Last Thursday Jen, Caleb and I went to the beach side of Lake Wequaquet for the first time. That is the same lake where Jeff and Dania live and we have been before, but they don't have a beach where they live, so I thought Caleb would like the sand. It was a very hot day, so it was a nice break to go in the water. Caleb seemed to really enjoy himself in the water and in the sand. I sat him right on the edge of the water in the sand with a bucket and shovel and he had fun! We were only there for a little less than an hour, but I am still glad we went and I think we will probably spend a lot more time there next summer when Caleb is running around.
I had made the decision to start trying to unswaddle Caleb again and it's a good thing I had already decided that, because Friday night was too hot to swaddle him anyway. He actually did pretty good that night and then after he woke up in the morning and I fed him, I swaddled him to go back to sleep and he slept until about 8:40, which I was happy about, because I went back to sleep too (Sabbath morning is the only morning I get to do that). We were excited to see the Walls at church. Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Kevin were there along with Jonathan, Marcela, Zasha, and Luccia. It was super hot in the church, so we stayed until the sermon started and then we went back to my parents' house to have Caleb take a nap. Once again, he took a 2 hour nap in my parents' basement. He started out unswaddled and slept half an hour, then I went down there, swaddled him, and he went back to sleep for an hour and a half! I think he slept so long because it is so dark down there. Needless to say, I was very happy that he slept so long! Ricky and Ana also came down for church, so it was nice to have so much family around!
After lunch, in the late afternoon, we took a walk out to Chapin Beach in Dennis, the same beach we went to a couple of weeks ago. We brought the jogging stroller that we had gotten for free off of Freecycle because it would go on the sand. Something really crazy happened while we were way out on the sandbar. A big wind came up and we were getting sandblasted like crazy. It was not very fun, but right next to the water wasn't bad because the water was keeping the sand away. Caleb wasn't too happy in the stroller after awhile and actually seemed tired even though he had taken an epic nap earlier in the afternoon, so I put him in the bjorn and sure enough, he fell asleep! It was killing me to be holding him, so I was able to sit down in a chair my parents had brought and he probably slept 45 minutes, which I was pretty surprised about.
After the beach, we went home to give Caleb a bath and put him to bed and didn't do anything else with the family that night. Saturday night Caleb was unswaddled again and woke up around 4:45, but then was able to go back to sleep until about 6:00, which I was happy about. I started work around 7:00 and only worked until 10:00 because Steve also needed to be doing work for my parents' office and couldn't really take care of Caleb. After feeding Caleb at 10:00, we went over to Jeff and Dania's where everyone else was there to swim and go in the boat. Caleb and I went in the water with Aunt Sherrie and Zasha while most everyone else was in the boat. After awhile, he seemed to be getting tired, so we went back to my mom's house to give him a nap because we were all going to eat lunch there. Sure enough, Caleb started out his nap unswaddled and woke up after 30 minutes. I went down to the basement, swaddled him, and he went back to sleep for another 2 hours, for a total of 2 1/2 hours, which is unheard of for him! I need to find a room that dark at my house!! I think he gets really distracted at home by everything in his room, even though it is relatively dark in there. I need to think about what I can do to remedy that! We had a nice lunch of haystacks with everyone and then Rad, David, Jonathan, and Uncle Kevin went golfing. We ended up going to the playground for a little while with Aunt Sherrie, Marcela and the girls. We were disappointed because the baby swings were no longer there, but we still had fun.
So, Caleb continues to do well with no swaddling at night. I have discovered that he likes to sleep on his side now that his arms can do whatever they want. It is pretty cute to watch him move around on the monitor. He still tends to wake up pretty early, but that is not that much different from when he was swaddled. I am still swaddling him when he goes back to sleep in the morning, but maybe next week I will try not swaddling him and see how long he sleeps for. Right now, he is going back to sleep for about 2 hours, and I am sure that will not happen if he is not swaddled. Just like with the naps.
Monday morning I discovered that our Dish network wasn't working, which stunk. Thank goodness we have Netflix, so I could still watch something while feeding Caleb and while working. Late morning we ended up going to the mall and I bought a new pair of sneakers. Caleb does like riding in his stroller, so I think he had a good time. This is the only picture I got when we got back to the car.
Monday afternoon I put Caleb down for a nap unswaddled and it took him awhile to go to sleep (in fact, he ended up moving around so much, that he did a complete 180 in the crib and I had to go move him back into position), but he did, and slept 30 minutes, of course! I swaddled him and it took him awhile, but he did go back to sleep for another 45 minutes, so it wasn't as good as being in my parents' basement, but it was ok. By the way, if you are keeping track, yes, he pretty much only takes one nap a day, but that is mostly because he doesn't get up for the second time until close to 9:00 and he doesn't get tired until about 4 hours after he wakes up, so that doesn't leave a lot of time in the day for a second nap.
We didn't do too much Monday evening, except we did go visit our neighbors for awhile, because we hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks.
Tuesday morning Caleb slept until 9:20, which was really great! When I got him dressed for the day, I saw the little activity table that we have in his room, that you stand up next to and I had tried to have him stand at it about a month ago and it just didn't work because he was too wobbly. So, I was inspired to try it out again and I propped him up there and he just stayed! It was awesome and I couldn't believe it! He looks like such a big boy!! There is a lot to do on that table and I think we are going to bring it to Nova Scotia and give him some practice standing up!
After Caleb ate, we went grocery shopping at BJ's and Shaws, mostly to start buying some things for Nova Scotia, since that is coming up in just over a week! We came home around 1:15 and since it had been about 4 hours since Caleb woke up, I put him down for a nap around 1:30. I don't know what his problem was, but he would not go to sleep. He started out unswaddled and at 2:00, when he showed no signs of sleeping, I swaddled him, thinking that would do the trick. Unfortunately, it didn't, and he didn't fall asleep until 2:30 after fussing for quite a bit. I was so happy that he finally fell asleep, but I was so discouraged when he woke up after 30 minutes and would not go back to sleep. Let's just say it was a tough afternoon for Mommy! I don't know why it bothers me so much, because honestly, he does not really get cranky if he doesn't nap well, but I just have these expectations that he needs to be sleeping a certain amount and I get really frustrated if he doesn't do it! I just need to chill out a little sometimes!
Tuesday night Caleb went to bed around 8:30 and woke up around 4:45 again, but then went back to sleep and I had to wake him up around 5:40 to feed him before work. Today my mom had to bring Caleb to the office all day, because my dad is away at a conference and 2 of the ladies are gone as well, so there would have only been one person at the office today and that was their new person, so it wouldn't work out. So, we dropped Caleb at the office and he went back to sleep until almost 9:00, then enjoyed the rest of the day just playing at the office. Unfortunately, he only took one 1/2 hour nap, but whatever!! I told my mom about him standing up yesterday, so she tried it out with him and got a couple of really cute pictures!
Here are a couple of other pictures from Caleb's day at the office!
One other thing that I have noticed this week is that Caleb is finally starting to roll over! He never really did it much before, but now he is all over the place and doesn't stay on his play mat and even rolls over in bed now that he is not swaddled. He still isn't showing interest in crawling, but now that he is moving so much, that might not be far away!
Well, I guess that is it for now. Here are a few more pictures from this week and a couple from last week that I just got from my mom!
