Not Staying in Bed

For just over a week Luke has been acting strange. He hasn't been going to bed. It started off with wanting his ceiling light on in the room. We didn't let that happen but we did give him an extra night light. Next he wasn't and still isn't staying in bed. After being in his room a while he'd get up and come down stairs. We'd walk him back up stairs and 10 minutes later he'd come back down. This cycle can go on past 10:00. His bedtime is 8:30. Now Mom and I have put up a baby gate at the top of the steps to stop him from coming down. That seems to be keeping him upstairs but on two occasions Mom and I have found him asleep in the hallway.

I'm not really sure what is going on with Luke. I'm guessing it is something developmental or he needs to stop taking naps in the afternoon. Perhaps now that he understands the world better he is thinking about all that scary stuff he didn't know to be scared of in the past.

Or better yet it is awesome at night and he wants to be a part of it. I remember as a kid my brother and I sneaking out of our room and hiding in the hallway while our parents were watching the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.

Where's Luke?

Last week Mom went to check on Luke before she went to bed. Upon opening the door she couldn't find him. He wasn't in his bed nor on the floor. Right as she started to freak out she looked under the bed to see Luke sleeping soundly. He must have fallen out of bed (not his first time) and then rolled undeneath. Mom picked him up and placed him back in bed. He was still there in the morning!

The Aftemath

A few days have passed and it's time for a post big boy bed recap. Luke's transition to a big boy bed has gone better than we had expected. The first night was tough but every night since Luke has gone down as easy as when he was in his crib.


Luke hasn't quite mastered sleeping in a bed. When he lays down his head is at the foot of the bed and his feet are on his pillow. I think he likes to look at the door and that position makes it easier. Just tonight I was able to get him turned around. When Mom checks on him tonight it will be interesting to see if he is still situated right.


Nap time is the one sticking point. Instead of taking naps Luke is having a ball. Instead of quiet time it's party time. Also he keeps asking for Mom's attention. He has plenty of toys. I think he needs to learn to entertain himself. In time.

Big Boy Bed

For the last few weeks we've. Been working on getting Luke's new room ready. His new room is bigger than his old. It was always the plan to put him in there but needed the time to get it ready. And ready it is. The hard part was yet to come. Getting him out of his crib.

All this week Mom, Alyce, and I have been building up the big boy bed. Friday night we disassembled his crib and turned it into a toddler bed. Better to rip off the bandaid than to keep the crib as an option.

When it was time for bed Luke wanted his old room but after seeing his crib was gone he accepted his new room. Mom had to put in some time to get him settled and to stay. But after a little more than a half an hour he was out. He was laying kind of weird but he was asleep none the less. When Mom checked on him later his head was half hanging off the bed. She nudged it back on and he slept through the night.

The next morning we heard him awake however he didn't come out of his room. Mom checked on him and he was playing with some trucks on the floor.

Tonight is my turn. I'm hoping there is some improvement so I can spend maybe 15 minutes and not 30.

Time For a Big Boy Bed

The time is quickly approaching for Luke to get a big boy bed.  Most mornings Luke is quite content to hang out in his crib for a bit while Mom gets ready for the day.  Last week that nicety ended.  Mom was dozing in our room when she heard a crash from the kid's side of the house.  Rushing into Luke's room she saw that Luke had climbed over and out of his crib.  He didn't hurt himself but it showed that the crib can no longer contain him.

We are lucky that his crib has a little door on the side and at night when Mom checks on him she can open it.  That way in the morning he can get out of bed in a safe way rather than re-enacting a scene from a Spiderman Comic.  We haven't done that yet because I have yet to secure Luke's dresser to the wall.  If  he were to climb up on the open dresser drawers he could pull the whole thing down on top of himself.

Later Bed Time

Even though it isn't official Luke is getting a later bed time.  It seems we are out and about most nights and don't manage to get him to bed until 8:30 or later.  What's even more pleasing is that even though he is past his bedtime of 7:30 he doesn't get cranky.  Some nights when we do get him to bed on time we can still hear him up to an hour later talking to himself and kicking the side of his crib.  We refer to it as he's having a party in his room.

