Catching Up

Why do I always feel like I'm catching up? I feel like I have been such a bad blogger lately! I haven't been reading, writing or commenting as much as I'd like. I get so overwhelmed when I look at my blogroll and realized how behind I am! Ha ha - is that silly or what? And when I haven't updated in awhile I feel like I have so much to say that I don't know where to begin.

Tommy turned four months yesterday! Our little guy is changing so much. Every day he gets cuter and cuter. :) It's so fun to watch him grow into his own little personality. He's getting much better with his hands, so he actually enjoys "playing" with toys now. (Grabbing and holding them.) He is making more sounds - especially if he is by himself - and lately he has been "talking" to himself in the mirror on his playmat. So adorable.

Yesterday he rolled over for the first time!

This morning I will take him to his four month check-up - which means shots! Hopefully they won't bother him too much. For the first time I have a long list of questions for the pediatrician. This past month he has really been keeping us on our toes. Just when we think we have him figured out he changes! (I know that this will probably continue for the rest of our lives.)

All of his eating and sleeping habits seem to have changed. I think that he has started teething - he wants to put everything in his mouth and he seems to get a lot of relief when he bites down on our fingers. He has also had a couple of really fussy days which are unusual for him.

The big topic in our house has been sleep-training. Until recently we have been really relaxed and didn't put him on any kind of schedule. He had been sleeping through the night (9pm - 5am) and took a lot of catnaps during the day. We started wondering when/if we should put him to bed earlier and when/if he should be napping longer in his crib, instead of wherever he fell asleep. Also I had been rocking him to sleep at night and I know that in the long run I'd like him to be able to fall asleep on his own.

I purchased a couple of the popular sleep-training books and have started going through them. I know that there is a TON of advice on this subject, so I'm just trying to find what makes sense for us. We started putting him down to nap in his crib and he likes it. It seems to help extend his catnaps into real naps. Also, we have anticipated when he will be sleepy and put him down while he is still awake (with a pacifier.) I couldn't believe that he didn't make a peep and was soon asleep.

We also started putting him to bed earlier. Last night he went down around 7:00pm, woke up to eat at 3:30am and then slept again until 6:00am. He was up for a bit and fell asleep again at 7:00am. I need to keep going through the book and we will see what works for him.

I am concerned about his afternoon nap since three days a week I am teaching my class from 2:00 - 3:00. Last week I took him to the sitters house, but today she is meeting me at school and is just going to take him for a walk while I teach. I will have to figure out what works best for him to get a good nap in the afternoon.

We will be traveling to California in just two weeks - Tommy's first time on a plane. Any advice for traveling with a baby??? We have started making our long list of things to pack. Thankfully my mom is collecting a lot of stuff to have at her house.

I will have to write more later... we're off to the doctor now.