Instead of holding to a rule that says she should be awake between 6 and 7am, and since it'll all change on Sunday with daylight savings, we have been letting her sleep until she is ready. Today she slept from ~5.20am until almost 8.30am. I woke up just after 8 and felt like I had gotten some sleep. It was a much better day.
She still napped for about an hour every other hour. And again refused her last nap of the day and fell asleep for the night around 5.30p. If I can figure out that last nap/awake time balance better, she could probably stay up past 6pm and I'll bet sleep longer at some point. Or at least sleep until 7am more consistently.
These are all guesses. Besides, once I figure it out the etch-A-sketch that is my daughter will reset and I get to start all over again with a new design.
Anyway with the weekend at grandma's and Halloween. I'm excited.
We visited Sang this morning and my friend Andrew came over this afternoon. It's good to visit people. Carolina enjoyed the visits and going to the Turkish store. She (and I) likes the owner. He's a very nice man and has fun food things to look at! She's getting beter at grabbing so I've had to adjust walking down the aisles so she can't touch anything. Or it just may end up on the floor. Funny kid.
Happy Halloween everyone!!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
it's been tough, but not impossible
I haven't written much in the past week. It's been tiring. We make progress at night with her only waking up twice. That happened happily for 2-3 nights in a row, one night of a lot of waking up, then a few more nights of mostly 2 time waking up. Then last night she gets up four times. She is teething, and she was in a lot of pain yesterday and the day before. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the days when she gets up more frequently or at least has a harder time getting herself back to sleep.
Now, mind you I'm not running in at the first whimper. Last night we let her cry on and off for just under 30 minutes. When she started up again the following hour, I couldn't take it anymore and went in. It was about 2 hours earlier than I would have liked but there's only so much I can take when *I* am tired.
The books say to leave her in her room until 6am. Even if she cries. I folded at 5.45am, and fed her. Then promptly put her back in her crib and left her there until she woke up again at 7.15am. I'm supposed to get her up between 6am and 7am. I was tired. I let it slip. Commence world ending music montage now... :)
But then today, she's gone down for 3 naps already -- completely awake. She didn't need me to feed her and rock her to sleep. In fact, the reason I did it the first time a few days ago was because she wasn't relaxing in my arms and it seemed pointless to continue for both our sakes. So I just put her down on her belly, gingerly wrapped the blanket around her waist and legs. She found her thumb, I rubbed her back and butt for a minute or two, and she nodded off.
It might not work every day but I'm glad she's getting the idea that she can fall asleep on her own.
Am I concerned that I use the sound machine and she goes for her thumb to relax? Yeah, a little. Am I worried that she really doesn't sleep anywhere but in a darkened room, pretty much at home? As in not a stroller nap baby... It's limiting. But I'll deal with her sucking her thumb as a problem when she's 10, if she's still doing it. Just like my mom did with me. And we'll ween her off the white noise machine if we need to when it's time. And I did set up her sleep structure/process like it is. So I've no one to look to about that but me.
The next jackpot will be taking longer naps during the day and fewer of them. This getting up for an hour, then back to sleep for 45-60 minutes makes having a day a little hard for me. For her, it's perfect :) When she's up for an hour or two, down for two, up for one or two, down for two, up for a bit then off to bed. Bingo! (At least that's how I imagine winning Baby Sleep Bingo.)
I know she can stretch it out since she has taken 2 hour naps on her own. I can't figure out how or why on those days it happens. Maybe it's just up to her to work it out.
I like to think I'm having some kind of impact on raising her but, really, I get the sense that she's a little dingy boat on a river and I'm steering with the smallest paddle ever. I get to make some course corrections and change direction a little but, really, it's how and where the river takes us.
As you all know, I am not one that easily 'goes with the flow'. So this part of having a baby has been the most challenging. And that it affects my sleep, well, just the harder. I hold out for the magical 6-month milestone. It may come and go and what I hope for doesn't come to fruition. But something else will.
Every "progress" is met with a new "detractor". It's like a gentle one-two punch every month. It always changes.
Julia was right. When I asked her what she thought about us going to Mexico for two weeks when Carolina is 7 months old, she told me, "Whatever her sleeping and traveling is like now [at 3/4 months] it'll definitely be different by then. It might be better, and it might now, but it'll definitely be different."
Now if we could just sort out finding the perfect apartment for no money, we'd be golden. Hahah!
