The Best Damn Napper on the Planet

I don't know what happened.

But Baby Jett is now an AWESOME napper.

As in he naps so damn well and so damn long that I have to WAKE HIM UP on a semi-regularly basis because otherwise he would be sleeping way too close to bedtime and way too much during the day to sleep well at night.

Let's say it all together now...WTF?!

He went from the king of cat naps to napping for 1-2 hours twice a day every day.

It's perplexing to say the least.

And I do it all wrong.

I nurse him to sleep guys.  Every. Single. Time.

Every nap, every day I nurse him until he's ASLEEP and put him in his crib.  I don't bother with the drowsy but awake baby like I have to do for bedtime.  But he happily sleeps and sleeps...and sleeps.

As far as I can tell it all started with that rose.ola virus.  He had a fever and I just thought he was tired because he was sick but he slept SO GOOD during the fever part of that virus.  THEN the rash set in after the fever disappeared and night sleep went to shit but he continued with the fantastic napping.

The transition from 3 naps down to 2 seems to have also played a part.

Suddenly 9 month old Baby Jett was The Best Damn Napper on the Planet.

So our new schedule looks something like this:

Wake at 6-6:30am (UGH, he's such an early riser now!)

First nap 9-9:30am.

Sleep until 10:30-11am...so many times I have to wake him at 11am because...

Second nap is no later than 2pm...and baby must be awake for at least 3 hours to be tired enough to nap.

Up from 2nd nap no later than 4pm though I much prefer if he's awake at 3:30.

And bedtime at 7-7:30pm

Regardless of how late he goes to bed he gets up around 6am, so I prefer the earlier bedtime because then he's getting more sleep.

But if he naps until 4pm then he's not tired at 7pm.

OMG, I NEVER EVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE A TIMED NAP KIND OF MOM.  It's so not my style.

Baby Jett led the way though...I just followed.

And truth be told it's not nearly as strict as it sounds.  Some days we still have half hour naps and we just move the nap schedule around, 2nd nap a bit earlier or bedtime a bit earlier.

These are my guidelines and rough nap times that I keep in mind but I'm not overly fussed about naps anymore.

I KNOW, what a difference 6 months makes right?  Remember this?

So, what have I learned about baby sleep?

You gotta ride out the storm and PERSISTENCE is key.

I had to keep putting baby in the crib.  Even if he would only sleep for half hour, I kept putting him in the crib instead of continuing to let him sleep on me.  Again, taking cues from Baby Jett because he wasn't sleeping for longer than half hour when I was wearing him either.

After quite a rough road with sleeping in general we've landed in a great place napwise.

I can only hope that this will continue, I can't tell you how nice it is to have an hour and a half to myself every morning, I shower, get dressed, do some chores, pick up a bit, put makeup on, blog...sometimes I even find I'm bored because I've ran out of things to do!

So we've landed here, fantastic napping...until the transition to one nap...

Baby Jett - 10 Months

First I have to record Baby Jett's 9 Month stats...for posterity sake of course!

Remember how I said I was sure he was no more than 18 lbs.

Mommy was spot on.

At  9 Months Baby Jett weighed 18 lbs exactly, still in the 18th percentile.
And is once again tall at 29.75 inches which is the 85th percentile.

And 3 weeks later at 10 months I'm sure he weighs no more than 18.5 lbs but I'm pretty sure he's over 30 inches which means WE NEED A NEW CAR SEAT.  I can't believe we need a new car seat.  Our car seat has a weight limit of 30 lbs but a height limit of 30 inches.  Crap.

At least this one lasts until he's 65 lbs!  He'll be like 8 by then =)

I feel like I've started 17 different posts over the last few weeks but have managed to post NONE of them, so it looks like I'll just summarize everything here.

Here's what's new this month.

• He waves.  He's been a 2 handed waver for awhile and he would wave for no reason but he finally "gets" waving, as in with one hand and it's when we see people or they're leaving...he really likes to wave at people's backs after they've already left.
• He dances...by shaking his head back and forth when he hears music.  Clearly he gets his dancing skills from daddy because that is definitely NOT how mommy dances.  Sometimes he sings along as well...so cute!
• He learned to go down the stairs, you know backwards as in NOT face first and throwing himself down expecting someone to catch him.  We've been working on this for awhile as there are A LOT of stairs in our house and you know...just lots of stairs in SF in general.
• He "shares".  He'll hand you things but then he wants them right back, sometimes he doesn't even really let it go before snatching it back.  But his face lights up when he offers something and you take it and say thank you.
• He has a new fake cry where he squishes he face up and squints his eyes...real cry the bottom lip sticks out, fake cry no bottom lip.
• He understands how things go IN things, so now everything goes in something, toys in his baby potty, cheerios in the bumbo, bowls in pots, spoons in drawers, booty in giant silver vase that no one would ever think to look for booty in etc etc.  I keep opening drawers to find things that definitely don't belong there and we're definitely starting to "lose" toys as they end up in drawers or cupboards or the above mentioned vase. 
• Had his first virus.  He was sick with rose.ola.  He handled it pretty well, though he was kind of miserable for most of a week, including when grandma and grandpa came to visit.
• Was the BEST SLEEPER EVER when he was sick...it was kind of amazing.  Long  1-2 hour naps twice every day and LONG stretches of sleep at night with only one waking.
• Promptly went back to SHITTY SHITTY SLEEP once he was better.  Although naps stayed awesome.  YES, NAPS ARE AWESOME NOW.  He went back to waking every 3 hours for almost a week.  But now back to one night waking again.  Sleeping seems to always be a work in progress.
• He is suddenly scared of loud noises, he bursts into tears when he's startled by loud noises now.
• Has been on a hunger strike.  He stopped eating meat awhile ago but then he stopped eating bread (which he loved) and then he stopped eating all the veggies that he used to love.  So basically he eats fruit.  Pediatrician said don't worry about it as long as he's still breastfeeding.  Just keep offering.  We waste a lot of food that he doesn't eat these days.
• He still nurses all day long, he basically never makes it more than 2 hours without at least a little snack. 
• Still only has the 2 bottom teeth...which he brushes every night in the bathtub.
• Has learned how to get under the bedskirt and has discovered the wonderland of wires we have hiding under there.

• Suddenly hates the bath.  He used to LOVE the bath...now he makes it about 3 minutes before he bursts into tears and tries to climb out...no idea what happened. 

Now get ready for the piccies of cuteness.

He is so over this laying on his back for pictures malarkey.  Good thing I only have 2 more months of these!