Tuesday, April 28, 2009

E.A.S.Y

Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time...that would be the Baby Whisperer. GREAT advice really. I love this schedule. The first day that I employed this method, Dillon slept great through the night. It's amazing. Don't feel like reading the book? Jump online (that's what I did). www.babywhisperer.com and read the message boards. I love it.
But then...I read her method to sleep train your baby, an alternative to crying it out. Errrm, Shh/Pat did not work for me. Plus, I don't feel like investing HOURS and DAYS to get my daughter to sleep on her own. Back to Crying It Out. I want to do it, but something keeps me from doing it when Greg is around even though he claims he is all for it. So...next week, he is gone for an entire week. I will do it then.
At least Dillon gives us our nights free. She goes down around 7pm and doesn't wake until about 10pm for a feeding. Of course, my nights aren't that great after the 10pm feeding, but that should taper off soon. Apparently, when they reach about 12 lbs they should be able to sleep through the night without any extra feedings. This again, probably needs to be learned by them, so some more crying out in the middle of the night? Who knows. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!
Ooh, why do babies take so long to grow up? Aaagh! This baby development thing is wearing on my patience. Oh, must be because she can't sleep on her own. :o) All this will be solved soon...

Friday, April 24, 2009

Return policy?

What is the return policy on this child? She seems to be malfunctioning. Operation seems to work best only between the hours of 7-10/11pm. Then between the hours of 2-5am, product will short circuit every hour or so. During the day product seems to blow a gasket at the slightest provocation.
Wondering about the return policy on such an item...seems she might have a couple screws loose, or rather user might develop a couple loose screws if continuing to operate such unpredictable product.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Crying it out again..

Yes, I had my third attempt at having her cry it out last night. She didn't budge. This girl will not go down without a fight. Ohh, it was 2 in the morning, she was not tired so any normal, unspoiled baby could've been put in her bassinet, sit around until she was tired and go to sleep. Not Dillon. She wants to be held until she falls asleep. Well, I'll be darned so I let her cry. Went downstairs, got an apple, sat and ate it while watching the clock. All the while hoping and praying that she would be too tired to get hysterical. But, no, not my girl. She cried, whimpered, cried and then got louder. I finally picked her up. I swear she's smart. I swear that after I traumatized her like that she was fighting against closing her eyes. Invisible toothpicks were holding her eyelids open. Needless to say, I got no sleep again. Oh, and she won. When she finally fell asleep, I held her in my arms and slept upright for the next hour. I was finally able to put her down around 5am...in her bassinet...only to be woken up at 6:15. Ho hum...until next time.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Rock a bye baby

Rock a bye baby on the treetop, when the wind blows the cradle will rock, when the cradle rocks the bough will break, and down will fall baby cradle and all...

I was wondering to Greg the other day, why would anyone come up with lyrics like that for a baby? Oh...now I know why. Because when you are going through those sleepless nights and baby is totally uncontrollable, you have visions of that darn baby falling out of that tree. Bye-bye baby...
Yeah...I've had my share but I'm over that now. Because really, it's not Dillon's fault she's spoiled. It's my fault and it's Greg's fault. In fact, it's so much Greg's fault that I spend my sleepless nights plotting his slow death. :o)

Two months!

D turned two months this past Sunday! No, we did not celebrate Easter cuz she's too young to appreciate the fun stuff. And then G and I felt like little heathens as we were taking a walk outside. The weather was sunny and 70s so we're out wearing shorts and tees with hoodies and of course, everyone we passed was in their Sunday Easter best. Whoops!
Anyhooo...D went for her two month well visit yesterday. She weighs 9lbs, 2ozs and measures 22 1/2 inches in length. She is in the 50th percentile for length and 30th percentile for weight. The dr says there is nothing wrong with that. That could just be her body type...hmm...tall and thin? Whatever, Dillon. Must be nice...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

