Preparing for camping...or holidays...or weekends away..

OB had his first sleep in the port-a-cot on Thursday. He wasn't too keen to go to sleep. Today I put him down at 10:40am (not his usual 9.30 because we went to the gym - with creche! yay) and its 10:44 and I haven't heard a peep. Bring on camping on the weekend!!!!

I'm glad we persisted the first time - because if he is content to sleep in the port-a-cot, hopefully we can start having holidays and weekends away!!!!!! We have a trip planned for Christmas - with all of hubbys family which will be awesome. I was sooo nervous about how OB would sleep, but if hes happy in the port-a-cot it will be fine! 

My aim for his sleeps tomorrow - to get him to sleep in different rooms of the house!! I'm hoping he will have a nap in the lounge room. And maybe the day after ill try for a nap outside in the port-a-cot (although I don't have high hopes for that one - without it being dark). We are hoping to set up the tent in the backyard this week - to make sure all the bits are there and to see how little man goes. We may try to sleep in the backyard with him (maybe - I don't know if thats a smart idea or not....).

Anyway, port-a-cot success :) 

The biggest things i've learnt about sleep are:

* Persistence pays off! *Sleep breeds sleep (daytime naps are SO important)*Be consistant - as much as possible

Meat, Travel Sleep, Playpen & Teeth

Teeth

This week OB got his FIRST tooth! Yay.   I am surprised that he didn't make any of the usual 'teething fuss'. - Although he has been making lots of 'teething fuss' over the past few months. The night it came up he went to sleep at 6.30pm as per usual, and woke at about 4am absoloutely screaming. I thought it might be teething pain so I gave him some panadol and put him back to bed. When he woke at his usual 6.30pm there it was - a tiny little bud of a tooth. I put my finger on it and gee it was sharp!! I had no idea how sharp babies teeth were!!

Travel Sleep Training!

My beautiful OB ringing his bell...

Next weekend we are going camping with some good friends. OB has never lasted a whole night in his port-a-cot (except when he was younger than 4 months and didn't know any different). We are VERY nervous about how he will sleep when we go away for the two nights. So we have decided to sleep train, but in a port-a-cot. A few friends had mentioned that I should do this - sleeping him in the port-a-cot in his room and in different rooms of the house to get him used to sleeping anywhere. Today I set up the port-a-cot. OB had the time of his life playing in it whilst I was setting it up!!! BUT when I put him in it (and zipped up the side) - boy did he scream (and is still screaming). He has had one 10 minute stint in there - then I went in and lay him back down, gave him a few pats and told him it was sleep time. I don't think he listened. As soon as I was out with the door shut he started up again. But a bit softer than at the start. It might be a looooong afternoon!! Now hes having little spurts of crying with about 20 seconds of quiet, which for him means hes winding down. Hopefully by next weekend we will have had at least one full nights sleep in the port-a-cot. I should have started this earlier (and then we could have tried sleeping outside in it). I don't know how we will go in a TENT putting him down at his usual time of 6.30pm (with no black out blinds of course) in the LIGHT! Might have to put him down later....when the sun is actually down. Ps hes being very quiet in his room...if I had to guess i'd say hes down for the arvo (he got put down at 2:25 and its now 2:42). The plan is to give him one sleep a day in the port-a-cot until next Friday (when we leave). I'm hoping to have at least one night in it too, but will wait and see how the day sleeps go.

Playpen

In Simone Boswell's amazing book "Calm baby, confident mum" she talks about the benefits of playpens and puts playpen time into her routines. 

I LOVE the playpen. For a few reasons. 

#1 - Its safe. Everything in the playpen is OB safe (a lot of things in the rest of the house are not).

#2 - It gives me time to do the things I need to do (cleaning, cooking, washing, quiet time, book reading, bubble bath, etc).

#3 - It teaches him to have time by himself - to amuse himself and to be independent from mummy.

