Does your baby sleep through the night?

I have this picture positioned in a very visible spot in my living room for one main reason...encouragement. Through the days, weeks, and months when Austin was such a restless sleeper, this picture gave me a glimmer of hope.

I have asked the question many times of mothers with infants..."So, how does your baby do at night? Are you getting any sleep?"

I'm sure you have asked that question too, out of curiosity, out of sympathy, maybe out of a lack of not knowing what else to say.

I used to not mind it when people asked me that question. I felt like I was doing a great job with the fact the my first two boys slept through the night from early on. I was thankful for good sleepers, and I couldn't understand how other moms had a hard time getting their babies to sleep at night. 

Now I know not every mom thinks like this, but is there anyone else out there that felt a little pride in the fact that your babies successfully slept through the night? I sometimes felt like I earned my mommy badge in the sleep department and I could move on to bigger and harder problems. 

I was very black and white about the whole sleep thing...if your child didn't sleep, you were obviously doing something wrong as a parent.

Then along came our third boy. I felt like my mommy sleeping badge was ripped off my chest. I felt like a failure. I tried everything I had done with my other children. I read books on sleep and tried different techniques. Nothing consistently helped.

It was about that time that I felt like everyone was asking me, "So, how are you sleeping at night?" As if they new my failure. 

In my tired state I wanted to shout back at them, "I'm not, I'm exhausted, and I don't want to hear your suggestions!"

I was discouraged, and tired, so tired. I was desperate too. I remember so many times falling on my knees before God without even knowing what to say. I wanted to complain, I wanted wisdom, I wanted sleep. 

In the midst of my tears, He kept assuring me, "Be still and know that I am God."

I wanted answers, not silence. But silence was what I needed. I can't explain the peace that came when I stopped searching for sleep solutions. In the stillness before God, I realized that I didn't need a solution or a quick fix to my problem. 

I needed to know that my God was near me when I felt so discouraged. That He heard the wordless prayers of my desperation. That He gives grace upon grace to face the challenges of each day. I had to set "Emily's Solutions" aside and rest in the fact that God would guide me through this time in my life. 

You know, the pressure of finding answers to pressing problems fades away quickly when you give the problem and the need for answers over to God. "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Proverbs 16:3 Yes, God even cares about guiding me with wisdom in how to care for my children. AWESOME!

So I never found a complete sleep solution, and there are still nights when my 10 month old is restless. But I realized that just because my baby doesn't sleep at night, doesn't mean I have failed in some way. (I'm not writing this for sympathy at all, it is just something I had to come to grips with.) I also learned that just because someone else's child may not perform specific things at certain milestones doesn't mean that they are parenting incorrectly. They may just do things differently, parents and babies alike. And that is okay! 

And in 15 years from know, I bet my third boy will be the hardest one to wake up in the morning :)

10 months of Austin!

Austin Daniel...our third boy! When I found out I was pregnant with Austin, I wasn't quite ready to have a baby in the house again. I'm so thankful that God has a perfect time for all things. I remind myself of this often when I am overwhelmed with 3 little boys.

OH Photography

When choosing a name for Austin, we felt like we had hit a brick wall. We had lots of girl names ready but not another boy name we could AGREE on. I kept holding out for Caleb or Jacob. We also liked Owen, Gavin and Brandon and my husband liked Evan. The stipulation for the first name was that it had to end with an "n" (like our other two, Ethan and Hudson). The middle name was required to start with a "d" like his brothers. We settled on the Daniel for the middle name pretty easily, but the first name came  close to the end of the pregnancy as a suggestion from a couple in one of the churches we were doing a tournament at. The meaning of a name is pretty important for me as well, so no wonder we had a hard time deciding with all our stipulations!

