Both of our boys as babies have been very good sleepers. We attribute this entirely to my friend, Carolyn Wooten, who suggested a sleep book when I told her Axel (as a baby) would not sleep unless he was being rocked and held. She told me to get the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It changed our lives. Magnus is 8 months old now, and has the exact same schedule that Axel had at his age, as the book recommends. A day for Magnus goes like this:
7:00 am; Wake Up
9:00 am: 1st nap
1:00 pm: 2nd nap
4:00 pm: 3rd nap
6:30 pm: Bedtime
Granted, he often misses his 3rd nap during the week because Axel loves to stay after school and play as long as he can. So we often walk home from school at just before 5:00. Magnus therefore goes to bed at around 5:15/5:30 on those days. But he will still sleep until 7:00 or so the next day. Amazing, right? Why don’t more people know about this book and sleep schedule? I have no idea, but I don’t think many do. So I preach it to anyone who seems interested. We totally believe that healthy sleep is just as important as a healthy diet for kids.
Axel has also always gone to bed early. Granted, he is our early riser. He will wake up at around 6:30 am, at which time he is allowed to go down to the basement and watch tv. He is under no circumstance allowed to wake us up, or there will be severe consequences! But because he wakes up so early, his bedtime is 7:00. He fights us and fights us on this. But after fighting and insisting that he should go to bed later, 5 minutes later he is passed out cold. People often say that we should put our kids to bed later to make them sleep later. This does not work. You put Axel to bed at 12:00 midnight, he will still bounce up like the energizer bunny at 6:30. Magnus is the same. Whether he goes to bed at 5:00 or 7:00, he still wakes up at 7:00. It’s just their internal clock. It works for us as long as they are getting the sleep they need.
Magnus has changed a lot over these past 8 months. He didn’t take naps longer than 1/2 hour until he was around 5 months old. We tried everything we did with Axel, and followed the sleep book, but nothing worked. Then, we started a nap routine. We’d start to get quiet, we’d put him in his sleep sack, etc. We did the same thing every nap. We also put him down awake but with his eyes drooping tired. He would cry, we’d go in and console by patting him, then leave. We did this for about a week or two before it worked! He finally started going to sleep on his own, and napping for longer than 1/2 hour. But he was about 5 months old. Every baby is different!
For the last couple of months, he goes in and out of nursing strikes. Axel did this to me when he was 10 months old. We had enough frozen milk, so we were okay with weaning him. But Magnus is only 8 months, we don’t want to wean him yet. So for the days he didn’t want to nurse, we took away bottles and gave him milk in a cup. They say if you do this, babies will at some point go back to nursing because they have a strong need to suck. It totally worked! We still give him a bottle now and then, but if he prefers the bottle, we take it away temporarily. And he will absolutely not take formul. Which is okay, we’re not huge fans of the man made stuff.
He started crawling at 7-8 months, and is pulling himself up to stand! He talks by screeching, and he and Axel have entire screeching conversations. Axel is incredible with him. He adores his little brother. I never knew how much it would fill my heart to see love between brothers. When Magnus was first born, Axel would come home from school and want to hold him. Now that he’s older, Axel likes to get him from his crib when he wakes up from naps, and take him down to the basement to play. They take baths together, and Axel always gives him a kiss good night. Last night, he reminded me that he prayed for Moosie before he was born. He did! He had been praying for a little brother, and always reminded us to pray as well. And Magnus adores Axel. He watches everything he does with so much curiosity and awe. Magnus was a very chill infant, but now that he’s moving, he’s constantly on the move! I love this. I love energetic babies and kids. Probably because Johan and I rarely stop moving ourselves.
Here are his stats from his last several checkups:
4 weeks
5 kg - 11 lb
55 cm - 21.7 in
8 weeks
5.82 kg - 12.8 lb
62 cm - 24.4”
41.5 cm - 16.3 in
16 weeks
7.37 kg = 16.2 lb
69 cm long = 27.2 in
44 cm head = 17.3 in
6 months
8.8 kg, 19.4 lbs
45.5 cm head, 17.9 in
73 cm long = 28.7 inches
Moosie is a long, heavy baby! He’s a good eater. He eats everything. Another difference from when Axel was a baby is that the Dr. said to give him everything. No need to wait until certain months to give him new food. Give him everything Evel cows milk and honey. He ate peanut butter at 6 months! He prefers to feed himself. So we usually just leave all his food on his tray and let him go for it. The only food he’ll let us feed him is his oatmeal for breakfast.
Recently, Magnus will not nurse in public. In fact, he won’t even nurse in a well lit room! I have to take him into the nursery, close the shades, make the room dark, and then he will nurse. I have no idea how he’s going to do on our plane rides to Washington DC and California coming up.
Axel has started his Fall sports. He’s playing hockey, and club soccer. He’ll start club baseball training in January. We didn’t really plan for him to play club sports, but he tells us that he wants more competition, and to play against tougher kids. He gets bored if it’s too easy. But at least the sports only take up 2 days of our week. He also loves math and art at school. He will often Bring his paper and colors into the dining room, spread them out on the table, and start drawing. I love it.
Johan’s work schedule has settled down much more than last year, and it’s so nice to see him home more often and not as stressed.
I am still following my hobby of baking custom cakes. My main customers are my neighbors. I love the challenge of trying something new, making it as good as possible, and trying to figure out how to make everything from scratch. This week, I have two cake orders. One is an orange chocolate cake, where I will make my own homemade candied oranges and chocolate shards. And the second is an American Nija Warrior cake for a little boy at Axel’s school. Making cakes totally feeds my creative outlet, but also my Engineer outlet. How can I make this cake perfectly straight, with sharp edges, and how can I make these decorations stay put without falling? You get the idea. I love it, it’s so fun. But it has made me realize that custom cakes are also really expensive!! Making a cake with quality ingredients and materials is not cheap!
In any case, we are looking forward to the Fall. Of visiting California for Thanksgiving, and all of the fun things that come with the changing seasons.
