Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Hard Day's Night

A great day does not a happy nightime make...
Oh, last night. I do not wish to repeat you. Don’t get me wrong – day was wonderful! We had a nice morning, took a walk by the river, and generally got on with the business of being a family. And then…nighttime arrived.

Blaine refuses to fall asleep at night to anything but prolonged, tedious nursing, which is frustrating for me. After "falling asleep" from 8:00 until 9:00, he slept until about 12:30, and then decided that he did not like being put in his bassinet at all. He slept so lightly that he woke up every time I put him in there, and then refused to fall asleep again. I was up at least once almost every hour after that. I’m not going to lie – there was a moment of irritation that went beyond just frowning. I had to walk into the kitchen and hit the counter a few times. I think that was at about 2:45 a.m. It didn’t get much better from there. Blaine kicked and sulked and generally tossed around all night long. When it was finally time to get up at 6:30 to go for my walk, I was tempted to give up and not go. But – it’s my only out for the day, so I managed to do it. Plus, I just couldn't say "no" to Syd and Nuts - they love their walk so much.

I can’t wait for the day (even though all the baby books say that day should be now) that he can sleep for more than three hours at a time. Five hours? That would be bliss! I’ll take it! Nevertheless, I can see that we are making strides every week, and it’s good…
Can I just say that Blaine is napping so well and so routinely during the day lately that I actually got to take a shower this morning? It was lightning-fast and nerve-wracking, but I did it! I even managed to shave my legs…

Friday, May 18, 2012

Learning Overload

Baby B has been working on grabbing things, a skill which he has to master by 4 months in order to be considered "normal". Whatever.

But he has made some great strides lately. Only a few days ago did he really discover that he had hands, and now he's slowly starting to use them to touch and grab things. (Especially now that the mittens are off 90% of the time.) It is absolutely amazing to watch him work things out in his tiny mind. I can almost hear him say:

"Alright, hands, the ring in the middle is the lion. Let's shoot for that one first."

And then he hits the blue one.



There was so much learning today, that he finally fell asleep for a nap (a la yesterday) in his swing. Joy!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Sorry, Pups.

Oh boy, the dogs aren't happy. For the first time in their little dog lives, I have banished them to the back yard for the next hour or so. Why? Because I finally, finally, finally got little Buddy down for a nap. One bark could undo my dilligent rocking...and I can't have that.

Poor pups. The time of taking a backseat to the babe has finally come. Don't worry, though, it's a beautiful day today and there are plenty of squirrels and birds that need chasing in the back yard.

Success #8: Got baby to sleep without the use of nursing, a pacifier, or walking around bouncing him. Hooray for small victories!

In case you wanted to know, these are the other victories I've accomplished:

#1: Baby sleeps in our bed, not on my chest.
#2: Baby goes to sleep immediately after nursing at night. 
#3: Baby sleeps in bassinet after nursing.
#4: Baby takes a bottle from Daddy.
#5: Baby likes the front pack carrier thingee.
#6: Baby doesn't cry when taking a bath.
#7: I make part of dinner while Baby watches in his chair. (See below.)

Love this chair! Hi Auntie Katie!
It is important to remember that, although things seem tough, they are getting better. I am working on a few things (training him to nap in his bassinet, not "snacking", etc.), but he has already learned so much, and I am thankful for those.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Who wrote the book on babies?

As it turns out, a lot of people wrote "the" book on babies.

My baby is a fussy little guy, as I've come to know. No, he's not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time at night. No, he doesn't like to be left alone to put himself to sleep. No, he doesn't nap for more than about 20 minutes at a time...on my shoulder. He seems to be what they call a "high-needs" baby. But he's mine and, of course, I love him.

When it comes to getting help with these things, though, there are a million different opinions. I love Grace's blog over at Camp Patton, and she had a guest who wrote a testimonial for the book "The Baby Whisperer". You can read it on the Fountains of Home blog. She says that it saved her life.

So I checked it out at the library. I also checked out "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding", which is put out by the La Leche League. (I think that they are of the "Attachment Parenting" breed that is getting so much attention these days.) In any case, they are at odds with one another. To put baby on a schedule or not to put baby on a schedule? Teach them to nap or let them nap when they want? Sigh. There is so much to learn...and so many people to learn it from.


Fussy or not, he's as cute as can be.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

I Can't Count

Today Baby B is 8 weeks old, which to me, is two months. But I guess if you count "months" by the same day that he was born on, he still has four days to go. Sheesh. Now I know why people always answered in weeks when you ask how old their babies are. (That always annoyed me. Why don't they just say 'two months' or ' a year and a half'? Now I know.)

Motherhood is like this crazy secret club that you can't possibly join and learn about until the very moment you have a kid.



In any case, here is a fun collage of B's facial expressions at about two months old. His favorite toy right now (i.e. the only one he can play with because he can't really grab things yet or play with anything that is hard) is his knit snake from Linnea. It rattles...so if he grows up and grabs a live rattlesnake, I will consider this a bad idea.

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Sleep Dilema

Now that Blaine is sleeping at regular intervals during the night (he routinely wakes up at 12:45 and 4:00 a.m. - how does he know???), the next step in the process is to get him to sleep in his bassinet. He currently sleeps next to me in bed. I know, not the best option, but the only one that we've found to work so far.

Yesterday, I was able to get him to sleep in his bassinet for a few minutes...about 20, which was a miracle! Now, the dilema during the day and night is: allow him to sleep longer where he is comfortable (usually in my arms), or put him in the bassinet, where he will inevitably wake up after a quick 10 minutes? I know that a "good mama" would forsake her own sleep and do what is safest and best for baby, but dang, I love my extra 15 minutes of sleep / rest / sitting down without a baby in my arms.

Sigh. This baby business is tough stuff. But so worth it when you get to see things like this: