Aware of surroundings

Michael is officially 7 months old now and wow how things have changed in just a short week. He is becoming very aware of his surroundings and definitely knows who his mommy and daddy are. We thought we were going to have a problem about a week or so ago. Michael has been sleeping wonderfully through the night until about two weeks or so ago. Our routine would be to rock Michael to sleep and read him some bed time stories until he was drowsy and ready for bed. We use to be able to just lay him down while he was still asleep and he would stay asleep! Well two weeks ago we were not so fortunate. Michael could be dead asleep and as soon as his head hit the pillow he would be crying so loud you would have thought we were abusing our poor little child! The first few nights were very rough on Katie and I as Michael would wake up every 1-2 hours. It was like he would wake up and couldn't put himself back to sleep! We did a lot of researching and every article we read they suggested just letting him cry it out.

One night we let him cry for over 50 minutes. He had himself so worked up that it sounded like he was hyperventilating! It didn't bother us that he was SCREAMING at the top of his lungs (This boy has developed some lungs in 7 months too!) but it made me feel such like a bad parent! After 50 minutes we couldn't take it any longer. We ran in and rocked him and within 5 minutes he was out COLD and ended up sleeping through the night! This went on for about 2 weeks but it has gotten a lot better! I remember one morning waking up, and wondering where the heck Katie was. She was not in bed with me! I went back to Michael's Room and saw her and Michael laying on a mattress together. I thought to myself, "Oh boy! We can't let this happen already!". So we did a pretty good job nipping this in the butt so far. He continues to scream at us when we put him down for 15-20 minutes but he eventually puckers out. If it continues we go in to reassure him we are still there and he usually falls asleep.


We have also decided to get ourselves into shape before Michael really starts to become a handful. We purchases a trailer that hooks up to our bicycle so we can pull Michael. It is suggested for kids 1 year or older, but Michael has been doing just fine in it, until he starts to fall asleep. Last weekend we did over 30 miles riding our bicycles and towing Michael. It was very hot last weekend but we have found the trails from Granville into Newark to be very shaded and quite nice. On a 95 degree day it was about 85 degrees in the shade. Not too shabby. We rode from Granville past the texas roadhouse on 16 and past OSU Newark. That ride was a bit much for us since it was a very hot day and the trip back was uphill! Michael really enjoys his trailer! It is rated for 100 pounds. Hopefully we will have him on his own bike before that, or you never know, there might be two kiddos in the trailer :) Good thing is after a hot ride, we can always come home to our very own cool swimming pool! Of course it is Michael's pool but all three of us can lounge and relax in style!


I am very proud of my loving wife. She has been such a GREAT mommy towards Michael and not to shabby of a wife for almost 8 years now. I am glad she is able to stay home with our Son. We got very lucky with this guy so far. He has been such a great little baby. I think a little of it has to do with the patience his Mommy and Daddy show towards him as well!

Well Michael has made it off of his play pad now and is on the carpet. I have a feel in another week or two he will be crawling. Time to finish up this posting, go get him, and start baby proofing the house. What the heck were Katie and I doing 7 months ago!