Just some stuff

Just wanted to include a post today with some interesting Morgan-isms and Piper-doings as of late.

I walked in the door from doing some errands the other night and David was helping Morgan in the bathroom with a poopy pull-up. I heard him start laughing and he said "Quick! Come here!" I hurried to the bathroom and saw Piper "helping" Daddy by taking a wipe from the package and gently wiping Morgan's tush. What a clever, observant girl!

Morgan has had a few language bursts lately. We were riding home from our outing to the Play Place at the mall and Morgan said "Piper got an ouchie!" (We call any sort of bumps, scrapes or bruises "ouchies" as we tend to call Morgan "boo-boo" as a nickname.) I looked back at Piper and didn't see anything ouchie-ish so I asked Morgan, "Where is the ouchie?" She pointed at Piper and said very simply "on her face." Piper's cheeks were somewhat red from being outside in the cold, so I think that was what she was talking about. David suddenly said, "I think we just had a sort-of conversation" ...then we both got teary.

The way Morgan talks is not really in a "natural" tone of speaking. She tends to emphasize the wrong syllables or words. It was surprising that the way she said "on her face" was so matter-of-fact and natural. Hmmm. Maybe she's working things out somehow.

Morgan also has busted out with "okay" instead of "yes" sometimes (she is saying "yes" more and more). And about half the time she not only says "okay" she says "okay, honey!" This is still in that odd tone of voice, a little affected, so it comes out sounding really funny. The other day when I asked her if she wanted some milk she said "okay honey Mama!" I'm not sure if I'm the one who calls her honey... I wasn't aware I said that, but I must.

As Morgan was back at her "typical" preschool today I told the director and one of her teachers about her diagnosis. This particular teacher has a child with special needs as well, so she's been very helpful to me and encouraging with Morgan. I was relieved that they were very supportive and had a lot of questions for me as well. I'm so glad they are open to having a not-so-typical kid in their school. There are a lot of options for us for school for Morgan next year, but if we want to stay with this school a few days a week they gave some good suggestions on what might be best for her, possibly staying in a class with this teacher who knows her needs best. I was also relieved to hear that there were some 3-4 year olds in the class above Morgan's that still wore pull-ups to school. Hopefully we'll have made some progress in that area before next September, but if not, it's good to know that it won't be an obstacle for her attending the school next year. Whew!

I must have more for Piper...she's just turning into a sweet, funny little girl. We still tend to call her "baby" all the time and we're not sure when/if that will stop. It's so funny to see her walking from room to room of the house. She's getting more agile and able to carry things with her. She can get herself standing up from the middle of the floor now without having to pull up on anything. She can also reach down, pick up a toy and stand back up again. Good girl! She's also adding some more words, what I'm pretty sure is "bath" (without the "th"), ball (ba) and apple (a-puh). Keep them coming little one! She's very much a Mama's girl and doesn't let me get too far away in new places. I love her sweet hugs and the way she puts her head on my shoulder.

Lastly, bedtimes are a BIG challenge in our house lately. Piper has decided that she does not wish to adhere to the routine anymore. When I was nursing her it was bath, jammies, book, nurse and in bed. Then the nursing was replaced by some rocking and I would sing her a song. In the last two weeks she's decided instead of a book and a song she wants to walk in and out of Morgan's and her own room, sometimes observing Daddy reading Morgan a book. She wants nothing to do with actually going to bed. Morgan will do her routine fairly well, but when it comes to going into bed and saying prayers with Daddy, she wants none of it. The last few days we've had to deposit both of them in their beds, close their doors and listen to them yell. Ugh. We hope it's a phase.

Gram and Grandpa B are arriving on Thursday for a week! Yippee!

Sweet Sleeping Baby

We had just headed back to the hotel from our picnic at Cathedral Beach. Piper fell asleep on the ride. Usually when I pull her out of her car seat she wakes up. She did stir some this time, but I pulled her into my chest really quickly and to my surprise she stayed asleep. I got to snuggle with her in our room for about a half an hour until something woke her up. She hasn't done this since she was a newborn, so it was really sweet to be able to have even a short time of snuggling.

