today, when it was rainy out, I took full advantage with my big boy. We played outside in the rain together! I've always loved rainy day photography so this was my chance to hop on that. And what boy doesn't love jumping in puddles? Not this boy! Unfortunately it was also windy out, so the umbrella didn't work out too well. I'm still learning a lot about photography so they didn't come out as perfect as I'd have liked but oh well! We had fun!

Elijah 356- Part 17

This post is late, I know. Reason being? We had a rough week there. As Eli has turned 4 months old, we have begun really getting a good bedtime routine going. I had a decent schedule going, but it wasn't 100% concrete and he was going to bed at 7- much later then a baby should be. So this week was spent getting him to bed earlier and focusing on sleep. I did the same thing with Zach and it worked great once we got the schedule in tact, but it's a rough few days/weeks for a bit in the process.

The plan I use is from the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It's entire theme is about how important sleep is to a child (and us adults too!). Not only do children who sleep well have better temperaments, but they are also more attentive to the world around them when they get enough sleep. That means that they are more easily learning from their surroundings. There is even research done about brain development's connection to healthy sleep. He also suggests having your child in bed earlier so they will sleep later. I thought it was crazy, until I saw how well it worked for Zach.

So this week I really focused on getting things started. I have had Eli in bed by 6pm every night (and am focusing on getting him down 15 minutes earlier next week). It wasn't an easy day or two in there, I found it harder this time because I'm already chasing a toddler around, and Dima was barely home. But after about 2 days things started improving. We are still working out the mornings, he wakes a few times in the very early mornings for feedings, which is normal. I hope to get him to only wake for one of those feedings in the next few weeks. He currently gets up quite often between 3-7am. I'm confident he'll get better in a week or so though. He's still pretty young! In the meantime, I'm pretty excited he sleeps from 6pm-3am at only 4 months old.

Here are the photos from our week!