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The Crib Chronicles Night #6

We're celebrating Thanksgiving today at my mom and dad's house. My mom wanted a gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake, so I offered to make it since I make the best cheesecake EVAR!! But those of you who have made a good cheesecake know that it takes a while. I didn't actually start the cheesecake until after 9:00pm last night and had to pause part of the way through to send Husband to the store for cream cheese since one of them was moldy. Gross. It has to bake for an hour, then sit in the oven with the door open for an hour.

Sofia went to sleep before 9 and by the time the cheesecake would have been done, it would have been super late and I didn't want to wake her up. So she slept all night in her pack and play in my mom and dad's room. She woke up once at 3:00am to eat, and went back to sleep, and was up at 7:30am again.

Oh yeah, Husband and I just stayed at my parents house, and Sofia slept in their room. That was nice. My mom got up at 3am to feed her which was super great. So why don't I feel rested? Seriously, I feel just as tired as I normally do. I don't understand it.

Sofia had a good night of sleeping though, and slept by herself in her pack & play, and not in bed with mommy. Good job Sofia! :)

The Crib Chronicles Night #4 and #5

Somehow I've gotten screwed up along the way. I posted about Night #3 when I was already well into Night #4.

Don't blame me. Blame my sleep deprivation and blame this messed up week. It's totally screwy to have Thursday off for Thanksgiving but yet have to return to work for Friday when pretty much everyone in the world who doesn't work retail gets to stay home. This is the first year I've really ever had to work the day after Thanksgiving. The past couple of years we've had the day off. It was a furlough and unpaid, but I didn't complain. Now that things have gone back to normal in terms of workdays, we don't have furloughs anymore and we have to work the day after Thanksgiving. Pretty stupid if you ask me. My job is one that revolves around talking to HR Representatives and people in that line of work don't work the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, nobody really works the day after Thanksgiving unless you work retail or in some other type of service position. Want me to go on and on about why I'm so annoyed that I had to work today? Well, I'm not going to. That's not what this post is about. But it did mess my week up. I'm so confused. Thursday felt like a Sunday and today felt like a Monday yet I feel totally unaccomplished.

So Night #4 was pretty much a failure because Sofia slept in our bed the whole night. It was tough because we didn't really stick to the routine so everything got messed up. It's hard to stick to the routine sometimes. We try and have cereal, then a bath, then a bedtime story, then a bottle...all at certain times, and it doesn't always happen.

Night #5 (last night), we had some progress. I wasn't able to get Sofia down for bed until 9pm. I am shooting for 8pm, but I won't complain. She fussed and cried a couple of times. The third time, I realized she was hungry, so I fed her and out she went. She was asleep by 10pm. I left the music on her bouncer playing. It's on a 30-minute timer. It plays soft lullaby music. It helped her a lot. She slept through until around 1:00am and she woke up and was mad. I can't remember if I fed her or not, but we did manage to get her to go back to sleep. Then she woke up at 3:00am. She had a wet diaper. By the time we had her changed, she was wide awake and didn't want to go back to sleep. If it was a weekend, I would have tried to get her to stay in her crib, but I had to work at 7:45 this morning and I just needed to sleep, so I brought her to bed. I fell asleep and I think she was talking to herself. She fell back asleep at some point.

So she isn't sleeping through the night, and I don't expect her to. The first night she actually SLEPT in her crib, it wasn't for a whole night, but that's okay. Baby steps! :)

I think another thing that might help is to cut back on her afternoon naps...either by cutting them shorter, having them earlier, or eliminating them altogether. That's going to take some time. I also think that once she starts to eat more and more solid food and less and less of a liquid diet, she'll sleep better and not be hungry as often.

Not sure how tonight will go. She ate a good amount of cereal and then fell asleep sitting up. She was at my mom and dad's today. She took a two-hour nap this morning until 12:30pm, but then my mom said she pretty much stayed up all afternoon and kept busy. By the time Husband and I arrived around 5:30, she was kind of grumpy but still happy and playing. We normally do her bath around 7pm, but we ended up eating dinner late and she had her cereal around 6:30pm and then fell asleep. She's so tired, so I'm just letting her nap for a bit while her food settles. I'll bathe her around 8:00pm. I know this might mess things up, but it's a weekend, and we planned on hanging out here (mom and dad's) for a bit tonight anyway since I was going to help my mom make a cheesecake for tomorrow. We're having our Thanksgiving tomorrow.

