Max is 5 Months

 This has been a very rough month for sleep in the Law house.   Max's sleep has been getting progressively worse since December.  As I mentioned in last months blog, we attempted to sleep train Max the same way we did with Kam. However he wasn't reacting that well to it, then we realized he was teething, and sick so we gave it a break.  I went back to nursing him every time he woke up just to get a little more sleep.    Once Max was better, we attempted to sleep train him again and failed miserably.   We thought Kam was strong willed, Max puts him to shame.  This kid could cry and cry and cry.  So after another 4 nights of sleep training (8 days total between the two different attempts) - I gave in and hired a sleep trainer.   We had 2 friends that had used a woman to come in and sleep train their babies so I called her and booked her for the first available date.   Jayde, the sleep consultant came on a Friday night.  She took away Max's paci, sleep sack/swaddle, mobile, and white noise machine.   We joke that it was like solitary confinement for babies.   Then on the first night I was only allowed to go in every 5 minutes, say the exact same comforting phrase and walk right back out.   It took 40 minutes for him to fall asleep and then he was up most of the night off and on.   I was exhausted but we were desperate so I stuck with the pro.  Jayde helped get Max on a very strict schedule during the day - waiting 4 hours to nurse, and eating solids 3 times a day, and taking 2 long naps and one cat nap.   We did the same process with the nap, letting him cry then going in only every 5 minutes to comfort.   On the second night Max slept from 7-5!   While it hasn't been an magic fix, Max's sleep has made great improvements.   Most nights he will sleep from 7-5, but he will cry out from time to time in the night, but if he does he usually can sooth himself back to sleep.   We are trying to stretch him until 6 am.   Just last night he actually slept 7-7 for the very first time.   We still have problems if he is teething or sick then I go in and give him some medicine and give him his love (a giraffe) and then he usually goes back down.      His naps have improved HUGELY b/c of the sleep training.  He now takes 2, 1 to 2 hour naps with a 30 minute catnap at the end of the day.  This is life changing for us because before this he was KING of the 20 minute nap!    Usually on the weekends we can sync up Kam's nap with Max's 2nd nap of the date which is a great break for Ken and I.  

Because Max no longer is in a sleep sack he has started rolling all over his crib.  He rolls from front to back and back to front no problem now.  He's also trying to move to a sitting up position on his own.  He also is starting to sit up on his own for a few minutes at a time.  He's changing so fast I just can't believe it.    He also tries to wiggy out of his Bumbo by arching his back and flinging himself around.  He gave us a good scare last week by popping out of the it while I was feeding him.     Max is now eating a lot of baby good.  Sweet potatoes are still his favorite but he has had peaches, peas, bananas, squash, carrots and mangos.  We even tried puffs for the first time tonight.  He can pick them up and put them to his mouth but he can't quite figure out how to let go of them.  It's too cute.

Max is still super happy.  He give lots of laughs.  He has a very raspy voice, and Ken has given him the nickname "smokey" b/c he sounds like Max is going to have a smokey voice.    Ken apparently had a very deep voice as a kid so I'm wondering if Max will be like his daddy!    His hair appears to be fine like mine, and is staying lighter but he is getting a lot of it.  I think we will have another blonde baby!

Max gives the best, biggest smiles.   He really smiles with his entire face.  It is so adorable.  We still can't tell what color his eyes are going to be.   Right now the outer most ring is blue, with the middle part green and a very small ring of brown/hazel on the inside.  I think they will be Green, but they may be hazel.  Only time will tell!  

We think Max is getting his next two teeth, but we aren't sure what teeth  they will be.  At first I thought it was his top front teeth but now I think they may be his eye/canine teeth.  Either way, he's definitely teething as he's drooling, gnawing, and fuzzy.    Let's hope whatever teeth they are, they pop through soon!

