Life of Wilder: Week Five

2010 has been the best year yet for us. Thanks to all our family and friends who have celebrated with us, showered us with love, advised and encouraged us on this amazing journey. We wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that next year at this time we can all say that 2011 has been the best year yet. We love you all!

I had to post both of these -- the first one is Wilder's "official" 5 Week picture but the second one is just too cute and shows how active he's gotten. He's such a wiggle worm and loves to kick his legs and wave his arms around. He's started to reach out for things he thinks are interesting, like the toys hanging from his bouncer, his reflection in the mirror, and Paul's beard. He's also beginning to smile more in response to us and trying to laugh.

Christmas was so fun and relaxing. We set Wilder in his bouncer in front of the tree while I opened his presents for him and then we just hung out the rest of the day. We missed our families but sometimes it's nice to escape the hectic pace of the holidays and just do your own thing (even though we've done that for three years in a row now, oops!). We PROMISE to be home for Christmas next year! The other thing we missed besides our families were the smorgasbords of great food our grandmothers always make. I totally failed on the food front this year. I did manage to make a bundt cake but, I'm embarrassed to say, we had egg salad sandwiches and Christmas stocking candy for lunch. But hey, give me a break, it's a little hard and not at all safe to cook a turkey while holding a baby ;)

I wanted to show off the cute stockings I ordered for us on Etsy. For the past few years Paul and I have been using some cheap-o ones that I made the first year we were married (picture our names spelled out in glitter... yeah), but I figured it was time to get some nice ones.

We were excited to get more visitors this week. Wilder's "Daddy G" (Paul's dad), his Aunt Audra (Paul's younger sister), Uncle Michael (Audra's husband), and Auntie Lizanne (Paul's youngest sister) came from Tennessee and North Carolina to meet him. It was so fun to see them love on him and pass him around. They were a huge help while they were here too -- grocery shopping, cleaning, and helping us get our yard looking nice again. When we left the dogs here to go to the hospital they pretty much destroyed it and then we had six days of nonstop rain last week so it had turned into a veritable mud pit. Paul, his dad, and Michael spent one whole afternoon reseeding it and building us a little patio area for our table and chairs and chiminea. It's so much more functional now and I can't wait for the spring when we can get Wilder out there. 

(That's burlap to hold the seed in place)

We also took Wilder on a few outings -- to dinner twice and to Target and Ikea. Paul or I wore him in the baby carrier the whole time, even through dinner, because he hasn't had his shots yet and we didn't want sniffly-nosed strangers getting all up in his face. That may seem extreme, especially after you see the picture below (how did I eat like that??), but there's a whooping cough epidemic going on in California right now and it can be fatal to infants -- scary! Anyway, it was helpful to get some practice taking him places and he did really well on all the outings so it's nice to know he can be toted around without making a big deal of it. 

Here are some pictures from the week:

Eating at Studio Diner, a 1940's style diner set on the lot 

of a working movie/TV studio -- one of our favorite eateries here

Focused on the toys on his bouncer

Meeting Daddy G and his aunts for the first time

Getting a bath from Auntie Liz and Aunt Audra

Audra held him for me while I ran some errands one day

Hanging out with Daddy G

Saying goodbye :(

Napping in his crib like a big boy

The biggest development this week has been our desperate decision to put Wilder on a very strict schedule. For the last month we've had so many visitors that it's been hard to get in a routine. We would do mostly the same things every day but not at the same times or in the same order and it was exhausting us. We started a bedtime routine a couple of weeks ago and that has been really helpful in putting him to bed at night, but he wasn't taking regular naps during the day, just sleeping whenever and wherever he got sleepy. He would also wake up when the sun came up and not want to go back to sleep. Some would say that's just what babies do, but I beg to differ. 

For my birthday my mom gave me a book called "My First 300 Babies" that she used with my brother. This book, written in 1964, definitely goes against the current trends of demand feeding and attachment parenting, but it gets rave reviews from every parent who has used this technique. We've been using the schedule below for two days now and we are already getting a lot more sleep and Wilder seems to be happier. I feel like giving him a schedule he can count on will make him a much more content and secure baby. 

When I first read the book it seemed so rigid, and some of the advice definitely is, but the idea of a set schedule is right on point with what we need right now, especially since the method has the baby sleeping through the night by 8 weeks (wouldn't that be awesome!). The book says that babies crave regularity and, even though I loathe it, here we go with our "300 Babies" Experiment. We're all turning over a new leaf in 2011.

Here's our schedule for now. We're working to eliminate the 2:00 am feeding and soon will be trying to cut out the 10:00 pm feeding as well:
6:00 AM    Nurse, back to sleep
9:00 AM    Nurse, wake time (at least 20 minutes of play time alone) -- The book says this alone play time "allows your baby to learn to draw on his own resources for self-entertainment and happiness. He begins to explore the world on his own terms and solve problems his own way, rather than always having it done for him."
10:30 AM   Short nap, if awake and fussy

11:15 AM   Playtime

12:00 PM    Nurse, naptime

3:00 PM     Wake, nurse, wake time (at least 20 minutes alone)

5:00 PM      Short nap, if awake and fussy

5:45 PM      Playtime 

6:00 PM      Nurse, put to bed

9:00 PM      Wake, playtime, bath, nurse

10:00 PM    Bedtime

2:00 AM      Nurse (if baby wakes up), back to bed

Anyway, we'll see how it goes, wish us luck! Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve tonight and a great weekend!