Sleep? What the Hell is That?

Sorry about the graphic language, but Ollie's Momma and I wouldn't recongize sleep if it hit us in the face and startled wiggling all over us. Last night was worse than a nightmare. He went to bed a t his normal 8:30 time, got his bottle at 12 something and woke again at 3. This is where the horror started. He started fussing and wouldn't take his binky, so after trying everything imaginable, we finally gave him a bottle. Of course his gastric decided to kick it back up. So, sleeping in his bed wasn't much of an option. We tried our bed, in which he promptly spit-up. We then tried his bed again and the vacuum cleaner, no dice. So about 4:30 I got him out of bed (which he had spit-up in again) and had him sleep on my chest about 5 am he calmed down and went to sleep. Then I had an hour to possibly fall back asleep and maybe sleep for 1/2 hr. Then the stinking alarm went off and made Ollie jump. So I rolled him off and (in best Gomer Pyle voice) Surprise, Surprise, he woke up!

Now I just need some head gear so I don't knock myself out when I collapse from exhaustion.

Thud

And in this corner...

Weighing in at 15lbs. 8 oz. and 25 1/4 inches tall...Ollie "the Prize" Erickson. Ollie got his 4 month checkup yesterday. He's fine. A big boy, but fine. He's in the 90th percentile of legnth/height and 75th percentile in weight. He's outgrown some of his 6 month-old clothes because he is so long! He also tore the crap out of the sanitary paper on the bench and had fun with it.

He also got his second set of shots yesterday. He was good with those too. Cried for about 5 minutes during the shots, but once he was picked up he was fine. He also slept a bit better in his bed last night. At least he isn't wanting to eat everytime he gets up. Just a binky and he calms back down to sleep. Now if only he can go through the entire night without being restless. Maybe sometime next month.

Weekend and 5 Gens

Ollie had a good weekend, Mr. Hyde hid from us thankfully. He's gotten rolling to the left down without much of a problem, he's almost got rolling right down to perfection. He even liked the pea's he got for a meal! Eww! His bib looked really gross after that feeding was done. We've also figured out when he is done eating his food. He starts spitting it at you! It's like he's blowing bubbles with his food. pbtttttt and the parents are covered in baby food! At least he likes most of what he's eaten so far.

Today Ollie gets to go for his 4 month check-up and second set of shots! I'll have an update on that fun experience tomorrow. Here's a pic from Labor Day weekend. This is of the 5 generations leading to Ollie. Ollie, Me, his grandpa Steve, his great-grandpa Dean and his great-great grandpa Roy.

Beginnings of new tricks!

This is the beginning of some of Ollie's new tricks. He's got rolling over down pat, at least front to back. The sleeping was better last night...not as restless. Then there is what you see in the picture. The funny thing is that we have video footage of Ollie in this position vomiting his milk (like the exorcist) all over his mom's legs, twice! Sorry, I don't have a way to post it. Ollie also enjoys trying to sit up beyond his current position. He doesn't want to lay in Momma or Dadda's arms anymore. He wants to be upright, so we have to hold him upright. Not much longer and he'll be sitting on his own.

Last night he indicated his desire to be mobile. He was on his stomach on his blanket in the living room after he had turned over. All of a sudden he lifts up his butt by moving his legs underneath himself and gives a little push forward. He repeated this several times. Tresa and I looked at each other and laughed nervously. It is not long now and we are in real trouble with a mobile baby!

Suckers!

I'm sure that's Ollie's opinion of his parents...Suckers! He's just toying with us. Crying when he wants ready to sleep, eating when he's full, waking us at all hours of the night and spitting up all over us. Truth be told, he's the one who is the sucker or at least the sucker licker.


He likes the flavor and making himself a mess too! We are just beginning non-bottle food, so I guess he's going to be a mess for awhile.

Pushup King

Here's what Ollie looks like after a roll. He can roll from back to front, but not front to back yet. It would certainly help with his sleeping. Too bad he is restless in the middle of the night...all night long. He can't seem to just stay totally asleep. So, when he makes noise, we get up and check on him. Keeps the parents up all night. I can't wait for his doctor's appt. next week. Hopefully they can give us ideas on what to do. Especially for the crying spells. Last night it was another 2 hrs, but just earlier. Then he woke up at 9pm for an hour of play time as happy as a clam. I wish the pushup king would practice sleeping for awhile!

