Notes to my future self on babies and sleep training, number 2

So when Moses was about 4 months old, I remember writing myself some notes on this blog on what to do because man do you forget so quickly how to do baby stuff.  Forget or block it from memory?? Who knows but anyway, I am finally out of the thick of things I think, especially as far as baby sleep training is concerned.  And here are some words of wisdom to future Nelda with baby #4:

• Use the baby monitor sparingly.  I wish I had known that more with the other kids.  I actually am to the point where I leave Grace's door open at night so that I won't hear her every sound and assume she is awake and mistakenly try to jump in and not let her soothe herself independently.  Losing the monitor is the biggest thing I have learned from this baby.  
• Still read the baby whisperer and the baby sleep solution.  These books are amazing.
• Dreamfeed, dreamfeed, dreamfeed.  I would be lost without you!
• Ok I have finally figured out breastfeeding and I'll tell ya what, it's a labor of love.  But it just killed me to see poor Moses have such a constipation problem once I stopped nursing him at 5 months because I lost my milk.  Breastfeeding is such a science and so complicated.  It's been hard to keep up my milk but I finally got a nugget of wisdom from the lactation consultant.  It's called power pumping and what you do is for 3 nights for an hour you pump on and off for 10 mins.  It has saved me twice now when I was about to lose my milk.  Nursing has been such an emotionally charged issue for me that I just take it day by day.  I must admit I finally get the whole "I love nursing my baby it's so special and tender" thing.  But I still have to work at keeping up my milk with this growing baby of mine.  My faint goal is to do it to 6 months.  If I can last longer, I will try.  Like I said, a labor of love.  I pump 5 times a day to keep up.  What really got me going the other day was that I read that almost all baby formula (except some really expensive stuff) has high fructose corn syrup in it!!  Can you believe it??  No wonder kids become obese and develop a sweet tooth so soon.  That is seriously wrong.  
• Here is a nugget of wisdom I read a few weeks ago from some doctor on baby and sleep training:  "We have got it all wrong and backwards with baby raising.  We let them develop bad habits and then we try to break them and it results in a lot of stress and crying.  We need to coax them into great habits from day one and then it'll be a lot easier to let them continue in that stream.  We'll never have to train them out of bad habits."  Anyway, I am paraphasing but do you see what I mean?  I did this with Grace more than my other two.  From day one, practically, I put her to bed with her eyes open but slightly drowsy and it clicked.  Also, VERY IMPORTANT, I let her work it out more than the others when she would fuss.  The reason is, I was too busy with my other kids to have time to soothe her.  This worked well.
• I do think I begun sleep training a little too early with Grace - 6 weeks.  With the next one, I will go back to 8 weeks.  I think this resulted in a bit of a stressful sleep regression later on, which is now corrected, thank goodness.
• Every baby is so different.  Grace is an angel but just her ways are a bit different than the other ones and etc.  It's fun though.  Well, good luck, my dear future Nelda.  I know it's an awful. sleepless time you are having but I promise you it'll get better.  Just kiss and snuggle that cutiepants so, so tight.  They come straight from heaven. 

My Meet the Mormons movie review

So I went with my parents to see Meet the Mormons about a week ago.  Good stuff!  The documentary showcased six different Mormons.  They were all wonderful and I am still thinking about them.  Wonderful isn't the word.  It's more like impressionable.  The only one who seemed a little lacking in background and dimension was this incredible LDS convert from Nepal.  He seemed fascinating and inspirational.  I want to personally meet him.  I want to be like him.  He is brilliant (an engineer) and converted in Russia of all places.  He spoke most to me for someone I'd like to be more like.  Oh, bye the way, the NY Times review said that it was rated PG for potential proselytizing.  So funny that something can become PG because of that!

I just loved the mom and kickboxer from Costa Rica.  She and her husband have a cool cross-fit-y gym in Costa Rica.  Man is she ever driven and determined and she and her hubby really have it together as a team plus she seems like a fun and loving mom.  It made me want to start some kind of company on the side with Paul.  Lastly, the mom who used to be homeless and now lives in Utah was so interesting and heartwarming to me because she endured so much but then at the end she was okay.  She got baptized and married a great guy and her son was going on a mission.  So so happy for her.

Well, there's my review.  Everyone should see it.  Great job Mormon Church!

In the thick of it

Whew!  Man life is cray cray!  Just wanted to report on it all.  But I love it.  But it sure is crazy.  I am just in the middle of being a complete mom.  A bottleneck if you will.  Can't even express how much I LOVE it.  I love Moses' little bear paw hands and Lizzie's self-imposed delayed gratification habits I have recently notice and Grace's little head bobbing.  Man we have some cute babies.  Oh and yeah Paul is still unemployed so I am pretty stressed about that but hey I am living life, yesiree and I LOVE it!  Thank you Heavenly Father for my life!!