And the saga continues

Well, Dillon still keeps getting up around 4:30am. Seems like she's pushing out gas, but at this point it's just so hard to tell. Why always 4:30am? The other morning, she was wailing at the top of her lungs. Greg shushed her to sleep and put her down around 5:30am whereupon she promptly woke up again and started crying. I took over this time and finally got her to sleep around 6:30am-ish, waited the requisite amount of time before it's "safe" to put her down in her bassi, but to no avail...she popped right back awake when I put her down. So, I picked her up. By then it was nearing 7am. I tried shushing her some more, but she just could not be consoled so I took out out with me to walk the dogs and when we came back, she started crying again. Sigh...Finally, we just started our day and she finally calmed down.
Last night, I tried a different tactic. I decided to fill her up with formula at her 2am feeding so hopefully, she would sleep through her 4am fits. I got her sleeping around 3:50am...annnnd...she pops awake at 4:18am! Before she could start crying I pick her up and hold her close in a fetal position with my head brushing by hers and shushing her. I guess it made her feel secure enough to go back to sleep without ever having to cry. yeay! Although, then I was up for the rest of the morning b/c I had to remain upright for her to feel comfortable. While sitting upright, trying to sleep I thought (around 6am) that maybe finally I can recline us just a bit. That woke her up she didn't just start to cry, she was shrieking!! I just don't understand. Why is her system development so painful for her? I was so sad. I was able to shush her back into a calm state pretty quickly again with the fetal position, head resting upon head and then Greg took over.
I guess I should go to bed right now to prep for my 4:30am wakeup call a la Dillon. Poor baby. Why does infant development have to be so hard on them? It's just not right.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Tic toc tic toc

My life is run by the hands of a clock. What time did Dillon go down - When did she wake up - when did I start feeding - when did I stop - how long have I been shushing for - how long has she been asleep, can I put her down now without her waking up - how long has she been in that swinging chair - and back again - what time did Dillon go down...
I am telling you, having a baby is HARD WORK! Wait, I mean, caring for a baby is hard work. Having the baby is a piece of cake next to raising her!
Now, what burns more calories - hop walking backwards and forwards with a baby in your arms for 15 minutes or more or jogging around the block for 20 minutes? Hmm...I dunno but I expect to come out of this baby caring thing with toned arms and legs and more muscle mass! If I don't, then I must be doing something wrong. Well, then again, I am already screwing myself out of toned abs by cutting down on my shushing b/c I can't stand to do that for too long a time. :o(
Well...I tried to let Dillon cry it out again today...again it didn't go well. She wailed and wailed getting progressively louder. When I finally went in to pick her up (only within 5 minutes mind you) tears were streaming down her face and she was red as a beet. Awww..poor baby. BUT, on the upside of this event, after all that trauma she went down to sleep within minutes! Okay, okay...maybe not the best solution for getting her to bed.
Meanwhile, after Dillon's bath I took her upstairs to feed her and put her to bed. Fed her, then started shushing. Shushed for 10 minutes or more (which feels like an eternity) and decided you know what...I am not going to try and shush her to sleep if she's not so tired she can't keep her eyes open. So, I took her downstairs and put her in the swing chair until she got bored and cried out to let us know she'd had enough. Then I took her upstairs and guess what? Continued the same EXACT rocking motion that the swing chair makes and she falls asleep. WHAAT? Is she kidding me?
Well, my gf Loretta (who has a son that needs to sleep on her body) puts it this way, "I figure my son is smarter than the average baby b/c he can actually tell the difference between a swing and me. You can't fool him!) Yeah...Dillon's smarter than the average bear. Whooopee!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What kind of mother am I?

Greg suggested we take the baby out in the stroller today. I kind of winced and said, "Hmm, she doesn't seem to like the stroller so much.." He was surprised, "Really? She loves the stroller"
Well, the last couple of times I'd tried to take her around the block, she would get about to the middle of the street behind us and start crying. I end up racing home with a wailing baby...
Although it does seem she likes Greg's gait when he is pushing, so we took her out in the stroller. We got a good ways and then she started crying. Greg leaned into the stroller and shushed her. She fell right asleep. Hello??? Why didn't I think of that? Sigh...I am a moron.

