To suck or not to suck…

Oh isn’t that the question of the day most days??? OK maybe just me :)… But mine is in a much non-innocent manner :).

I am speaking in regards to sweet lovebug and his new BFF- THE THUMB. We have been doing some fist suckin’ for a while, but recently Brady(and with some motivation from Grammy last Sunday putting his thumb in his mouth hahaha) has discovered that this fist that he has been sucking on has contents when unfolded that he is in love with. The thumb… he is outright sucking on that little sucker!! Sometimes just the end nubbin’ gets the suckling but more and more it is the whole deal getting the schlobbin! The goal of getting that thumb in the mouth has overran the bottle even, which is just an unknown occurance in our household! The boy loves to eat, but now the battle is on for the nipple to beat the fist to the mouth! One free moment and break, and the nipple will lose that battle :). It is actually really cute, and boy oh boy am I excited for the cuuuuute thumb sucking pictures I am going to have! I love those! This new thumb sucking could actually be a God send for us as well since I think he forgot to tell us that he has “broken up” with the pacifier. He doesn’t seem to have quite the attraction as he used to….. I am able to still get him to be comforted ever now and again with it, but I think he more loves to feel that nipple on his gums :)… No toofs yet though :)… He has spurts now and again where we think that he “might” be teething but no white spots or bumps just yet! It is nice to know that maybe, just maybe, he will have a thumb to self pacify himself with here pretty soon! It's crazy how hard stuff is for these little angels as they learn in life! I mean really how hard is it to put your thumb in your mouth :).... harder then you think when you are 3.5 months old :)

The attempts.....





He is outright laughing.. and us “play” coughing to him is hysterical!! So for the love of God, in the future, do not choke infront of him – HE WILL LAUGH ATCHA! :) I am guessing we don’t have a doctor on our hands.. ;) I swear we do some of the most ridiculous things trying to get that laugh outta him… Here is proof that choking = FUNNY… ignore the hacking dog sound in the background :)..



We have been successful with taking away the swaddling at night! Man I was scared to try too… I saw those good night sleeps that he has faaaaading away the second we tried.. But once again he has slammed in my face- WRONG AGAIN MOMMA! It was getting to be ridiculous how he would try and try and try, which woke him up more and more and more.. when trying to get out of the swaddle. I mean that is the point of the swaddle isn’t it? To comfort? Help him sleep? I have always wondered when we would take away the swaddle… although I was in no rush.. if it comforted him then why… but that fight that he had every night gruntin’ and gruntin’… that meant no more, no thank you, get this off of me… Sleep and comfort, this has been the purpose of the swaddle for us anyways, and I will NEVER not appreciate the swaddle! I love that he was one that loved the swaddle… I think it helped us transition him to his crib quicker because he felt all wrapped up and snuggily still in the GIGANTO BED :) (6 weeks on the dot I made myself put him in his crib!), helped him to sleep through the night quicker (7-8 weeks we were sleeping through!), and a resort to end a fit! Still, even now if he is having a bit of a grumpy battle wrapping him up in a blanket, even if it is only over his arms, HE LOSES THAT BATTLE 99% OF THE TIME and settles down. He can’t fight those heavy eyelids when the swaddle is incorporated :). I am very thankful that we have that to fall back on… among the other one million things that I am thankful for :). He is really being so good to us!

We are taking the unswaddling very slowly… he is still being swaddled for naps. He doesn’t seem to fight that swaddle as much as he does the night time. Maybe because he is down longer at night I suppose? He is still putting himself to sleep when Gigi lays his sleepy self down for naps… swaddled of course. I am going to work with him this weekend on napping without the swaddle. We are transitioning him out of the swaddle and into a “sleep bag” which is this….. (he actually has it on in the video above..), he actually sleeps like this too lol...




We have put him in the sleep bag before and he doesn’t seem to mind it at all. As long as the arms can go in every direction he would like he seems to be content, yet feel snuggled with having some sort of “blanket” around him. At nights right now we are successful with him sleeping through the night while unswaddled but that is also with me putting him to sleep. We started a “routine” in which we start getting him ready for bed around 8 if we bathe him (most of the time when I pick him up, his GiGi has him smellin’ pretty from bathing him most afternoons :) ) and taking his last bottle between 8:30 or 9. I know that it won’t always be the same but with all the things I have read about how babies love routines and such.. I thought that although I think he is too young for SET TIMES on his bottles and naps (although he is getting consistent with his naps during the day a lot, with Gigi that is.. mom and dad on the weekends = HERE KITTY KITTY…. Cat naps it is :), Gigi gets 3 hour naps!), I thought it might be good to get somewhat of a bedtime routine down as he gets older. We are still battling with a little reflux although it seems to be so much better! What that means is that after that last bottle, I have to hold him upright for 20-30 minutes (big time reflux rule :), and I firmly believe that it helps) so that all acid stays down in that belly… So what that long story is getting at that I am telling is (hahaha) he is not being put down without the swaddle to put himself to sleep. That is the next goal….. getting him to put himself to sleep. He can do it, I know he can… However, I right now I can’t imagine the “cry it out” method, even when he gets older (I think they talk about doing the cry it out method if you have to when they are 6 months). I just really hope he does all this like he has done so wonderfully with everything else! There have not been many times that he is not able to “recomfort” himself at night without the swaddle now. Although, please do not pay attention to the cup of coffee that I am drinking at 3:20 in the afternoon because one of the “there have not been many times” was this morning hahaha! So that is the next step is getting him to put himself to sleep and to be ok laying him down drowsy without being swaddled! I am going to try that on his nap times this weekend and see what happens. Right now I am all about swaddling during naps… the better sleep he gets during the day, the happier he is and the better that he sleeps at night! Crazy how that happens!

WHAT THE! Snow… and lots of it! Of course we had to take him into the “blizzard” since he probably won’t be in snow of this sort for many a years :).

GIGI'S HOUSE HAD LOTS O WHITE STUFF!


DADDY MADE A "MINI SNOW MAN" LOL...


I think right about now Brady is like ARE YOU KIDDING HOW COLD IT IS..


I hope everyone is well.. my wit button is broken today but I wanted to get a blog out about the new successes that our little Hulk is accomplishing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! XOXOXO!