The Bancheros: Sleeping through the night!

I have to start by shouting from the roof top that Porter has been sleeping through the night. Wooohoooo. I feel like a new woman. I am hoping this post does not jinx it. Lately, it seems like the minute I say anything it backfires. I hadn't been following any real "plan", per say, since he was born. I have just been nursing him every 3 hours during the day, letting him nap when he wanted to, and letting him sleep during the night as long as he could. Weeellll I decided that 3am feeding was starting to get old. I bought the book Babywise when I was pregnant, but just kind of flipped through it. I know many people that have sworn by this book so I decided to go ahead and give the strict feeding, wake time, nap time routine a try. At 9 weeks we started. Boy let me tell you doing it felt like a full time job, but totally worth it. By 10 weeks he had dropped his 3 am feeding. I did notice when he would wake periodically during the night he would have a hard time falling back to sleep because of his flailing arms. Either one would wack him in the face or would start to relax, startle him, and wake him back up. He also has been been chewing on his hands a lot and scooting himself up to the end of the crib, which has been making the SIDS monitor go crazy. We swaddle him every night with a blanket, but he seems to get out of it really easy. I decided to get a velcro swaddle to keep his arms secured. It worked like a charm the first night. He didn't budge the whole night, or at least when I was staring at the monitor he didn't. The second night he managed to wiggle his way out of it!! I immediately went in there and tightened the swaddle thinking there was no way he would manage to get out of it a second time. Well, lo and behold, at 630am I woke up and both arms were completely out. Every night since then he manages to get one arm out. I do plan to stop swaddling somewhere around 3 months or so, but until he has been sleeping through the night for a while, I will continue to. Hopefully by then he will have a little more control over his arms : )

Having fun

Besides focusing on P's new routine, we haven't had too much going on. We went to church for the first time since he was born. He was 10 weeks. It went a lot better than expected. We sit at the end of the pew in case we need to run out, but he has done good so far! We made a trip to Jackson to see family and friends, but that's about it! At my 7 week check up, I was told I could start back light exercise. I have recently started feeling up to running again. The first time I went running outside was so freeing. I am learning that running is going to be some good quiet time these days versus not looking forward to it. I have also started to crave my herbal teas again. I couldn't drink them when I was pregnant so I think I just lost my taste for them, but it is definitely back! I am feeling more and more back to myself every day. I have been trying to psych myself up for going back to work on Feb 12th. It will be very hard, however I am very thankful that I am able to go back part time so I can have some week time with my lil booger.

Ready for church!

Getting my tea on

Don't worry I have checked to see which teas are okay for nursing. This Pukka brand has some pretty awesome teas. I have only been able to find them at T.J. Maxx. I've tried to order some directly from the website, but they don't ship internationally.

I have been practicing my calligraphy when P is napping. I usually do a more traditional font but I am trying new strokes and styles. I am thinking about starting a little business doing it for cheap. Be looking for a facebook page. : )

Old man

Mimi Cherry

P's cousin Jacob

Aunt Angie

Our friend Shelly came home to visit from Seattle with her new sweet baby, Miller. We decided to all get together to visit and meet all of the new kiddos. I am usually unable to go when everyone gets together, being that we live in Hattiesburg, so I was super excited. Everyone got to meet Porter who hadn't yet. I also got to meet Lindsey's sweet Noah and Mandy's sweet Charlotte. We were lucky enough to get the chilens to sit long enough to snap a shot. We have a lot of precious babies in this group! We even have more that aren't pictured!