Lessons and Life

Jonas and Ava are both learning new skills this week! I'll start with Ava. I have to go back to work part-time the first week of April (Boo!!). So, about a month ago we started trying to get Ava to learn to drink from a bottle. We didn't try every day, and only for about 10-15 minutes each time we tried. She wasn't getting the hang of it though. I decided we needed to step it up a bit this week to make sure she knows how to eat when I'm at work. I really wish we could just forget about it, but I have to work and she has to eat, so bottle drinking is an important skill. Monday she actually drank 2oz of pumped milk from the bottle. It took her almost an hour. She fussed some, rolled it around on her tongue a lot, and choked some. I felt horrible that she was struggling with it when we both knew there was an easier solution to her hunger. But she drank the 2oz in the bottle and then I nursed her. Tuesday she only drank 1oz before she fell asleep. So we left it at that and I just nursed her when she woke up. Yesterday she guzzled 4oz (it took an hour again, but she drank most of it in the last 15 minutes). She still wanted to eat more after she was done with the 4oz, so I nursed her again when she finished. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to freeze more milk in case she decides to drink it all my first day back to work! :) Today she only drank about 2oz, and it took an hour again. But I think she is doing pretty well for day four of a new skill. Hopefully she will perfect the skill in the next 3 weeks so that I won't be even more worried about her when I go back to work than I already will be.

She just gets cuter by the day!

Jonas is learning the new skill of falling asleep on his own. Some may think we're crazy for not teaching him this skill sooner, but I don't regret the way we did things. But, the time for him to learn to sleep independently is now. He has been in his own room since we moved into our house in November, but he still needed us to lay down with him to fall asleep. He occasionally slept through the night, but most nights he still woke up and needed us to lay down in his room so that he could go to sleep again. It worked fine, but lately he has been taking 30-40 minutes to fall asleep. It is impossible for me to get him to sleep if I am the only adult at home because if Ava is awake at all, Jonas will not settle down. I prayed about it, and thankfully Ray also felt the same way without me bringing it up to him. So, this is what we're doing. We follow our normal routine (Diaper change & books for nap. Bath, PJ's, prayers, & books for bedtime). When we would normally lay down with him to sleep, we give him a snuggle and a kiss and tell him it is time to sleep. Then we sit next to his bed with our head down. If he gets out of bed we give him a kiss and tell him again it is time to sleep. After that we just gently put him back in bed every time he gets out without looking at him or talking to him. Naptime yesterday took 2 hours before he finally laid down and fell asleep. It stunk. He acted like it was a fun game to see how many times he could get out of bed. But thankfully he didn't seem scared or upset. He woke up his normal happy self. Bedtime only took 10 minutes! He did wake up 3 times in the night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly each time. Naptime today took about 35 minutes (about what it took the old way). Hopefully he will continue to improve. Once he stops testing how many times he can get out of bed, we will start to gradually sit farther and farther away from his bed until we are out the door. It may take awhile, but we have time. It may get worse before it gets better, but that's ok. We have a plan and it seems to be working. Please pray with us that it will work!

Even though we are teaching some difficult lessons to our kids right now, I can say that I am loving being a mom! The weather the past week has been nice enough to get outside and go for a walk or play at the playground every afternoon. Jonas gets to burn off some energy, Ava sleeps in my front-carrier, and I get to enjoy the fresh air!