OH Photography

Austin :: useful, revered

Daniel :: God is my judge

Austin was born in the midst of sickness in our house, but praise the Lord he was a healthy little jelly bean! He was my smallest baby.... 6 pounds, 9 ounces, but very long...22 inches. I love the memories of Austin tightly swaddled with his hospital hat on and his tiny little eyes looking for me. From the start he seemed to be a good baby and all were thrilled to welcome him home.

OH Photography

He came 15 days before Christmas, so he was my special Christmas gift. Very alert little boy that didn't seem to require as much sleep as his brothers. He is a very fair boy, fair light blonde hair and fair flawless skin. He was my only child that didn't have jaundice.

OH Photography

Jonathan is an awesome dad! He has survived watching 3 c-sections, which is saying a lot for my easily queasy husband. He takes over and helps out with all 3 children and knows how to care for me and make me take it easy. He's really good at making cereal for breakfast too :)

I'm am so thankful for the help of my family after Austin's birth. My sister and dad took Ethan away for a week and my mom cared for Hudson at home while I was still in the hospital. She then cared for me and Austin while I recovered from my c-section. It was special to have my dad around for this baby's birth. He has never been able to make it when my other boys were born. We all celebrated Christmas together too.

Austin fattened up quickly and loved watching his brothers play. He adjusted to a schedule nicely and slept well through noise those first few weeks of life. Here he is at one month old...

At two months old, we started traveling with him. He did a good job for such a little baby! He did develop a bad cold when he was 9 weeks old with such a wheezy cough and squeaky breathing. I spent many nights helping him try to sleep through the difficult breathing. Thankfully he checked out ok and it did eventually clear up.

Austin started smiling "for real" around 9 weeks old. At 10 weeks he celebrated his first Valentine's Day.

At 11 weeks, we took Austin on his first outdoor walk in the stroller in Ft. Lauderdale. At 12 weeks he visited the beach for the first time. We visited the beach in Miami, FL where Austin just slept in his stroller the whole time. About this time, Austin was a very good sleeper...took great naps and slept for about 6-8 hrs at night. Even after I tried to wake him during the day for a feeding, he continued snoozing in the corner of the couch. I have learned that if Austin is having a growth spurt, he sleeps AWESOME, but if he isn't he is very restless.

3 months old and happy traveler!

At 4 months old, Austin started rolling over and constantly practicing his new trick while he was sleeping. He stopped sleeping soundly at night and was so hard to get to settle down for naps. But no matter how much sleep he got, he was always the same happy boy during his awake times.

Visiting Aunt Laurel's house

First Easter

Visiting Grandma and Papa's house

Meeting Pop-pop

At 5 months Austin loved to roll around, jump and jump and jump, make sounds and play with toys.

 At 6 months Austin started sitting all by himself. He lost most of his hair, and it started coming back in very fine and light blonde. By the end of 6 months Austin no longer sat in one spot. He figured out how to move from place to place by propelling his body forward while still in the sitting position. Austin began to say "dada dada"all the time.

At 7 months, Austin started crawling! He crawled an army crawl by walking one leg and crawling on the other. Towards the end of 7 months he began pulling up on furniture. He began to roll his r's and say "dada" and his favorite words seem to be "book" and "Jesus."

 At 8 months, Austin was on the go, moving around furniture, jumping, and crawling. He favored any toy that made noise or that he could chew on. He started taking a bottle or sippy cup again and got his first two teeth!!! He also enjoyed eating baby food more than previous months.

During his 9th month, Austin has added several sounds to his vocabulary..."Mama," "Baba," "Nana." He loves watching the boys play and has started climbing on his brothers when they are lying on the floor. He has even climbed up the first stair on occasion. He loves to hide in small spaces and likes to push the kitchen chairs around. He loves going on walks in his stroller. Sweet potatoes and fruit are his favorite baby foods. He has also started eating solids like puffs, cheerios, cheese, and banana bread. He loves to put toys into containers and take them out again. He goes down our little slide and excitedly recognizes the neighbor's cat. He is now pushing his walker around while walking behind it. His favorite place to hang out is the open dishwasher and the front door where he can watch all that goes on outside. He is starting to show displeasure when toys are taken away from him or he has to be confined in his high chair.