Sleepy Baby

Piper was a busy girl on Thursday! She got up early with Daddy (about 6:30 am) and played and played. By the time breakfast was over she nodded off in her high chair!

I'm one of those Moms who wakes a sleeping baby (uh oh!). If she sleeps longer than an hour in the morning she doesn't sleep well in the afternoon. I did let her go an extra half hour this time since she seemed so tired. Here's our sweet pea waking up...

All snuggled up with her tush in the air

What was that noise?

Mama, what are you doing with that camera?

OK, maybe I'll try to give you a smile

Silly girl!

Look out, here she comes!

Almost there!

Ready to go!

Bedtime Bonus

Success!! We made a few key changes yesterday in our house and our routine that made a HUGE difference. Since all of our visitors have left for now (until Aunt Ali comes for Morgan's birthday)...we decided it was time for Piper to move to the guest room. We rearranged the furniture and moved in the bassinet and glider. I was a little nervous about her being "on her own," but we moved Morgan even earlier (at 6 weeks) and she did just fine. We found that we slept much better with her in a different room, so we figured the same thing would happen with Piper.

I also decided to try out a new bedtime routine. Piper has been going to bed pretty late still, around 9:30-9:45 pm. She still seemed so tired to me. I'm thinking a lot of her evening fussiness is her trying to tell us she just wants to go to sleep. Sooo...

...we started BOTH kids' "bedtime routines" at 7:15. David bathed Morgan and I bathed Piper in separate bathrooms. We read a story together and said prayers. We said our goodnights to Morgan then David fed Piper her bedtime bottle...then I nursed her to sleep. She was asleep and in her bed by 8:40 pm!! This was the earliest my far that she has fallen asleep. Then she slept until 3:30 am...7 hours!! Good Girl. Then I nursed her and she slept until 8:30 am. She seems so much happier today with long times of just hanging out between feedings.

AND, I feel like I got a little of my own time back. When Piper was asleep I was able to do a few chores and read a little in bed before turning the light out at 10:00 pm. I didn't sleep so well, since I kept wondering if Piper was going to wake up at an odd time. That was to be expected. Just give me a few more nights of consistent baby sleeping and I will be sleeping much more soundly myself. We'll be keeping this schedule for a while. Eventually she may need to go to sleep even earlier, but this is a great routine for now.

STTN

I think you've all seen these letters in some of Morgan's old posts. STTN is an "internet abbreviation" for "Sleep Through The Night." I see it on my Mommy message boards all the time. When someone has a new baby the countdown begins for when they will STTN. Some babies do it early (six to eight weeks), some do it late (beyond 6 months old or even a year), but every parent longs for that day. Well....I think I can say Piper did this for the first time last night. I'm sure it was a total fluke, but it was a nice one nonetheless.

She had been going to sleep between 11:00 pm and Midnight, give or take a few nights (I can count on one hand) at 10:30 or so. Then she will (fairly consistently) sleep about 5 hours until waking up to eat. Then she'll go back to sleep for another two or three hours. This worked OK, but the late bedtime is getting hard on me, so I really wanted to slowly move it up. I checked the old log I kept for Morgan and we are approaching the time that we were able to get her to go to sleep earlier. So, I decided to "experiment" last night. With parenting I find many things are experiments. You just try new things and figure out what works and what doesn't.

So, I thought it was time we tried an earlier bedtime. For the last few nights I thought she looked pretty overtired in the evenings and wondered whether she could go down for the night earlier. Last night I figured out that she would have plenty of feedings in by about 8:30-8:45, so at about 8:45 I nursed her for the last time for the night. As we are supplementing some formula at night, David gave her a bottle right after and we managed to get her asleep by 10:00 pm. Woo Hoo! Even if she woke up more in the night, this was already a victory. So, about 3 am I woke up to some "rousing noises" from Piper. I went to the bathroom and when I came out she was quiet again. I dozed on and off and she finally woke up for real at...wait for it...5:45 am!!! She slept almost 8 hours! I wish I had slept soundly all that time. If she keeps doing this I'll be in heaven!! Even if she doesn't, the earlier bedtime is a step in the right direction. I know with Morgan we had her at her usual bedtime, about 7:30-8:00 by the time she was four months old. So, at almost 8 weeks we're making some good progress.

