Sleep Training 101

For the past week or so, there are a few things that have been on my mind.

1)  When is Owen going to learn to sleep without the swaddle on?

2)  When is the right time for us to do some sleep training?

It just so happens that both of these questions were answered on June 23, 2012.

I had tried Owen without the swaddle for a nap and he would do ok,

but he didn't seem to sleep as long and as soundly as normal.

  

I would watch on the video monitor and he would be laying there as still as can be

and then all of a sudden it's like he thought he was falling and his two little arms

would shoot straight out in front of him as if to steady himself.  

Then they would slowly lower back down to his sides,

and 10 seconds later...right back out straight in front of him.

 It was quite comical to watch, but probably not the most restorative sleep for him.

But lately he had been fighting his way out of the swaddle more and more.

I felt like he wanted to be out of it so bad, but he slept so much better when he was snuggled. 

 It worked out perfectly that we had been thinking about starting to let him soothe

himself to sleep anyway.

We decided to give it a try....

I fed him his last bottle of the night, laid him in his crib and let him fuss.  

His arms came out of the swaddle, his Nuk came out of his mouth,

but I let him be, confident that he would figure it out. 

(Ok, maybe not confident, but really hoping and praying that I wouldn't 

have to suffer through his crying for all that long) 

Night 1  - He cried for 20 minutes and much to my surprise, he fell asleep. 

Completely out of the swaddle and no Nuk.

He woke up an hour later but we let him be and he fell right back asleep on his own.  

When I got up to feed him in the middle of the night I did the same thing.

Laid him in bed, gave him a kiss on his forehead and walked out of the room.

He laid in his crib awake for a little while, but fell asleep on his own.

Night 2 - Laid him in bed Awake, No swaddle, No Nuk.

Cried 25 minutes and fell asleep.

Woke a few times after that, but just fussed for a minute and fell back asleep

Night 3 - Cried 5 minutes, laid awake for about 20 minutes trying to get comfortable

and fell asleep.

I am proud to say that Owen is now Swaddle Free, Nuk Free and seems 

to be able to go to bed pretty well on his own.  

We weren't even necessarily worried about getting rid of the Nuk, but he

seemed to let us know he didn't want it anymore.  We would put it

in his mouth and he would chew on it and spit it out instead of 

sucking on it like he used to do.  

I do realize that every day is a new journey and he might very well regress, 

but one thing I know for sure is that he really seems to love

having the freedom of no swaddle.

Pool Party

Today was the perfect summer day...

 

Clear skies, sunny, mid 80's....

 

The perfect day to hang out at the pool.

So the Peros, The Elseners and The Kalitas took the Oak Park Country Club by storm.

 

Thank you Lauren and Ava for inviting us today!!

 

We had a blast and are looking forward to many more summer play dates. 

 

 

 

 

Bumbo Master

Someone has grown quite fond of the Bumbo chair.

 Quite a change from his very first experience.   

He wasn't really sure what to make of it back then.

It was enough work in itself to keep his head up, let alone try to play with anything.

We've come a long way!

 

I'm Free!!

Guess who finally learned to sleep without his swaddle??

From the looks of it, he's just as happy with his new found freedom as we are.  :)

 

Madagascar Magic

There are two things what we know....

1)  I don't love the idea of Owen watching that much TV

2)  Owen doesn't love the idea of that much tummy time

BUT....

I guess we can come to a compromise every once in awhile.  :)

 

5 Months Already?!?

Happy 5 Month Birthday Owen!!

It is hard to believe you have already been with us for 5 months.  

Yet at the same time, I can hardly even remember life without you.

At 5 Months you are...

13 pounds 1.5 ounces

25 inches long 

Eating 6.5 ounces, 5 times per day 

Giving us a little bit of trouble with your sleep the past week or so

but you are normally a great sleeper.

Bedtime is between 6:00PM and 7:00 PM

You wake once around 12:00AM or 1:00 AM

Then you are up again between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM

You take 2-3 naps a day ranging from 45 min each to over 2 hours at times.

Rolling over from your stomach to your back.

