She woke up at 6:30 just fussing. Fed her and she was just so happy and well rested. We went to church and she fell asleep around 8:45 and woke up when service ended at 10am. But the only thing, she was in the Ergo with daddy.
PM nap, fell asleep eating in my arms for about 20 minutes. Tried to put her down and she wouldn't let go of my arm. Tried to take her into our bed so we can all nap. Didn't happen.
She started to get sleepy around 5:15 while eating dinner. Gave her a quick bath and nursed her to sleep. Put her in her crib after 20 minutes and she fussed for a second while I put the rail up and she's out. Down at 6pm on the dot.
The AM nap was a doozy. She slept 12 hours last night and woke up around 6:30 so we were impressed how well rested we all were. However when we put her down for her AM nap, it was a no go. She cried for an hour. I held her and she fell asleep in my arms for a good 30 minutes and then I tried to put her down again. It didn't work. So we decided to just eat and play the rest of the morning.
The PM nap was just as bad. She was already half asleep sort of sleeping and I put her down. She cried for 19 minutes and then fell asleep. Then the gardener came around with the leafblower near her bedroom window. She woke up after sleeping for 25 minutes. Argh! She wouldn't go back down. So she ate her snack and we went to the park. On our way back, she fell asleep in the stroller and slept for about 45 minutes.
She went down easily for sleep tonight at 6:30. Just a little whimper when I put her down and put the rails up. We'll try again tomorrow.
LaborKit contains many of the suggested items for packing in your suitcase for the hospital. They come in various price points and list the items.
I reviewed them and was quite impressed on what was included. I know for sure some hospitals already provide many of the items but not of the same quality. So check over the list and here's what I put on my checklist.(Download file)
Some changes to the list. Since I had a c-section I ended up at the hospital for 4 days. I stayed in the hospital gown since I had many things attached to me and it was easier to feed not having to deal with night gown etc. I ended up not using the boppy since I was propped up with many pillows to feed. We kept B in the kimono shirts the hospital had and used the diapers they had in the bassinet. The things that came in handy were the following: DVDs during recovery, magazines to keep me from getting bored after I ran out of DVDs, and take-out food. I hated the food at the hospital and was craving for all the stuff I couldn't have while pregnant. J forgot to bring a shaver so was quite scruffy after a few days. He ended up going home to freshen up. Also since we were washing our hands often, having some nice lotion would have been nice.
One of the activities that B really enjoys is going to storytime at 2 different libraries near our house 2-3 times a week. One is intimate where we sing to each of the children with nursery rhymes, songs, reading, feltboard stories and playtime at the end. The other one gets really packed with many people so we always arrive 10 minutes early and they have lots of songs, nursery rhymes, puppets, bells, scarves and storybooks.
Recently one of our favorite storytime librarians did a presentation at Blossom Birth for the Blanket Babies program series on reading to children and she recommended the following sites for babies and toddlers.
More about reading & child development at Zero to Three
These are great resources for parents who don't know what books to get for their kids. I collected many children's books before B was born for my own personal "research"(still submitting my own stories) but now I know I really need to allow myself to share them with B. Also I need to be ok that she'll eventually chew them up...at least the unsigned ones.
I guess for me reading has always been a part of my upbringing. My mom was an elementary school librarian and we always had books in the house. During the summer when she was off, she would take us to the library every few days 1)to cool off since there was a/c 2)get us out of the house because we all had cabin fever and 3)participate in various summer reading programs. I have many fond memories of using the card catalog and then eventually learning how to use the computer to look for books as well as browsing the stacks and magazine racks. I enjoy reading and I hope that I can also instill this love of reading with B.
Well today was a doozy. I put her down at 12:30 because she was extremely tired from not having much of a nap in the AM. She cried for 30 minutes and then I couldn't stand it any longer. I picked her up at 1pm to soothe her and she fell asleep right away. I put her down in her crib and she slept for 30 minutes. I didn't want her to cry again so I picked her up and continued with our activities. She ate lunch, played for a little while and then we headed out to meet up with E at Red Mango. She was full of energy greeting everyone entering the yogurt joint.
She started fussing around 4:30pm so we headed home where I tried to feed her solids and she refused. Nursed her for over 30 minutes and changed her diaper and into her pjs. I nursed her for another 20 minutes and she was still asleep when I put her down and stayed alseep for 15 minutes and then woke up. Now she's just fussing in the crib. This has been a difficult day :(
For the most part, B does a good 11-12 hours of sleep at night. No problems putting her down anywhere from 5:30-7pm depending on how the PM nap goes. We used the Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child book to get us to this point which we started when she hit around 5 months old. Usually around 4 months old & baby is double their weight when they can sleep through the night(which according to textbook is at least 6 hours straight). We could have started her sleep training earlier but we were co-sleeping and she is still exclusively breastfed, so it was a slow start out the gate.
Recently though J was holding her for her AM nap. Eventually being held is all she expects now. PM naps are a challenge now for me b/c she then expects to be held for more than an hour. I used to put her down for the PM nap and she'd whimper for a few seconds and just fall asleep for a good hour.
For anything this long we definitely put her in the Moby wrap. So today after a good night of 12 hours of sleep, we put her down at 8am since she was showing signs of tiredness around 7:30am. She cried/whimpered for close to an hour and now she is asleep. I hope she sleeps for at least an hour.
Update: She cried for almost an hour and then slept for 30 minutes. She woke up crying and we decided to ck on her. It turned out that she had a dirty diaper and we decided to change her, play quietly in the living room and take a walk to the park.
Of course for family and friends, you either read about B at Facebook, her website or some sprinklings here at mywhine. For some photos be sure to hook up at flickr.
Shortly I'll be writing strictly on information architecture and information management at mywhine. I'll be moving all family related blogging to B's website. More reviews type material will be at Little Brown Hat.
Yup I know they are a bit pricey and you're probably better off using melamine or some other reuseable product such as bamboo, but I think it's important to know the options available.