Well, the "biscuit" is waking from her nap. Gotta go! I'll keep you updated on if the STTN continues!

It is a miracle!

The Miracle Blanket, that is. We decided to put it into action last night. We had used it with Morgan starting fairly early and it helped her sleep better and longer. It swaddles them up good and tight with their arms by their sides. Then they don't wake themselves with their spontaneous arm movements and they feel all warm, cozy and somewhat like they felt in the womb.

Piper had a rough time last eveing. She's really come into a fussy phase and has a hard time transitioning from awake to sleeping. As you saw in the previous post, we've put the swaddle, Jr. and the swing unto use...but night-time is another story. I want her to get the idea that once she's in the miracle blanket, it's time for a long sleep, so it will only be used at night and she will sleep in her bassinet. Prior to this (for various reasons) she had been sleeping on me in bed...but this was never a long-term plan. She also started waking up more often, so it wasn't working anyway. She's also a sweaty little bugger too.

As I was saying, she was having a fussy time last night. We went to our church small group and she basically cried the whole time, when she wasn't eating. We wondered when we got home whether we'd be able to get her to go to sleep. Finally at about 11 pm she seemed close nodding off. We wrapped her up in the miracle blanket and put her in the bassinet. Within ten minutes she was asleep!

Here's the kicker, she didn't fully wake up until 5 am!! That's 6 hours!! She started making some small "hungry sounds" around 3 am...so I didn't sleep from then on since I was convinced she was waking up any minute. She didn't truly make her hungry cries until just before 5 am. Lucky David had earplugs in so he slept fine! Overall this was a great night though. We'll see if it continues...as it might have been a fluke, but we know the potential is there. Good job Piper!!

Back to Basics

It was time to pull out the "swaddle jr." again. We call it the "jr." because the "big gun" swaddle is the Miracle Blanket which is due to go into use again soon. The "jr." is great for naps during the day while the MB is for night-time use. Piper just couldn't get herself to sleep yesterday in the morning, so we used the swaddle, swing and binky to triple-team her into submission. A nice nap ensued and we all got some rest. It was a bonus that it was Morgan's regular naptime too!

Crib Games

Morgan has come up with several "games" she likes to play when resisting falling asleep for naps or bedtime.

Game #1 - The Lovey Toss
This one's been going on for a while. She sleeps with her bunny lovey and a blanket. Suddenly she discovered if she tossed them over the side of the crib we would come in and give them back to her. I played along for a while because she fell asleep so much easier with her lovey. This game escalated when Grandma and Grandpa visited because Grandpa was having a little too much fun with her when he gave the lovey and blankie back. Sorry Dad, we love how much you love her...but it got out of hand. So when we were having to go in the room 4-5 times before she went to sleep I had to put my foot down. We are now on what we call a "zero tolerance" policy and if she tosses her toys, she does not get them back. The first few times we had to do this were rough, but she now eventually falls asleep without them. Once she is asleep we gently put them next to her so when she wakes up during the night she falls right back asleep. Sometimes she actually holds onto them so we don't have to go in and retreive them at all.

Game #2 - Bouncy Bed
Just discovered this one today. I put her down for her nap and when I checked in on the monitor a bit later she was jumping up and down "look Mom, no hands" style in the middle of the crib. Then she would fall forward onto her lovey and blanket and laugh. When she stands in the crib you can only see her from about the chest down on the monitor screen. It was just too funny to watch! Eventually she settled herself down and went to sleep.

Game #3 - Laps
In this game she sort of "bounces" from one end of the crib to the other, sort of like you'd imagine a boxer in the ring. Similar to game #2 eventually she gets tired out and plops herself down to go to sleep.

Dreaming of Old MacDonald?

Every night Meg, I or both of us will tip-toe into Morgan's room while she's sleeping just to look at her. She's so adorable that we want one last look before bed.

