It's been a long ass time since I did a substantive update. I honestly think the last two--well, one month really, have been the most challenging for me as a parent so far . . .
Started crawling at 7.5 months, a week later was pulling up, a week later was cruising. Since then it's been a lot of all of those things: lots of balance and strength training. For the first couple weeks he was just CONSTANTLY falling with bumps and bruises all over his head. Thankfully he's better at it all now and, also, I think, more used to falling.
And so baby proofing began. Add this to the mental list of things I said I wouldn't do and am now doing. The main problem here is not that my house wasn't baby proofed, but that it wasn't CLEAN. And, I've learned by now that some people apologize for the state of their house and really it is immaculate? I'm not like that. If my house was semi-clean, I would admit it . . .
I'm a "throw things to the side when I am done with them willy-nilly" sort of person. And a "out of sight is out of mind" sort of person. And a "I won't look down" sort of person, LOL! Add all these together with having a husband that is the same and four cats? And an ant's view of my house would be like "cloudy with a chance of meatballs (and cat hair)."
The first few weeks/days of crawling were like . . . I would look away for a second (to try to clean and/or baby proof something, usually) look back, and james would be bringing a (clump of cat hair/bit of stale food/leaf/etc) to his mouth and I would run over and excavate. Or I would look away for a second, and then hear a thump and he'd be crying with another red lump on his head . . . or pulling on wires, or pulling the vacuum on top of him, or climbing the stairs, or eating cat food or . . .
If it was JUST baby proofing--JUST figuring out what he was able to reach and making sure it was safe for him--well, that I think I could have handled? Or not even done!
But it was more like, all of my life I've been trying to:
-Have a daily routine
-Get exercise
-Keep my house clean
And in the last two months, finally I've achieved it. (Almost). But it was a hard transition for me. It's a lot of work to keep your house clean. I see now why I avoided it for so long.
But we are pretty much done, now. Well, what I am learning is that you are never done. BUT, our entire downstairs is now pretty much safe and accessible to james. And honestly I like it. I love it. It's nice that I can turn my back on james for awhile now, without worrying about what infinitesimal speck of poison he was able to eat.
And honestly it's sort of awesome to have a clean house. AND to have a routine. Another thing that happened over the past two months. Here's pretty much what we do now:
james wakes up between 5-6, nurses awhile, crawls all over us until we get up.
Dad changes the baby's diaper
I get up between 7-7:30, dress me and james
Then I take james on a walk--I'm up to about 1.5 miles a day!
He falls asleep on this first walk, sleeps 8-9 outside in his stroller
While he sleeps, I start laundry, straighten the living room, eat breakfast if I'm lucky, etc.
james wakes up, play a bit
Nurse and Pump around 9:30
After nursing, eat breakfast
While he eats, I load/unload the dishwasher, deal with the breast milk, other kitchen cleaning
Clean up baby, possible sink bath, possible outfit change, change diaper at least
Read books
james takes 2nd nap, 11-12
While he sleeps, I eat again or for the first time, do laundry and other cleaning.
Wake up, nurse, play, read books
Back to sleep at 2--if I'm lucky this is a long nap. I need a real break by now but if I was really smart I would use this time to prepare dinner?
Wake up, nurse, eat food again around 4:30
Clean up baby, possible sink bath, possible outfit change, change diaper at least
And then I'm not sure because I think he's dropping his evening nap, and lengthening the afternoon nap? (I hope!) Anyway, we eat dinner in there somewhere, sans le bebe.
Dad changes into nighttime diaper and PJ's, reads books, Momma nurses
Baby sleeps 7:15-8:30 in swing
After wakeup, LONG NURSING in bed with Momma to sleep.
And then ideally he would sleep until we went to bed at 11-12 and then nurse again.
So yeah, I think we are doing pretty good!
But it has been a challenging few months. I was prepared to take care of a newborn, for some reason (well, I had an easy one, too!)--I don't mind nursing a lot, or holding a little baby, or changing lots of diapers. But I don't think I was prepared for the adorable baby to become mobile. I was in denial and totally held out . . . I saw he was starting to learn to crawl--I should have started baby proofing then! But I didn't realize how fast it would be.
