Applesauce is Easy!

I made my own applesauce today!

I have always LOVED making my own applesauce. I like it with chunks. I like the aroma. I like the flavor better.

But this time it was not for me. I made it for Micah and I am very excited about how it turned out!

If you want to know more about what I did, you can go here and here.

For the Love of Music.

Micah loves music. We have known this since he was in the womb. Some of his earliest recognizable movements in my stomach came at the sound of music. All kinds. Just music.

In the first few weeks of Micah's life, music would help to calm him when he was uncontrollably crying. Just start some music and he would forget why he was crying and would suddenly be captivated with the melodies.

Now that he has a little better control of his hands, he is loving making music himself. Or at least trying to. We have an old piano that was left in our house when we bought it. We joked about it. Thought about trying to get rid of it. I'm glad we didn't. When we walk toward the piano his arms go out in anticipation of touching the keys. And he is getting much better at pressing the keys down all on his own (this is an old piano and the keys are a little heavier).

He also loves it when my husband plays the guitar. I was holding him today while Matt was playing and he was tapping his hand on his leg to the beat. Not kidding! And when Matt holds him while playing he likes to touch the strings. Maybe to pretend like he is playing, maybe to feel the vibrations.

I think he may be a musician someday. Or at least he will really appreciate music. The talent or lessons will not come from me, but I am OK with him developing his abilities.

Micah's Night

Micah slept in the crib last night. All by himself. Without being swaddled!
This is a first!
First time he has slept without being swaddled (since we figured out that swaddling helped him sleep through the night!).
He only woke up once, which I thought was great. I needed to use the bathroom anyways. Put the pacifier back in and he was asleep again before I left the room.
What a great kid!
And he is breaking his first tooth, so I was really glad this still turned out to be a good experience. Hopefully I am not ruining his chances to do this again tonight by writing about how great it went last night:)

More on Sleeping

I think Micah sleeps a lot. A LOT!
I love that he sleeps all night, even in his new crib. And I am not complaining about good naps, but I think he sleeps about 18-20 a day! Really.
There are a couple of things we do need to work on, though.

It is getting warmer (outside and inside) and he is waking up every morning very sweaty since we have to wrap him twice to keep him swaddled, thus keeping him asleep at night.

He is also getting bigger, especially longer, and it is getting more difficult to wrap him (it's a two-person job as is) and to keep him wrapped.

So, what do we need to work on? Helping him learn how to sleep on his own. For sleeping, we swaddle him. For naps we have propped him (usually in his side) with his back and head touching something because this seems to be his favorite. But he is getting more mobile, so he is making it all over his crib during nap time. Unfortunately, this often wakes him, he realizes he doesn't have his pacifier, and he can't seem to get back to sleep, or get comfortable again, on his own.

Here's to hoping that within the next couple of weeks Micah will learn to sleep without our help before and during the nap/night. Without us losing all ability to sleep ourselves due to the pitiful cries for help.
It worked for a little bit today. We put him in the pack n play for a nap downstairs with us. He made noise for a while, moved around a lot, then finally settled into sleep. And he looked SO cute when he finally did fall asleep. All cuddled up with the blanket over his face.
Granted, he woke up after a while and couldn't quite make it back to sleep without help But it happened. Once.

Micah ate carrots!

I needed to use up some carrots before they went bad, so I decided to make some food for Micah. So fast to peel them, chop them, steam them and then puree them, who knew it could be so easy?!
Obviously the people who do it all the time. I am really excited for the future of making more foods for him!
I put most of what I made into ice cube trays to freeze and then already have portioned for later, but went ahead and fed him some while it was still warm. He ate all that I set aside for him, and without making any weird faces. So far I have a feeling he is going to be a great eater.
This is the first vegetable on it's own that I've tried, although I have put avocado into some cereal as well and he ate that pretty good too.
How fun. And fresh. And simple. And cheap.

Update on Sleeping in the Crib

Night One: Ok, glad it was the night before a day off!

Night Two: Success!!

Disclaimer: this is not what the bed looks like now when he is sleeping in it, but it's a cute pic.

The first night he had to cry himself to sleep. And this is VERY rare for him! But then he slept good until about 3:30am. No fun! Thought I could just go put the pacifier back in and make sure he was still swaddled. Wasn't that easy, of course.

He cried for a good bit, then Matt went in and tried for a while, but we eventually decided to just let him cry...I don't know why I was worried about hearing him! HAHA

He eventually feel asleep, or at least I fell asleep and didn't hear him if he was still crying. He woke up around 6:30 to eat.

Not bad, but not fun, to say the least!

But night two was great! Put him to bed around 9 and didn't hear anything until 6:25! Nice! I know many people put their kids to bed MUCH earlier, but I am OK with 9 pm and 9.5 hours of sleep.

Hoping night two becomes the norm and not the exception.

My Little Boy...

...is growing up so fast!

He start rolling this week. ROLLING! It's like he did it once and really like it and he can't stand to not be rolling around the room when placed on the ground now. Can't turn our heads to sneeze anymore. He's that fast!

He also started talking. Not just some noise once in a while. Really talking. He was doing it for me early last week, but by the end of the week he was doing it for Matt. And today when he was in his crib for a nap he was going at it for a long time. All. by. Himself. It's so cute, the facial expressions that go along with it. Like he is truly trying to let us know everything going on in his life and how he feels about it all. It's great!

And right now...I can hardly believe this one...

wait.....for.....it......

he is upstairs as we speak (or as I write, but probably not as you read this since who knows when you-whoever YOU are- will actually be reading this).

That's it.

He's upstairs.

No, that's not it. He is in his crib. In HIS room. For the night! He cried for a while (pretty much NEVER cries at night, unless it's just been a really rough day) but seems OK right now. I'm really excited right now. We'll see how well I actually sleep, wondering all night how he is doing. If I need to go check on him. If the monitor is still working. If I will hear him when he cries (don't know why I would worry about this since the head of our bed is on the paper-thin wall that his crib is also on).

He is growing up so fast, my little man!