Humpty Dumpty and the Great Paul Fall

This is the scene right before Uncle Paul lost his balance and fell through the doorway! Ollie was still half asleep before, during and after the fall. Paul was a little shocked! No harm no foul. I'm sure Ollie will have plenty of falls on his own in months to come.

We now have an official rolling baby. Back to Front at least. He's becoming quite adept at it too. We were going somewhere yesterday and Ollie was on his back on the floor in the living room upstairs. I walked into our closet to get my shoes and when I came back out, he had fully rolled over and gotten his hands out from underneath himself. We are in trouble in the coming months!

Mr. Hyde reappeared yesterday. He refused to take his morning nap, so he got to go on 2 walks in the morning to get him to go to sleep. Later that night he woke up early from a nap and was an extreme crab. For 2 hours he cried/screamed and nothing would comfort him from either his momma or I. The vacuum cleaner didn't work, food, rocking, patting...nothing worked. So, his Aunt Annie took him and he quieted down and went to sleep. After he was laid in bed he fidgeted around trying to stuff his hands in his mouth, so I put the binky in his mouth and made sure it didn't fall out until about 11pm. He woke at 1 and had rolled himself over trying to get his hands in his mouth. I put him on his back and calmed him with his binky. He was then up again at 2 (or maybe still up). He got a bottle and prune juice. I tried setting him down, but the prune juice kept causing him problems, so I slept with him on my chest from 2:30 to 4. I tried putting him back in bed, but no dice, so he slept on my chest until this morning. I hope tonight is a better night.

Normal Baby

We are finally getting our normal baby it seems. Last night he slept in his jammies all night long! Considering he has gastric reflux and doesn't keep stuff down long, this is a miracle. He seems to be finally getting over it. Knock on wood! When you are a parent you become very superstitious about these little things. I know it's common, but you don't want to revert back to the previous behaviour, involuntary or not!

He slept in his regular baby bed last night again. He did better than the previous night. He woke up at midnight for another bottle and got cold around 2am, but he pretty much slept until about 5am! Yea, sleep!

We pick up pictures tonight! Maybe I'll get some posted this weekend.

Advancement

A few new things happened for Ollie last night. First, he almost completely rolled over! He got his lower half over, but his upper torso was still on it's side. He was trying to get his hands in his mouth still, so his arms were preventing him from completing the roll. Very soon, we'll have a mobile baby. Scary. Especially for the cats.

Second, he got to get into his swing and it didn't upset his gastric. He fell asleep in his swing! He certainly seemed to enjoy it. Third, he slept in his actual baby bed - no car seat! This little experiment didn't work quite as well. He kept kicking off his covers so it woke him up and his parents a couple of times during the night. We'll have to put his jammies on him tonight to see if it will work. Unfortunately, he spit up a little bit in bed, so we'll see how that works with jammies. Finally, for dinner Ollie had rice cereal with Apple sauce. He didn't like the first bite, but after that yummy!

Labor Day

I think everyone has a decent understanding of what Gastric Reflux is after this weekend. We even got a good video shot of Ollie up-chucking on his momma! Ollie had his attention quotient met and exceeded this weekend. He seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Even falling down in his Uncle Paul's arms! After they fell, Ollie just stared up still half asleep, trying to figure out what happened. The mental image is still funny.

Ollie also got to meet his great-grandpa and great-great grandpa. We took a picture of the 5 generations of us. It is still being developed, so that will have to wait for posting. It rained during the entire reunion, so it was inside. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but it was shorter than usual. There were a couple of other babies there that joined Ollie in screaming. He even managed to hit the trash can with his spit-up!

On Monday he seemed to catch up on missed sleep. But still got a good 6 hrs. of sleep in. He also got his first taste of baby cereal. Not exactly the best eating mechanism, but what can you expect from a rookie? He seemed to like the taste of it though. Monday was also a day of very little spit-up. We hope it continues, but I probably just jinxed it!