Watch out!!! Baby Bear is on the move

"Cherish the fact that Baby Bear can not crawl" I must have heard it a million times from family and friends, but until he actually started crawling I didn't realize just how much they meant it. He is just a motoring around my house like there is no tomorrow. Oh what I wouldn't give to have an ounce of the energy he has!! I can't keep up with him. He's the Energizer Bunny!!

I guess since he hasn't been able to move him self around in 7 1/2 months he is getting all that built up energy out in full force now!! It is so cute to see him discover his surroundings in a whole new light. You can just see the curiosity in his eyes every time he discovers a new place to see or something new to touch. It has definitely cured his boredom :D

Some one needs to invent some baby knee pads tho his poor little knees are all red from our carpet. I have tried putting pants on him but it doesn't help that much his knees are still getting pretty red and he is sweating because it's so hot. I think I am going to get those big mats they have now that connect together, that may be a little softer for him. If anyone knows of anything else that will help Baby Bears red knees let me know!!

Some Baby Bear Tip's that helped him learn to crawl:

- Practice tummy time with your baby, eventually he/she will prop themselves up on their hands and knees.

- Place a toy slightly out of reach. Your baby will want to play with it and try to get him/herself closer to the toy.

- Get down on the floor with your baby. Place the baby on one side of the room and you sit on the other side. Clap and cheer your baby on, he/she will want to come to you and eventually with time get there.

These are just some tips that I used with Baby Bear that seemed to get him going.

Baby Bears Boredom

Baby bear seems to get bored so easily with his toys. It's so frustrating, you spend all this money on toys that he only plays with for a few minutes and then gets bored with. I set up a play area in my living room for him. I put a big blanket down on the floor with a few toys. He will sit there for a few minutes and play with them and then wonder over to the remote control or telephone and wanna play with that instead. He seems to find household items more interesting than his toys. I even baught him a play phone thinking he would love that. Nope! he would still rather have the real thing. Sometimes I will give him a plastic bowl and spoon to play with, it seems to keep him occupied a little bit longer.

He got an Exersaucer as a baby shower gift. I remember how my nephews loved playing in theirs for hours so I thought great put him in there he can play and I can get some housework done. He'll go in for all of 5 minutes maybe 10 and then he's crying to get out! He also got a Jolly Jumper as a baby shower gift. I used to be able to put him in there and he would jump for a good while, sometimes up until an hour. He loved it!! It was great I could get my housework done, cook dinner etc. Now when I put him in and he will only last 10 minutes and he is whining again to get out. I know babies have a small attention span, but I didn't realise it was going to be this small. At least it's improving my imagination skills in trying to find new and exciting things for him to do.

Mamma Bear Tips:

- Garage sales are a great place to get cheap toys when your baby bear get's bored of his/hers

- Household items make great substitutes for toys

Baby Bear @ 7 months

Oh I am just the proudest momma bear right now!! My little baby bear is growing up oh so fast. As soon as he turned 7 months old, he began to hit milestone after milestone. Boom! boom! boom! To think how proud I was of him when at 4 months old he was sitting up all by himself, I am just beside myself now.

It all started a few weeks when my little baby bear got his very first tooth, followed a few days later by his second tooth! I was expecting him to be a Grouchy Gus and be up all night, however he took it like a little champ. I have to admit he was a little crabby and did wake up a few times at night for some Tempra, but other than that he was as good as pie.

Last week he surprised me again. Baby bear will usually pull himself up by holding onto my index fingers. He will then let go, fall on his bum and do it all over again. Last week he let go and I thought he would just fall on his bum like he normally does, but not this time. Oh no, this time he stood there laughing. Standing up all by his little ol' self, I couldn't believe it. It only lasted about 5 seconds, I was sure it was just a fluke, but he keeps on doing it. He won't stop! he just loves it. Now he can stand without falling for about 20 seconds. I'm still waiting for him to take a step, I'm sure it will be sometime before he's walking, he hasn't even started crawling yet. Mind you this afternoon baby bear was rolling around on the floor and found himself on his tummy. I watched while he was trying to get a toy which was out of reach. He got himself on his hands and knees and took two crawling steps! (don't know what you would call that, creeps??) I couldn't believe my eyes!! I think I may have shed a tear. I am so proud of him!!

I think it may be time to baby proof the house.

Sleeping Part II

Although baby bears sleeping patterns have improved, they are still not exactly where I would like them to be. It's 7 months later and he still hates going to sleep. I don't know if he thinks he is going to miss out on something while he is asleep or what it is! but he fights his nap time every day. I know this is very controversial, but we have resorted to using the "cry it out" method. :O Hey, he can cry and wiggle in my arms while I try to rock him to sleep for hours, or he can cry safely in his crib. It works for us, sort of.

He takes two naps a day. His first nap is from 9 - 10 a.m. This nap really isn't as big a problem. Baby bear will usually will fall asleep after only 15 mins. of crying, and will usually sleep the full hour. His afternoon nap is where the biggest problem lies. Ideally it would take place from 1-3 p.m. however, this is never the case. I will put him down at 1 p.m. and he will usually cry for at least 1/2 hour before giving in and falling asleep. Then he will wake up after 20/30 mins and start crying again! I know he is still sleepy, he will still be yawning and rubbing his eyes. Plus he is very very cranky. I usually wait about 10 minutes before I go check on him to see if he will fall back asleep on his own. Sometimes he will, but for the most part he is still crying. I hate! hate! hate! listening to him cry but I know it is the only way he is going to learn how to self soothe and fall asleep on his own. I try to be persistent at it but I will admit if he is crying up to an hour I will give in and pick him up.........and as soon as I do he will fall asleep in my arms. That little bugger! He is such a smart little cookie, he knows if he cries long enough mommy will give in and pick him up. But how long should I let him cry for?? Does anyone else have this problem??

