Ethan's routine

When we went for a weekend visit to Spokane, by the end of the few days, I was at my wits end.  I could not get Ethan to nap more than 40 minutes the entire time.  And this was consistent with the way he had been since he was about 5 weeks old.  There was only 1 day from the time he was 5ish weeks old where he napped longer than 40-50 minutes.  Frus-tra-ting!!  And I'm not one of those mamas who won't let him cry a little bit to try to get him back to sleep.

So, on our drive home I told Peter that I was going to have to start a really regimented routine with him.  I was kind of hoping to have a 3rd child that would have a more flexible child to be able to adapt to his brothers, but I knew it needed to happen.....at least for a short while!

I started waking him up at the same time every morning, regardless of whether or not he was still sleeping.  And I started putting him down for a nap at the same time and trying to feed him around the same time.  I wasn't feeding him every time he woke up if it hadn't been 3 hours so he didn't associate getting to fuss from a nap with getting to eat.

And I'm happy to say that after a long week of adjustments, he responded so well and much more predictable and happy.  The fussy time in the evening was much more manageable, I felt like I could understand when he was tired/hungry/etc and it was a great thing overall.  I think transitioning to 3 kids was super easy in some regards, but trying to establish a routine midst a 2 year old and 4 year old too.....that was harder for me.  But we were finally starting to figure it out!!