KAM:

The biggest news for Kam this month is that the tooth fairy made an early visit to the Law house.   Kam's bruised tooth finally had to be removed. It was getting progressively worse and the Dentist was worried the infection would start to damage the adult tooth.  We got 2 opinions and both Dr's said it had to come out.  However, one wanted to put him under to do it and the other said they would just numb it as it would be a very quick procedure.  After much debate Ken and I decided not to put him under.  We both were dreading it. When the day came Kam was actually excited to go to the Dentist.  Mostly because he likes the games and toys there.   However, when they took him back to the room he would not lay down or open his mouth.  Even though they put toy story on the tv for him.  They ended up having to put him in a papoose to strap him down.  He was strapped in from this shoulders down to his ankles.   He screamed the entered time.   Both Ken and I were in the room and it was pretty awful to watch.  Luckily the Dentist was really quick.  He rubbed the numbing gel on his gums, then gave him the shots to numb the gums, then once it was good and numb  the dentist quickly pulled it, and cleaned out the infection.  Then they had to put pressure on it make the bleeding stop.  The whole thing took about 10 minutes top.  Kam was pretty upset but we took him straight to target to pick out a toy, and he cheered up pretty quickly once we were at the store.  He picked out a spiderman on a motorcycle toy, and a minion playodugh toy.   After target we took Kam to get some frozen yogurt.   He was pretty happy after that, not complaining about his tooth or anything.  He occasionally told us his lip was 'ticklin' - when the novacaine wore off.   Watching Kam sit there strapped down and screaming was awful.  I felt sick to my stomach all day just replaying it over and over in my mind.  however, it was  quick and when he was done Ken and I were happy we chose to do it that way rather than putting him under.   Now we just have  to wait 5+ years for his adult tooth to come in!  haha

Here's a picture of Kam refusing to nap the afternoon after his tooth was pulled.   Clearly losing his tooth isn't stopping him from crawling out of bed.

 The last picture of Kam with both front teeth

Kam and Daddy planning video games at the dentist.

 This is why I feel like we will have more trips to the dentist/ER in our future

In other developments, Kam has also started peeing standing up.  Ken and I walked in on him standing in the bathroom just peeing toilet like it was no big deal.   We were cracking up!

Time outs haven't really been working for Kam so we have started taking away toys as punishment.  We take them away and lock them in the closet downstairs.  It seems to be working pretty well.  The first day was rough, we had 4 of his favorite toys locked away - buzz, woody, his firetruck, and a garbage truck.  His other favorite toys of the moment are all spiderman action figures.  He calls them motorcycle spiderman, "baby spiderman" and  "daddy spiderman"


Some of my other favorite Kam moments from this month:

The other day he blamed Woody for crumbling his graham cracker into the ground!

Kam calls max "Maxi million"

He loves to make Max laugh by jumping up and down.

First time daddy had both boys on his own over night- mommy went wine tasting.

Max is 4 months... mom and dad need sleep

Our littlest Law is 4 months and a lot has changed.   First of all he is a BIG BOY.   We had his 4 month check up and he was 17.1 lbs and 26.5 inches.   The same height as Kam was but almost 2 pounds heavier.   He is the cutest chubby cheeked baby around!

Mom returned to work - I went back to work on Dec 15th - 14 weeks with my sweet boy went by way too fast.  Luckily I was able to return back 4 days a week, having Fridays off.  Also with the Holidays coming so quickly I basically went back for 7 days and then had two weeks off to go back to IL for the holidays.   Ken's parents where out visiting from the 18-27th so it was nice to have extra hands on deck to help with the transition back to work.  Going back with 2 kids has been much harder that going back with one but I'm thankful for a great nanny (Al) and a super supportive husband who has given up his morning workout routine to help me get out of the house in the morning.  It's also super helpful that Ken now works from home so he can relieve Al by 5 or 5:30 almost every night.

Max's first Christmas

We celebrated Max's first christmas and the first christmas we were able to celebrate in our own home as a family.  We had a beautiful, warm sunny Christmas day.    Ken's parents were able to join us.  Kam was thrilled to get up Christmas morning and tear open all of his presents.  Ken and Kevin fried a turkey and we all pitched in to prepare a delicious meal.  Max got a doorway jumper, a toy mirror and lots of new clothes.  He's too big to fit in a lot of kam's winter hand me downs!

