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.

You win some you loose some

Well, as most of you know, whenever possible I like to follow the Dr. rules or if I've read something in a magazine or what have you. So, when Jeff decided he wanted to start feeding Jessie solids I called the Dr. office and asked if it was ok and where to start. The advice nurse told me that Jessie gets all she needs from breast milk and they usually advise people to wait until 6 months (unless she doesn't seem satiated with just the milk). So in my mind this is the law. To Jeff... not so much. I believe his response was something like "pbfhh". Needless to say, this was not a debate that I won. Jessie has had sweet potato, peas, and carrots.

First was sweet potato, she made a face like she was eating a lemon, but still kept opening her mouth. The next week we tried peas, Jeff felt vindicated as she lunged for every bite. This week we tried carrots. Carrots where well received and she is now showing a preference for them over the peas. Jeff is very happy. (Especially since Jamie never would eat that stuff. We kind of had to wait until toddler foods came around for her.... and we're still kind of there with her.)

Well, we don't give Jessie very much since I was told that it should not displace milk and we do wait at least 4 days to try something new (in case of allergies). So I suppose it has been somewhat of a compromise. More to come on baby food preferences. She does seem to have taken to it like a natural.

Times, they are a changin'

Jessie and Jamie have changed so much with their first two weeks of school. It surprises me how much can change so soon. Jamie's reading and writing has taken a leap, she is doing so well. Jessie can roll from her back to her tummy (maybe she was supposed to be doing that a long time ago, I don't know I'm not caught up in that stuff this time around) she's playing so intently with toys (she never seemed to care before) and she's doing great with belly time. She is able to go to her baby school and be put down and play (big deal to me) and she's drinking milk from a bottle like a champ (yeah). Sitting and crawling are right around the corner. I'm cautiously watching the thumb the keeps going in her mouth, given the choice I'd rather her suck a binky. I'll keep you posted as the excitement continues.

p.s Jessie is 5 months today. next month will be a big milestone with a dr. visit, eating, and more abilities.

A bit of Irony

So ... those of you that have been following the saga know that it's been trying, trying to get Jessie excited about the bottle. I've been really stressed with Jessie starting school and needing to take a bottle. Well, when I spoke with her teacher at school today she told me " I switched to a different bottle and it worked great, she took 4 oz (compared to the struggle before of getting her to take 1.5 oz)" Here comes the irony... The bottle she did "great" with is the avent bottle, the same one I have a bunch of at home because that was the bottle Jamie had. I've been running around buying all these premium bisephonol -A free bottles and she like the very one that I already have at home. go figure.

Another thing that is funny, Jessie for some reason likes to nap listening to Celine Dion. (I'm not much of a fan) Jessie's teacher is sweet and made a cd just for Jessie to listen to for her naps. I can add that to the lengthening list of why I like this school.

Trip to Kansas

Cick on the picture for pics from our trip (the first few where actually taken at home, but I kept them with this group anyway).

I needed pics for my desk

Back to work!

I stared back to work yesterday, Jessie started her baby school, and Jamie started Kindergarten. It feels ok to be back at work, though we'll see when the work really get going. Jessie did well yesterday, she was very tired from her experience and we still have lots of work to do with the bottle. Jamie did well with school, she has a cute new uniform (need to get a picture of that) and sadly homework every night. Hmm... how will we fit that in.

Pictures are coming so stay tuned... I have a lot of pictures from a recent trip to Kansas and some new ones from the portrait studio. my goal is to have it up before the weekend.

Well.. wish us all luck.