7 months

Derek turned 7 months old yesterday.  I can't believe how fast our little boy is growing up. We have been noticing that his little hairs have been hanging over his ears for a few weeks now and we finally decided they needed to be trimmed.

We also had a check up at the doctor's office and his unofficial weight (diaper & clothes) was 17 lbs 11 oz.  We asked about sleeping because for the last 3 weeks he's been sleeping a lot at night - almost 12 hours.  He's in bed every night by 6 pm.  I have been struggling with this because it doesn't leave much time for Mike and I to see him.   I feel like I get to see my baby only about 2 hours every day and very few of them are playing, reading, and helping him developmentally.  (Maybe this why, at almost 7 months old, he still hasn't rolled over or is sitting up yet).  It seems to be mostly him watching us get ready in the morning and getting supper ready at night.  The doctor recommended that was talk to daycare to see about getting him a longer (or later) afternoon nap so he can be awake longer at night.

What ever works

All day we have been struggling to get Derek to take his nap - and we can see how tired he is.  I would lay him down and he'd be fine as long as he could see me.  As soon as I was out of sight...."waahhhh".  Mike came up with this idea - we are complete open to unique ideas and will try what ever works:

Success!!

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

We are again trying out a new routine - but for a very good reason.  Derek has been consistently sleeping through the night.  For two weeks now, he has skipped is overnight feeding and wakes up talking and happy at 5:30/6 am.  :-)  And he still goes to bed between 6-7 pm so on most nights, he gets 11 -12 hours of sleep.  This has been nice for Mike and I to have a little time to ourselves in the evening.  It also allows us to get some things done around the house.  I'm still in bed pretty early - probably around 8:30 pm (well, before the neighborhood kids go inside).

We are also working on getting Derek's day schedule in sync with the rest of the daycare kids.  At the beginning of Aug, daycare will be taking another infant so it's important for her to have a little more consistency with his schedule and we all agree that he's ready for it.  He seems to do much better on days when he sticks to his schedule.

I love sleep - and realize now how much I truly missed it before.  Yay sleep!