Sleep training

Its the last weekend in September and Ili and I decided we need to go into the new month of October with a baby boy that sleeps more than 5 hours at a time.  So we bit the bullet, and did it.
We started on Friday night.  Mateo slept from 8 - 11.  I fed him for the last time and put him to bed.  He woke up at 2, this was not pretty, or easy.  We decided to leave him and see what he does.  He cried and cried, and shifted and cried and cried.  I eventually gave in and decided to lie with him.  He cried some more.  I think he eventually fell asleep at 4 am, from pure exhaustion.  He was up at 6 again.  

Saturday night went a little easier, his crying was limited to half hour at 2am and 5am.  Sunday night he woke up at 4am.  Yes, yes, yes!!!

Its going to be a rough Monday, and well a long week, but I feel like, even though it was hard and a horrible, horrible way to help him learn to sleep, it was/will be all worth it.  For all of us.

 

In around the house

Super Hero party

The Birthday card - Gingerbread man and the fox

Its a Superhero party

Self design hero mask

Mateo chillaxing on the swing

But always smiling

Having a blast on the playground

Everyone need a cupcake to make it a party... this is his first ;-)

The next stage in the cycle

Look what we found this morning...our visitor has entered the process of metamorphosis and is now a chrysalis.

Now the countdown begins... should be 2 plus weeks

Circle of life

Jaime: Its call the life cycle
Mom: what's that?
Jaime: When a seed grows into a flower, then the flower dies, and turns into a seed and grows into a flower and.... (you get the picture)
Mom: did you learn that at school?
Jaime: Nope, on TV, Magic School bus, of course.

Who said TV time was bad???

So an update on our new pet...

On Monday - he has grown quite a bit

 

On Thursday- assuming the position

In about 3 weeks we should witness the birth of the Black Swallowtail (Assuming google has provided us with accurate information):

 

Celebrating heritage day

Celebrating Heritage day (a day late, but celebrating none the less) in the way all South Africans do... with a braai

 

The final product

Accidents

This week was the week of accidents

 

Monday - Jaime

 

Jaime's story - Mateo was chasing me so I ran across the kitchen, slipped and tripped over kitchen chair and fell on floor
Yes my 9mth old was chasing my 5 yr old!

Wednesday - Mateo

After bath, Mateo was reaching for the open drawer, missed and wacked his eye on the corner.  Thankfully it was just a scratch on the side and no real damage to his eye.

 

Looking forward to the weekend!

9 month update

Mr Mateo - 9 months. 

 

His stats:

Weight: 22.3 lbs (10.15kg)

Height: 28 in (71 cm)

 

Other than his lack of sleeping, he is on track and doing well.  Paed was very happy with his development and general well being.  She thoroughly enjoyed chatting to him, my charming boy.  Again she mentioned I should watch his food intake and keep animal fats to a minimum ie zero fat yoghurt vs full fat.  Again, I take the comment with a pinch of salt.  He is healthy, developing on par and well a little chunky...healthy chunky, so healthy that he survived 2 weeks of 9 hour food strikes! 

They ran some blood tests and found his iron levels to be low.  She said she was not concerned and did not recommend a supplement.  She did however mention that she would like to check the boys for any indication of blood disorders.  So next Tues we off to Children's.   I do think the testing is a bot over the top, and I do hope thy don't prick my boys badly, but if there is anything I'd like to know now so that we can monitor it in future.  Hope to God that both my boys come out clean!

Sundays are family days

This is the first Sunday Ili has been off in a while.  Yay for the Jardim family, we get to be together!

 

After Sunday morning church we joined some friends for coffee and donuts.  Loving the fact we can incentivize our kid with after church donuts and support the church at the same time ;-)  

 

Sunday lunch at Antonios..

 

 

We then drove down to Fort Taber for the Hot Rods car show.  

 

Excited to see the cars

Walking like a main man between the cars

 

Ili's favorite

Jaime measuring himself against the wheels

White wall tyres

Jaime's favorite

Not only did we discover the cars, but we discovered Fort Taber too.  This place is absolutely amazing!

How beautiful is this place

Jaime on the zip line

97 years old, the oldest Hot Rod in America

Sunday night dinner at the Duarte's, we are really making this Sunday a genuine family day

 

Mateo's new face ... it comes with a body shudder and grrr sound.