The luckiest girl

Dillon is such a lucky girl to have a daddy like Greg. He treats her like she's a piece of fine china. We have been arguing over whether to let her cry it out. He, of course, is against saying she's too young. My argument is, No, she's not. She'll never remember we let her do it, we'll be better off for it and I'd rather spoil her when she's two and older when it counts b/c she'll remember.
Anyhoo...to the extent that Greg treats her like china. When trying to put her down in the bassinet at night (after having held her for over an hour to make sure she's good and asleep), he gingerly makes his way over to above the bassinet. Then, he very carefully leans over the bassi. And by carefully, I mean he takes a good 15 minutes to do this to position himself just perfectly over the bassi. In putting her down, he moves ever so slowly to place her body down first (again, taking 10 minutes) and then carefully removes his one hand while keeping the hand that's holding her head very still. Then, he sits there for another 10 minutes (or so it seems) and then very, very carefully inches his hand away from her head. Amazing...who does that??? If it were up to me, I'd just as soon throw her in a corner and let her cry herself to sleep. See how lucky that Dillon is?
By the way, back to my argument for crying it out. Hello? Many mothers are forced to go back to work after 6 weeks. I'm sure they let their babies cry it out at 6 weeks and before because they can't be there to hold that baby when she cries. Those babies turned out fine...Greg's argument? How do you know? Maybe all of them have issues...Hello?? Is he crazy?
Well all this talk is nonsense because we have not let her cry it out. However, I do have a business trip coming up - April 19th and I had mentioned to Greg - well, too young or not, you will have to let her cry it out when I am out of town. :o) (smug smile). Poor Greg looked like he was about to cry. :o(
By the way, he was telling his sister how I wanted to let D cry it out and she whined, "She's too young..." This coming from a girl who's daughter slept in her co-sleeper.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Cry it out - Part 2

Well, crying it out sure didn't work out too well. She cried for 45 mins. I finally went up to get her. This girl has been spoiled and to tell you the truth, I am so over stupid Dr.Sears who says you can't ever spoil an infant. That too is just bullcocky. Structure! Structure is what young babies need if you want to save the mother's sanity.
I have two days on my own to try to retrain Dillon to sleep on her own. Thankfully, Greg is off to all day meetings this week.
Everyone I've spoken to has had their baby in their cribs or at least away from their body from the very beginning. First day home. I am a bad parent and didn't do so and now I'm paying for it.
I tried to put her down a couple times today but the moment she started to wake up, I'd pick her up because apparently, napping during the day is essential for babies. It helps them to sleep better at night and right now, that's very important too!
What I'd really like to do is have her cry it out at night because then she really has tobe sleeping, but unfortunately Greg is around at night. Who knows, I might just have to send him downstairs to sleep with his white noise machine. I sent him down last night, but he didn't take his white noise machine so when she was wailing at 5am,he came running in to rescue her. I mean, he must think I'd just leave her for dead...sheesh.
Oh, I know...after she gets her bath and she's supposed to go down, I will try to train! Greg will still be out to dinner!! Hoorah! We shall see....

Monday, April 6, 2009

Cry it out

I know, it sounds cruel, but today we are going to start conditioning Dillon to sleep on her own. Up until now, she's been pretty good about sleeping in her bassi for the first part of the night but then sleeps on me for the rest of the night. I allowed that because Greg sleeps in our room too and in order to get Dillon to stop crying, I would let her sleep on me.
Last night, I had reached my limit. After four days of being awake or semi awake between the hours of 1am and 5am, I am ready to let our girl cry it out and learn to self soothe and sleep on her own. I cannot have her sleeping on my body anymore as it gets hot sometimes or she moves or I move I don't know what but she gets up somehow. Is she hungry? I also need to be more diligent in my feedings I guess? Again, it's the whole "not knowing" thing as to whether or not she's getting enough food.
Really, I have no problem with waking up and soothing her, but I need her to sleep in her own space. She needs to learn.
Greg had reservations that 7 weeks might be too young and if you look online EVERYBODY says it's too young, but I just found some postings that support it. It saves your sanity! She is currently upstairs crying right now. I hope she stops soon...
Anyhow, as I'm reading Dr. Weissbluth's book, he gives anecdotes from mothers who have successfully sleep conditioned their children and in every single one the mothers talk about how much it hurt them to hear their baby cry. That it made them cry. Hmmm, does it make me less of a person that hearing her does not make me cry? I mean, it's for the greater good and I know she's not in pain. She just wants US. One woman's baby cried for two hours! I am hoping Dillon doesn't do that. I do not that it is breaking Greg's heart though...I'm sure he's online right now researching if it's too early to be conditioning. I mean, in my mind, we probably should have done this three weeks ago...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bullcocky