Last night was like any other. Meg was downstairs, so I decided to go on a solo mission. Morgan had been asleep for about 2 hours, so I felt it was safe go in without waking her. I carefully opened the door, got about two steps into the room when a dreamy little voice came drifting from the crib bellowing: "Wwowwww"! I froze... did I just wake her up? Is she now going to have an epic meltdown that'll require 20 minutes of soothing, and make for an extra cranky baby in the morning? Should I just sit on the floor and pretend I'm not here?

Against my better judgement I approached the crib. I resigned myself to finding wide open brown eyes expectantly hoping for a late night crib rescue so she could resume destroying our bonus room. Instead, she was fast asleep, oblivious to the fact her startled Dad was hovering over her. I made sure she was out, then left quickly as I was about to start cracking up. She may have uttered noises in her sleep before, but it was the first time either of us have heard her say a word.

I couldn't wait for Meg to come upstairs so I could tell her what happened. My only regret was that she wasn't there to hear it, though if we were both there I'm certain we would have both cracked up and woken Morgan.

So you may be asking yourself at this point "What's the Old MacDonald correlation?" As you may have read in a previous blog, Morgan's first word was "duck". Somehow that transitioned to the classic kids tune, where Meg and I sing to her, and she fills in the animal on the farm - always a certain water fowl - then adds in another loud "Duck!" at the end of the song.

Lately, however, she's revised the ending of the song. After the last E, I, E, I...O she's replaced "Duck" with "Wow!" I take it as a compliment, as if she's in awe of our performance. It didn't strike me until Meg mentioned it that maybe she was dreaming about us singing to her. (If any one's heard me sing, this could be classified as a nightmare.)

Regardless, this has produced one of the most cherished memories of parenthood yet. There's so many firsts that you just don't take into account as you consider what it would be like to be a parent. Each one seems more and more amazing. I could go on for hours, but I think I'll go check in on my little sleeping angel. I hear she may be reciting the Gettysburg Address tonight!

Baby Bookworm

Lately Morgan has been very into her books. She can often be found sitting on the floor paging through them, forward, then backwards...sometimes looking at them upside down. In the picture below she is looking at her "Good Night San Francisco" book given to her by her Aunt Ali. Can you see the page with Lombard Street?

Tonight when we were doing the bedtime routine Morgan was sitting on my lap and David was reading the stories. He didn't always hold up the book for her to see. This annoyed her a bit because she'd stop drinking her sippy cup of milk and lean over to see the book. Whenever we finish the stories she always looks at the pile of books as if to say "read another one!"

When I read to her before naps she likes to turn the pages. I have to be stealthy about it though and not actually make the page "available" to turn until I'm almost done with the words. If I hook my finger in the next page too soon she'll grab it and turn it before I'm ready.

We're glad she is enjoying the stories and hope she continues to develop a love for reading.

My Bottle-less Baby

Tonight we quit the bottle...hopefully for good. For a few weeks now, Morgan has been down to one bottle a day, before bed. I dragged my feet on this for a few weeks after her Dr. appointment. It just breaks my heart to know my baby is so big she doesn't need a bottle anymore. Sniff sniff.

I decided it was going to be harder on me than her so I set a deadline for tonight to change the routine. We did her normal bath time routine. After we put on her jammies, we turned down the lights and I sat with her in the glider. I gave her a sippy cup with her milk instead of the bottle. While she sipped David read her a few stories, then we sang a few Christmas songs. Finally we turned the lights all the way off, had kisses and prayers and in the crib she went. She took a little while longer than usual to fall asleep, but she wasn't upset. Possibly it was because she had a late nap today.

Eventually the sippy cup will go too, but we thought it was a good transition from the bottle (as suggested by the doctor). One more hurdle jumped...we hope, as I hear her stirring in the other room. Sleep baby sleep...

7:32 AM

I woke up at 7:32 this morning. Well...I actually woke up for the first time at around 5:30. Morgan was doing her usual 4:30-5:30 "fussies." She usually wakes up around this time and rolls around in her crib and makes some noises. I wonder whether she is really awake at these times or in some kind of dream state. I know she can't be hungry and when she actually wakes for the day she'll sit up and start "yelling." So, I'll usually wake up to her fussiness and then will "will her" to go back to sleep for a little while longer. Usually she'll wake for the day around 6:30-7:00 am, sometimes a little earlier though. It also depends on when she goes to sleep the night before. Our routine has her asleep by 8:00 on most days, but some days it's later if we have social events.