So we're caught up - tonight will be Night #6 of Crib Chronicles. And tomorrow Sofia gets to try some new food! I'm thinking carrots or squash.

Teehee! Look at her, tired from being all full of rice cereal. With bunny ears!

The Crib Chronicles: Night #3

Sofia slept in our bed last night.

She only woke up once. Hey, that's good, right? I tried to get her to just go back to sleep on her own. Then I tried her nuk. She became irate and after an hour of this I fed her and she was fine. I don't care if her doctor says that she can go through the night without eating. If my baby is hungry, she's going to eat.

She didn't poop today. I anticipate a huge Thanksgiving blowout tomorrow when we're at her grandma and grandpa's house (Husband's parents). She did that yesterday at daycare because the day before she didn't poop. What gives? I think it has to do with her starting to eat cereal now. Her tummy has to get used to it. I had two onesies on her yesterday and her poop exploded through both.

So what are you thankful for this holiday season?

I am thankful for stain remover.

I'm also thankful for Zumba. I'm having fun. Although tonight the instructor called in "sick." I put that in quotations because I don't believe she is sick. Load of crap. So some other instructor who doesn't do Zumba did her best to throw together some cardio fusion thing which made me tired but wasn't as fun. But it was still nice of her to stay and teach another class when I'm sure she wanted to go home.

I've quietly become acquainted with the gym again. I only go twice a week. It's literally all I have time for right now. Husband is great and takes care of Sofia while I go. Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30pm-7:30pm I have a Zumba class that I attend. It's fine. It's all I can handle until I start to get in shape again. I'm in so much pain. I'm so happy that I don't have to walk up stairs to leave afterward. My gym is in the basement of a strip mall. Classy huh?! It's great. It's a pretty sweet place actually. In any case, at least they have escalators. Because for someone to expect me to walk up a flight of stairs immediately after an hour of fist pumping and squatting while shaking my butt around like Carmen Miranda....walk up stairs? I don't think so. The escalator scares me as it is. I am so exhausted and out of it by the time I leave that I am worried I'll pass out and fall. Did I ever talk about my irrational fear of the escalator? Every time... EVERY time I get on the escalator and it takes me up, I hold the moving railing. I am so paranoid about losing my balance and falling. Because do you realize what would happen if i fell down the escalator while it was moving up, in the opposite direction? I'd fall forever. Unless someone stopped the escalator. It'd be like a death treadmill.

I have a large Canadian audience. I was looking at my stats and I'm amazed at how many people from Canada read my blog. I don't even know anyone from Canada. I think that's great. Hey, Canadians! I think your national anthem sounds better than mine.

Back to Sofia. Apparently she rolls over now. All the way. From back to tummy and tummy to back. She also loves it. She thinks it's great. I haven't seen it. I heard it from the daycare lady today. She has been doing it all week long. I posted this on Facebook already. But I'll say it again. What other milestone will I miss? Probably all of them since she spends 40 hours per week away from me. I'm sad. I'm happy she's growing and so happy she is developing so well. I'm so proud of her. I just wish I could be around to see it. This whole working-mom thing comes with so many sacrifices. I keep saying we need to win the lottery so that I can stay home and not have to worry about money. I don't know why it hasn't happened yet.

Look at this cutie. I can't get enough of her. I'm so lucky! She makes me so happy!!!

The Crib Chronicles: Night #2

Last night.... I'm going to be honest. We didn't even try. She slept in our bed.

But I talked to daycare today. I asked them whether she sleeps in a swing for naps or her crib. They said she sleeps in a swing. Why? "She doesn't like her crib."

Well that explains a lot. My mom also has her nap in a swing.

