Baked Apples

(not my apples pictured)

A couple of weeks ago I tried my best to make baked apples. It was a side dish to crab cakes that HH made for some friends we were entertaining. I got the recipe from allrecipes, which I love because they have tons of reviews from people who have tried the recipes before. A couple of suggestions I used included halving the apples, putting water in the bottom of the baking dish, and increasing the cooking time. The recipe says 15 mins will do but that was no where close. I cooked them for 45 mins and they still could have gone longer. Also, I used red apples (pink lady) instead of green. The flavor turned out great and I'll definitely make them again.

Sleep Trials

In general, Mr. P's been sleeping pretty well. He's still not sleeping completely through the night like he used to though. Most nights I have to go in two or three times, just to put the pacifier back in his mouth. From what I hear from other moms, it's not too uncommon for babies to go through this stage.

One night earlier this week though, Mr. P couldn't sleep ALL NIGHT LONG. HH got up with him 2 or 3 times, and I got up with him 4 or 5 times. And it wasn't the usual sleepy-fuss till he got his pacifier back, he would completely wake up and start crying. Very unusual for him. Looking back on it, I think he had a bad tummy ache or bad gas. He hadn't pooped all day and I think he was just trying to 'work it out' (a phrase we use all too often around here now!). Thankfully though, seems like it was just that one night... well, until it happens again. Believe me, work the next day was not fun for either of us!

Extra Flav-ah

Last weekend the three of us met up with another couple to have some fun shopping at the Farmer's Market. We got some honey crisp apples (favorite kind of apple), homemade soaps, and yummy peaches. Was just eating a peach for lunch... perfectly ripe and juicy! And apparently the little wiggly worm inside thought so too! AHHH!

I was perfectly happy eating my peach when I noticed a little bad spot. Ok, no big deal. I scraped it out and just as I was going in for the next bite, I barely noticed the worm in time. Of course I shrieked like a baby and dropped the peach immediately. I still can't stop thinking about it, I think I might be sick!!!!!

Sweet Dreams?

In the past couple of weeks we've really realized how much Mr. P had been spoiling us with his awesome sleep habits. At 5 weeks he started sleeping from about 10:30pm to 4:30am. Then at 7-8 weeks he started sleeping from about 10:30pm to 7am, give or take. Truth be told, he even slept until 8am a few times. We've truly been spoiled. I've learned to not volunteer this information to other new parents for risk of getting the evil eye and completely shunned. New parent + sleep deprivation = nasty temper.

But suddenly things changed. A string of interrupted nights started last week.

Night 1*: went down at 10pm, woke at 11pm, woke at 2:30am, and again at 3:30am before waking up for the day at 6am.

Night 2: went down around 10:30pm, woke at 4am.

Night 3: went down around 10:00pm, woke at 4:30am.

Night 4: went down around 10:30pm, woke at 5:00am.

Night 5: went down around 10:30pm, woke at 4:00am.

*all times are approximate due to half-sleep fog

Now, I realize that most of those nights are still really good for the average 3 1/2 month old. But when you're used to sleeping through the night until at least 6am, it's a shock. At that point in time, we were still swaddling him with the miracle blanket. Almost each time he woke up, when we went in to check on him, he had wiggled out of the blanket. But it's the chicken and egg scenario. Did he wake up because he had wiggled out of the blanket, or did he wiggle out of the blanket because he had woken up?

Who knows, but we decided to try putting him down without being swaddled to see if that would change anything. He's almost old enough now at 16 weeks that he should have grown out of the startle reflex, which would be the cause of waking himself up without the blanket. Plus, the package for the miracle blanket says to use it only until 4 months, and Mr. P is already as big (if not bigger) than the average 4 month old. So for the last two nights, we've given it a shot:

Night 1: went down at 10:00pm, woke at 11:30pm, woke at 1:00am, woke at 2:30am, and again at 4:00am before waking up for the day at 5:30am.

Night 2: went down at 10:30pm, woke at 11:30pm, and again at 3:30am before waking up for the day at 6:30am.

Seeing that last night was better than the first, I'm hoping this is a good trend. The good thing is that it usually doesn't take much to get him back to sleep. Sometimes it's as simple as putting his pacifier back in his mouth, rubbing his back a little and providing some soothing "shhhhh"ing. We'll see. I think both Handsome Hubby and I are trying to avoid the "cry it out" method if we can but we're also both working now and can't do this for too much longer. I guess we'll see what happens.

Fuzzy Bunnies

They say you don't shed as much while preggers, something about your body being in 'production mode' and not letting anything go. Well apparently I'm making up for it now. After every shower there's a family of hair balls on the shower floor. Our bathroom floor is no longer white, but rather a light brown because it's covered with a layer of my long hair. And despite constantly wiping it all up, it magically re-appears. Gross.