I'm slow. I do house projects on several year time lines (hence the fact that our "nursery" is still full of random crap). But babies don't grow slow. They grow fast. So I'm continually getting kicked in the pants but HONESTLY? It's good for me, and I appreciate it! But change is hard.
And learning how to take care of my house, my self, FINALLY, after 28 years? Is hard, too. . . it took a baby to motivate me, but it feels good . . .
BUT it's not the only thing I need to take care of my self.
I'm realizing that I need this blog. I need to write, I need to take pictures. While I've been baby proofing and cleaning and organizing my entire life and house, something else inside me has been neglected. Things stir which have not been released.
So, in the words of Yoda: Balance Find I Must.
Expecting our Little Brother in November!
Showing posts with label Schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Schedule. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Our Schedule/Nap Update
So as you might recall, my original goal was: "I'm hoping by the time he's 6 months old, I can get him into a 3-naps-of-at-least-an-hour-at-specific-times sort of daily routine." So I wanted to give an update on how we are doing compared to when I set that goal when he was 4 months old (about 6 weeks ago) . . .
Well, we definitely have him napping at pretty specific times, which seems to work for him. This is how our day usually goes:
-Wake up around 6/6:30, nurse in bed, Daddy changes and plays with and then puts in his swing about an hour later.
-Take this first early morning nap in his swing from 7:30-8:30. Wakes up at 8:30, we get up and get dressed, nurse, play, etc.
-Second nap, we start doing the routine (change, read books, nurse, rock) around 9:30 and he falls asleep between 10-10:30.
-Third nap we start the routine at 12:30 and he falls asleep between 1-1:30.
-Fourth nap, routine and then asleep around 3-3:30. (But sometimes he skips this one and won't fall asleep).
-Fifth nap, asleep anytime between 5-6:30 (and this one is usually short, like a half hour, and he sometimes skips this one, too, on days that he doesn't skip the other one, hehe).
-Down for the night around 7:30/8.
Sooo, let's see:
-I wanted 3 naps, right now we've got 5. HOWEVER, you could sort of consider the first wakeup as sort of a false one. He nurses for a LONG time, gets changed, and then wants to play for like 10 mins and then is tired again. So we're sort of only on 4. AND he is definitely transitioning the last two naps into one big afternoon nap, I think, since sometimes he skips one or the other.
-I wanted them to be at least an hour, and I can report (nearly) relative success on this front! Typically he does nap for right around an hour--at least 45 mins and sometimes like an hour and a half. Except for that last nap, as I mentioned which can be kind of short (and if it was longer he'd be up too late anyway).
-I wanted them to be at specific times, and again, we've had great success on this front!! The only nap that can vary is the last one probably because he's going to drop it. He's definitely able to be kept awake even when he's tired, and the schedule can shift if he randomly sleeps longer or wakes up earlier, but it's basically pretty regular!
So this is my progress on the goals I'm working toward by james' 6 month birthday and I think we're doing great so far!
Well, we definitely have him napping at pretty specific times, which seems to work for him. This is how our day usually goes:
-Wake up around 6/6:30, nurse in bed, Daddy changes and plays with and then puts in his swing about an hour later.
-Take this first early morning nap in his swing from 7:30-8:30. Wakes up at 8:30, we get up and get dressed, nurse, play, etc.
-Second nap, we start doing the routine (change, read books, nurse, rock) around 9:30 and he falls asleep between 10-10:30.
-Third nap we start the routine at 12:30 and he falls asleep between 1-1:30.
-Fourth nap, routine and then asleep around 3-3:30. (But sometimes he skips this one and won't fall asleep).
-Fifth nap, asleep anytime between 5-6:30 (and this one is usually short, like a half hour, and he sometimes skips this one, too, on days that he doesn't skip the other one, hehe).
-Down for the night around 7:30/8.
Sooo, let's see:
-I wanted 3 naps, right now we've got 5. HOWEVER, you could sort of consider the first wakeup as sort of a false one. He nurses for a LONG time, gets changed, and then wants to play for like 10 mins and then is tired again. So we're sort of only on 4. AND he is definitely transitioning the last two naps into one big afternoon nap, I think, since sometimes he skips one or the other.
