Happy Easter

I'm a day (or two!) late, but thought I'd say it anyway.  We had a great weekend.  Ethan had fun celebrating Easter, and surprisingly not too overstimulated as well.

We have been working on a few things:

1.  Extending "awake time" between naps, and cutting out his late afternoon nap (5:30pm).  We cut him off at 4:30pm so he goes down by 7:30pm.  It seems to be working out well.  Instead of him being up for one hour between naps, I've been doing 1.5 hours in between.  He is tired but he manages well.  I can say, it's quite easy to put him down for a nap, he pretty much falls asleep before I can put him down on his mattress!  Today was a bit different though, for some reason.

2.  Nursing in between naps and before bed.  We've been working on this for a long time, but more intently this week.  I always offer before he goes down, and he always nurses upon waking.  He will nurse briefly before going down for a nap but he is more interested in sleeping.  Before bed is a struggle, but tonight he nursed after he was fed from a bottle.  I will keep trying this, and if it seems successful, then I plan to slowly decrease the amount I put in the bottle so he nurses longer.

3.  Reaching for toys.  We place him on his belly and put a toy he likes in front of him, or to the side, just out of reach, so he has to wriggle his way up to it or roll over to reach it.  

4.  Rolling over from back to belly.  He has the itch to do it, he just needs some help.  So I place him in the middle of a blanket and help him roll over by lifting the blanket straight up on one side.  He seems to like this.

5.  Softening his dry skin.  It's definitely getting better.  We still give him his oatmeal and coconut oil baths, but every other day.

So this is what occupies our days lately.  He's been sleeping much better since he saw his chiropractor.  Unfortunately now, he doesn't wake up at 11pm for a feed, so that means mom is up at 2 or 3am to nurse.  (It's fine, really, I just really liked the fact I got to sleep 7.5 hours straight the other night!)

If you want a great Shrimp Pasta recipe, go HERE and use this recipe.  The only difference I did was add some extra lemon (about double what it called for, maybe a bit more).  I find it's quite "soupy" for a sauce, but if you have some crusty bread, it would sop it up quite nicely!  We, of course, were missing that.... :S