Tag Archives: naps

Help Me Readers!

2 Jul

I have some dilemmas and I’m looking to you readers for advice. Here they are:

– Emma is stuck between needing 1 and 2 naps. If I keep her up long enough to just take 1, she gets overtired and won’t go to sleep without me rocking her. If I put her down for 2 and she actually falls asleep, her bedtime ends up being around 9 / 9:30, which is too late. I want it around 7 / 7:30 – 8 at the very latest. Lately, she has a hard time falling asleep early enough for 2 naps. She used to be awake for 3.5 hours between naps; now it seems like she can go between 4 – 4.5 hours before needing one. Any ideas? If you’ve made the transition, what did you do?

– We’ve stopped using cloth diapers because Emma soaks through them in about an hour. Putting 2 inserts in helps but makes the diapers so bulky. I’ve thought about buying new inserts but just haven’t taken the time to research. I’d like to keep using them because we have them, but I don’t want to change Emma’s outfits 5 times a day. Thoughts?

– Our new house has almost 2 acres but there’s no fence. We don’t want our dogs harrassing the neighbors so we have been taking them out on a leash all the time. We don’t like the extra work and the dogs are going stir crazy now, since they’re used to running around like idiots in Nevis. We’re thinking about/planning to get an in-ground fence. Anyone have ideas or experience with that? Brands to recommend? Did you trench it in yourself or hire it done? Are there other alternatives we’re not thinking of? (We’ve tried leaving them on long cables but they hate it.)

– Northern Minnesota has TONS of bugs. Our house is on the river and in the woods, so bugs are everywhere. Emma gets bit by mosquitoes every time we go outside. I know it’s pretty much a fact of life here but I would like to find some way to prevent her from getting so many bites. Not going outside is not an option because Emma loves being outside. Does anyone know of a baby-friendly bug spray or have any other ideas? I plan to ask our pediatrician next Monday too. If she has ideas, I’ll let you know!

Thanks for any and all help!

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Monday Randomness

25 Nov

1. I finally finished watching all the seasons of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. Now it’s on to CBS.com to watch Season 9!

2. We are making progress on our house renovations. Two weekends ago, we repainted our kitchen cabinets (the same color, just to make them look better). This past weekend, we repainted our main bathroom. Our realtor didn’t like the color we chose when we redid it back in February. So the bathroom is finally finished and decorated! Only took us 9 months.

before_after

20131125_18130320131125_1813173. I’ve been doing my prenatal Pilates video for strength training – because I’m so out of shape, it’s about all I can handle without getting ridiculously sore the next day (as it is, I can still feel it the next day), or without my knees hurting. I feel a little ridiculous still doing a pregnancy workout, but it’s better than nothing, and I gotta start somewhere.

4. Emma takes 2 naps of approx. 2.5 hours each at daycare, but at home, her naps hardly ever last longer than an hour. So she usually needs 3 a day. But on Friday, Emma woke up from her second nap around 2, and we decided to see what would happen if we just kept her up until an earlier bedtime at 6. It worked! She went down really easily, woke up once to nurse around 1:30, went right back to sleep, and woke up for the day around 5:30. A little earlier than normal, but I call it a success! Anyone else’s baby sleep better at daycare than home?

5. We watched our friends’ little girl on Saturday night so that they could go on a date night. It went really well! Their daughter is just 3 weeks younger than Emma and it was fun seeing the ways they were similar, and yet so different. I think Emma is going to be a very outgoing, social little girl! She loved having Rebecca there – she’d smile and giggle at her, and reach out and try to touch her. It was very cute. Rebecca is already crawling, so she had an advantage on Emma. If she wanted a toy that Emma had, she  just crawled over and grabbed it. I didn’t stop her because Emma should learn how to share, but I told Emma, “You got to learn how to crawl, girl!”

20131123_1843326. Travis and I get to go on a date night this coming Saturday and I am so excited. It’s his birthday on Dec 2, so I have the whole night planned out. But it’s a surprise, so I’ll have to write about it next week! 

