Christmas and swaddling

We had an eventful first Christmas with Calan! Of course he had no idea that that day was any different from the next, but he got to see a lot of family and raked in the gifts!

On another note, we're trying to wean Calan off of being swaddled. He is now able to get out of the "miracle blanket" which is sort of like a baby straight jacket if you ask me. So, it's no small feat to escape this thing. We use the miracle blanket at night and he sleeps for 10 - 11 hours at a time. We use the Kiddopoatomaus wraps for his naps and he generally naps for 45 minutes about 4 times a day. Since he is regularly able to escape both of these contraptions, we decided to try and let him sleep "unswaddled" on Christmas night. We were at the Goodwins house for Christmas dinner and Calan's schedule was all over the place because he skipped a nap and was overtired. Regardless, we still wanted to try to let him sleep unswaddled. When we were preparing to leave the Goodwins house (about 20 minutes away from our house), we put Calan in a sleep sack with his pajamas underneath, so that we could just transfer him from the car seat when we got home. That worked out okay and he slept in his bed for about 30 minutes before crying. Neils got up and checked on him...he was not awake, but he was crying. Neils put his hand on him and replaced his pacifier and left him again. He was okay for about 20 - 30 minutes. Then it happened again. He repeated this process 12 times in 4 hours.....so we ended up swaddling him at around midnight and he slept until 6 am.

We are too scared to try again at this point, as we are leaving for Dallas on Thursday and know that he'll have enough trouble sleeping in a new place. But, when I went to him this morning, the little Houdini had gotten out of the miracle blanket again.

Does anyone out there have any tips on weaning him off being swaddled? We think the reason he keeps waking up is because his little arms get to going and he hits himself in the face. If anyone has any words of wisdom, we are all ears! I am just so scared he's going to start waking up every 30 minutes if we unswaddle him again. I am also nervous about making too many changes at once in his life, as I am starting to work out of the house 3 days a week beginning on 1/12 when I have to fly to Las Vegas for a tradeshow and won't return until late 1/14. So he will have our nanny watching him during the day and won't see me until Friday morning. So, not only will I be gone during the day, but he won't see me for 2 nights either. :( I am clearly really upset about this. Any help is appreciated!

Christmas with my family

We had Christmas with my family (my mom, Erin and Jason) yesterday at our house, as Erin and Jason are flying to Dallas today for Christmas week. Calan by far has the most gifts under the tree....too bad he was sleeping when a couple of them got opened. How wrong of us!! Here are some pics of my little man!!

4 Month Dr's Visit

Calan had his 4 month well baby visit on Wednesday and he is indeed doing well! His official stats are:

Weight: 15 lbs 14.5 oz (50 - 75%)
Height: 25.5 inches (50 - 75%)
Head: 16.5 cm (35%)

The Dr. asked us to wait until he is 6 months old to feed him solids and that is fine by me for now. I don't think he's quite ready for them yet. He is teething, but the Dr. didn't notice any teeth that are immeidately about to pop through, so maybe we have another month or so before that too.

In other news, my very dear friend, Marion, and her husband Jason are expecting a little boy in May! They had their 20 week ultrasound yesterday and the baby is healthy!!!! They are thrilled, as am I. I could hardly sit still yesterday waiting for the news. Their little angel, Addison, passed in March after 22 days of battling CDH. So hearing the news that this is a healthy baby is the best Christmas gift they could ever hope to receive.

We are in Christmas mode here as well and our trip to Texas for New Year's is now less than 2 weeks away! I can't wait for Grandad and GranDale to see how much Calan has grown! I also can't wait to see my best friend, Shannon, and her baby girl, Abby. Please pray that the flight/travels go well with a 4 1/2 month old. I am praying for okay sleep during the trip and that we all stay illness free.

4 Months Old

Oh my, I cannot believe my little baby is 4 months old today. Thinking about these past 4 months brings a wave of emotions to the forefront of my mind. The scared, anxiety, sleep deprived first time mom of a 1 month old occasionaly still visits, but it's mostly the hurried, gotta get things done while Calan's taking a nap mom that's here now. My little boy is such a sweet soul and I love it when he awakes from his nap or in the morning, as he (usually) has a great big grin on his face. Calan is definitely his father's son in the looks department, but he's a mixed bag on the personality front. Stubborn like Neils (okay, me too), headstrong like me, definitely likes to be the center of attention (me again) and an all around cute, smiley, mostly happy baby (a lot of Neils in there). I love my little boy oh so much and am both looking forward to and dreading returning to the travel portion of my job in January. I have been working from home since Nov. 2nd, so it will be a transition to be out of the house 3 days a week. We are lucky to have family (Aunt Abbe and Grandma Sidne) look after Calan 2 days a week and have found a wonderful nanny for another day and a half. Maybe the nanny (over 25 years of experience caring for infants) will be able to get Calan to nap longer in his crib!! :) I will post pics and his 4 month stats later after he wakes from his 1st afternoon nap.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr...It's Cold!

It has been really cold here and we've even had some snow on the hills. Calan and I ventured out in the cold this morning for my stroller strides baby bootcamp class. Calan had his regular clothes on underneath his little snow suit. He was so cute!

Cutie!

I thought these were too cute to not post!

Chatty Calan

Finally caught some of his chatting on video....he will go on and on w/his sounds...but this is a good snipet! He's gonna be a talker!