My Little Climber

I was hopeful that Weston would be able to move to a "Big Boy" bed before William arrives, but I know that he's still going to be a bit young when his little brother arrives, so I was worried that it might not be possible; however, Weston decided for me that at a mere almost 16 months old...he is ready for a Big Boy bed!

He may not understand that he is going to be moved and why he needs to stay in his bed right away, but unfortunately, he has to be moved quickly. He has become quite the climber, and he can climb/fall out of his crib even though there are no bumpers and the crib is all the way lowered.

The first time that he did this...he scared me to death! I heard this HUGE thud, and I was sound asleep. Talk about getting my adrenaline running at 6:00 in the morning!! He has done it twice since then, and he has become more and more graceful with each climb/fall from his crib. He definitely needs to be moved out of his crib, so he doesn't get hurt. We are working on converting his crib to a toddler bed, and we are also working on getting a more permanent bed for Weston. (Thanks Amanda!!)

Wish us luck that the move won't be too difficult for us!

Bedtime

We have established a great bedtime routine for Weston, and it's working well for us...Weston gets a bath or a sponge bath every night to relax him, as well as, lotion on his chest, arms and legs. After his bath, we read him a story, he nurses, and I put him down in his bed awake. He does great, and he lays there for sometimes over an hour and finally drifts off to sleep. We have no problem with his sleeping...he wakes up once in the night, and he eats and goes right back to sleep, so we are definitely blessed in regards to sleeping.

My question is...What time does your little one go to bed? What age did they start going to bed at that time? At seven weeks, what time were they going to bed? I'm not sure what is "normal" or if there is a normal at this point. Weston typically goes down around 8:00 PM, and he does fine, but it's pretty normal that he lays there wide-awake for an hour before falling asleep. Do we read to him more or let him lay there? Is 8:00 PM too early for his age? I'm not sure...I have no clue really. Any ideas or suggestions or experiences anyone has to share?

New Mom Questions

So, to all you mothers out there...I've got some questions. I'm 100% Type A, so it's difficult to have a newborn that's tough to plan around, but I understand that, and I feel like I've been adjusting well. Wes is sleeping for four hours at a stretch then waking to eat, then sleeping for another four hour stretch at night, so I feel like things are going well in the sleeping area, and we are all feeling much more rested and happy around the Harvey household.

However, as a mother, I worry. I think that's only natural, but I'm so worried that I'm doing something wrong, so I need your advice on how you guys did things.

Here are my questions:
1.) Sleeping - Wes is doing pretty well (knock on wood) sleeping! I know that books and people typically say that he needs to eat every three hours at night, so I should wake him, but he has been sleeping four-five hours through the night, and I haven't been waking him. He is peeing and pooping enough, so I know that he is hydrated, and I know he's getting enough, so I just don't wake him up. I know that he is gaining weight, as well. How did you get your little one to sleep through through night or was it ever a problem for you? I know he isn't ready to sleep through the night yet, because he needs to eat at least once through the night, but when he is how to you cut back his/her middle of the night feeding?

2.) Nursery - How did you get your little ones to sleep in their room? Did you start them off in their room right away? Or did they sleep in your room for the first little bit? If they slept in your room for a little while, how did you get her to switch and sleep in their own room? Wes is sleeping in our room right now, because the first few nights he was really fussy, and we couldn't get him to sleep, so it was really tough having to get up and down all night with him screaming. Secondly, it's just tough having to get up and go to the other room to nurse him at night, so it was easier having him in our room.

3.) Schedule - If you had your little one on a schedule, how do you work them up to that schedule and what was your schedule. Right now, he's obviously not on any type of schedule. We wake at the same time every morning, so he's eating at basically the same time every three hours everyday, but he's not going to bed at a specific time yet, and it's fairly late that he's going to bed, because it's when we go to bed. We do have him in a nightime routine of bathing him, putting him into PJ's, reading him a book, nursing him and then going to bed. But when did you start putting your baby down in their crib at a certain time each night and how did you start that routine. When did you get them on an eating and napping schedule and what was that like?

4.) Nursing - Wes seems to nurse for a really long time...people say 15-20 minutes, but it takes Wes at least a half hour. I know that he is getting milk, because I see it in his mouth, coming out of his cheeks as his nurses, etc., but it just takes him SO long. And he is also a fussy eater...I could never take him and nurse in public at this point, because he shakes his head back and forth, and he he screams like he can't find it sometimes, but he's right on it. I'm not sure what that's about, but it's like he's just getting SO excited, so it takes a lot of patience to feed him. We are up close to an hour nursing in the night, so that's tough, but I love the bonding that I have with him, and I'll do whatever it takes to successfully breastfeed. Any advice or suggestions on making this process easier for both of us?

Anyways, if anyone has any advice or suggestions that would be great. I'm just looking for any ideas that people have or ideas on how you did things, so I can hopefully do things a little easier than I'm doing now. Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have! And what post is complete without a picture of my little guy! :)