So this morning we went through a similar routine with the fussiness, and we both fell back asleep. But...this morning I jolted awake and it "felt" later than usual. I looked at the clock and it said 7:32 am. I clicked on the video monitor and saw Morgan sitting up in the crib. I thought to myself "how long has she been awake, sitting there waiting for me to wake up?" I wondered if she had cried and I didn't hear her. With all those guilty voices playing in my head, I got up and went to her room, peeking in the door...and she was not sitting up in her crib (the camera does not get one corner of the crib too clearly), but she was sound asleep. I was stunned, and thought "OK, now what do I do?"

I went in our family room and turned on the news. I am so used to seeing the local morning news as well as the opening into of the Today Show and the "top stories"...it was strange to see that it had all started without me. I watched for a bit, turned on the computer...even considered taking a shower, then at about 7:50 my bliss was interrupted by the waking cries of our Boo Boo girl. Then I realized that Morgan had gone to sleep last night at about 8:20. This is a little later than usual, because she took longer to settle down. I think she's in a growth spurt. The other day she had 10 ounces (yes, TEN) of formula before bed. I've been making sure to feed her plenty of solid food during the day, especially yesterday...and again, she needed 10 ounces to get to sleep. That's another subject, anyway, that means (not counting some early morning fussiness) she slept for 11.5 hours! She has never broken the 11 hour "barrier." Usually it's about 9.5-10 hours, with a random 11 hour stretch once in a while. I thought it would never happen. Maybe it's a fluke, but maybe, just maybe, we've turned the corner. I'll certainly keep you posted! This might just be the beginning of a wonderful new sleeping trend!

Rough Day (and Night)

Morgan woke up yesterday with a runny nose. At the time it was a clear runny, not an infected runny, so I chalked it up to teething. She also woke up really early...so I cheated and took her in bed with me so she'd sleep a few more hours.

Well...that backfired. She proceeded to refuse to take a nap in the morning and had a measly 30 minute one in the afternoon. She was SUPER cranky all day (so tired) and I knew I was in for it last night as well. If Morgan doesn't get at least one good nap during the day she sleeps terribly at night. By the end of the day I was also questioning the teething "diagnosis." She did a lot of sneezing all day and from time to time the runny nose would become an icky yellow color instead of clear. Yuck.

I was right about the night too. She protested greatly, but finally fell asleep at 8:30 pm. She woke up crying at both 9:00 and 11:00 (where I gave her a dose of Tylenol). She fell asleep for a few more hours, but woke up screaming at 2:00 am. Morgan randomly cries at night. It is usually brief and she goes back to sleep. Odd? I don't know if other kids do this, but its normal for her. This level of crying went on for a bit. I was concerned and went in her room to find her standing in her crib, banging on the front rail, her face red and wet from a combo of tears, snot and drool...just yelling at the top of her lungs. Wow. I decided to take her to bed with me. I figured if she settled down she was really OK, but if she still was crying after a while I'd contemplate calling the night nurse. She was so worked up it took her a bit to settle, but she did. At about 3:15 am I was able to take her back to her bed and she slept until 6:45 am.

So, as you can imagine, I'm dragging today. I think...indeed, she does have a cold because I'm not feeling so hot right now myself. I'm kind of bummed...I've been getting into a groove with a new spin class at the gym, but now I can't go because Morgan would sure to be rejected from the childcare for her icky runny nose. That's probably where she picked up up in the first place though. I'll have to make due with a long walk around the neighborhood.

I haven't ruled out the teething as well, so this is making for a rough combination right now. We'll see how the night goes tonight as David will be home from his road trip. As I write this Morgan has been sleeping for almost an hour. Wish me luck that this makes for a better day today!