7. I got a Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks Thursday night after my run and realized that I prefer the Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate creamer. It’s just so good! I am totally addicted.

8. I took Emma to the library for the first time the other day. It was pretty anti-climatic since Emma doesn’t really like reading books (she prefers to eat them) but I did check out King’s Cross by Tim Keller for me to read. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a big Tim Keller fan. I hope to visit his church in NYC someday.

9. I’m working from home this week. Nobody from my team is going to be working in the office and since things are pretty slow, I thought it might be nice to be at home (getting stuff done…) than at work poking my eyes out with boredom. The holidays always slow things down at my job. I’m still taking Emma to daycare though, since if she’s home, I really won’t get any work done!

10. I bought these reindeer from Target as Travis’ Christmas gift (sort of). We had seen them while shopping one night and he mentioned that he really liked them. I figured it was one of the very few deer-related decorations that we could ever agree on, so I went back a few days later and bought them. I think they’re neutral enough that I could leave them out year-round, especially in Minnesota! Seriously, I think just about every house in northern Minnesota is decorated in pine trees/cones, deer, loons, or bears somewhere. So we’ll fit right in.

20131124_07232711. I took Emma on a walk on Saturday and she fell asleep, so I just pushed her stroller into her room and let her sleep. It worked!

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A Day in the Life {At Home}

10 Nov

This day turned out to be rather atypical for Emma in terms of naps/sleep, and Travis was gone on a work trip, but otherwise, it was a pretty typical Friday for us.

4:30 am – I hear Emma on the monitor. I give her a chance to fall back asleep on her own.

4:45 – Emma’s still awake, so I get up and nurse her.

5:10 – I put Emma back down after a little bouncing, crossing my fingers she stays asleep (at that hour, it’s always a crapshoot.)

5:15 – Emma’s awake. Darn. She’s still tired though, so I hold her until she really wakes up.

6:10 – She’s awake for the day. I change her diaper and put her on her playmat, while I let the dogs out, feed them and brew myself a cup of coffee. I drink my coffee and watch the news while Emma plays. I also put a stack of cloth diapers away.

20131108_0629286:50 – Attempt to nurse Emma but she’s not really interested. So I feed her some peach yogurt instead, while I eat oatmeal with peanut butter and brown sugar (my favorite way to eat oatmeal right now). After breakfast, Emma bounces in her jumperoo while I do dishes.

7:35 – Tummy time on Mommy! And Super Baby time – where I hold her like Superman. It’s a way to strength her core muscles that she actually likes, for a few minutes. Then we just play sitting up until it’s time for her next nap.

8:20 – Emma’s starting to fuss, so I put her in her sleepsack and down in her crib for a nap. She whimpers a little bit, but goes to sleep on her own. I brew my second cup of coffee and drink it while I spend some time praying. I spend 15 minutes on downloading pictures to add to Emma’s 12-month picture frame  (similar to this one).

9:45 – Emma’s awake. I change her diaper and nurse her.

10:00 – I change into running clothes, load Emma, the dogs and the stroller into the car, and drive to a park for a 2-mile run.

20131108_10421710:45 – We’re done! 2 miles in 22:50. When we get home, I change Emma’s clothes and take her 7-month pictures. Then I change her into a practical outfit and make a turkey sandwich before calling my friend, Amy, who lives in Hawaii to chat.

11:45 – Emma’s down for a nap, but not happy about it.

12:00 pm – I end my call with Amy because Emma’s still screaming. I go in to bounce/rock her but she keeps crying, so I decide to try nursing her. Her last nursing session was pretty quick. I change out of my sports bras and nurse her. It helps calm her down.

12:15 – Emma’s asleep. I take a shower and dry my hair most of the way. I also spend about 30 seconds doing my makeup. I work on Emma’s 7-month blog update a bit.

12:45 – Emma’s awake. I try to get her back to sleep but she’s wide awake so I change her diaper and feed her lunch. I try to give her avocado thinned with formula but she makes a face and refuses to eat it (she really does not like things combined with formula!), so I break out some food I got from a co-worker. I guessed it was sweet potato puree but after a few bites, I notice printing on the side that says “Mac cheese”. Interesting… Emma eats about half. I take a little bite and it’s not too bad, but not great either.