(I think mostly because you still hate tummy time so you found a way to get out of it.)

Starting to arch like you want to roll from your back to your stomach.

Smiling a Lot! Especially when we go in to get you after you wake up.

Laughing little bits here and there and normally at the craziest things.

Yesterday I had you in the kitchen with me while I was unloading

the dishwasher and you randomly just started laughing at

me while I was narrating my moves for you.  I guess if

I were you I would think I was crazy too for

walking you through every dish and

where I was putting it away. :)

Putting everything you touch in your mouth.

Doing much better in the Bumbo chair.  You will actually sit in it for nearly 10 minutes at a time.

You used to hate it.  You would arch backwards and fuss because you hated 

that it made you sit up so straight.  Now you are content.

Turning a full 90 degrees on your playmat.  I'll walk back into the room and find

you laying parallel with the row of toys.  

Loving the TV, but we try not to let you watch it that much.

If I happen to have it on while you are on your playmat, you will 

grab one of the hanging toys to help lift you up so you can 

turn your head backwards and catch a glimpse.

Talking a lot in your own little language.

Here's a little comparison to show how much you've grown since we first brought you home.  

 

We love you so much Owen, even on your bad sleep days,

and can't imagine life without you. 

 

 

Escape Artist

It was time to make dinner tonight,

so I put Marley in her crate and went in the living room with Owen to get him situated.

When I walked backed into the kitchen I was surprised to look down and 

see Marley there waiting for me.  

Was I losing my mind??

I could've sworn I zipped up the crate!

So I put her back in, zipped it back up and this is what I witnessed...

Marley is many things,

but a dumb dog is not one of them.  :)

Happy Father's Day Ryan!!

Happy Father's Day 

to one of the greatest men I know.... 

Mr. Ryan Joseph Kalita

 You have all the qualities that a woman could ever look for in a man.  

You're handsome,

You're brave,

 

You're spontaneous,

And you can catch fish.

(if we were ever stranded on an island a girls gotta eat, right?)

You know how to make me laugh,

But you realize there are times we need to be serious as well.

 

You were such a proud Dad when Owen was born,

 

And watching the two of you together has been so fun for me.  

You're the most loving, caring, thoughtful person

and Owen is so lucky to have such an amazing Dad!!

 WE LOVE YOU RYAN!!

 

New Discovery

Owen has made a new discovery...

his own hands.  

Now of course they've always been there.

And he's put them to good use up until this point.

But lately, he is completely fascinated with them.

The best part is sometimes I'm not sure he realizes both hands are his.  

His one little hand grabs the other little one and grips on tight as if not to let it escape.

Once he has a firm grip and he's confident his new discovery is not getting away, 

(because trust me, it does try to get away)

he pulls back and examines it trying to figure out exactly what he's found.

And finally, into the mouth 

because he's dying to know what his new discovery tastes like.  :)

And then he repeats this process over and over and over,

each time stopping to stare at his little hands before they go back into his mouth.

 

Sure, not the most exciting thing ever, but it is so cute to watch him discover 

these little things and just wonder what he is thinking about.  

And with the discovery of his little hands, 

he's gotten much better at holding his own bottle too.  :)

 

Way to go Owen!!  

I'm looking forward to many more Amazing discoveries!!

 

Go Irish!!

Introducing the newest member of the Notre Dame Baseball 2030 Recruiting Class.

Looks like he's pretty happy to be wearing his very first Notre Dame gear

Smiling during tummy time??  That's unheard of around this house.  :)

 

Fun with the Hose

Now that we've taken the time to plant such wonderful flowers,

(with the help of my mom and her amazing green thumb)

It brings on a whole new chore of watering the flowers.  

It wouldn't be so bad if we got some rain once in awhile. 

But since it hasn't rained in what feels like weeks, my evening routine is to put

Owen in the Bjorn and go outside to water the flowers before he goes to bed.

Last night Marley and Ryan came out to join us.  

Just for fun I took the hose and sprayed the ground close to where Marley was standing.

Being the brave dog that she is, she jumped a clear two feet out the way of the water. 