So now, we are going to start taking naps in the crib (unless of course, she has a cold and will sleep better in a more upright position, then the swing is allowed). Sofia WILL get used to sleeping in a crib, and then maybe the transition will be easier.

I can't find my phone. It's either at Sofia's daycare, or it's at my parents house. Or in the car which is in the garage. But it certainly isn't here. So I can't take a picture of her to show you how adorable she looks right now.

The Crib Chronicles: Night #1

When is the right time to make your baby start sleeping in her crib, in her own room, and not in her bed?

This is a topic of much debate. Some people are really against co-sleeping, some people think it's fine. I think it's fine, and opted for it right off the bat because it was easier. Especially with having a c-section, getting in and out of bed initially was really difficult and uncomfortable. The fact that I was breastfeeding on top of that just made it much easier to have Sofia sleep in our bed with us. As she is getting older, it's been fine, but I'm really missing my sleep. We're still up 1-2 times a night with her because she fusses, needs a diaper change, and/or needs a bottle. Sometimes though, it's just fussing, and putting her nook in her mouth calms her down and she goes to sleep. She had her 4-month appointment recently and I asked the doctor, when will she start sleeping through the night?

Every baby is different. He told me the story of a couple who would put their baby in its room and shut the door. Keep in mind that there were several rooms separating the baby's room from the parents, and they'd close all the doors in between and turn on the stereo so they wouldn't hear him cry. Then they would talk about how their baby was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. Seriously?

Then there is him (the doctor) who had a kid who couldn't sleep by himself until he was almost 4 years old because he (the doctor) was too much of a softy - and if the kid wasn't sleeping in bed with his parents, he (the doctor) would have a pull out mattress on the floor of the kid's room, because of the kid woke up and saw nobody was there, he would start crying.

He said at 4 months old, Sofia doesn't need to be waking up to eat so much. But at the same time, all babies are different. Once she starts eating solid foods on a regular basis, her appetite will change. I think my mom said I was around 6 months old before I was really sleeping through the night.

Regardless, the time has come to at least start by getting her to sleep in her own bed. Because if we can do that, maybe I won't wake up every time she fusses and squirms. Also, she needs to start being able to learn how to self-soothe, and put herself back to sleep if she wakes up. I'm being told to lay her down when she is "drowsy, but awake" so she can put herself to bed. She's used to me rocking her to sleep or falling asleep next to me cradled in my elbow.

Last night, she had her nighttime bottle and I put her to bed around 9pm. She woke up at 10:30pm. We could hear her crying. I told Husband to turn down the monitor. She did not stop crying. Rather, it just kept getting worse, she became more and more upset, and started coughing because she was crying so hard. Back and forth we went trying to calm her down, and each time we'd calm her down, 5 minutes after we left the room she'd start up again. By 11:15ish, I had given up. I said that tomorrow was Monday, and for the sake of getting some sleep, let's just let her sleep in our room. So we did. I don't know if maybe I gave up too quickly. I probably did. But I have to work full time, and starting off a workweek on little to no sleep is not going to do much good.

As soon as I brought her back to bed, she slept like a rock. She fussed a few times throughout the night, but I managed to get her to go back to sleep without eating. So that's a step in the right direction. This morning she woke up at 5, I fed her and changed her, and she went back to sleep. I even managed to get her dressed without waking her up.

Here she is, a vision in polka dots.

And night #1 of getting her to sleep in her room was a complete and utter failure.

Fur baby

This will be a short post. I just want to show you how cute Sofia is with her boots and fur hat. Okay, well it's actually Uncle Ryan's bomber hat, and it's kind of too big, so we will just have to find one Sofia-sized.


Those booties were mine when I was a baby, then they were my brother's, and now they are Sofia's. Really soft leather and warm fur. Not sure what kind, but either way, they are great and they are warm, and something like that would cost way too much, so I am glad that I have them! She loves them. I am glad they fit her. They probably won't fit for too long since she just keeps growing. My little bean...

I've stayed at my mom and dad's this past weekend while Husband was off hunting. They are so helpful. Last night my mom offered to take care of her so I could sleep. I got to sleep all night long!! I love my parents. I don't know what I would do without them.

