About Sleep

Well I think we're getting somewhere with Champ. It took us a while to find a groove. With his colic it was near impossible to put him on a schedule, and by the time he got through it I wasn't sure where he should be with eating/sleeping because I hadn't read up on baby stuff as a refresher. Now I know to do that with the next child. I can't believe how easy it is to forget! On the 20th he turned 4 months and we went in for his checkup. Every checkup we get a little news letter (I suppose you might call it) about their age and developmental stage. I used that as a reference to how much he should be eating and how often, and how much he should be sleeping.

No one needed to tell me he should be sleeping through the night by now, my body has been screaming that at me for the last 2 months, but since he hasn't been I realize I can't just expect it now, we have to work our way into it. So I put my foot down. I insisted that he has to go at least 6 hours between feedings in the sleeping hours and if that mean he cried then that meant he cried. I ended up sticking him in the hall because he CRIED. By the time he exhausted himself into sleep he was still sleeping at 7:00 (I fed him at 12:30 the night before and he woke up at 4:00ish). So at 7:00 I woke him up, fed him and laid the groundwork for a schedule. Success!

Last night I fed him at 11:30 he didn't wake up until right before 6:00. I considered making him wait until 7:00 but realized I have to ease him into longer hours. So he ate and we both went back to bed and I am happy. I see a trend growing, and though two nights doesn't sound like a whole lot to make expectations he seems to catch on quick. I mean, he only cried for 1 night and then slept the next. I'd say that's pretty good. My world seems to be coming together, working for the happiness of my family. YAY! We are going to continue to try to get him to sleep a full 8 hours with no sleep, but we'll work slowly on that. I am happy.

Now if I could only get myself to go to sleep at a decent hour....

We try not to let him suck his thumb, but he is a thumb sucker at heart.
(just like his mom was)

About The Improvement Movement

Forgive me blogger for I have sinned. It has been 1 month since my last post.

So there are a lot of things I need to take responsibility for: My spiritual growth, The state of my home, both spiritual and physical, my body, Champ's eating/sleeping schedule. And those are just a few of the more important ones at the moment. I'm happy to say I'm getting to the point where lazy is just not fun anymore! I don't really know if lazy was ever fun, but we'll call it that for lack of a better adjective. Today I am taking charge of it all! I'm ready to improve myself and my family.



About my Spiritual Growth~ I often feel like a Mormon fraud.... a Sunday Mormon if you will. I still battle with doing the ever so important scripture study and daily prayers and more importantly making sure I'm making Sundays as meaningful as possible (specifically taking the sacrament each week). While I won't go into great detail in my blog about this I do want to say that the important part is I am still trying and I'm getting better. Saturday night I was determined to study the Sunday school lesson BEFORE class and in doing so I learned some pretty amazing stuff. One of my new favorite scriptures is this:

1 Corinthians ch 11 vs 31
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

This is was an important lesson to me about how important self reflection is and that we need to do it OFTEN. It is key in the repentance process. I've learned some new ways to go about this and I'm excited about it.

About my Body~ I'm going to start exercising! And even better I'm going to set goals. I'm happy to say I've only gained about 5 lbs from my last pregnancy (vs. 10 from the one before that) because I was consistent with my exercise the last 2-3 months; but sad to say I still have 5 lbs to lose from my last pregnancy (+ 1o from the one before that). I would like to have our next baby when Champ is about 2 years and 3 months. (I know, specific right?) Right now he is 3 months so that gives me about 15 months before I get pregnant and 45 lbs to lose. I want to maintain my "skinny weight" for about 3 months before I get pregnant, so really 12 months to lose 45 lbs. That means I have to lose approximately 3.75 lbs a month. Sounds doable right? I plan to do this by exercising in the morning before I eat so I'm burning extra fat instead of food calories. Every month I'm going to set a goal to help me eat healthier. Some of the goals I have in mind are: 30 days with no fast food, 30 days with no extra sugars and sweets, 30 days with no eating out, 30 days of no skipping breakfast lunch OR dinner.... stuff like that. I may be repeating each of these a lot. I'm going to drink enough water every day. I'm going to keep track of all of this on calendars. I'm going to follow these rules:

In Addition to all this I'm going to start running. I really REALLY want to do the couch to 5K program and hopefully before I get pregnant again the 5K to 10K program. Ultimately I want to be able to run a half marathon, but baby steps for now. I'm not positive I'll be able to do that BEFORE next baby (with winter coming up and all). Oh and one more thing~ Amy and I decided that if you are exercising and eating right, reading your scriptures can also help us lose weight on account of: filling yourself spiritually leaves less room for food.

About my Home~ I'm making chore charts! A short while ago I found some great lists on pinterest for what I like to call "home engineering" (I like to call myself a home engineer as apposed to a housewife or stay at home mom because it sounds so much more involved and smart~ I know I'm lame). You can find these lists here on the Martha Stewart site. Between these lists and some other lists, I've come up with an ultimate list for how to stay on top of my chores. The different lists include: Daily chores, Weekly Chores, Monthly Chores and Seasonal Chores. I'm currently working on turning them into subway art to hang in my hall (or laundry room when I have a house... someday) so they are there as a constant reminder. I want them to be apart of my decor so they have to look good and having them framed I can still check things off every day with out having to make up new lists every week/month. I'm still figuring the program I'm using out, and I'm still tweaking stuff but here is an idea for what I'm going for:

This is just a rough draft of the daily list ~ Fun right?

About Baby~ Champ is driving me NUTS! Bud was sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks - 2 months. Champ is STILL NOT. It's partially my fault because I haven't had him on a schedule. It's partially that even though he was getting there the good habits he formed were interrupted when family came to town. No matter the fault though it's time to do something about it because this whole waking up at 4:00 every morning is driving me mad. I'm going to put him on a schedule and if he doesn't improve in 2 weeks he's crying it out. That's right, no more loosey goosey mom anymore. He WILL sleep at night.

So that's about it for right now. This is the improvement movement. I'm taking charge. No more lazy, pregnant with a 9 lb-er, or fussy new baby excuses. I will find my skinny. I will have a clean house that invites the spirit. I will draw closer to my Savior. I must. My family depends on me and if I'm not at my best I'm not giving them my best. That's where I'm at.

And now for your viewing pleasure - a glimpse at my little family in current times: