Anyway my teeny man is four months away from being a year old! He is getting to be so much fun and as much as I miss the tiny little baby we brought home, I am really lovfing this age. He's so engaging! It's amazing to see how much he's changed in just a few short months. He giggles all the time and is so interested in literally everything. He can entertain himself forever with just a few toys. He rolls all over the place; he's still not crawling, but he is very close to being able to pull himself up on things. We'll need to lower his crib mattress pretty soon!
Being so close to crawling, he's starting to get himself into trouble. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a neat freak, and I've never been interested in keeping a super clean house. Lately however, I have to (especially with 3 dogs running around). I have to make sure that all of his toys get picked up as soon as he's done with them or they'll end up in a puppy's mouth. I have to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't yank on tails or ears. The dogs have been awesome with him so far, and I really want to keep it that way and not give them any reason to dislike him. Sweeping and mopping once a week used to be fine, now I'm having to do it 2-3 times per week just to be sure that Little Man isn't picking up anything covered in dog hair. We need to start baby-proofing; poor baby has banged his head on the edge of our coffee table more times than I can count... but he can't seem to stay away from it. He likes to hang out around the legs.
Sleeping is still a challenge. Except for a couple of random nights, he has yet to STTN. I am so exhausted! He still consistently wakes up two or three times a night and I am really at my wits end. Luckily, I have a hubby that will wake up in the middle of the night to go get him out of his crib and bring him to me so I can feed him in bed. He always ends up snuggling with me for the rest of the night. My mom says he has sleep issues because I haven't set him up on a schedule. She might be right, but I've noticed that he isn't always tired at the same time every day and (to my way of thinking) putting him down when he's not tired because its "nap time" just doesn't make sense. He'd end up fussing and rolling around or playing in his crib. He DOES NOT soothe himself to sleep. He never has. I always have to either walk him around or he'll fall asleep while nursing. I've tried to let him CIO a few times, but I always end up going in to get him after just a few minutes because he's screaming his head off; no matter how exhausted I know he is, he just gets himself too worked up for it to be successful for him.