Max's first flight!

flight to Illinois

flight back to california

We flew home with both boys on December 27th.  This was Max's first flight, and the first time flying as a family of four.  Luckily Ken's parents returned to IL on the same flight we were on so they were able to help us get to the airport, bags checked and get through security.   PHEW.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.   Max was a champ on the flight.   He was very laid back and well behaved.      Kam on the other hand was completely wired.  This was the first time we had to buy him a ticket so he had his own seat.  I'm not sure if he was overwhelmed, over tired (it was a 6 am flight) or over stimulated b/c Kevin and Sue were across the aisle from us, but he would NOT sit still.   He did not want to be buckled in and he wanted to run up and down the aisle.    Even worse, every time Max would start to fall asleep Kam would lean over and yell "cock a doodle doo" as loud as he could in Max's ear.  I don't even know where he learned that from b/c he had never done anything like that before.   Ken and I can laugh about it now, but that was definitely the longest 4 hour flight we'd been on.  The good news is that the flight back to  California went much smoother

this is what max thinks of winter weather in Illinois

The one back thing about our trip home is that Max got a cold on the trip.   Then he gave it to me, and eventually to  Kam.   Our whole house was sick for about a week and a half.    The cold didn't help Max's already poor sleep patterns, although you couldn't tell by this picture below!

Our good sleeper left the house.  Since about mid December (right when I went back to work). Max started waking up multiple times a night.     He had been down to one wake up, then it was two, and now it's as many as three time or as often as every 2 1/2 hours.    It got pretty bad when we were home for the holidays and has continued to be bad since we returned.

Below are some fun pictures with all of the cousins while we were home.

He got 2 teeth.   Max is on the same teething schedule as Kam was.   We've noticed he's been extra slobber and his gums have been swollen for a few weeks now.   This week we finally can see two teeth cutting.  We are praying this is part of his sleeping problem and that once they finish cutting completely we will have a better sleeper return.  You can see his cute little teeth in this great video of him giggling

While we were back in Paxton, we were able to get Max baptized.   I was thrilled to have him baptized at the same church I was baptized and confirmed in and the same church we had Kam baptized in.   My best friend from childhood, Kaci Rust was Max's Godmother and Ken's brother Justin was his Godfather.   Max was a perfect angel during the service and smiled the whole time.   Kam was great too and he wanted to go up with us and give Max a big kiss right before he got the water on his head.   Kam was quite the ham during the service, even letting the pastor hold him during the sermon.   Unfortunately the weather was not very good and Ken's parents, Laura, Hailey and Natalie were all unable to make it as the roads were icey.    We are so thankful Justin was able to carefully make the drive down and be part of Max's day.   Also on the same day Max was baptized, we said good bye to my Grandpa Rodeen.    He was 92 years old and just a few days shy of his 69th wedding anniversary with my Grandma.  He lived a great life and we will miss him but I'm so gratefully I was home and was able to say goodbye.

This week we started Max on rice cereal.   He seems to like it well enough.  We are hoping that introducing solid foods will help Max sleep longer and drink less breastmilk.  Up until now my supply had been doing really well but with the stress of work and getting sick last week,  it has dropped a bit.  I'm hoping that once things calm down a bit it will recover.  We are also hoping that Max will return to a better sleep pattern.     Last week before we realized he was sick AND teething, we attempted to sleep train him.   The first night he cried off and on for 2.5 hours, the second night he cried for 1 hour and the third night he would go back down after only a few minutes but he would wake himself up about 30 minutes later.    Night 4 is when I realized that he was sick and I was getting sick so we put the sleep training on hold.  I'm hopeful that after we are all better, and his teeth have come through we can get some solid sleep and hopefully train him quickly to sleep through the night.  I can't tell you when the last time I had more than 4 hours of sleep at the same time.  If was definitely before I was pregnant.  

