A little about Jacob. . .

So, the first week in January Brett had an all week seminary class to take and we had to find someone to help keep Jacob.  We had a wonderful friend from our church offer to help us out.  Charee was great with Jacob (he loves her now) and Jacob especially enjoyed watching their two year old little boy Brayden as he ran around the house!  I wrote her a little letter explaining Jacob's daily schedule.  I'm including it here so that I'll have it in my blog book when I print it out this December.  I realize that not everyone wants to know his daily schedule!  So. . . unless you are Nana, Mimi, Papa Stan, or Papa. . . you might not care to read the following!

A Little about Jacob. . .

Thanks so much for watching him for us Charee!  We feel so good about having him at your house and know he will be so safe and have a great time with Brayden!   Here are some random tidbits about how we usually spend our days at home.  Do what works for you, I know you just wanted to know what he was used to.

Contact numbers:

KATHERINE CELL:  706-599-6103

BRETT CELL:  706-244-4646

KATHERINE WORK:  919-496-3975 (Just ask for Mrs. Sanders and let them know you HAVE to talk to me even though I have a class.  Otherwise, they will send you to my voicemail if I have students)

DAILY SCHEDULE:  Jacob usually follows a 2.5-3.5 feeding schedule during the day.  He wakes up, eats, has wake time, and then takes another nap.  From the time he wakes up (and starts to eat) he is normally able to stay awake for about 1.5-2 hours.  2 hours is the longest he ever stays awake.  Many days he won’t last over 1.5 hours for any of his awake times.  He will pretty much let you know when he is ready to go down by getting a little fussy.  We just repeat this cycle all day long!

FEEDING TIME:  We offer Jacob 8oz for each feeding time, though he might only take anywhere from 5-8oz of the bottle.  You can just throw the rest out.  He has gotten to where he doesn’t really need to burp until the very end, since sometimes he decides he won’t take the bottle back if we stop too soon to burp him.  He doesn’t spit up much at all, but we keep a bib on him during feedings and during the day because of all the drool!  When he is done with the bottle, he very adamantly refuses to eat more!  It is pretty unusual for him to do that before eating 5 oz though.  It’s funny though, because he will be eating away. . . and then is suddenly like, I’M DONE mom!

AWAKE TIME:  Here are some of the things he loves:  any kind of music, being read to, his cups, the exersaucer,  etc.  His favorite toy is the exersaucer.  He loves to be held standing up and will just walk around the house with me cleaning up and not get bored J  He likes that play mat that you were talking about with the stuff that hangs down as well.  We try to give him 3-5 minutes of tummy time each time he is awake and just put something fun in front of him while he does it.  He will let you know when he done with tummy time by getting fussy.  He doesn’t particularly love tummy time, but the dr said we should do it every time he is awake.

NAP TIME:  When he is ready to go down, I usually change his diaper one last time and then put him in his sleep sack to sleep.  He fusses for a 5-10 minutes (not really crying to bad, just whining).  He loves the sound machine on the rain setting.  He naps for anywhere from 1hr to 2 hours.  Usually it is closer to 1 hour.  He is almost always hungry when he wakes up, even if it has only been 2.5 hours between feedings.  If he really wakes up early, sometimes I can rock him back to sleep for a minute and he will finish the nap.  Normally, if he wakes up after like 30 minutes it is because he’s hungry.

It makes me laugh to see how much I told her!  She is such a great mom and didn't need any info. . . it was just for me!