#4 - Gives him ONE place to make a mess (especially helpful if people are coming to visit and i've just tidied up).

When we moved house (August-ish) it took me a little while to set up the playpen (and find an appropriate place for it) and to actually put OB in it. We have lots of doors in our house so we can shut off different rooms which is great (and reduces the need for playpen time). This last week I have realised that OB has had barely any playpen time since moving and as such i'm re-introducing it into our everyday routine (for all the reasons mentioned above). 

I am starting with 15 minutes a day. Its not too long if he cries the whole time (hasn't happened yet - he usually cries for 1 or 2 mins then enjoys himself) but not too short that he doesn't spend any time in there. He's catching on again quickly!  I just put him in there and he whined (not even a cry) for about 20 seconds and then turned around and started playing! 

OB crawled into my lap and had a nap before lunch (first time he's ever crawled up and fallen asleep).

About 25-30kg fit in our freezer

Meat

This week we got 40kg of meat from a friend (who also runs a bull stud). We have SOOOO much meat! Not only do we know EXACTLY where it comes from, but its such great quality (barely any fat) - even the mince is delicious (and not disgusting like store bought mince). Its also really economical at around $10 per kilo (even for the eye fillet, T-bone, sirloin, etc). Yesterday I made rissoles with the first batch of mince. They were SO yummy!!!! And so easy!!! I got the recipe here. 

Home made rissoles

Bread, Chutney & Childcare

I stumbled across the easiest bread recipe here and decided to try it out...
I can't believe how easy it was!! 

 ^ flour, yeast + salt sifted together.



 > added water, mixed and left on the bench overnight.

.

This morning whilst I was getting OB ready (and the oven was pre-heating) I let the dough 'rest' on the counter.

OB LOVED watching the oven (especially when the light was on!). 

 We played a few games whilst the bread was cooking (took about 30 mins)

Having a peek!

 <<Ta DA! Finished product.

 Because I didn't finish the bread in time for Josh to make a sandwich for lunch, I decided to bring him his lunch later in the day. I had some left over tomatoes and decided to make some chutney to have with a roast beef and fresh bread sandwich!

Now on to the more important matters!

This morning we walked past the childcare centre and I was seriously thinking about finishing my prac (for teaching) and possibly going back to work. I was getting keener and keener as we walked home - thinking about the logistics of putting OB in care and going back to work and how helpful the extra money would be. 

When we got home I was making chutney and OB was playing on the floor. He crawled over to me and started banging on my leg, I looked down and he had "the face". THIS is what i've been working for over the last few weeks!! I took him to the potty and he did a poo (and a wee). This might be too much information, however it made me realise that: 1) I LOVE seeing him "get" things. 2) I LOVE teaching him things. 3) Daycare would not put the time + effort it takes to implement EC (elimination communication - which I'll explain in a minute). 4) There is no way I want to go back to work when I could be at home with OB (obviously only as long as we can afford for me to do so).

Elimination Communication is a method that a friend brought to my attention since moving to Gunnedah. Basically its about communicating with your child (from a young age) - and having them communicate with you when they need to go to the toilet. We have modified it to suit us AND would you believe I have not had to change a poo nappy at home since we have started it (August I think) - we have still had to change a few poo's when out because obviously there isn't a potty to put him on when he needs to go. At home, its amazing the way he just signals that he needs to go, we strip him off and sit him on the potty, and he goes! Its sooooooo cool. I was SO sceptical of this. One day my friend Ruth mentioned it (OB was about 8 months old), I went home, OB looked like he needed to do a poo, so I put him on the potty and he did one. It was really amazing. And SO much less cleaning up. And seemed so much easier for him (plus he didn't have to sit in it, AND he could push it all out - which actually looked like a normal formed poo, not just the mush you see in a nappy!).

I need to clarify that its NOT toilet training. Its just about making life easier for both OB and I - no poopey nappies for me, and no sitting in poo for him. Win Win. Plus it improves our communication, which I love. And if it does make potty training easier then thats just a bonus...