-I wanted them to be at least an hour, and I can report (nearly) relative success on this front! Typically he does nap for right around an hour--at least 45 mins and sometimes like an hour and a half. Except for that last nap, as I mentioned which can be kind of short (and if it was longer he'd be up too late anyway).
-I wanted them to be at specific times, and again, we've had great success on this front!! The only nap that can vary is the last one probably because he's going to drop it. He's definitely able to be kept awake even when he's tired, and the schedule can shift if he randomly sleeps longer or wakes up earlier, but it's basically pretty regular!
So this is my progress on the goals I'm working toward by james' 6 month birthday and I think we're doing great so far!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Reconnoitering Naps
Reconnoiter is my family's language for "rearrange." My Mom is famous for her constant reconnoitering of any and all loose objects and different areas. If you put something down in my parents house, you can expect it to be moved at some point . . .
Anyway, James' nap situation has been slowly deteriorating over the last few months. Until yesterday, he basically took all his naps in his swing downstairs in the living room. When he was younger, this was awesome because he could just hang out in there while he fell asleep, he was right there if I needed to check on him, etc. But over the last month he started being increasingly fussy before his naps--he would get distracted by me being around, and he is trying to stay awake more and more because he wants to be with me all the time, now. Furthermore he only sleeps for a half hour, 45 mins tops, usually 4-5 times per day.
So we got our new couch yesterday (pics to come!), and with that came "reconnoitering" the living room, and with that I decided it was time to reconnoiter James' nap situation.
I moved his swing upstairs, and pulled out his cradle which we haven't been using much for awhile. I also started doing a "pre-nap routine" of change diaper, read books, nurse, rock to sleep (or nearly), and then put in the cradle (if possible), or else the swing. For the past two days, I've been doing this at every nap-time, and between that and the move upstairs, I'm happy to say that I've basically eliminated the pre-nap fussing. I find that by filling it up with a predictable routine, he is able to start relaxing BEFORE he's in his swing, so that helps.
For all of his naps yesterday, I was able to move him from the swing to the cradle mid-sleep. So far today, he woke up when I tried to move him for his first nap so then I just let him sleep in the swing. BUT for his second nap, I am happy to report that I was actually able to PUT HIM DOWN in his cradle (first time ever!), though I did rock him to sleep first--but I don't mind that because it only takes five mins!
Anyway, I'm hoping this reconnoitering of his nap schedule will mean longer naps in the long run. I'm hoping by the time he's 6 months old, I can get him into a 3-naps-of-at-least-an-hour-at-specific-times sort of daily routine, so I think this is a good start of transitioning to that. He sort of DOES nap at specific times, but it does depend on when he wakes up in the morning and how long he naps for, too.
Anyway, James' nap situation has been slowly deteriorating over the last few months. Until yesterday, he basically took all his naps in his swing downstairs in the living room. When he was younger, this was awesome because he could just hang out in there while he fell asleep, he was right there if I needed to check on him, etc. But over the last month he started being increasingly fussy before his naps--he would get distracted by me being around, and he is trying to stay awake more and more because he wants to be with me all the time, now. Furthermore he only sleeps for a half hour, 45 mins tops, usually 4-5 times per day.
So we got our new couch yesterday (pics to come!), and with that came "reconnoitering" the living room, and with that I decided it was time to reconnoiter James' nap situation.
I moved his swing upstairs, and pulled out his cradle which we haven't been using much for awhile. I also started doing a "pre-nap routine" of change diaper, read books, nurse, rock to sleep (or nearly), and then put in the cradle (if possible), or else the swing. For the past two days, I've been doing this at every nap-time, and between that and the move upstairs, I'm happy to say that I've basically eliminated the pre-nap fussing. I find that by filling it up with a predictable routine, he is able to start relaxing BEFORE he's in his swing, so that helps.
For all of his naps yesterday, I was able to move him from the swing to the cradle mid-sleep. So far today, he woke up when I tried to move him for his first nap so then I just let him sleep in the swing. BUT for his second nap, I am happy to report that I was actually able to PUT HIM DOWN in his cradle (first time ever!), though I did rock him to sleep first--but I don't mind that because it only takes five mins!
