Thursday 9/2

Update on Joel's sleep: he has been going to bed anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30pm after a long soothing process which starts with a bath around 7:30pm, swaddle, feed and then walking around with him, paci inserted until he falls into a semi-deep sleep. That hour to hour and half can be quiet and peaceful or it can involve a decent amount of squirming, crying and screaming. When he settles down we can put him down in his crib with paci in place and walk out. Often he wakes himself up in 5-10 minutes and we have to go in, pick him up for a few minutes and then put him back down. Usually he's then down for a few hours. The last few nights he's been sleeping until 1:30 or 2am which is pretty good compared to before. Then I pick him up, feed him, and he goes back to sleep pretty easily. Then he wakes up around 5am for another feed. After that feed he is more awake and we stay up talking for about 20 minutes or so and he falls back to sleep. I've been just staying in his room from that point on since he tends not to settle into a deep sleep again and I have to repeatedly reinsert the paci or pick him up again. The past two nights he's been better and I've been able to go back to my room. Then if all goes well he sleeps until 7 or 7:30 when he seems ready to get out of his crib. I feed him, hang out with Isaac and Benjamin downstairs, get them breakfast and then by 8:30 or so Joel is ready for his first nap. I rush him upstairs to his crib, swaddled, pacified, sing a few songs until his eyelids droop and put him down. He'll stay in there asleep anywhere from 30min to an hour and then I'll transfer him to the swing downstairs or if we have to go somewhere he goes in the car seat and gets dragged along on our trip. He's not the greatest sleeper in the car seat, but if I can get him in the Moby wrap he falls asleep well in there. Anyways, he usually takes a long nap in the afternoon which starts off in his crib and then always ends up in the swing adn that can last 3-4 hours! Then it's around 4 or 5pm which is always a bad time in our house because Benjamin gets up from his nap, the baby is up, Isaac is up and I have to start getting dinner ready. Then when Walter gets home and we're all set to eat Joel decides he's ready for another nap and is pretty cranky. I've been trying to put him down for a late afternoon nap at this time, but it usually lasts 20 to 30 minutes and doesn't seem restorative at all. But what else can you do? I'm pretty sure it's too early for him to go to bed at that time, but he really wants tosleep. Hopefully soon, his bedime will get earlier, like around 7:30. That would be great.
So, that's it with Joel's sleep. I hope it's getting better. It would be nice to just be able to put him down for naps or bedtime without so much soothing, but I think it's probably still too young for him to cry it out. I was thinking to try it at 3 months, but now I'm not sure. Maybe he'll be my one kid that I don't have to do that with. We'll see. He'll be 3 months officially next week.

I made chicken tikka masala tonight for dinner combining two recipes and it turned out awful. It was way too spicy and bitter tasting. We ended up making a frozen pizza and some chicken wings from Costco. I had no veggies so we had cantaloupe. What a terrible dinner! I felt so bad...

I did day #2 of the 30-day Shred. I really needed it after how much junk I ate today. It was tough, but slightly less tough than yesterday. Hopefully I'll keep up with it and it will just easier. Until I move upto level 2, that is...

Glad tomorrow is Friday although we have no plans as of yet. Today I did this activity wth Isaac that took up a good chunk of time. We made a ten commandments train which involved coloring, cutting, gluing, and memorizing Bible verses. We both had a good time. Maybe I'll try something like that with Benjamin tomorrow.