KAM
Kams Christmas:

Kam had a great christmas.  Of course he loved all his presents.   Ken and I even pulled a few presents out from under the tree Christmas morning and hid them for later because he was so overwhelmed with the gifts.  He played with everyone before opening and new one.  I think he was most excited about his train set and a garbage truck that his uncle Paul got him.

Being back home for the holidays was very hectic with two kids but it was so much fun to watch the boys play with all their cousins.  We were able to see a lot of extended cousins from the Law and Ohse sides of Ken's family.     We finally were able to meet sweet Hailey.  She is soo adorable and I don't believe Justin and Laura when they says she cries because she was a sweet happy girl when we were around her. Kam and Max a lot had a lot of fun play time with Johnny and Lucas as well.  Believe it or not, Kam was the ring leader of the boys.  He would round around saying "come on johnny, come on lucas, follow me!"    It was sooo stinking cute.   Johnny was great with the little boys and with baby Max too.  Johnny is just a sweet boy.  But even Lucas liked having a baby around.  All the boys were so gentle with Max and gave him a lot of attention.  I just love seeing them all grow and play together.  There are some very fun memories.  

Favorite movie is currently toy story.  He's obsessed with Woody and Buzz.  While we were back in IL for the holiday, Ken's mom brought out Ken's old Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys.  Kam was in heaven.   He even was able to bring Woody back to California (on the plane) and Grandma is mailing Buzz out too.  Buzz can't get here soon enough as Kam asks about him everyday.   Kam loves to say "to infinity and beyond" although it sounds my like "infinity beyond"     It's so cute.  He pretends to fly around the house like buzz light year and he will ONLY wear his buzz light year pull ups to bed.   He also saids "Howdy cowboy"  or "Hello Cowboy" and then will pat Max on the stomach.   He also says "there's a snake in my boot" just like Woody.   It's pretty adorable.

christmas morning bike ride!

Kam speaks in full sentences and is learning more and more words each day.     Today in the car he turned to Ken and said "Daddy, max is so cute"   :-)   He also sings his ABC's pretty well while he washes his hands.

Kam calls Max, "Maxi-man"  and the other day when I was eating breakfast with Kam he pointed to max and said "Maxi-man" then he pointed to himself and said "Kam Man" haha.   Max also has a red birthmark that is on his back and it's looks like the shape of the rolling stones logo.   Kam always points to it and says "nipple?" haha.

Kam is going through a stage where he isn't eating very well.  Ken and I try to get him to eat everything but we usually have luck with waffles, eggs, and/or a shake at breakfast and the rest of the meals are hit or miss.  Potty training is still going strong though - he even showed his friend Mila how to go and she started potty training the next day!  way to go Kam!

Kam is in a stage where if is over being somewhere he will say "GO HOME"  over and over again until we leave.   He said "no home" about 10 minutes into our flight to Chicago.  Ken and I were dying thinking you're outta luck kid!

Kam got his very first ear infection.    As I mentioned earlier, after we came back from Chicago, we all were sick.   Kam had a low grade fever for several days which I didn't think anything of but it was going on 6 days so I called the Dr and they wanted to see him immediately.    They looked in his ears and sure enough the poor guy had a double ear infection.   I felt awful because I just assumed he had the same thing I had (which lasted over a week).   He never once complained about his ears and was sleeping fine.  In fact, I had taken Max in to have his ears checked because he was fussy.  His ears were clear and I never would have guessed I'd be bringing in Kam 2 days later to have his ears checked.  It sure did make me feel like a bad mommy but I guess it's a good lesson to learn!    By the way when I took Max back to have his ears checked he weighted 17.4 lbs! ha

This is definitely the craziest most hectic time of our lives.   I know we will look back at this time of our live and miss the chaos but somedays  I wonder how we are going to get through the day.   We love our boys to pieces but they definitely keep us on our toes!  We wouldn't have it any other way!