Sofia must have been good, I mean, she is always good. But I think my dad is a bit tired. It has been a few years....or rather, 2½ decades since he had to be woken up a couple times a night to help with baby. I think he was a bit tired today. But look! What a great papa! After all these years he still knows how to multitask.... catch up on sleep AND get baby down for a nap.

chunky.

It's Saturday afternoon and I have the opportunity to take a nap because Sofia is....napping! I'm really super tired. But for some reason I can't get comfortable. Oh well.

Husband is gone this weekend hunting. I haven't heard from him yet, so my guess is he hasn't gotten anything. I hope he does, only because I know it will make him happy. Also, it's nice to have ground venison. Saves lots of money when we don't have to buy ground meat for a while!

Speaking of money....we need to write a budget. I don't understand how we can have two incomes and many times are still struggling to make ends meet. Then I realize we haven't really been accounting for the fact that we now spend nearly $700/month in daycare, plus whatever we spend on diapers and formula and whatever else Sofia needs. She seems to outgrow clothes pretty quickly lately, or she poops in them and they are beyond the point of rescuing. Also, both mine and Husband's student loans are in repayment. All normal stuff. We just need to re-write our budget now to include the extra baby stuff that we never had to account for before. Yes, babies are expensive.

I'm watching it rain. I'm waiting for it to get yucky. We're supposed to have this drizzle rain, and then it's going to freeze and snow on top of it. I'm happy I don't have to go anywhere today. :)

Sofia had a doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor says she is doing excellent. She's chubby, but that's good. I asked the doctor if it was alright and he said that they much rather would see a chubby baby than a skinny baby!! She's in between the 75th and 90th percentile for everything and the doctor has no concerns at all. She's wonderful. And so cute. Here's a picture of her before she got angry and had to have her shots.


Tomorrow morning we have a play date with my coworker Sarah and her little guy Jake. Jake is a few weeks older than Sofia. We're looking forward to it. Edit. We didn't go. Sarah and Jake came down with the flu. :(

Sofia is trying super hard to roll over. Hasn't happened yet, but it will soon. Super cute. She makes me happy even when other things make me sad.

peanut

Baby is SLEEPING right now!! Which means I have a small window of opportunity to say some stuff.

My days fly by, as do my weeks. I'm exhausted but super happy. I don't know how women work 40 hours a week, take care of a baby, maintain a clean house, and their sanity. I'm not doing it. Husband helps a LOT. He does most of the cleaning. I don't know what I'd do without him! I love him and I'm so happy that I have him to go through this journey with me. He's such a great dad.

I thought I'd try and multitask this afternoon. Husband has been out of town all weekend for military duty and will be home this evening. I have had this butternut squash sitting on the counter for weeks. I thought I'd bake it and freeze it for future use.....for babyfood, or some yummy dinner if I ever have time to cook. Sofia loves her jumparoo, so I brought it into the kitchen and put her in it that way she could bounce around while I baked. She was pretty happy and excited. When she started to be fussy, I figured she had tinkled in her diaper and thought I'd get to it in a couple of minutes. I finished wrapping the squash in foil and washed my hands, and went to pick her up. That's when I saw it. Her white onesie was brown in back. All the way up to her neck. Oh crap. Really, crap.

Apparently she'd pooped her pants and continued to jump up and down. And as expected, the bouncing up and down caused the poop to squish out the back of her diaper and shoot up to her hair.

Another onesie, lost to a poopy fate. Sofia got a bath after I wiped all the poop off of her. None of it got on her jumparoo though, so that's good.

Early Saturday morning, she also vomited all over me. She's had the sniffles for a few days now and I think swallowing it (eww) has given her an upset tummy, which made her puke. On me. Honestly, it's fine. Really disgusting, but I can handle it. I feel bad for her though. I don't like it when she cries. And being covered in poop makes her cry. I don't blame her. I kind of wanted to cry too.

I'm at a loss right now. So I'm going to show you some cute pictures. Enjoy. :)