Moses is 18 months old!!

So yeah my baby boy of the cute little fat rolls and pudgy, wudginess is 18 months.  I am so proud of him and I love Moses soooo much!

• Says Mama, Dada, hat, car, ball and pretty much anything I tell him to say
• Points to body parts
• Loves to do whatever Lizzie does
• Is such a great cuddler
• Is really starting to get into trains and cars
• Folds his arms when we pray.  The CUTEST thing I have ever seen.
• 27 pounds and 33 inches long (85% and 68% percentile)
• Giggles a lot and loves when I chase him
• Did such a great job at nursery this Sunday.  First time ever and was off playing in a jiffy and didn't even meltdown even without a nap.

Oh Mowie, I love you so much!

Just some random kiddie pics

 Lizzie and Moses are getting to be such great friends.  I am so grateful for that.

So yeah I'm 35

That's right!  Yipee!!  Happy to be alive, married to my hunky hubby, and with three lovely babes.  We spent the evening at City Creek window shopping and eating at yummy Texas de Brazil.  Wow their lamb chops were unforgettable!  In the morning, he got the kids up and dressed them while I slept a little to catch up on a rough night.  Then, he gave me ice cream cake and made me delicious crepes.  Paul is such a great cook.  Very impressive.  Thank you hubby.  So yeah birthday bliss for me.  So grateful for another year.  I read today that life is just a series of moments strung together.  I want to make the best of those moments and I guess that's why I blog, to remember them.  Here's to a good life and maybe 35 more years of it!  What will it bring, I wonder??

Grace is four months old!

I forgot what a biggie four months is!  She is officially out of the "fourth trimester."  I can almost see the grey matter and synapses in her brain clicking and joining together.  So funny how watching a baby grow is like physical therapy in a way.  Here's what new with this cutie.

• 26 inches long (93 percentile), 15.13 pounds (75 percentile), and 41 /12 cm head circumference (67 percentile, but I never have understood why this is important)
• She is SUCH a smiler.  Smiles for miles.  Every single time I pick her up from her crib she is sooo happy.
• You won't believe it but she is a self-burping baby, literally from day one.  You sit her up and one cute burp comes out and then she is happy as a clam.  Amazing!  No reflux here at all.
• She doesn't smile as much at her siblings but she's getting better at recognizing and being okay with them.
• Lizzie and Moses, bye the way, absolutely adore her.  The just stare at her in love and wonder.  So fun to watch.
• She doesn't love tummy time but she'll do it and is getting better at it.
• She is saying sounds more and more. 
• She has started to grab the rings above her play gym.  I think I was there when I saw it click in her brain that when she grabs and ring and pulls, she makes it move.  Cool to witness.  

Well, Gracie Lu.  I love you terribly.  You are so sweet and cuddly and I love to hold you cheek to cheek.  Smoochies!

The bottleneck

My coworker came up with this term and said it means when your life is just crazy with kids and life and stuff.  That's how I feel.  Crazy times, but fun.  Times where all three kids are crying all at once for no obvious reason and times where 

Anyhoo, I am tired a lot because Grace, for some weird reason I can't figure out cause there's no pattern to it, only sleep through the night about every third day.  Some mornings I just grip my sheets in fear waiting for her to squeak.  My she is a cutie though.  Also, I do funny things, being sleep deprived, like put Moses under the play gym instead of her.  hehe.  So yeah life is crazy and I barely have time to breathe and Paul is interviewing for a couple of jobs and who knows what will happen for him job wise.  

But I also have much to be grateful for.  There are some great talks during this general conference weekend I have been listening to.  For the first time too, the speakers are speaking in their native tongue.  Very cool.  Also, we are all very healthy.  No sickies here.  I'm just saying though these are crazy, messy times.  

Dear Kids

So I recently ran into this cool article in LDSliving.com called

100 LDS Journal Starters For When You Don't Feel Like Writing.   Pretty great ideas here.  So I've decided to try to tackle this one:  Letter to my kids explaining why the gospel is important to you and what you hope they’ll learn about Christ as they grow up.  

Dear kids,

The gospel is so important to me because it is focused on Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.  He is always around us and with us if we are focused on his Teachings and are living His commandments. As you grow up, I hope you know this about our Savior.  He forgives others and so must we.  He is always near, we just need to fine tune our spirit so that we can feel closer to Him.  He created this world and all that is in it so He knows us, better than ourselves.  He atoned for us and experienced all of our pains and joys.  He loves us and will be our advocate before the father.  Thank you dear Savior for Thine understanding heart.  

Love,

Nelda