It made both Ryan and I laugh, so I did it again, and once more.

All of a sudden we heard this little giggle.  

I looked down and there was Owen laughing at Marley running away from the hose.  

Now let me preface this by saying that although Owen shared his first laugh with us a few

weeks ago, they have been harder to come by since then.

  

So you can imagine our surprise when we heard him giggling as we watched our 

crazy dog avoid the streams from the hose.

Could he really be understanding what was going on and finding it funny?

Or was it simply us both laughing that made him join in?

Either way, it was a very cute moment and a great end to the day.  

Marley, I know I haven't been very tolerant of you since Owen came along,

but I have a feeling you two are going to grow to be the best of friends.    

Let the Summer Begin

What better way to spend a weekend with temperatures in the 90s

than a little time outside.  As I mentioned in my very first post, Owen LOVES being outside.

With it being so hot on Saturday we decided to meet his Aunt Val and Cousin Ruby

for a little time at the pool.  Look at this little stud relaxing poolside.

 

For his very first time in the pool, Owen did great!

I was worried that the water might be a little cold and he would get upset, 

but it didn't seem to bother him at all. 

I dipped his legs in, swished him around in the water and he seemed perfectly content.  

And to top off his afternoon, I laid him on the lounge chair and he was in heaven.  

Out of the sun, but still nice and warm, and tons of people to watch.  

I think this little guy could lay there for hours.

Looks like we can add the pool to our list of summer activities  :) 

And though it might be a little too early yet for baseball practice, 

we wanted to show his dad that he was ready when the time comes.

Baby Under Armour...Is there anything cuter?

 

Oh Yeah, there is something cuter...the little guy wearing the outfit.  
 

 

 



Solution To Tummy Time

So anyone who I've talked to recently knows how much Owen HATES tummy time. 

Well today he came up with a solution. 

He never ceases to amaze me. 

What's even more amazing is how these firsts come when I least expect it. 

For example, today. 

I've been stressing about tummy time and how much he doesn't like it.

But every day I've been trying to put him on his tummy a little bit more,

determined to warm him up to the idea.

I had him in his crib playing for a few minutes and I thought,

what better time to get some tummy time in. 

So I put him on his belly and put the mirror in front of him to look at.
He loves looking in the mirror so I figured it would be a good way
to get him to lift his head.

And just like that....he rolled over. 

I ran downstairs to grab my phone thinking, please let him remember how he did that.

I need to show his dad this!!

And sure enough, he did it again...and again...and again.

I might as well get some practice in now that he's learned a new trick.  ;)

YAY OWEN!!  Way to go Little Man!!

Meet the Star

So, it's offical...I've decided to start my very own blog.  It is such a great way

to keep track of all the little memories that we might otherwise forget.  Sure there

are some that we might want to forget, like Owen pooping directly into my slipper yesterday,

but even those are fun to look back on.  :)

Now let's meet the star of the Blog.

Weighing in at just under 12 pounds....

Mr. Owen Ryan Kalita

aka Little Man, Lil O, O Dog, or as his dad likes to call him O Diggity Dog

 

Owen was born on Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 7:04 AM,

a full month early from his February 22nd due date. 

He has changed our lives in so many ways, and I couldn't be any happier.

What we've learned about Owen so far is that he is...

A pretty good sleeper

A great traveler

An amazing shopping partner (he sleeps through it all)

And an explosive pooper! (thus the slipper story mentioned above)

He loves to be outside and loves moving around.

He loves laying on his changing table and really enjoys when I sing to him.

He's started talking to us and he's even given us a few giggles.  

Owen goes with the flow for the most part as long as you keep him fed.  

Once he gets hungry, you better find that bottle fast or all bets are off.  

And don't even think of taking the bottle away halfway during the feeding to burp him.

We've learned that leads to an instant meltdown.  

Probably the most important thing I've learned and am still learning is that

things change constantly.  Just when I think I have things figured out, Owen decides to

 change it up on me.  So we take it day by day and this "Type A" girl does my best to take

advice from Owen and just Go with the Flow.  Looks like we can learn a lot from each other.