1:10 – Emma plays with toys while I eat a yogurt and banana, and make a grocery list.

1:30 – We head to Target.

20131108_135417I am in love with this wreath, and plan to try making it myself for cheaper.

2:15 – Emma bounces in her jumperoo while I put groceries away. She’s so happy that I sit next to her and look at photo albums. Then we play on the floor some more.

2:45 – Put Emma down for a nap. Again, she cries so I go in and nurse her. Something definitely seems to be off with her. Usually I can calm her down by just holding her, but today, she seems out of sorts. I give her some Tylenol just in case she’s in pain.

3:15 – Emma’s asleep.

3:30 – Emma’s awake. I try to get her back to sleep again so I could just hold her for her nap, but she’s awake. So I make an egg sandwich, grab an apple and we go for a drive up Clear Creek Canyon (beautiful!) to get Emma to sleep. It works! I also listen to Tim Keller’s sermon ‘Blessed Self-Forgetfulness‘, which gets better every time I listen to it.

5:15 – After sitting in the driveway for 15 minutes finishing Emma’s 7-month update, I take Emma inside. She stays sleeping and I put her in the nursery while I make dinner. I knew letting her sleep could either be a good idea or could backfire but I decided to risk it.

5:45 – Emma’s awake. I feed her pureed blueberries for dinner. They are messy!

6:15 – Bathtime! Followed by Emma’s nighttime routine.

7:15 – Emma is still wide awake. I think we can say the long nap before bed backfired. I sit next to Emma playing in her crib while I read blogs on my phone in the dark.

7:45 – Emma has a poopy diaper, so I change it and then try to bounce her a bit. She still seems uncomfortable/in pain, so I give her some more Tylenol.

8:00 – Emma’s finally asleep, albeit lightly, so I rock her while watching How I Met Your Mother on my phone.

8:30 – Emma wakes up crying and wriggling while I’m holding her, and I’m at a loss for what’s wrong, so I put some Orajel on her top and bottom gums. Maybe she’s getting more teeth? It seems to calm her down at any rate. I hold her for another episode.

8:50 – I finally put Emma down. Travis should be home in the next 30 minutes, but I’m exhausted so I eat a bowl of cereal, wash my face, brush my teeth and go to bed. I watch another episode of HIMYM (I’m obsessed!) before turning the lights out. Travis gets home right as I’m done watching, so I talk to him for a few minutes before going to sleep.

9:30 – Sleep!

Emma woke up 3 times that night, at around 12:30, 2:45 and 4:45, and didn’t go back to sleep after that last wakening (at least, according to how my sleep-deprived brain remembers it!). I fed her each time, because when she’s so uncomfortable, it’s the only thing that settles her down enough to fall back asleep. During the second nursing, I spaced out and when I opened my eyes again, I panicked because I thought Emma was upside down (with her butt above her head). It took me a good 20 seconds to realize that I was looking at the wrong end. Oy. I really hope this passes quickly!

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Learning Our Parenting Style

21 Jun

I’m supposed to go back to work in 2.5 weeks. This has caused me to panic just a bit.

I feel like we’re just finally getting to know Emma. For the first 3 weeks of her life, she was pretty easygoing and slept quite a bit. Then we had the month of her crying almost all day, every day, due to her swallowing too much air during nursing. When she started feeling better, we were on vacation for 2 weeks. So we’ve really only been at home with Emma alert and happy for about 2 weeks – and Emma’s almost 3 months old!

With my return to work looming, I have been feeling pressure to get Emma on a schedule – though we have been following the routine of eat-play-sleep for several weeks, it was at different times everyday. Emma went to bed at a different time, meaning she woke up at a different time. So each day was different. Returning to work, I’ll have to leave the house at a specific time, which means getting Emma up at a specific time. And with Travis traveling for work a lot this summer, I’ll be on my own for many of the days I work. I think a schedule would also be helpful for my friend who is going to be taking care of Emma, so she doesn’t need to constantly guess what Emma wants.