Anyway, I'm hoping this reconnoitering of his nap schedule will mean longer naps in the long run. I'm hoping by the time he's 6 months old, I can get him into a 3-naps-of-at-least-an-hour-at-specific-times sort of daily routine, so I think this is a good start of transitioning to that. He sort of DOES nap at specific times, but it does depend on when he wakes up in the morning and how long he naps for, too.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Our first normal week
This week was our first "normal" week--no days off, no holidays, and no holiday preparations.
James was at work and I was at home, trying to pick up after Christmas and get Little James and myself into a routine.
I recorded what James was doing so that I could pick up any patterns. I already knew:
-That James usually naturally fell asleep "for the night" between 11 and 1 (usually closer to 11 or 12), and that he would sleep usually for 5-7 hours after that.
-Then he would wake up between 7 and 9, eat, get changed, we'd both "get dressed", come downstairs, settle in (have tea, start fire, do a couple chores)
-Then he would want to be changed again, eat again, and go down for his first nap about two hours after he woke up. I put him in his cradle swing downstairs for his naps.
-He will sleep for 1-2 hours, then wake up and want to eat and be changed again.
After that I wasn't quite sure what happened. The evenings are a little unpredictable--he sometimes will eat for a long time and then just sleep for a few mins and then be up again . . .
But during this week I recorded what he was doing, and basically the rest of the day follows a similar pattern:
--Sleep for 1-2 hours
--awake for 1-2 hours: eat, change, "play", change, eat
--back to sleep for 1-2 hours.
So normally if he gets up at 8, he'll take his first nap at 10, his second nap around 1:30, and his third nap between 3-4. He'll sleep each time for at least 45 mins, usually an hour, sometimes longer.
The evening is still really unpredictable, but I'm glad that the whole morning and afternoon are becoming a little more predictable.
The only problem I'm having now is trying to establish an earlier bedtime. The times I have gotten him to fall asleep around 7-8, he'll wake up many times throughout the night, or else wake up again and not go back to sleep until 11/12 anyway . . . I have some ideas for improving that, though.
My goal is to have a pretty good schedule by 12 weeks. So, 5 weeks to go!
Anyway, it was really nice just being home with him and doing chores and starting to establish what our normal life will be now together!
James was at work and I was at home, trying to pick up after Christmas and get Little James and myself into a routine.
I recorded what James was doing so that I could pick up any patterns. I already knew:
-That James usually naturally fell asleep "for the night" between 11 and 1 (usually closer to 11 or 12), and that he would sleep usually for 5-7 hours after that.
-Then he would wake up between 7 and 9, eat, get changed, we'd both "get dressed", come downstairs, settle in (have tea, start fire, do a couple chores)
-Then he would want to be changed again, eat again, and go down for his first nap about two hours after he woke up. I put him in his cradle swing downstairs for his naps.
-He will sleep for 1-2 hours, then wake up and want to eat and be changed again.
After that I wasn't quite sure what happened. The evenings are a little unpredictable--he sometimes will eat for a long time and then just sleep for a few mins and then be up again . . .
But during this week I recorded what he was doing, and basically the rest of the day follows a similar pattern:
--Sleep for 1-2 hours
--awake for 1-2 hours: eat, change, "play", change, eat
--back to sleep for 1-2 hours.
So normally if he gets up at 8, he'll take his first nap at 10, his second nap around 1:30, and his third nap between 3-4. He'll sleep each time for at least 45 mins, usually an hour, sometimes longer.
The evening is still really unpredictable, but I'm glad that the whole morning and afternoon are becoming a little more predictable.
The only problem I'm having now is trying to establish an earlier bedtime. The times I have gotten him to fall asleep around 7-8, he'll wake up many times throughout the night, or else wake up again and not go back to sleep until 11/12 anyway . . . I have some ideas for improving that, though.
My goal is to have a pretty good schedule by 12 weeks. So, 5 weeks to go!
Anyway, it was really nice just being home with him and doing chores and starting to establish what our normal life will be now together!
Monday, December 20, 2010
James Back to Work
So James was back to work today for his first whole day (he had done mornings only on Thursday and Friday last week). It wasn't too bad being alone with (Baby) James all day. I just had to do a lot of sitting on the couch, watching TV and feeding and rocking him, and rocking/bouncing him to sleep while walking around downstairs, and diaper changing. Honestly I didn't accomplish a whole lot besides.