Back to Blogging

Did you miss us? I sure missed blogging...but it was good to have a break. We had a great vacation! I'll be posting more pictures and info the next few days, but here are a few "new" items little Morgan has surprised us with lately:

* Morgan has suddenly started clapping! I have done lots of "patty cake" with her and we always clap and cheer when she does something extra good or new. At the beginning of our vacation I saw her putting her hands together with her fingers outstretched (instead of folded). By the end of the week she was actually making a clapping sound. So cute!

* She is officially "army-crawling" now. She pulls herself across the floor with sometimes a little help from a foot. I hear this is a step to real hands-and-knees crawling. She's making progress.

* All of a sudden her naps have become longer and she goes to sleep with less resistance. This may be due to a few things. One is that on vacation her night-time sleep was not great and we're still struggling with this now that we're home. The second reason may be that I think I've finally figured out the best timing for the naps...no later than 2.5 hours from when she last woke up, but usually 2 hours. Then, the same for the next nap. Her naps have been lasting from 1 hour to 2.5 hours. Yippee! Hopefully this won't change once we get her nights back on track.

* She has started to do what we call the "scrunchy-face" where she squeezes her eyes shut and crinkles her nose. Sometimes this is with a big smile, sometimes not. It just cracks us up!

Lovey-Dovey

I have learned that a baby's "comfort object" is now called a "lovey." So, Morgan received a lovey at one of my baby showers. It is a super-soft little pink blanket with a bunny head on it. A little strange? Yes, but I decided to give it a try. Morgan does not like to go down for her naps during the day. She's usually pretty tired by bedtime, so that is not a problem, but the naps are a challenge. I thought I'd try the lovey and see what she'd do.

I've been putting it in her crib for naps and bedtime the last few days. This picture is from one of her naps. I think its a bit of a fluke, but it looks like she's cuddling with it. Usually it ends up strewn on the other end of the crib. At least it's been distracting her a little from screaming bloody murder when I put her in the crib and leave the room. She'll usually chew on it for a while. It might take a little time for her to take to it, but it's worth a try.

Now what do I do when she wakes up and screams bloody murder for me to come and get her? Sigh. It's tough to be a baby.

It finally happened...

...Morgan fell asleep in her jumperoo. I've been told it has happened before, but I was never there to witness it. She woke up at 6:00 am this morning and still seemed pretty sleepy when she finished her bottle. She was pretty whiny so I put her in the jumperoo so she could play. Sometimes when she gets whiny it just means she wants to keep moving. She's not crawling quite yet, so she gets frustrated when she's on the floor too long or even if we're trying to hold her.

But this time, she was just tired. I sat down on the couch next to her and watched as she started to nod off. She was still even trying to jump a little and play with the toys in front of her. It was like she was telling herself, "must keep jumping...I am not falling asleep." Too cute. Right after I took these pictures I pulled her out of the jumperoo and she took about an hour long nap with her Daddy.

Our Babbling Baby

Morgan is discovering her "voice." For a long time she's been gradually making progress on new sounds, but now she's starting to string them together...and sometimes, quite loudly. We don't know what she's doing, babbling-wise, at daycare during the day, but the babbling seems to increase the closer she gets to her bedtime with the loudest time while she getting her lotion/massage and jammies put on. In fact, this evening she even babbled a while in her crib before falling asleep. Mostly its the "da-da-da" sounds mentioned previously, with a few shrieks thrown in for effect. She's seems to be having so much fun!

BTW: Despite much encouraging, there has been no attempts at anything resembling "ma-ma". Yes, this comes later in the language skill set, but this Mama can try right?

Wordless Wednesday: Mommy, I swear...I don't snore!

Fussy Butt and Stinky Sleeper

We have a binder that we use to keep track of Morgan's feedings, diaper changes and sleeping. Yes, it is very anal, but I like to use it to see how her sleeping patterns have changed and if/when they coincide with the amounts she eats. There is one page per day. I found these tracking sheets on a website I frequent. They must be made for daycare providers or parents with multiples because there is a spot for a name at the top of the sheet. When we first started to use them we simple put "Morgan" at the top of the page. The I decided to use some of her cute and funny nicknames, so we gradually went through the list of names such as "boo-boo girl", "pooky-boo" and "sweet baby girl." There are so many, I could go on and on.