At least there's a new bakery that opened on Greenpoint Ave. Now we have a new shop as part of our hourly walk repertoire. I like to visit the local shops and sometimes buy something. Keep the local economy going and know who runs the stores. Very neighborhood-y. Plus they all remember me if I'm carrying Carolina. Otherwise, I'm just another person who walked into the store. With her, I'm "that woman with the cute baby". Seriously. It's crazy how many people respond to her like she's got some magic over them or something.
P.S. We finally have the first, basic iteration of our website done: http://www.vivadm.com
Have a visit and let us know what you think!
Now, mind you I'm not running in at the first whimper. Last night we let her cry on and off for just under 30 minutes. When she started up again the following hour, I couldn't take it anymore and went in. It was about 2 hours earlier than I would have liked but there's only so much I can take when *I* am tired.
The books say to leave her in her room until 6am. Even if she cries. I folded at 5.45am, and fed her. Then promptly put her back in her crib and left her there until she woke up again at 7.15am. I'm supposed to get her up between 6am and 7am. I was tired. I let it slip. Commence world ending music montage now... :)
But then today, she's gone down for 3 naps already -- completely awake. She didn't need me to feed her and rock her to sleep. In fact, the reason I did it the first time a few days ago was because she wasn't relaxing in my arms and it seemed pointless to continue for both our sakes. So I just put her down on her belly, gingerly wrapped the blanket around her waist and legs. She found her thumb, I rubbed her back and butt for a minute or two, and she nodded off.
It might not work every day but I'm glad she's getting the idea that she can fall asleep on her own.
Am I concerned that I use the sound machine and she goes for her thumb to relax? Yeah, a little. Am I worried that she really doesn't sleep anywhere but in a darkened room, pretty much at home? As in not a stroller nap baby... It's limiting. But I'll deal with her sucking her thumb as a problem when she's 10, if she's still doing it. Just like my mom did with me. And we'll ween her off the white noise machine if we need to when it's time. And I did set up her sleep structure/process like it is. So I've no one to look to about that but me.
The next jackpot will be taking longer naps during the day and fewer of them. This getting up for an hour, then back to sleep for 45-60 minutes makes having a day a little hard for me. For her, it's perfect :) When she's up for an hour or two, down for two, up for one or two, down for two, up for a bit then off to bed. Bingo! (At least that's how I imagine winning Baby Sleep Bingo.)
I know she can stretch it out since she has taken 2 hour naps on her own. I can't figure out how or why on those days it happens. Maybe it's just up to her to work it out.
I like to think I'm having some kind of impact on raising her but, really, I get the sense that she's a little dingy boat on a river and I'm steering with the smallest paddle ever. I get to make some course corrections and change direction a little but, really, it's how and where the river takes us.
As you all know, I am not one that easily 'goes with the flow'. So this part of having a baby has been the most challenging. And that it affects my sleep, well, just the harder. I hold out for the magical 6-month milestone. It may come and go and what I hope for doesn't come to fruition. But something else will.
Every "progress" is met with a new "detractor". It's like a gentle one-two punch every month. It always changes.
Julia was right. When I asked her what she thought about us going to Mexico for two weeks when Carolina is 7 months old, she told me, "Whatever her sleeping and traveling is like now [at 3/4 months] it'll definitely be different by then. It might be better, and it might now, but it'll definitely be different."
Now if we could just sort out finding the perfect apartment for no money, we'd be golden. Hahah!
At least there's a new bakery that opened on Greenpoint Ave. Now we have a new shop as part of our hourly walk repertoire. I like to visit the local shops and sometimes buy something. Keep the local economy going and know who runs the stores. Very neighborhood-y. Plus they all remember me if I'm carrying Carolina. Otherwise, I'm just another person who walked into the store. With her, I'm "that woman with the cute baby". Seriously. It's crazy how many people respond to her like she's got some magic over them or something.
P.S. We finally have the first, basic iteration of our website done: http://www.vivadm.com
Have a visit and let us know what you think!
Monday, August 17, 2009
How babies r us is like ikea. Painful.
I am not a fan of shopping at Ikea. I have plenty of furniture from there and enjoy all of it. I'm a big fan of the brand and it's values. However I hate going there. It always is more crowded and hectic than I like, and we always get in a fight or at least snap at each other. Plus the car we bring (or our muscles) isn't big enough, or it starts to rain, or we can't lift the damn thing off the shelf to even checkout.
