cry it out spencer take 2!

ok.. so it didn't quite work last time... and then you got sick.. again.. and we can't possibly make you cry it out when you're sick! so here we are.. almost a month later.. and mommy is confined to the bedroom. yesterday was the first night... you went down at 8.. woke up at 11:40... apparently you cried like 20 minutes and fell back asleep until 2pm when you woke and daddy gave you a bottle... fell right back asleep until 5:30.. when you whimpered and struggled and slept a little here and there until 6:30, when you had it, and were up for the day. pretty darn good! max crying time of 20 minutes before falling asleep.. your sister audrey cried for a whole hour when we let her cry it out!

tonight you had a harder time going down... but again.. cried 20 minutes and fell asleep. we'll have to see how the rest of the night goes.. but if you can go all night... woo hoo.. a whole new world for mommy.. one where i can get some sleep finally at last!

i also started you on level 2 baby food jars today... banana rice peach today.. yum! you're still not such a big milk drinker.. but boy you can eat that baby food!

cry it out spencer!

little spencer, spencer, spencer... mommy had every intention of letting you cry it out as soon as you turned 4 months old... even advised by your pediatrician.. but daddy was away.. and cio is daddy's job! then when he got back.. you got sick.. and then we started solids... and then mommy started to wean you... and you still had to be swaddled.. and mommy was worried that there were other issues preventing you from sleeping well... so mommy thought she'd hold out and suck it up for a coupla more weeks. alas, your multiple multiple night wakings.. inability to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time.. and difficulty going down at night really began to wear mommy out. finally, mommy had enough. daddy sent mommy out to target tonight. and i came back to a silent house!!! apparently, daddy put you down in the crib, sans swaddle, turned on the mobile and left. you cried for a full 10 minutes.. then took a short rest... then after another 2-3 minutes of crying, daddy came up to soothe you and gave you your pacifier.. you turned your head and went to sleep. done! we'll see how the rest of the night goes.. but mommy is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.. and getting ready for a whole new world!

sleep - what else? :-)

ah.. sleep. last week spencer gave us 8 straight hours out of the blue.. and then a couple of days later.. started waking up every single hour and napping horribly. growth spurt? probably... you're about 3.5 months now... they say growth spurts happen at 3 months and 4 months? then we also felt a tooth coming in.. upper left. teething too? well.. after a couple of days of angst.. we even tried a couple of spoons of rice cereal one evening... your night sleeping is getting better.. got 4.5 hours last night... and then of course it goes downhill from there. and now daddy is leaving for taiwan for a week and a half.. aaaagh! whatever will i do without him? you're still quite a handful... you need to be hald all the time.. and sometimes you cry even while being held.. and of course.. you are *heavy*... daddy thinks that audrey was easier than you... she needed to be held all the time too.. but she was like half your weight!

you're smiling a bit more.. i think there have been some laughs.. particularly after waking up well rested. you like tummy time.. you're starting to grab things... you love the bath every night... only thing that calms you down... you're wearing 9 month clothes... you're breaking out of your swaddle every night... you love watching tv... and um.. that's all i can think of right now...

cio - again...

little audrey... your sleeping in the last month got from awesome to terrible... it all started with some middle of the night screaming so daddy slept on the floor in the room with you.. once a week.. then every coupla days.. then every single day.. then needing to sleep on the floor next to daddy... then we introduced the toddler bed and that didn't work... so we got you back in the crib... then you started to need daddy in the room with you until you fell asleep... then also for naps... sigh. so we had to resort to letting you cry it out tonight. not something mommy can do at all.. left it all to daddy... mommy can't bear to hear your sobs. i suppose it didn't go all that bad.. you were asleep within about a half hour of crying.. now we have to wait until your middle of the night screaming for daddy and see how that goes... sigh. all this, and we're trying to transition you to preschool 2 days a week too... and who knows.. maybe your molars are coming in too.. and you've got this annoying 3 month old little brother who takes up time from mommy and daddy.. :-(

an update

hm.. what's happened since the last post.. um.. well, in the last few days, spencer turned 3 months old... we moved you up to your crib.. and for the most part, you're sleeping fine... not through the night by any means.. but you have a good first and often second stretch with only minimal assistance :-) you weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds and 1 ounce at 3 months old... you're heavier now than audrey was at 9 months old!

