It has been a long month. Transitioning Henry out of his swaddler has been no picnic. Perhaps it's the rose-coloured glasses talking, but I feel like both of the other boys adjusted to freestyle sleeping a lot faster. Then again, Max wasn't even sleeping in his own room at this point (that's crazy to think about - I feel like I've shared a room with Henry overnight fewer than 20 times) and Leo had other issues so it probably all evens out. It's been nice over the past couple of nights to see Henry finally able to get some reasonable sleep outside of his car seat. Did I mention the car seat? Shortly after taking the swaddler off, Henry got a nasty cold. We remembered that the semi-upright position of the car seat helped the other boys get some air overnight so we went right to it for Henry...except that then, we had a very hard time getting him to sleep elsewhere. So it's been about a month of battling for a couple of hours at the start of each night to get Henry to sleep somewhere normal and then, out of desperation, firing him into the car seat to get at least some sleep in before dawn. With the amount of blah blah blah I've done about sleep over the past 4.5 years, it's no shock that parenting magazines always run with at least one sleep story a month on their covers. It certainly provides an excellent crash course in problem solving, patience and persistence though. I just wish I'd gotten more Bs. Or is that Zs?
Other than the nights, Henry continues to be an absolute joy to be around. He is a really expressive baby, always ready to fire a barrage of huge smiles at anyone willing to make googly eyes at him. He is starting to get really grabby so we're having to watch what might be within his reach at all times. He dragged his hand in my bowl of tomato soup at dinner last night! However, this means that if there's a toy or something safe-interesting around him, then he can get it and stick it in his mouth himself. The play gym continues to be a big hit, but the Exersaucer is the big winner these days. Swings are out; tummy time is in. The 3-6 month clothes just got passed on to cousin West this past week (although we're hanging on to the pants for a bit). Sleepers in the daytime aren't the norm anymore. Holly even took Henry to the pool this past week and he apparently loved it. Here's hoping that I can get one Stardom boy through parent and tot lessons without wire-to-wire screaming.
Briefly, the rest of the family is doing very well too. Everyone is finally healthy, the weather has got the kids thinking about biking and parks (who cares what it is, they can get outside for long periods of time again!) and Holly and I are starting to get out of the house once or twice a week for personal rejuvenation. This feels really good to me, but then again the option was always kind of there, given that I'm not the breastfeeder. Now that Henry's pretty reliable with a bottle and seems to be able to go quite a while being happy without a top-up (a great combination, if you ask me) it must feel REALLY GOOD for Holly who has been getting out to the gym occasionally as well as to social events with friends. I'm pretty proud of her - I'm not sure I'd be able to get through those first five months with a smile on my face.
Anyway, I'll save details regarding the other munchkins for another post. In the meantime, here are some Henry pictures. PS Henry's still asleep. Yay!
