Levi is now sleep trained! Woo hoo!

We've been patting him to sleep but he's getting heavier and I can feel the effect on my neck and lower back. No good. It was also taking longer and longer to pat him to sleep for his naps. So James suggested to try sleep training him. I was planning to wait till after my parents leave to do it because things will change again when they come.

But a few nights ago, I accidentally sleep trained him. I was real tired, even after I fed him, he still didn't fall asleep. Normally at bedtime, he'll fall asleep after feeding and he'll continue sleeping when I put him down. But he didn't this time so I just left him awake and left the room. And he fell asleep on his own, no crying! So I thought I'll try again the next day.

Consecutively for a few naps, he cried for 30 mins (I almost gave up at this point, I'm terrible at this, James kept me to it), next nap 20 mins and next nap 10 mins and then since then, he hardly cries when I put him down and falls asleep on his own! Brilliant!

So the little one now goes down for his naps and bedtime with his sleeping bag, 2 rounds of Jesus Loves Me and I'll say "Nap nap time", big kiss and down he goes.

Yay! No need to pat him to sleep anymore! Now just need to figure why he keeps waking in the night. He's really strange. One night he sleeps for 6 hrs straight and next night he wakes every 2 hrs! Very strange. We'll see how it goes tonight.

UPDATE: Woo hoo! Last night, after putting him to bed at 7pm, he only woke up to fed at 11pm, 2am and then 7.30am! YAY!!!!! Hopefully this continues and soon he'll drop the 2am one and just wake up a bit earlier. That I can deal with. For the first time in 3 months I woke up in the morning feeling like I actually slept in the night. I figured out the problem – when he stirs and cries, I almost immediately go pick him up to feed. He woke up at 4am again crying and this time I left him and he went back to sleep after a few mins and the crying was not too loud. Then he stirred at 6.30am but I just left him and finally I cannot tahan, needed to feed him so at 7.30 when he stirred again, I fed him. Praying that it'll continue like this. It's a bit harder to sleep train when he sleeps in the same room.

The two faces of our little one.. actually the one on the right would have made a great passport pic!

Our baby boy is 3 months old!

I'm not sure how heavy he is now (he was 6.5kg before we left for V2) but he's definitely big! Everywhere we went in Vanuatu, they went "fat fat, fat fat". They didn't mean it in a mean way but it's their way of saying teasing a big cute baby in their culture. Even in NZ, the people say he's big so I guess even compared to a kiwi baby, he's big! One thing for sure, there's no hiding him discreetly when I'm breastfeeding him or carrying him in a sling (which we don't use anymore coz he's just too heavy).

He's a talker. Seriously. If you think Sophie can talk at 4 yrs old, you shd see Levi at 3 months! He'll keep talking non-stop if you keep talking to him. Super cute! He makes all these sounds that makes me go "awwww….". If he's crying, we just have to engage his eye contact and try to talk to him, he'll eventually stop! It's like he just needs to be listened to. He's usually quite easy to be calmed down, unless he's way past his bedtime. Ok I will never understand how 2 parents who don't talk a lot ended up with 2 children that are so talkative!

He's sleeping a bit better in the night now but it varies from night to night. Once in V2, he did a 7 hr sleep stretch… but only once. Most nights he still wakes every 3-4 hrs to feed. I'm hoping he'll do a 5 hr stretch soon coz it's really testing my ability to keep sane during the day with a super inquisitive and active 4 yr old and 3 month old that needs to be patted to sleep.

I still can't believe 3 months have just flown by. It's really such a blessing to have Levi. Having a boy is such a different experience. Very cool. I'm really thankful.

Sorry for the slow down in posts. We came back on Wednesday and have been readjusting to being home.

But main reason why I've been a little more busy is because the little one caught an skin infection while in Vanuatu. He's alright and it's starting to heal. However, it's infectious so I've gotta take care to wash all his stuff separately and keep changing his sheets. The doc prescribed both local and oral antibiotics.

He's been a bit more grouchy but still coping pretty well. Thank God that he's good at taking his meds, not too fussy there.

Please keep us in prayer. Very heart pain to see him like that. Will update more soon!

A special shout out to our good friends Es and Sue before I forget.

THANKS FOR THE T-SHIRTS!
 

Funny how it arrived just in time for the trip! I realised I didn't have much summer clothes for Levi and also they were just the right size (3-6 mths). It's so comfy and easy to wear and of course, uber trendy! Thanks heaps. Save me from washing everyday!
 

P/s: Levi is 11 months weeks old today and just before we left, the Plunket nurse weighed him. He was 6.48 kg! My arms are aching from having carry and pat him to sleep. When we return, it's time to sleep train! But he's been doing real well, super cute. I think he's in love with me because he bursts into big smiles whenever I look at him. So so so cuteeeeee.

P/s: And yes, this will be my last post for tonight.