It's probably just as well he's going to bed later.  It make life easier on us knowing that we have more time out at night and don't have to rush him home.  We've pushed him as late as 10:00 and he does okay but we pay for it the next day with a cranky little boy.

One's a Morning Person. The Other Not So Much

Last week before I left for work Mom and I went in to Alyce and Luke's room to get them up.  I handled Alyce and Mom got Luke.  I opened up Alyce's window shades and pulled the covers back.  Alyce then grabbed the blanket and covered herself back up hiding from the light.  I managed to snag this picture of this morning person.

Luke on the other hand is most definitely a morning person.  When Mom walked in he stoop up and was ready to go. Getting out of his crib he walked over to a stack of toys and started playing.

It's so interesting to see how different two people with the same parents can be.  Alyce in this respect is a carbon copy of me.  Luke is a copy of Mom.

Bedtime

Luke's bedtime routine is about as easy as it can be at the moment.  When it finally comes time for bed we follow the usual pattern and by the time the pattern is done he is ready to go to sleep and never gives us any grief.  Sadly it will only stay this way until we get him into a big boy bed and then there will be reading books, singing songs, and all the craziness of a toddler out of his cage brings.

One of my favorite things to do with Luke on the nights I put him to bed is to play catch or fetch with him.  Our choice of ball is kind of weird though.  After I change him into his overnight diaper and pjs I am left with used diaper.  After I put him to bed I dispose of it downstairs.  To keep it out of the way I wrap it up real tight and it looks and feels like a squishy ball.  Well at some point it became routine to use that diaper ball to play catch with.  It's persisted for so long that when Luke sees me wrapping up his diaper he gets all excited.  Luke is getting pretty good at throwing.  I think he might even be better at throwing than his sister.  One item of note is that Luke seems to be favoring his left hand when it comes to throwing.  Most everything else he does with his right but throwing is not one of them.

Luke is now climbing into his crib.  The brand of crib we have, a Babee Tenda is pretty cool in that built into one of the sides of the crib is a door that swings open.  It locks closed and requires an adult to open but it is pretty awesome at helping kids transition into a big bed.  Now that Luke is advanced enough to go up steps and any other obstacle we are now letting him climb into bed for himself.  He goes willingly too.  After brushing his teeth, he walks into his room, looks at the gate, and looks at us.  After he climbs up and in rolls into his favorite position (on his belly with his butt up in the air) he watches us as we wish him a good night and exit the room.  Most nights that is the last we hear from him until 7:30 - 8:00 the next morning.  We are blessed to have a kid that goes to bed so easily and stays there.

Bedtime Doots

One thing Luke loves to do with Mom, Alyce, and I is Doots.  Doots is when you stick your pointer finger out, the other person does the same, you touch fingers, and say "doot".  Anyone can start a Doots.  Sometimes it is Mom, Alyce, and I and other times it is Luke.  Doots are always good fun.  We did them with Alyce when she was a baby and Doots eventually led into Double Doots (both hands at the same time) and finally we did fist bumps.

Luke likes to give Mom and I Doots right when we put him down to bed.  He is in his jammas, we lay him in his crib, he rolls over, and sticks up that finger for a Doot.  Once he gets what he is looking for he rolls over and usually goes to sleep with little or no fuss.  It is quite the sight to see.

Missing a Nap

Missing a nap can have disastrous ramifications on an 8 month old.  Today we met our friends Josh and Tammy for a late breakfast at 10:00.  10:00 is typically the start of Luke's first nap time.  Two days a week when Mom is at her Jazzercize class he misses the start of nap time and doesn't suffer too many ill effects.  Today was not one of those days.  Luke was good for about 10 minutes but then started getting stir crazy, annoyed, and loud.  Neither of those things are what you want when trying to have a low key lunch the day before Christmas.

I think that Luke was having lots of trouble coping because we burnt him out the night before.  Friday night we went over to Trent, Lisa, and Shelby's for a Christmas bonanza and Luke stayed up and happy until 10:00.  You can't keep a kid up that late and think the next day will be normal.  So I endured baby Luke's tirade out in the car after we finished breakfast.  Luckily after a few minutes of screaming he passed out, then stayed that way while Mom did some shopping, and then feel back asleep in his crib once we got home.

