She is Sooo cute!! Baby and her bottle go together like icecream and cake! Praying for peaceful night at the West household! All the best! Gloria & Red

Ella, What great news that you are taking to the bottle. Now if I can ask a favor of you that would be to try to sleep at night. Good luck on Tuesday say hello to Dr.Kays for me. And your Mom and Dad are correct about one thing. You are so cute!!! I will check on you later. Love,Grandpa!!!!!!

hey guys. she looks so good. I am glad to see that she is taking to the oral feeds. Just wanted to let you know that as far as air reduction, your best bet would be a disposable that you can take all the air out of. Advent has a line (which I think I saw you using the hard bottle) Number 1 nipple will be the best for flow. ALso playtex ( my personal fav) makes a similar bottle and you can chose either latex or silicone nipple. I know that when I use these and remove all the air from the bag, my children barely need to be burped. Just a thought. Anyway, the two of you are doing a great job. It is going to be a little harder for her to sleeep through the night because first of all she can hear every move you make since she is in your rooom. Of course there is no other choice right now. I do not know if you tried this, but maybe get a little cd player that can play white noise or even soft music. I think Ella and Evan are so used to alot of stuff going on around them, that it can be too quiet. One thing I have learned after four kids is that parenthood is a little trial and error. You already have seen that with her feeds. I know she is right next to you, but maybe get a video monitor so that when she does stir, you dont have to run to the side of her crib every time. This might help her learn to fall back to sleep on her own. Sorry to ramble on with all my “advice”. I could continue on with more theories as to why she isn’t sleeping through the night yet but I will spare you. Have a great day with your Bun.
Love ya- Tamara

My 2 cents. . . is her sleeping area too quiet? We bought a $7 White Noise machine from the consignment shop for Miss Amy. She goes to sleep to the sound of the ocean every nap and every night. We play it with the volume up, not obnoxious, but kindof on the loud side.

Of course, babies will always stir – as we adults do. But I think it helps to keep their minds tuned out to the other noises that interrupt and cause a curious waking(trash truck, LOUD sisters :), dishwasher, neighbor, barkig dog, etc.) Truly this has been a huge tool for getting Amy to sleep longer and more soundly. Probably wouldn’t help the Bun’s cannula trick, but hey, even a few more minutes of rest would be appreciated I am sure.

There are other concrete examples of great sleep training ideas in a gentle, loving, how-to book called the No Cry Sleep Solution. The author doesn’t preach, just empathizes and helps you develop a plan that could work for your baby. Barnes and Nobles or the like would have a copy.

You guys are the best! Hold your heads high! You are doing the work of Saints in these times, in this season. Your devotion and perserverance is testifying to the love of Christ to the world. . . or at least to those of us who read the blog. 🙂 On behalf of all of us, you have our deepest respect and affection. . . non of us could be doing this as well as you do. Enjoy the day with the Bun.
Blessings, Kristen

Abby and I are all too familiar with the not-sleeping thing. Due in large part to our boy’s still-to-nervous-to-have-everyone-sleeping-at-the-same-time Daddy most likely. (I was up with him all night Friday night and all night last night…and he wasn’t sick or fussy or anything) It still seems like Ella is making progress with her feedings (slow and steady wins the race) which is good. We’ll be praying that your meeting on Tuesday goes well and more progress can be made. It’s all (as it ever has been) in God’s hands and nothing is out of His control (something I need to remember with Caed).
PS. I have that heater in my truck.
-Josh, the verse I read for today has a lot to do with what we were talking about at lunch on Friday -coincidence?…yeah, right.
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7

I’m with Kristen but I used Classical music CD’s and not those… lame baby Einstein stuff I can’t stand them. I used the full Philharmonic Orchestras and I love them, so did Roni. We also used the rainforest and thunderstorm cd’s I think Roni loved them, but I know for certain I do 🙂
Praying for you
XOXOX
Loren

You’re right, she is cute as ever! I think sleep deprivation is the single toughest thing to deal with and probably the most unexpected as to how severly it hits us. Hey, we pulled all-nighters in college, why not now, right? Right. Hang in there, this too shall pass.

It is great to see Ella’s progress. What time is Ella’s appointment because Jordan has one to at 1:00 with Dr. Kays on Tuesday and we really want to see you guys. It will be just Mary Lou and I this time, Clay has a track meet and Mom is working.

Kristen had good advice about sleeping and noise, especially considering that Ella was used to sleeping through the night in the NICU. Anyways, tough as it is, you guys remain in our prayers. We thank the Lord that despite the fussies, Ella IS doing great and hasn’t had any crises that have brought her back to the hospital. You guys are doing great! Hope things go well tomorrow.

We’ll be praying for better and more sleep for all of you!! Dr. Brown bottles are what we liked best for Michael too. We tried just about every bottle out there. Sounds like she is taking to the bottle very well! Keep up the good work Mom and Dad!!