Curtains

Blackout Curtains

As we have changed to daylight savings and its now really light when OB goes to sleep we needed blackout curtains. I priced a few at different stores, and they are really expensive. So I decided to make some!

It was really really easy! I just measured the window, cut the fabric and hemmed it. The eyelet bits at the top came on a tape which I had to sew on to the top of the curtain, then cut the holes and push in the silver bit. The pushing in of the silver circles was quite hard and a few were broken in the process (I had to get my muscly hubby to do most of them).

I was really amazed at how easy they were to make.

What I would do differently next time:

- Have one more eyelet hole so that the right end of the curtain is  dipping back towards the wall.
- Make it a little bit wider.
- Get hubby to put all the push circles in so that I didn't break any.
- Be a bit more patient in sewing so that the stitching was straighter.
- Choose prettier fabric.
-Make two curtains instead of one (I was being lazy so only made one that went across the whole window).
- Make them sooner - they were SO easy!

Sleep

We have finally hit all night sleeps :) 7pm - 7am! YAY!!! He's done about a week now so I hope its here to stay :)

Sleep (Baby) books...I have read a number of books so I thought i'd do a review of them here:


"Calm Baby, Confident Mum" Simone Boswell

I honestly think this is the BEST baby book I have ever read!! Everything it in was helpful from breastfeeding information, to sleep, to routine, to highchair manners to discipline. It is just the BEST book. If you don't have it, and have (or are having) a baby, I recommend it. The author Simone Boswell is a mother of 6 and speaks from her (and friends) experience! I only wish she wrote a toddler book! I'd buy it IMMEDIATELY!!

You can read more about Simone and her book here.


"Save our Sleep" Tizzie Hall

I have heard a lot of negative things about this book, however, I found it to be great. We followed the routine for OB's age and after 3 nights of doing her "laydown approach" OB was sleeping 7pm till 7am. I think this is because he actually learnt how to put himself to sleep (and there had to be a bit of crying - although it wasn't really crying - it was protesting!!).  This book was fantastic. I would have liked a little more help for what to do when he wakes and won't resettle and when he won't have a nap at all - but on the whole, following her approach worked. I was impressed because I read this book with a LOT of scepticism.

"Baby Love" Robin Baker

SO many people recommended this book to me as a MUST have. It was great to have during pregnancy to read (as I had NO idea about babies), but when I had a real life baby, I didn't find it overly helpful. It was helpful for the beginning when I didn't know ANYTHING (so good for the basics) but I haven't used it since OB was about 2 months old.



"the no-cry sleep solution" Elizabeth Pantley

I'm not really sure how a baby can learn to sleep without any 'cry'. I was a bit skeptical of this book from the beginning. Had heard lots about it. And borrowed it to have a read. It has some good information, but no real 'plan' to get baby to sleep. It allows you to make your own plan, however the reason I was reading the book was because I had no plan. It did give some good cues so it could be helpful to read, however my parenting style required a much more direct approach. It seemed a bit wishy washy and I doubt that a baby will actually learn to sleep through the ideas in this book.

"The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers" Gina Ford

I also heard rave reviews about this book. It had some interesting case studies, but to be honest I did not fid it helpful at all. There was the basic information that most sleep books have but no real plans or what to do when baby wakes during his nap or learns to stand up and won't lie back down. This books talks about babies over 6 months having 30minute naps during the day, but I have found this contradictory to what other books say about babies needing to move through sleep cycles during the day (so they can do so during the night) so their naps need to be between 1hr and 1.5hrs long. I have found that when OB naps for more than 1hr for both his daytime naps, his nights are perfect! Where as if he only naps for 30 minutes, he (and mummy and daddy) are in the horrors.


Do you have any GREAT baby books??? Especially on sleep??

I am off to make some lemon cake and lemonade (I have 19 lemons....any ideas for lemon-y things I can make????)