Tonight at the Christmas party we setup a pack n play for Luke so he could take his second nap.  Surprisingly he feel asleep for a while until Mom went down to wake him up.  Luke lasted just over an hour until he started showing signs of fussiness.  Luckily this was coinciding with his normal sleep schedule and we got him in bed around 8:00.  I'm hoping that getting him to bed on time will set us up for a successful Christmas.

The Best Before Bedtime

The time of day I have the most fun with Luke is the 20 minutes before I put him to bed.  From the time I bring him upstairs until I put him to down and say goodnight Luke is always in a good mood.  While down stairs with the rest of the family he shows us he is tired by rubbing his eyes and generally being cranky.  As I pick him up to bring him upstairs for sleep he gets his second wind.

I lay him down on his changing table and take off his outermost layer of clothing for a diaper change.  About this time Luke gets talkative and starts kicking around like mad.  Of course the diaper change gets postponed so I can pinch, tickle, play with him.  This all accompanies Luke giving me these really big mostly toothless smiles.  After a while he discovers that without the bulk of clothing he can reach his feet and entertains himself with his toes while I get his diaper changed.  When it comes to putting on his footy "jammas" he is remarkably helpful.  Once I get his hand in the sleeve he straightens his arms out and he pops his fist right out the end.  If he would lose half an inch in each leg getting him zipped up would also be a breeze.

While taking his bottle is when Luke starts to settle down.  As he is drinking his body relaxes into my arms and he has started rubbing / running his hands through his hair.  Once finished I stand him up on my lap where we exchange one more smile while I try to get him to burp.  Pretty soon after that he starts to thrash around a bit like he is tired of being held.  Once I put him down we exchange one last smile, I tell him I love him, and then I leave the room closing the door behind me.  Most nights he doesn't fuss; just plays for a few more minutes and falls asleep until the next morning.

I feel sorry for the rest of the parents in the world.  Sorry because they don't have a great kid like Luke.

Night Terrors

Last night something really scary happened with Luke; Mom and I think he had a night terror.  About an hour after we put Luke to bed he pierced the quiet of the house with a blood curdling scream.  I was two floors away in the basement and I could hear him.  Mom immediately looked in on him as this wasn't his normal I'm awake and unhappy cry.  Luke's eyes were closed, he wasn't making tears, his body was trembling, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs.  Mom came down to get me and the both of us consoled him and when that didn't work we even tried to wake him up.  I picked Luke up and walked him around the room and that made it worse.  We had an idea that Luke was having a night terror and that the only thing we could do for him would be to let him work his way out of it; so we put him back into his crib, told him we loved him, and left the room.  About 45 minutes later Luke's cries finally subsided and he drifted back off into peaceful sleep.  Thinking about the past this isn't the first time it has happened. 

A week or so ago he had the same sort of behavior but upon picking him up he let loose with a loud burp and we thought we had found the culprit.  It still took him a while for his cries to subside and for Luke to go back to sleep so the symptoms seemed the same but less severe in comparison.

A night terror, sleep terror, or pavor nocturnus is a sleep disruption similar to a nightmare however a terror occurs later in the sleep cycle when making the transition from REM sleep to non REM sleep.  Unlike nightmares (which occur during REM sleep), a night terror is not technically a dream, but more like a sudden reaction of fear that happens during the transition from one sleep phase to another (KidsHealth.org).  The following are symptoms of a night terror.

• Screaming
• Thrashing
• Not aware of their surroundings
  
• Unable to talk to, comfort, or fully awaken the child
• Sweating, breathing fast, fast heart rate, and dilated pupils.

The cause of night terrors is an over-arousal of the central nervous system (CNS) during sleep. This may happen because the CNS (which regulates sleep and waking brain activity) is still maturing. Some kids may inherit a tendency for this over-arousal — about 80% who have night terrors have a family member who also experienced them or sleepwalking (a similar type of sleep disturbance) (KidsHealth.org).  While a night terror is dramatic and alarming for the parents they aren't the symptom of another deeper underlying issue; just something that will have to be endured until it is grown out of.  The lone bright spot with these as compared to a nightmare is that the person having the terror will have no recollection of the event ever taking place.

