Memorial Day Weekend

Last night we had a major breakthrough with "ferberizing" Cole. He slept through the night for the first time EVER! Our child is clearly a genius as it takes most babies 4-7 days to have success and ours only took 3!

Right... Sleeping through the night is a breeze, but naps? Ha! Not so fast, Mom!

Morning: Happy and rested at Mission Beach



Evening: Birth-Control for Justin & Melinda



(They took Tom to the Padres/Mets game - I decided a few weeks ago I would stay back knowing the stadium would be too loud for Cole - Good thing! We probably would've been asked to leave!)

You Are Getting Sleepy... Very Sleepy

The Cry-It-Out Method we're using allows Cole 45 minutes to fall asleep for his naps. If he's still crying at the 45 minute mark, we remove him from his crib because naptime is over. This has robbed us of our usually delightful child and left us with a red-eyed, cranky mess that hasn't napped in two days. (He sneaks them in during car rides and walks, but that's it!). As you can see, he's EXHAUSTED.

I put him in his crib, he immediately woke up and screamed for 45 minutes. He's a tad stubborn.

Five Months

Cole is five months already! We can't believe it - He is such a character and continues to amaze us.

• He found his feet and is obsessed with trying to put them and his knees in his mouth.
• Two weeks ago I started making his baby food. First up was applesauce - Definitely not a fan, so I tried bananas. He hates those too! We're on Day 3 of carrots and he seems to be okay with them. After a week (to ensure no allergies), I'm going to try sweet potatoes. Hopefully when I reintroduce applesauce and bananas in a month or so, he'll change his mind!
• Favorite things - standing, bath time, bouncing, flying like superman, mirrors, watching people clap/snap, being tickled and gorging on oatmeal

And the biggest change?! Cole was wished a "Happy 5 Months!" with some tough love :) I started "ferberizing" him yesterday morning. It's essentially a Cry-It-Out Method that helps babies learn how to self-soothe. Two nights before I was up at 1am, 3am and 5am. I had enough of not being able to function during the day and it's my fault. The minute he made a peep at night, I sprang up with food so he wouldn't wake the neighbors. Half the time he probably wasn't even hungry, but I had trained him to need it. It being a long weekend and the downstairs neighbor going away made it the perfect time. Wish us luck!

Bounce!

Starting to get the hang of it...



I know, the back of his head looks pretty funny... Thank goodness this side is cute!



Sitting between Mom & Dad and watching them eat dinner is BORING.

San Francisco - Day Three

A drive around Tiburon before meeting up with the Niemi family-



Tom, Matt and their boys - While swimming and partying at Syracuse, don't think they ever thought the day would come where they'd be exploring SF with babies strapped to them!

Japanese Gardens in Golden Gate Park

Our tour guide, Odessa

Making her way up the bridge in her "twirly dress."

We had a great weekend and were so happy we got to meet Matt's little ones before we hopped on the plane. It went by way too quickly - Always does!

San Francisco - Day Two

We have wanted to see Muir Woods for years - We finally got the chance but the cold weather kept us from doing all the hikes we read about. We stuck to the main trail and fortunately beat the tour buses - Some points it felt like we were all alone in the beautiful redwoods!

Muir Beach

Cole had been in his carrier or seat for hours... Decided to let him hang out and he was beaming! He felt so grown-up!!

Muir Beach Overlook

Cole getting into mischief

On the way back to the hotel, we found the coolest street in the U.S!

San Francisco - Day One

Tom and I were close to free flights with Southwest so we decided to book some flights and explore the beautiful outdoors north of San Francisco- Alarm clock went off at 4:30am on Thursday, May 13th and off we went!

Not a peep from Cole on the flight up... He spent 6+ hours in the car and was perfectly content... Couldn't have asked for a better first day!

Cruising up Highway 1

View from Lincoln Park/Sutro Baths

Overlook on Highway 1

Point Reyes National Seashore - Lunch in the finest establishment around, the rental car. He didn't seem to mind!

21 looooong miles to the Point Reyes Lighthouse, but great views and farms along the way.

Runaway cow!!

We finally made it to the end, but it was FREEZING. Weather channel said it would be in the 70's, but they clearly lied. I stayed in the car with Cole, while Tom ran to take pictures. Hours in the car and I just saw it from the camera!

We were so tired from the long day, we had Cole drive us back to the hotel. 10 & 2, just like we taught him!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I had a lovely first Mother's Day - My dear husband gave me the best gift of all, SLEEP! He took care of all the night feedings AND I woke up to my favorite breakfast burrito, flowers and a happy baby! Doesn't get much better than that!

Our afternoon on Coronado

The view of downtown from the boardwalk

Too tired to play...

*My gift also entailed a professional photographer to take shots of Cole! I'm waiting for his 6 month birthday :)

Spanish Landing

Yet another beautiful evening in San Diego - We walked around Spanish Landing and fed Cole some oatmeal on a bench near the water. He loved his new meal-option AND eating outside!





Stop the fun! I see something!



Two minutes after we got in the car...