Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Jessie turns 6 months

Jessie turned 6months on October 17. We had our pediatrician appointment yesterday. We are in the 75-90 percentile on everything. A well proportioned baby ; ) (his words). For those of you keeping track.. I can only remember that she came out to 18 pounds. I think her height was 26inches (or maybe it was 23, but I think 26 makes more sense). He also thinks she may be an early crawler based on how she could get her butt up. Well, she is or she isn't I'm in no hurry. This little bug loves to eat. She is a happy baby and a total joy. This was Jessie's first ride on a swing. She had a good time and I had to snap a picture. (even if it had to be with my crappy camera phone). P.S these days her tongue seems to be permanently sticking out.


Monday, October 13, 2008

Halloween Cuties




My friends where nice enough to snap some pictures of my cuties at molly's first b-day party, with a halloween theme.



to see more pics, click on the links.










Friday, October 10, 2008

Sleep Blog Day 3

I put Jessie down last night at 8. I was tempted to keep her up longer so I could enjoy her company, but that seemed selfish with her yawning. She fell asleep right away, but then woke up at 8:30 and proceeded to cry about it for an hour. I went in every five minutes and did the patting. She was asleep by 9:30. She woke up at 3am and I nursed and she agreed to go back to sleep (crying for about 30 seconds). She woke woke up again at 6am but was asleep by the time I got to her room. I suppose that's how it's suppose to work, put themselves back to sleep and all. She woke up for the morning at about 7:50. Not to shabby. I hope she cries less tonight and sleeps through the night too. I think we are on the right path though. The teachers at Jessie's school applauded me yesterday and suggested I talk to some other parents ; ) I have to pat myself on the back too, it certainly is not easy and takes a lot of resolve.

p.s I can't tell you how much peace of mind the mattress alarm brings me. I no longer stare at the video monitor to make sure she's breathing.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sleep Blog Day 2

Last night we put Jessie down for night number 2 in her crib. I followed my same routine that I did the night before. Of course she fell asleep again while nursing, which I can't let her do (bummer). I put her down awake in her crib. She cried for an hour and 20 minutes. I don't know who was more upset, her or me. Jeff and I took turns going in to her room every 5 minutes, patting her and reassuring her, so she would know that we are still around. We kind of felt that things didn't go right on the first night. She fell asleep to quickly and didn't learn to soothe herself. The crying for over an hour is how I remember this process from last time. Poor baby, it was very hard.

I saved the good news for the last part because I'm so excited!!! When she did finally go to sleep, she slept the whole night!! I think if I did not have the mattress alarm I would have had a panic attack. There is a good chance that we will still have a couple of tough nights ahead of us and we may even have a night tonight that is worse, but.. I'm thinking in a week, she will have it down.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Sleep Blog Day 1

Background: Up until last night Jessie had been sleeping with me in bed. It started off that she couldn't sleep unless I was holding her, and there she stayed because I wasn't sure what to do with the fact that she could only stay asleep on her tummy (though she did back sleep next to me). The school where she naps even told me it's not likely she will sleep on her back, they tried and failed. So, now that she is nearly 6 months, can roll back and forth (when she really wants to), and I have the mattress alarm that I purchased (it arrived yesterday), it was time for her to move to her crib.

The Technique: We went through this sleep situation before with Jamie and the technique that worked for us then, was from a book, the sleep solution. How it works... You set up a routine, you do that same routine every night. for example, pjs, milk, book, say night-night. They need to be put to bed sleepy but not asleep. The book warns against forming associations like music or noise, that they might always need that to fall asleep. The purpose is that they learn to soothe themselves to sleep so they can always fall asleep. When they start crying you can go in every 5 minutes or so, pat them, say night-night (or whatever) and then leave. Once they are asleep and wake up you can put them back to sleep however you normally would (rock, nurse, whatever). The theory is that since they are learning how to put themselves to sleep when you put them down, they will eventually put themselves back to sleep at night.

Past Experience: When we did this with Jamie, she cried the first night for an hour, the second night for 2 hours, third 45 minutes, fourth 20 minutes and then she wouldn't cry to go to sleep anymore. 3 weeks later she was sleeping through the night. It worked exactly how the book said it would go down.

Night One: I do the night ritual, set Jessie down on her tummy, turn on the alarm, go sit on the couch and brace myself. She cries for 7 minutes and falls asleep. I could not believe what a contrast. Jeff says let's go to sleep (at 9:15). I'm afraid to believe that I could actually be so lucky, but 15 minutes later I agree. I get ready for bed and I'm in bed for about 5 minutes when she starts crying. I went to her room to try and put her back to sleep. She falls asleep I try to set her down, she starts crying. I repeat this again and again. I see 10pm go by, then 10:30, I think no big deal since I'm usually awake at that time. By 11, 11:30 I'm starting to feel pretty tired. I go back and forth between her room and mine. From 1:00am to 4am we both are sleeping soundly. Strangely the way I achieved this was putting her on her back, face to the bumper like she sleeps with me (don't worry, plenty of air around her mouth and nose). I felt the sting of irony. Jessie wakes at 4am. I'm thinking, ok, I'll put her back to back to sleep and I can still sleep till 7. I do the dance like before, putting her down, she wakes up and cries, back and forth between our rooms. Jeff sleeps soundly this entire night. I watch 4:30 on the clock, 5, 5:30, 6. At this point Jessie and I are both crying. At 6:15 I decided to just start getting ready for work. I slept for 3 hours the whole night. I'm tired. I put her to sleep in my bed so that I could at least get ready for work. She slept soundly.

Stay tuned for day 2.