If Luke wasn't going to have a checkup this coming Wednesday Mom and I would be taking him to the doctor to make sure our diagnosis was correct.  Once we hear from the doctor about what this is / could be I think Mom and I will be less panicked if / when we have a repeat of last night.

Bedtime Routine

Luke has a pretty simple bedtime routine.  On a good night it doesn't take much time at all to get him to sleep.  Other nights we aren't so lucky.  Luke's routine is pretty straight forward.  When he is looking sleepy (a relative term) we get him a bottle, take him upstairs, feed him in the dark, wait for him to fall asleep and then deposit him in his crib.  This whole process takes around 20 - 30 minutes tops if it is a good night.  Other nights we can follow the same routine and after we put him down about 2 minutes later he is crying again.  This is when things can get hairy.  Do you go in and help him fall back asleep or do you let him tough it out?  Mom and I do a little bit of both.  If on the initial time to go to bed he seems wide awake we let him cry for a bit.  I don't have a good reason why, but we find that if you let him cry for a while he is more apt to go to sleep when we go back upstairs to sooth him and put him back down.  The other method we use is if Luke is on the edge of falling asleep and after two tries of trying to put him to bed we still meet with failure.  When this happens we basically say to Luke "you're on your own".  It seems kind of cruel that we let him cry himself to sleep.  Perhaps it is something to do with being a 2nd time parent.  But we find that if we take this course of action he tends to fall asleep in about 10 minutes on his own.

On rare occasion Mom and I can catch a big break.  Tonight we had one of those.  Earlier in the evening even before dinner Luke fell asleep on my chest after a bottle.  He spent the rest of the evening in his swing while Mom and I cooked and ate dinner with Alyce.  After dinner I gave Alyce a bath and Luke slept through the whole thing.  Once it was time to put Luke upstairs you run into the big question.  Do you touch a sleeping baby?  I say yes you do in this situation getting him to bed at his usual time is very important in my book.  So I take Luke out of the swing, bring him upstairs, and try to wake him up by changing his diaper.  I wanted him awake to feed him so that he has a full belly for the 10-11 hours he sleeps a night.  But to the best of my efforts he didn't wake.  So I put him in his crib, headed back downstairs, and put his bottle on ice. Luckily about 20 minutes later he did awake to an awful fuss.  With bottle in hand I headed back upstairs.  I fed Luke in the dark in the rocking chair.  I'm not even sure he opened his eyes.  He lay there collapsed in my arms drinking his dinner on the edge of consciousness.  There is really nothing more peaceful than a sleeping baby in your arms.  I was able to get him back in his crib without another peep.  Writing this of course is to invite disaster with Luke waking up at 4:00 a.m. but such is life.  The easy nights are to be enjoyed and remembered; especially during a string of hard nights.

Two is a Coincidence Three is a Trend

Last night Luke slept through the night for the third night in a row.  Technically it wasn't through the night.  Luke goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up around 5:00 - 5:30.  I try to get up for work at 5:50 so it isn't too terribly early for me.  The best part about Luke only waking up one time a night is that we can now alternate our nights.  So every other night Mom or I can get a full nights sleep.  At this point being the parent of a newborn becomes much much easier.  It is amazing how much easier life is on an uninterrupted nights sleep.  As you can see below Luke is happy about sleeping through the night too.

I've already jinxed myself for tonight.  Luke fell asleep while we were cooking dinner and failed to get up for a bedtime bottle.  We even tried to wake him up but he would have none of it.  While putting him to bed was super easy tonight I am afraid that he will wake up at 1:00 a.m. and not want to go back to bed.  So tonight will break the trend, but I think it is fluke and tomorrow we will be back to normal.

Update:  Well I didn't jinx myself.  Luke ended up sleeping till just before 5:00 a.m.  So baby Luke must have been a tired boy.  He was crazy hungry when we woke up but didn't really scream about it.  It was very nice.

Slept Through The Night!!!

Coming out of left field in a total surprise, last night Luke slept through the night! The holy grail of any parent. I put Luke to bed around 8:30 p.m. and he slept until 5:00 a.m. for a grand total of 8.5 hours of sleep. At 5:00 when I woke up to him crying softly I said "was it 5:00 already?". I went on to ask Mom why time she got up with him as I most likely slept through the whole thing. Mom responded "I didn't". Apparently Luke did wake up around 3:00 a.m. but fell bask asleep after only a few minutes of complaining.