Now becoming bored with the usual nicknames, I decided this weekend to start using a name I felt applied to her temperment for that day. Yesterday she became "Fussy Butt." She was having a fussy day that I haven't seen since the colicky early months. She woke up several times that morning and was a challenge to get back to sleep. Then she was up for the day about 7 am. About 2 hours later she showed all signs of being sleepy (yawns, rubbing eyes), but refused to take a nap. Finally at almost noon she either she gave in to pure exhaustion or she was calmed by the loud static we played from the radio in her room. Sigh. Luckily she woke up about an hour and a half later much happier.

This morning she earned the name "Stinky Sleeper." Now, she wasn't actually stinky, but lately she has not been sleeping well. She has learned to roll over on her tummy and now prefers to sleep that way. We'll put her to sleep on her back and she'll stay that way for a few hours. Then she'll wake up, roll over and fuss for a while until she falls back asleep. She did that at about 11:00 pm last night. Then she woke up at about 1:15 and showed no signs of going back to sleep. I finally got up and fed her. She went back to sleep, then woke up at 5:15 am for the day. We hope she gets back to her 8-9 hour stretches of sleep again soon.

We are crossing our fingers for "happy baby" or "giggle girl" tomorrow.

Bedtime for Baby

A post on a message board I frequent reminded me of how far Morgan has come developmentally. It seems like just yesterday she was a tiny newborn and now she's grabbing her feet and rolling over! Sigh.

The post asked for advice on bedtime routines. For her first month or two "bedtime" was somewhat of a far-off concept for us. We just made every effort we could to try to help her tell the difference between day and night and get her to sleep more than two or three hours at a time, especially at night.

In hopes of someday getting more sleep we did try to establish a bedtime routine fairly early. Morgan went to bed pretty late in the evening, around 10 or 11 pm. I really don't remember why that became the case, but we were still trying nursing at the time and I think it worked in with the schedule we had from the lactation consultant. Anyway, our "routine" consisted of a bath, applying calming lavender lotion, swaddling her, a final feeding...and hopefully, holding our breath, dare we jostle her even a little, we'd put her down in the bassinet to sleep.

At six weeks old, we moved Morgan to her crib. We had originally planned to keep her in our room until she was about 3 months old. But...there are things no one tells you about with newborns that you have to discover on your own. The strange and startling noises she would make in her sleep kept us on edge most of the night, making our precious sleep rather disturbed. When we moved her to her own room, she was still close enough so we could clearly hear her cries, but just far enough away that every peep and squeak was muted just enough.

When Morgan got bigger, and thus slept in longer stretches, we slowly started to move her bedtime up. I had read in my Baby 411 book (great resource new Mommies!) that the best time for a baby's bedtime is between 7 and 8:30 pm. So this was the goal and it probably took us about two weeks to get her there. Now we pretty consistently have her asleep by 8:00 pm during the week. Here is an example of our current routine:

5:00 or 5:30 - Home from daycare (depending on who is picking her up) - Playtime
6:00 - Bottle, play or hang in high chair or jumperoo while Mom and Dad eat dinner
7:15 - Bath
7:25 - Lotion/Massage, put on PJs
7:30 - Last Bottle
8:00 - Put in crib drowsy, falls asleep

We do have a lot of fun during this evening schedule. Morgan likes her baths. We talk to her and sing to her. Baths at this point are quick. Since we do them most nights we are also light on the soap because it can really dry her out in our climate. After drying her off we still do some lotion and massage. She makes the funniest noises and faces while we are doing this! She likes to play with her bath towel and is learning peek-a-boo. And finally, rocking her in the glider chair is such a sweet time as she relaxes and drifts off to sleep as she enjoys her bottle.

I'm curious how her routine changes when we start her on some solid foods next month. Its exciting, but also bittersweet as she is growing and changing so fast. We are doing our best to enjoy every stage along the way. How can you look at that sweet face and not fall in love again and again?!

Sleeping in her Sleep Sack

The "old days" of the trusty Miracle Blanket