update

So I haven't written in a while because...JC's been napping like a superstar and I haven't had to kill hours sitting in the dark with my iPhone.  That's awesome for me, but it's taken a hit on the blog entries!  As an update on the sleep training, it was totally worth it and JC now has two naps during the day (lasting typically 90 min each), he can last about 2.5-3 hours between naps, and he sleeps from 6:30pm to 7:30am with a quick dream feed and diaper change at 11:30pm (which my wonderful husband does).  The process of nap training was slow though, and after five days I was calling the doula asking whether it's possible that my baby just won't nap longer than 35 min.  She said she's seen it all the time and that I should persevere.  Thank goodness she was right!!  By the next day, the naps were stretching out and they've just continued to improve.  I highly recommend this approach!  Now I have a few hours in the day where I can do what I like while JC sleeps, and that's good for all of our sanity!

I also got back into knitting!  The blanket is about half finished, but I've taken a short hiatus on it because I had to go back to the knitting store for some more yarn and I got distracted when I found a pattern for the cutest little baby blanket ever!  So I've been working pretty steadily on that, and I'm hopeful that I'll return to the large throw after this.  (haha, my history says that project probably won't be finished).  It just feels so nice to be knitting for my son.  I really know what people mean when they say that something was knitted with love.

As another update, I'm officially wearing a pair of my pre-preg jeans today!  I'm not wearing them well, and there is a disturbing amount of excess spillage above the waistline, but they're done up and that's something that wasn't possible even a few weeks ago.  I haven't done any exercising and am in a total February funk right now, so it was a real boost this morning when I was able to squeeze myself into these puppies!  I'm still breastfeeding so I figure I'm going to be stuck with an extra ten pounds until JC is weaned, so what's the point of killing myself in a gym (haha, besides the physical and psychological health benefits)?

What else is new?  JC is a total doll, and an absolute pleasure to be around. I actually find myself missing him while he's sleeping!  And he barely cries at all now.  He's just smiling and laughing all the time.  He's been sitting up by himself for the past week or so, although he'll tip after 30 seconds or so.  It's truly amazing to watch this development.  He seems so much older and independent sitting on his own.  He's also scooting all over the floor, making swimming motions and I think crawling is around the corner.

In other big news, we started solids in mid-January and he's really taken to eating.  Although he has this frustrating habit of putting his hand in his mouth right after he eats and then smearing that messy hand all over himself and his high chair!  No way to stop it either, because if I grab one hand, he just turns his head and sticks in the other one!  It's messy, but pretty cute too.  So far we've tried sweet potato (loves), avocado (loves), butternut squash (loves), sweet peas (yuck!), zucchini (double yuck), oats and rice cereal (likes).  Apples are next.  And I've been trying to introduce a sippy cup with water over the past week and he didn't understand it at first (we even had our first mini-tantrum when he was tired and couldn't figure out how to use a straw), but yesterday he just suddenly "got it".  These babies are amazing.

Well, I think that's all the updates for now.  Hopefully I'll get myself to write more often now that I have this extra time!