Well, I just think it's bullcocky that you could have a perfectly well-behaved baby for its first few weeks of life and then at 6 weeks, apparently, for some babies it all goes for sh**. I don't know what it is, but I'm reading this book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and every time the author talks about colicky or extra fussy babies he adds a caveat, well, look for these symptoms 'unless your child is 6 weeks of age'...then expect her to be fussy and all past good behaviors tend to get lost. That is so effed up.
So, Dillon is just coming up on her 7th week of life. Yikes, this past week has been quite trying to say the least. It takes her so long before she'll go down and she has her worst crying fits at night. That swing incident...just a weird fluke. Sure wish it'd happen again, but maybe later. So, we went and got the book as two of my girlfriends highly recommended it. It basically talks about how important sleep is for infants and how we can't let the baby dictate her nap times. Sleep begets sleep so if she naps well during the day then she's be likely to sleep longer and better at night. We'll see how this works out.
Last night I let Dillon sleep on me again. I didn't think she'd take to the bassinet since she'd been so fussy for the past couple of days so I didn't even try. Sometime in the early morning hours, she was laying across my chest with her head in the crook of my left elbow. I looked down at her and she happened to wake up a bit, opened her eyes and when she saw me looking at her, she lit up, smiled and then closed her eyes and went back to sleep! It was such a precious moment!! It was like she was thinking, "Oh hi mommy. Good you're here." and then went back to sleep. Loved it.

Who does Dillon look like?

Well let's see...

I think she definitely has Greg's lips. And because her eyes are so big, his eyes too!
But, she's got my nose for sure and of course, his hair.
Too soon to tell, but I sure hope for her sake, she has my eyebrows.
Come on babyyyy....can you just grow up already??! Fast forward, please.

Food coma

Car seat

Before

After...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Amazing

OMG! It's amazing that I put Dillon in her swing chair and she just swung in it and put herself to sleep! I am amazed! No crying, no tough love needed. She didn't make ONE PEEP! It's these little moments that we now appreciate. However, too bad Greg is not here to witness. He is at work. Too bad.
By the way, I am convinced Dillon knows that "Shway Jiao" means go to sleep. That's what I said to her when I walked over to her swing chair and turned her mobile off. I turned her mobile off, said, "Zhi Lian schway jiao" (Zhi Lian is her chinese name) and walked away. And now she is sleeping! Yippeee! Yes, and when we are in the car and she is wailing, I tell her the same thing. I speak to her in chinese and say what I say, "Shiao bao bao, schway jiao jiao" and she literally quiets down and falls asleep! I am sure every mother is convinced that her child is smart. I'm the same. Heheh. Dillon's smart!

Wait...congratulations?

Why do people congratulate you when you are pregnant and when you have a baby? Pregnant - Congratulations! You are going to get progressively grossly obese for the next ten months of your life, with a little bit of nausea to start you off. You are going to be an emotional wreck and could possibly jeopardize your relationship, leaving you a single parent before your tyke has even hatched. Your feet and legs will swell up to the size of tree trunks and to end this lovely phase, you get to experience the most excruciating pain you will ever experience in your entire life...by choice. Then, if you've had a c-section, you can expect swollen limbs, constipation and a terrible bout of gas that moves into places in your body you never thought possible. (Mine was in my back near my shoulder.)
And then, comgratulations! You have now just given birth, meaning you electively chose to engage in a roller coaster ride of sleepless nights, bouts of confusion and self-doubt that you are even capable of doing anything right.
Yes...congratulations...yeah, thanks. I am currently writing this at 4:55am, with one finger pecking out the words after I have spent the last hour and a half consoling my daughter who seems to get terrible gas or stomach pains at 3am-ish every day for the past three days. NOTHING consoles her and you can't do anything to help her out. All the conventional advices had been tried and exhausted to no avail. Finally, she sleeps and I can't b/c if I put her down, she wakes up and if I lie down, she wakes up. Well, I would possibly try it, but I don't want to have her wake Greg up. And...she's up again! Back to shushing and walking. Ta-ta...congratulations to me.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Trivia

How can you tell a woman is a mother of a newborn?

She'll be the one standing (sans baby) swaying back and forth, rocking on her feet. At least that's what I find myself doing...