For the Love of Sleep

Oliver may be many wonderful things, but one that he has not been is a solid sleeper. From the get go, it took us MONTHS to get him to sleep somewhere other than directly on our chests/in our arms. Then came the many sleep swaddles. The muslin blanket...the pod....the swaddleme...and finally the truly miracle Miracle Blanket. As close to a baby straight jacket as I can imagine, Ollie has loved the comfort of being bound up in this for months! Alas, the time has come to both experiment with him sleeping out of this swaddle, as well as out of the swing (with a now burned out motor!). 

Stage 1 = trying to replicate the comforting shape of the swing, but in the crib:

Success!! He now takes all his naps like this! (As viewed from our video monitor:)

Stage 2: Move from the Miracle Blanket to a Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit. (I now understand why these names are not absurd, but rather completely accurate - only miracles and magic could make a baby sleep!!!!)

Today will be our first test run of this sleep suit - fingers crossed!!! 

VT Vacation

Our wonderful friends Michael and Ya'ara with their awesome 2 year old Adam are visiting from Israel for several weeks and we have escaped all together to VT for a 3 night trip. So wonderful! A not so wonderful part, despite the wonderful visits to King Arthur Flour, The Pelkey-McLanes, and Michael's brother (specifically on his Burlington sail boat!), is the stomach bug being passed around. :-/ On our last full day both dads were taken out of the game with it. Booo. Ya'ara and I managed to escape the house with the little boys mid-afternoon and toured quaint and pretty Middlebury. One last night here, and hoping for a miracle in the morning with everyone back to healthy! ...and fingers crossed Ollie and I manage to escape the hand-me-down germs....!!!

Here Ollie gets outfitted for our sailing trip. Happy for this moment, at least, before the fussing began!

Here, Ollie and I take in the rural road sights (ie corn...yellow jackets overrunning a vacant mailbox....) while the rest of the crew naps the morning away. 

Here is a relaxing Ollie on our first day here at this beautiful B&B on Lake Champlain. 

And here are Ya'ara and Adam exploring Middlebury's Otter Creek with us. 

Musical Toes

In one of our car trjps recently, in attempts to quiet a restless baby, we learned he could push his feet against the little keyboard to make music. Hilarious! 

Alas, this blog won't take video! 

Enjoying Gifts

Ollie is currently in "super speed growth," since we added formula into his daily diet about a month ago. Instead of 1 pound a month, as was his norm, he is now gaining 1 pound a week! Besides looking comically fat in the face in comparison to not that long ago, he is able to fit into new outfits! Here he is sporting the cute outfit given to him by Jill and Stu Ward. 

In addition, as he is 4 months tomorrow(!), he has been trying out new skills, mainly two-handed feats, like grasping toys and his feet. Here, he has recently discovered the greatness of So
phie. Thank you, Godseys!! The squeak makes him smile every time. :-)