Sleeping

Sleeping! forget about it! a thing of the past when baby comes around. Especially if your baby is anything like my baby bear. When he was first born he never wanted to be put down to sleep, someone always had to be holding him. We tried putting him in the baby swing, he would cry. We tried his vibrating baby chair, and he would cry. We would lay him in his cradle and rock him, and he would cry! cry! cry! The only way he liked to sleep was in mommy or daddy's arms. My personal theory is that he liked to be able to hear our heart beating. Made him feel like he was back safe in mommy's womb.

Eventually through trial and error we developed a little routine that began to work for us. First we got rid of the cradle, he really didn't like the way it would rock whenever he would move. We opted for the playpen; he didn't mind sleeping in it and it was portable. I could move it to be next to me when we slept. We also discovered that baby bear needed to be wrapped up tightly in a receiving blanket, otherwise he would wake himself up whenever he moved. Once we had him all wrapped up snug as a bug we could rock him or bounce him to sleep. No here is the vital step! once he was asleep you absolutely had to hold him for a half hour! no less! before you could put him in the playpen to sleep. If you didn't hold him long enough he wouldn't be in a deep sleep and he would cry when you put him down. He is a smart cookie and he knew when he wasn't safe in mommy or daddy's arms anymore.

Persistence was definitely the key! the more we kept at it, the less we had to hold him before putting him down. Then eventually he would sleep for longer & longer periods at night.

Momma Bear tip:

- Persistence!! slow and steady always wins the race ;P

- Be creative try different sleeping areas and techniques to find what will work best for you and your baby.

- Sleep when your baby sleeps or else you ain't going to get any!

Breastfeeding

It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't breast feed my baby. It was definately the healthiest option, certainly the cheapest! and I was really looking forward to having that special bond it created with my little baby bear. I would have thaught it would come so natural, I mean mothers have been nursing babies for centuries. So when the little bugger wouldn't/couldn't latch on I was frustrated and heartbroken to say the least. What was wrong with me?? what was wrong with him?? why couldn't we do this when so many others had no problems with this. According to the nurse I had flat nipples which makes it very difficult for baby bear to get a latch. So after many failed attempts, and many many tears later, we decided to try a formula feed. This was not what I wanted at all but could it really be that bad?? My mother formula fed me and I didn't turn out that bad did I?? Formula although not my first option, will still give my baby all the nutrition he will need, and it will still be a good way to bond with the baby. Not only will I be able to feed the baby, my husband will also be able to have that bonding time with the baby as well.

Mamma Bear Tip......

Wow! is formula ever expensive!! For a mother on maternity leave I wanted to find out what I could do to cut the costs. A friend of mine tipped me off to a great way to save $$$$. If you go on the formula company websites you can sign up to get coupons and free offers in the mail!! Baby bear uses Similac formula so we went to their website and signed up for their Welcome Addition Club and they sent us free samples in the mail and checks for $5, $10, & $15 off! What a bargoon!! So then I signed up for all the baby websites, Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, etc. and I am saving so much!

So I pass this tip on to all you new momma bears, sign up for these baby clubs!! You'll be rolling in the savings.

The arrival of baby bear

I am a new mother or a new "momma bear" as I like to be called to a beautiful 6, almost 7, month old boy. He is the ultimate blessing in my life besides my husband of course, and I would like to write this blog to remember and reflect on all his many milestones.......and possibly pass on some advice i've gained to new clueless mamma bears like myself. I realize with him being almost 7 months old already I may be a little late in getting started, but better late than never I always say!

My little baby bear was born on December 12, 2008 which also happens to be my birthday. Baby bears original due date was December 4 and he had gone over due. Not wanting to wait any longer to meet my little angel I opted to have an induction. Although I didn't mind giving up my birthday to my baby bear to be, others had some different opinions and so we scheduled the induction for December 11. December 11 came and my husband and I were very excited and anxious!! Off to the hospital we went and all settled into my little delivery room we got. I had baby bears father, of course, and my very best girl friend, Auntie T in the delivery room with me. The Dr. came in and put me on a petocin drip and broke my water, in a few hours baby bear would finally be here. Shortly after that wonderful anastegiologist came in and gave me an epidural. It didn't work!! panik stricken I made the nurse track down the poor man to find out what had gone wrong. Thankfully it was just that I needed a larger dose, the nice anastegiologist turned that drip right up and I was in pain free heaven ....... then began the waiting game. For a mother and father who opted not to find out the sex of the baby the waiting game was only made that much longer. So we waited and we waited and we waited some more. Although very pain free from that large dose of epidural, I was very anxious to meet baby bear and more importantly find out the answer to the question is baby bear a boy? Or girl? Hour after hour went by, nearing midnight and still no baby bear! The Dr., at 11:45 finally gave me the o.k to push. And by 12:40 a.m. December 12, 2008 I got the best birthday present I had ever recieved. It was a boy!!! an 8lb 8oz, 19 ½ inch beautiful baby boy.

And there began our lives with baby bear. Little did I know it wouldn't be as easy as mothering my baby dolls. I hope to pass on my experiences with baby bear to all new momma bears out there. My husband and I are learning as we go, so hopefully this blog will give new momma bears like me some insight into what they don't tell you in the books.