Any Day Now...

Christopher will be walking! On Thursday Ryan and I noticed Christopher getting up in the middle of a room, without holding on to anything. Then he'd squat, pick up something, and stand again. Saturday night, while at Shane and Kali's housewarming, he squatted and stood four times in a row. He looked like he was doing exercises! On Sunday, he stood up from his knees or from a sitting position so many times, it was as if he'd been doing this forever. He is so agile. He has even taken up to two steps unassisted. I love watching him on the move. Sometimes I just watch him play, it is quite amusing. He has recently discovered his shadow. At the bottom of our basement steps, the landing lights cast a terrific shadow and Christopher puts on a great show for himself. There is lots of hand clapping and "so big!" routines. He started doing "So big!" last Sunday. After several weeks of coaching, he surprised us with it. Ryan and I were so happy we gave each other a high five. What can I say? We're weird. So anyway, Christopher continues to learn new tricks. Today he was holding a stuffed lion and I said "Give the lion a kiss." and he did! Then he smiled at the lion, a look of pure love.

In the past four days Ryan and I started a new schedule with Christopher. Its really not that different, just a few changes to help him sleep throughout the night. Unfortunately, Christopher and I have struggled with breast feeding since mid May. Despite lots of research, many inquiries with the pediatrician and lactation consultants and alot of effort, we continue to struggle. There were days when he'd go over eight hours without nursing. He just didn't want to settle down to nurse. He is so distractable and always on the move. Night feedings seemed to be our best bet. As long he nursed well at night I didn't mind getting up with him. But then things changed. No longer would he drift back to sleep after a night feeding. He'd cry. Ryan was certain he was still hungry and I was confused. After a bottle of 4oz. he'd fall right to sleep. So we had a few weeks of this "doe see doe". He would have a couple good nights then bad ones. Then a whole week of bad ones. I made my mind up something has to change. He is almost 9 months old for Pete' sake! So Thursday I implemented a plan. If he didn't nurse when offered, I'd give him a bottle. This way his caloric intake is higher during the day, leaving night time for sleep. If he wakes at night, we don't need to worry if he is hungry, which was always the question before. He needs to learn to fall back asleep without our help. We also give him a 6oz bottle at bedtime with a tsp of cereal mixed in. So far we are successful! He has awakened 2 hours after going down, but we let him cry it out. He cried for maybe 20 minutes. Before I'd always go nurse him, thinking I was "topping him off" for the night. But in reality, I think I was enabling a sleep crutch. For the past three nights he has slept through, waking up a happy baby. As far as the breast feeding goes, I'm at peace with it. For the past few days I've only nursed him 2 or 3 times a day and thats alright with me. Sometimes things don't go as planned, but they work out just the same. At least we still have those few times a day together.