Paul's fourth month was from April 10th - May 10th. This was a great month and a very hard month. This guy is soooo happy and giggly when he gets sleep. The problem is he is a horrible sleeper. He is a very light sleeper and this month he decided that he was not going to sleep if anything else is going on. I was getting pretty run down and then Clint left town. I felt like I could not take care of my three children alone. Fortunately a friend came to the rescue with some advice and a sleep book. It was taking me up to two hours to get him to sleep at night and some days he wasn't taking a nap at all. Paul is pretty resistant to taking a good nap, but I work really hard to get him at least two, one hour naps a day. He is so much happier. Also at night, there may have been and may still be some crying to sleep. I did not have this problem with the other two babies and thought it was due to my mad skilz as a mom. Hah! I just had rockstar sleepers. We eventually have worked out a schedule where he takes a nap at 9:00, a nap at 1:00 and goes to bed at 7:00. He wakes up around 3:00 to feed and goes back to sleep until 7:00. I do whatever it takes to makes sure his two naps are 1 hour long and in his bed. There is a lot of me running back to his room to bounce the bed, put the paci in, and snuggle to get him to stay asleep. I do all his nursing in his room with it quiet and dark. At night I nurse him to sleep and if he wakes up (which most of the time he does because he is such a light sleeper) he puts himself back to sleep. Whew, it's exhausting just writing about it.
But this guys is all smiles, and happy, and laid back, and bouncy. He just giggles like crazy when he looks at his brothers. He gums his hands constantly. I have never had a baby do that and besides the drool it is adorable.
This month Beau got another ear infection. After that we decided the paci had to stay in bed. Now he never stops talking. He also started having a lot more Beauments. He has a really hard time when Clint travels with work. I was at playgroup one day and a mom asked for advice on biting. I was like "I have never had that problem." Then God laughed and decided I needed to be humbled and Beau started biting the next day. Fortunately it seemed to be a short stage and he only bit me, Sawyer (several times) and his cousin. At my wits end I may or may not have bitten Beau so he could understand how bad it hurt (it did work and put and end to the biting.) Beau got pink eye this month along with the rest of his classroom. It was a battle to get the drops in, but we did it. Overall he is at such a cute stage right now. He is soooo compassionate and kind. He loves all creatures, but especially his brothers. He is also such a cheerleader for everyone, even Clint and me.
Sawyer has gotten so much easier to parent and is such a blessing. He only whines now when he is tired. The child still needs a nap and some days sleeps for 3 hours! His teachers comment on how he always seems sleepy, but he also gets 11 - 12 hours of sleep at night. I always hope I am doing my job as a parent correctly. One thing I try to emphasize is empathy. You never know if you get the point across, but one day Beau was upset that his best friend, Logan, got hurt on the play ground. He talked about it non-stop. Sawyer being so kind and listening finally said, "Beau, did it make you sad when Logan got hurt?" Yay for Sawyer. Of course Beau replied, "No."
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