The only problem is, putting her on a 3-hour schedule hasn’t been working. I’ve discovered that Emma’s maximum awake time (from the end of one nap to the beginning of the next) is about an hour and 15 minutes – and that means starting to try to get her to sleep for her nap after about an hour. She’s not awake for very long but anything longer and she gets really fussy and it takes her a very long time to fall asleep.

So she’s awake for about an hour and 15 minutes, and her naps are usually 45 minutes long if I put her down. If I think she needs a longer nap, I’ll hold her for the first 45 minutes and then put her down. She’ll usually sleep an additional 45 minutes that way, but sometimes she wakes up when I try to put her down. Sometimes I’m able to get her back to sleep for a longer nap but lately, I’ve just been feeding her after 2 hours if she’s wide awake. Emma has taken longer naps in the Baby Bjorn, but I think she’s getting to the age when she’s too interested in what’s going on around her that she has to be really tired to sleep in there now.

And we’re still rocking, bouncing, and shushing her to sleep with a pacifier and swaddle, both at bedtime and for her naps. I don’t really see a way around that yet without lots and lots of crying – and I could totally see her being one of those babies who cries so hard they throw up. I’m not ready to go there – and I’m not sure I ever will be. I’m mostly hoping that as Emma gets older, her need for that amount of help to sleep will decrease. I know there are plenty of people who would say that we’re teaching Emma to depend on props for sleep, and who knows, they might be right. But right now, we’re parenting with the philosophy of “It’s not a problem until it is.”

Otherwise, it’s easy to drive yourself crazy. I know because I’ve been driving myself crazy. I’ve read about 6 different books on how to get your baby to sleep, plus countless blogs and forum posts. I’ve been so unsure and confused as to what I think we should be doing with Emma that I’ve changed my mind probably about 100 times. I’ve been tempted to laugh/cry when I hear people say, “Do whatever you know is right for your family.” Um, that’s exactly what I don’t know and what I’m trying to figure out. Travis has been very encouraging and laidback, reminding me to just focus on one thing.

The most helpful book I read was Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. It helped me see that going from being rocked to sleep and held during naps to being put down awake and sleeping on her own for naps (she does fine at night) would be a very big and unwelcome change for Emma. So instead of overcorrecting for everything we ‘shouldn’t’ be doing (I have more thoughts on parenting shoulds that I’ll share in a later post) with Emma, we’re taking it slow – focusing first on getting her to sleep in her Rock ‘n’ Play for naps (meaning we get her to sleep and then put her in there). But again, if I can tell that she needs a longer nap or would wake up if I put her down, I just hold her. That’s why I haven’t been blogging a ton! Though I am getting pretty good at writing posts on my phone (which is what I’m doing right now).

So what’s my plan for returning to work? First, I decided to take my full allotment of FMLA leave and not return to work until July 30. This will give Emma another 3 weeks to mature and me an additional 3 weeks to figure out how best to mother her. That way, hopefully I can leave Emma with my friend without worrying about her crying all day – not fun for Emma or Charlotte. But maybe the 4-month sleep regression will make that a hard time to go back too…

Second, I’m continuing the eat-play-sleep routine on a 2 to 3 hour schedule. It has been very helpful for me personally to be ok with feeding Emma every 2 hours if that is when she wakes up. It has taken so much pressure off to not have to make her get to a certain time. And I’m not frustrated when she wakes up after 45 minutes because I expect it (though I hope that she extends her naps as she gets older).

Last, I’m going to stop worrying so much. I’m going to surround myself with similar-minded mothers – those who didn’t let their kids cry it out but can testify that they eventually grow out of whatever phase they’re in. And most of all, I’m going to trust God to guide me and give me the wisdom I need to be the mother that Emma needs and that I’m called to be. Parenting is just one more aspect of the Christian life that requires a moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit and relationship with Jesus. I don’t have to fear ‘messing it up’ with Emma because God is actively at work in our lives. This verse has been a great comfort to me recently:

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Parents – how did you decide on your parenting style?

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