a new bed... plop!

since audrey's been crying and screaming in the middle of the night and needing daddy to go in and sleep in her room with her, we decided to have her try out her new princess toddler bed. you like it... but you've fallen out several times already. you sleep just like daddy.. tossing and rolling all over the place. and once you fall, you don't like going back in the bed.. and end up sleeping on top of daddy!

spencer - you've slept over 5 hours straight these past 2 nights! i hope that's a permanent thing! you're just about 12 weeks old.. heidi says rex started sleeping through the night at 11 weeks.. and i hear that sleeping 5+ hours straight is considered sleeping through the night.. so there you go! ;-)

spencer is 2 months!

and you weighed in at a cool 14 and a half pounds! little audrey didn't weigh 14 pounds until she was 6 months old! you have been sleeping relatively well these past couple of days.. since you got your shots at the doctors. audrey slept super well after getting shots as well... or is it that we now have you swaddled, sleeping on a vibrating bouncy chair, and playing highway sounds to you all night? you'll give me a 3-4 hour stretch.. then about 2 hours and 2 hours.. which basically takes me from 10 at night til 8 in the morning. you sure are fussy from about 7pm til 9pm tho.

audrey - you are super cute... but super high maintenance too.. you love wai-po, and drag her to play with you all the time.

Spencer's longest sleep stretch so far...

not yet 8 weeks old, and you slept 4.5 hours last night - yay! but after that you were up every hour or so... but then after you woke up, you took a 2.5 hour morning nap! you've been sleeping lots lately.. hope it's not because you are sick.. daddy's been deathly ill.. he stayed in bed and slept for practically 36 hours straight!

audrey - we went to art class at gymboree today to try it out... you wouldn't even pick up the paintbrush! and you would't touch the play-doh... you hate getting your hands dirty! :-)

the kids are sick..

audrey's been sick for about a week already.. we missed your mandarin class.. and haven't been to gymboree all week! poor little thing. but you love, love, love playing with wai-po.. so much so that you often go to her to play rather than mommy and daddy. i think that this 18 month to 2 years old stage is the *bestest* time. you are so cute.. you totally understand everything we say.. and you love getting attention by showing off your little tricks... rowing a boat, shing nian hao, dancing to the wiggles...

spencer... this last week was your sixth week.. they say peak fussiness happens at 6 weeks... so i'm waiting for things to start getting better.. but they just seem to be getting worse! maybe because you're a bit sick.. we used the reflux medicine for the first time.. it seems to calm you down.. sometimes you just spit up so much.. and other times you don't spit up much at all. and you have this typical evening fussiness that we didn't have with audrey. you cluster feed from like 6pm til 9pm.. you fuss.. you get all aggravated during nursing.. yet you nurse constantly during these three hours... you have lots of gas.. lots of burping and farting.. you sleep in a swing and bouncy seat at nights... i sure do wish you would start sleeping better... you are pretty regular though.. you typically sleep at 10am.. and 1pm.. 5pm... and of course there's the evening fussy period.

right now you are asleep on daddy, and we're watching tv.. that's what happens every night... :-)

a weekend of activity... and getting sick!

spencer is almost 6 weeks old now.. we went on our first shopping outing, and used the double stroller for the first time. spencer slept the whole time.. and audrey sat in her underneath seat for a bit before wanting to be carried. then we went to aunt jenny's for dinner. the next day, we went out to dim sum with wai-gong, wai-po, jo-jo, cousins kai and colby... and in the evening we went to john and shirley's place for dinner. spencer - you had the biggest poopy of your life.. big explosion.. guess it was to be expected.. you hadn't pooped in 4 days! audrey - you went straight for the cinderella tea set.. you just love playing with spoons and cups and plates!

mommy started feeling sick that day.. and that night - audrey - you woke up screaming and crying in the middle of the night. daddy had to go in and sleep with you.. he thought you had a nightmare.. but in the morning, you are congested and sniffly and just not feeling well.. poor little girl.