Anyway, so we went to Babies R Us yesterday. In manhattan. To get a crib mattress and maybe a glider chair.
What should have happened was we didn't go and let the baby sleep. We didn't and were punished with hours of crying/screaming and not much sleeping all day.
What should have happened was not a hasty reservation of a ZipCar and vision of a quick on and out to BRU in Union Square. It was quick. She fell asleep MOMENTS before arriving. And then going in to the store woke her. The chair was NOT on sale like I thought. I should have called before we left to be certain. But we did get the mattress. Hoo. Ray.
Also in unusual fashion I had forgotten the diaper bag. Gratefully the big poop I thought she did in the store was just an exhuberant fart. Next time we will ask ourselves: Will going to the store now make your life exceptionally better because the baby is with you? If the answer is anything other than an overwhelming YES, then don't go.
Everytime I take her out for more than an hour (yes that includes travel time), I regret it royally. She's just not ready for it and I don't have the nerves to deal with it.
She basically screamed in the store. Then in the car home. And wouldn't nap much when she did sleep. It took both of us about two hours after her bath to get her to sleep. She was exhausted. Yes. She was yawning. Yes. She would nod off. Yes. She would not stay asleep. No.
So at 7pm I also went to sleep. Blessing Ismael with a few silent hours. No crying baby. No nagging wife. Lovely.
Of course we still have a Zipcar reserved for the 25th to drive around Brooklyn neighborhoods we are possibly thinking of living in. And also to have birthday lunch with Kari who will be 29. But we no longer plan on walking around. A moving car means a happier baby. And if she's really bad. We will order lunch from kari's apartment and let Miss Sookums sleep on her bed. If we are lucky then we get to eat lunch outside like we did with Jee a few weeks ago in Sunnyside.
The following day we drive to NJ to leave her with grandma and grandpa while we have an appointment. Hopefully she sleeps there.
Sleep is so very important. Especially for someone this little.
Either that or I need better nerves or a different kid. I'm keeping her, I'm too old to change this part of me. So hello naptime and goodbye visiting stores and people as often as mommy would like. At least for another month or so. She's nearly 3 months and I hear 4 months is when magic starts to happen. Ha!
Anyway, so we went to Babies R Us yesterday. In manhattan. To get a crib mattress and maybe a glider chair.
What should have happened was we didn't go and let the baby sleep. We didn't and were punished with hours of crying/screaming and not much sleeping all day.
What should have happened was not a hasty reservation of a ZipCar and vision of a quick on and out to BRU in Union Square. It was quick. She fell asleep MOMENTS before arriving. And then going in to the store woke her. The chair was NOT on sale like I thought. I should have called before we left to be certain. But we did get the mattress. Hoo. Ray.
Also in unusual fashion I had forgotten the diaper bag. Gratefully the big poop I thought she did in the store was just an exhuberant fart. Next time we will ask ourselves: Will going to the store now make your life exceptionally better because the baby is with you? If the answer is anything other than an overwhelming YES, then don't go.
Everytime I take her out for more than an hour (yes that includes travel time), I regret it royally. She's just not ready for it and I don't have the nerves to deal with it.
She basically screamed in the store. Then in the car home. And wouldn't nap much when she did sleep. It took both of us about two hours after her bath to get her to sleep. She was exhausted. Yes. She was yawning. Yes. She would nod off. Yes. She would not stay asleep. No.
So at 7pm I also went to sleep. Blessing Ismael with a few silent hours. No crying baby. No nagging wife. Lovely.
Of course we still have a Zipcar reserved for the 25th to drive around Brooklyn neighborhoods we are possibly thinking of living in. And also to have birthday lunch with Kari who will be 29. But we no longer plan on walking around. A moving car means a happier baby. And if she's really bad. We will order lunch from kari's apartment and let Miss Sookums sleep on her bed. If we are lucky then we get to eat lunch outside like we did with Jee a few weeks ago in Sunnyside.
The following day we drive to NJ to leave her with grandma and grandpa while we have an appointment. Hopefully she sleeps there.
Sleep is so very important. Especially for someone this little.
Either that or I need better nerves or a different kid. I'm keeping her, I'm too old to change this part of me. So hello naptime and goodbye visiting stores and people as often as mommy would like. At least for another month or so. She's nearly 3 months and I hear 4 months is when magic starts to happen. Ha!
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