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

Wordless Wednesday: Feet!!

What a weekend!!

Where to recap? Auntie Ali came into town to stake her claim as favorite aunt. So far, she's got a pretty healthy lead. While Meg worked on Friday, Auntie and I took Morgan out on a secret mission for a Mother's Day gift. (Don't tell Meg - the gift is still in the process of being delivered.)

We followed that with a trip to the offices of the Spokane Shock (The local Arena Football team, and my former employer.) I told Ali to be prepared, and sure enough everyone in the office said hello to Morgan, myself.... and Meg?!? (They're identical twins, honest mistake.)

The next night we took Morgan to her first Shock game. Luckily we're good enough friends with the owners that we got to sit in their suite, rather than among the rabid throng of over 10,000 fans. Some day she'll be one of them, but the substantially tamer environment of the suite was just the ticket. She didn't flinch during the pre-game pyrotechnics, watched mommy and auntie consume mini-doughnuts (an Arena favorite) and was as amused by chomping on her bib as she was by the game.

What a trooper! Not a peep the entire game. She endured almost 3 hours of football, being handed off to friends who hadn't met her yet, and the constant drone crowd mixed with loud PA guy. As an added bonus she got to go down on the field after the game and hang out with her buddy Elijah (the coaches son, who's just 3 weeks older.)

Mother's Day was a mellow day at home. She took a nap with mommy, had some more quality time with Auntie Ali, and impressed the assembled crowd with her latest trick - rolling from back to stomach and back.

I think she's also starting to develop an appreciation for how great a mommy she has. Since we've been together, Meg's said that she'd like to find her passion in life. Mission accomplished. My beautiful wife was made to be a mom. I've told others that I may not be the love of her life anymore (that's a really good thing, mind you.) Morgan has stolen her heart. I know when Meg initially said this she might have meant professional passion. So my greatest gift to her will hopefully come at the end of summer, when she'll most likely start her full-time job as a stay at home mom!

Little Handprints

The mystery of the red paint is solved!!! Morgan's daycare teachers had all the babies put their handprints on a piece of paper with a cute Mother's Day poem. I just love looking at the prints of her cubby little fingers!

Here's the poem!

I'm having a nice Mother's Day. I got to sleep late. David made a delicious Creme Brulee french toast and I got some great presents from my parents, Morgan and my sister. Now he's out getting me my favorite Cappuccino Blast from Baskin-Robbins. Ali and I are hanging with Morgan. What more could I ask for?! It's a great first Mother's Day!

Auntie Ali's in the House

Morgan's Auntie Ali is here for a visit! We have lots of fun plans. Ali and are are getting pedicures tonight, we'll have brunch at our favorite place Saturday morning and a Shock game at night. Sunday (Mother's Day) I get to sleep in and have breakfast made for me! Sounds great huh?! I'm sure we'll have lots of new pictures to post. Happy Friday!

Scared the Poop out of Her

I had to add this to today's post! I just got off the phone with Morgan's daycare. As soon as I hung up I laughed out loud! Miss Sherry told me that they had a fire drill this morning. The babies don't do well with it at all because of the loud alarm and they are loaded four to a crib and are rolled outside.

The funny part was that Miss Sherry said that she had just changed Morgan's diaper right before the drill started and when they got back in the building she discovered that Morgan had pooped. The fire drill literally scared the poop out of her! Hee hee!

I hope this doesn't sound mean that I laughed. I hate the idea that this upset her, but somehow it struck me as funny too. Please forgive me.

Red Paint?

When I walked into the daycare center to pick up Morgan yesterday one of her teachers was on her way out. She warned me that Morgan had some red paint on her hands, but "she wasn't allowed to tell me why"..."she" is Morgan, not the teacher. Of course I laughed, but I wondered hmmm, what are they up to? When I saw her, sure enough, traces of red paint on her hands and fingernails. Then I looked closer and saw paint on her ear and the back of her head. Even funnier, when I went to give Morgan her bath I took off her outfit and she had red paint on her shoulders and arms too! AND they had made an effort to wash it off, so there must have been much more! They also must have stripped the babies down to their diapers so they didn't get paint all over their clothes. I'm trying to picture the scene...I would have liked to be there! I can't wait to see Morgan's first art project!

I also chatted briefly with Center Director. She was so cute. She said that Morgan had a good day and she (the Director) had "gotten" to feed her twice. We get a lot of comments from the teachers about how content and happy Morgan has been and how she's fun to be around. David said the other day "I think they all like her a lot." As we both work, it's good to know that your child is being well cared for and "loved" in a place that she spends a large portion of her day.