wai-po tells us that audrey just learned how to 'stomp your feet' (from the 'if you're happy and you know it...' song). and how to 'wo-wo so' (shake hands). wai-po is very good at trying to teach you new things. she's also very good at letting you have your way... ;-)

we learned "colors" in the mommy and me chinese class today... mommy has been trying to teach you colors since you were like 6 months old.. over a year later and i have yet to see that you actually get it.. ;-)

fussy fussy spencer...

is there really a six week peak of fussiness? i hope so... cause spencer is going to be six weeks in 3 more days... :-) on a grand scale, you're is actually a pretty good baby... but from about 6/7pm to about 9pm, you are awake and seem quite colicky. you get totally worked up.. seems like you want to eat and eat and eat.. but when i nurse, you start to flail and wail.. so maybe you just want to suck? the paci works somewhat. i made daddy go out and get gripe water for you... not sure it's working... plus we have mylicon for any gas discomfort you may be feeling.. i just don't know what might be going on.. :-( but after monday, i expect you to get less and less fussy! ;-) on another note.. you pooped today - yay! it's been 4 days since you last pooped.. i was getting worried! it was a smallish poop.. but a poop nonetheless... you're probably just good at absorbing all the breast milk nutrients.. not much waste :-)

we all went to studio grow today... your grandma played with audrey while you slept on mommy. audrey - you love playing kitchen and taking care of the baby dolls. you are super cute these days.. when you're not whining or crying or throwing one of your tantrums :-) you had a huge poop today too.. it even leaked out! and that's just one of the many poope you have each day.. ;-)

sleep - the bane of my current existence..

spencer - you had one of your worst nights.. so bad i had to wake daddy up in the middle of the night on a work night! you fall asleep... i put you down.. you wake up.. i pick you up.. you fall asleep.. i put you down.. you wake up.. that happened like 10 times... from 11:30 til about 4am.. when you slept for an hour and woke up again at 5am. grr. the night before was so good too. hrmph.

audrey on the other hand.. you slept beautifully from 7:30pm til 7:15am.. and then you play quietly in your crib until i come in to get you at 7:30.. beautiful.. you toss and turn and whimper sometimes in the middle of the night.. but we pretty much leave you alone until morning. naps on the other hand.. bad.. you sleep only a half hour! and wake up wailing!! you are napping now.. been down about 20 minutes.. we'll see how it goes! ;-)

a new baby brother!

ok.. it's been a loooong time.. so long, that a new baby brother has been born - spencer tsai! he's actually 5 weeks old already! audrey's blog posts were largely about sleep issues... well.. spencer is not the *best* sleeper.. but he seems to be better than audrey so far...! your stretches at night are about 2 hours.. i think i got almost 3.5 last night.. you cluster feed in the evening.. usually from about 7pm to 9pm... then daddy holds you while mommy gets an hour of so of sleep... then i feed you around 11/11:30.. it takes like an hour to get you back down... you're up again at 2:30/3:30... then again at like 6:30... that's the routine..! you actually should be sleeping more... at your one month doctor appointment, you weighed in at 11 pounds, 10 ounces.. that's how big a 3 month old is! i still can't believe that the 0-3 month old clothes i have are for babies up to 12 pounds! you are wearing 3-6 month clothes at 2 months.. while audrey is still wearing 6-12 month clothes at 19 months old! guess this is better than the other way around!

and speaking of audrey... you're so cute... yet can be quite whiney, often throwing little tantrums.. crying and we don't know why. you're not speaking quite as many words as other kids your age.. but you've got about 15-20 words.. let's see... here's what you're saying right now..

ba-ba (daddy - and your favorite phrase)
ma-ma (mommy - but it sounds like ba-ba)
di-di (little brother)
bay-bay (blanket - but it sounds like ba-ba)
bow-bow (pick me up - but it sounds like ba-ba)
bubbles
go-go (dog)
wa-wa (water)
wa-wa (socks)
ya-ya (duck)
puff-puff
moo
bye-bye
hi
night-night
row-row (row your boat)

okay.. gotta go for now.. spencer is on his feeding frenzy... i gotta go nurse him!