This comes as a complete surprise because up until this point he hadn't slept longer than 5.5 hours in a single shot. The only reason I can point to as to why he adjusted his sleeping habits is that at the doctors office yesterday he had some vaccinations and that probably knocked him out a bit. I'm hoping that this will provide a starting point to get him to at least wake up once a night 2:00 a.m. or early morning 5:00 a.m on a consistent basis.

Update: Well he woke up twice last night so there goes the hope of sleeping through the night on a consistent basis.

Getting Luke to Bed

Getting Luke to bed is getting easier. He has definitely gotten into a routine where between 8:30 and 9:30 at night he is ready for bed. Around this time he starts to cry, but it isn't as forceful/annoying as his hungry cry. Very simply we make him a bottle, bring him upstairs, feed him in a dark room, hold him for a bit, and then lay him down. Luke doesn't even fall asleep in my arms anymore. The longer I hold him the more uncomfortable he seems to get. The whole process takes around 30 minutes which is in sharp contrast to the hour it used to take. Unfortunately the time between feedings hasn't lengthened yet. He still goes a maximum of 3 1/2 hours between feedings. So that is roughly three feedings after we put him to bed.

If That's Moving Up, Than I'm Moving Out

Last night Luke took his first steps out of the nest. He didn't take steps as much as I pushed him out. For the past 5 1/2 weeks he has been sleeping in a crib at the foot of our bed. It was nice having him near us so we could check on him with little effort. Not having to go to far for feedings was also nice. However, after a time having a screaming newborn in your bedroom gets old and the baby loses its welcome. So Mom and I are moving Luke into his own room. This room used to be Alyce's until we moved her into her big girl room. The first step to getting Luke into his room was to get the crib set up. It had been sitting in the basement for the past few months while Alyce grew attached to get new room. So far Luke seems pretty content with his new surroundings.

Mommy and I have a decent system for taking care of Luke at night. I work the shift from midnight to 3:00 a.m. and mom takes everything after 3:00 a.m. Luke gets up once during both shifts so both Mommy and I have one feeding a night. The downfall to a system like this is that once during the night you are wakened by Luke even though it isn't your turn to take him. This sleep interruption guarantees that you are only going to get at best three hours of continuous sleep a night. By tossing Luke into his new room and out of ours we still hear Luke twice a night through the monitor. Once either of us gets up for our shift we can turn off the monitor letting the other fall back asleep.

After the first night I can tell that my energy has improved from my better quality of sleep. I'm hoping that Luke's sleep habits will improve as he doesn't have to hear us moving around getting ready for bed while he is trying to get some sleep.

Crazy Hungry

Last night Luke was a crazy hungry baby. Typically Luke will go around 3 hours from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. With feedings including diaper change taking around half an hour it doesn't leave much time to do other things around the house. So if and when Luke decides to get hungry before time it can be frustrating.

Last night I fed Luke around 7:00. This was about 3 1/2 hours after his last feeding so he should be hungry. Grandma came over to visit and to my surprise Luke was hungry again at 9:00. This didn't present any real problem because Grandma got to feed Luke and I got some down time. Both of these two feedings were 4oz. each. After we said goodnight to Grandma it was 11:00 and past time for Luke to go to bed. Putting him down he started showing signs of hunger... again. "You've got to be kidding me." came from my and Mom's mouth. So I made up 2 more ounces and sure enough he took down the majority of it. So in recap Luke has consumed around 10 ounces of formula in a time frame where he should have really only eaten 4.

You would think that with that much in his belly he wouldn't be hungry again for three hours right? You would be wrong. Luke with his bottomless pit stomach woke up again at midnight and ate 2 - 3 more oz!

We thought with as much as he was eating he would surely spit some of it back up. Not a drop came out of him the wrong way. I can only assume that he is going through some growth spurt and he needs some additional calories. At his next doctors appointment I expect to see some significant growth. The silver lining to all of this is that the quicker Luke gains weight the longer he will last between feedings. Thus laying the groundwork for waking up only once a night or the holy grail, sleeping through the night.