A huge answer to prayer is that he is sleeping through the night again and seems much more settled while sleeping than he has ever been before. I never thought I would make it to the point of getting a good night's sleep again, but God has answered many, many prayers. More on this to come! It deserves its own post.

Here is the happy boy at 10 months! What exciting things will he do this month?

Adorable Memories

(One year overdue! All these are from October 2012)

Westminister,CO

Happy to be near rocks he can throw

Wearing Ethan's helmet

Neat play area in the Denver Mall

Hudson - 1 1/2

Wyoming

All week long, we threw rocks into the river (not pictured)

First we had to dig the rocks out of the ground

A little boy's paradise

Ethan could throw farther than his pregnant mommy (although, I don't know if
my pregnancy had anything to do with it. Ethan has an arm!)

Silly faces

Love my boys!

7 months pregnant

Loves to put things on his head

Catching Up!!

Much has happened since my last post! We added one more boy to the family...Austin Daniel on December 10th of last year. (hence the reason for not posting) So let's do a quick catch up...Starting with Ethan!

Ethan is now five and in K5 (homeschool). He loves to be in charge and organize his brothers to do activities the way he wants it. He loves to draw pictures, color, build with legos and play games on the iPad.

He LOVES spending time outside and especially in the "woods" by our house. He worked so hard with Jonathan to rake the leaves in the woods so they could have paths and rooms for their house. He has just gotten into watching non-cartoon movies like Lassie and Heidi. He loves when we read to him. This summer he took swimming lessons again and did well, even jumped off the diving board into the deep end. 

This fall he is on a soccer team. He focuses on the game most of the time, but can also be found doing cartwheels in the field or making silly faces. 

Ethan is my prime time helper with his little brothers. His face was so precious when he came to visit mommy and Austin in the hospital for the first time. He loves having a baby in the house for the most part, except when Austin cries. Ethan is ready for me to have 10 more babies! At all of Austin's different stages, Ethan has loved holding him and playing sweetly with him. He likes to go up into Austin's room after he wakes up from his nap and throw toys into Austin's crib for him to play with. He loves making Austin laugh, especially on road trips.

Ethan loves to dress up in his "hero" costumes and pretend he is either a good guy or a bad guy. He pretends he has a special power button on whatever he is wearing to make himself go fast.

Ethan loved doing special activities at Christmas, Valentines and Easter this year. I think we colored eggs 3 times because he enjoyed it so much, and we eat a lot of eggs :)

He climbs anything and everything. He climbed this VERY tall sand dune on a Massachusetts beach with Daddy. He told me that his favorite thing about being home is being able to climb on our "big" couch. (The couch in the 5th wheel is a love seat and attached to the wall.) He is always on the look out for a good climbing tree.

I recently found out that he loves taking pictures. I was scrolling through the pictures on our iPad/iPod and noticed about 50 pictures that I didn't take. Most of them were of Ethan's blanket and his "corner" or our house. Some were actually pretty good. Since that discovery, I've taken advantage of a new photographer in the family. Ethan took this picture of us while we were at the Anchorage Camp.

Ethan celebrated his 5th birthday this year. We had a pirate party with several friends from church. We played pin the patch on the pirate, made treasure maps, walked the plank, dug for treasure, and had a pinata. His special birthday gift was to go to Dutch Wonderland and ride the rides.

Ethan does well with learning new things at school. The hardest thing is to get him to sit down and do it. I'm trying to learn interesting ways to keep his hands busy while listening to me. Here he is on his first day of K5.

We are praying for him to have a desire to listen to God's Word and understand Jesus died for him. He knows that he is "outside the door" as he puts it and periodically asks questions. Wouldn't it be wonderful that the excitement that Ethan lives everyday of life would be transferred to excitement to serve Jesus?