I was able to finish drying and fold a load of cloth diapers, and to collect, wash, and dry all the baby laundry. I also unloaded half the dishwasher and ate not only breakfast, but lunch as well, along with nearly an entire bag of Newman O's.
We also took a trip to our chiropractor (Yaling) to get adjusted. He slept for the ride there and back, so from about 11 until almost 1--but besides that he didn't sleep for more than 20 mins at a time all day, so it was definitely a big challenge to accomplish anything.
I sort of could envision some kind of routine, though--one day when his schedule is more predictable, hopefully I'll actually be able to get some stuff done during the day . . .
I obviously missed (big) James while he was at work--I can't say how nice it was to have him home with us for an entire month. I feel really blessed and lucky to have been able to bond as a family like that during this important time of our new family. :-)
I was able to finish drying and fold a load of cloth diapers, and to collect, wash, and dry all the baby laundry. I also unloaded half the dishwasher and ate not only breakfast, but lunch as well, along with nearly an entire bag of Newman O's.
We also took a trip to our chiropractor (Yaling) to get adjusted. He slept for the ride there and back, so from about 11 until almost 1--but besides that he didn't sleep for more than 20 mins at a time all day, so it was definitely a big challenge to accomplish anything.
I sort of could envision some kind of routine, though--one day when his schedule is more predictable, hopefully I'll actually be able to get some stuff done during the day . . .
I obviously missed (big) James while he was at work--I can't say how nice it was to have him home with us for an entire month. I feel really blessed and lucky to have been able to bond as a family like that during this important time of our new family. :-)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Do we actually have a schedule?
James David is settling into a bit of a schedule, to my complete surprise. I honestly did not expect any regularity for at least a month. But inexplicably, I have observed almost the exact same pattern for at least 4 days and the days before that were pretty similar, too.
We have been heading up to bed around 9 pm. James and I will bring the computer up there and watch shows on Netflix while I feed up the little dude for the long night ahead. Around 10-10:30pm I start really crashing and getting tired--and ideally by now James David is asleep or very nearly. If he needs additional changing/burping/rocking, etc, I pass him off to James and pass out. Usually little James is asleep by 11, though, in his cradle by our bed.
Then he will sleep until just about 4-4:30. I start hearing his waking up noises in my sleep(slash my boobs start ACHING) but both of us take a good half hour after this to get fully awake--this is usually the 4-4:30 time slot. Finally I wake up (big) James and ask him to change (little) James and while he is changing him, I sit up, arrange my pillows and boppy around me, and I'm all set to feed him.
James David eats for a good half hour, sometimes even 45 mins, because this is by FAR the longest stretch he goes without eating so he's really quite hungry when he wakes up, and needs to eat for a long time. When he's done eating, he usually needs to be changed again, and he typically isn't ready to go RIGHT back to sleep, so I wake James up again, he sets up the cosleeper, changes him again, and then usually hangs out with him for a half hour or so, burping him and rocking him--I go back to sleep while all this is going on. Then James David goes back to sleep from 5/5:30 until about 8:30.
We repeat our middle of the night situation at 8:30--James changes him before and after a long feed. Then we usually get up, get the little man dressed for the day, get ourselves dressed for the day, and go downstairs.
Around 9:30 or so, James will fall asleep again and take a nice long morning nap. Usually he'll sleep for at least an hour and a half--and sometimes he'll sleep for more than two hours and I'll start thinking about waking him up so he doesn't sleep too much during the day.
But usually he wakes up on his own between 10:30-12, and again wants to eat for a good long spell.
Then he is pretty awake for the rest of the day--a few hours later--sometimes between 3-5, he'll start his all-night eat-a-thon where he'll cluster feed and basically nurse non-stop (5 mins on, 5 mins off, etc) for several hours. He might at some point in the evening take another longer nap as well but this afternoon/evening time is definitely the least predictable in terms of eating and sleeping.
And then we're back to 9pm or so and it's bedtime again! Not a bad little schedule! I am SOOOO grateful that he is such a good sleeper and we have minimal middle of the night wake-ups. There was ONE night that he woke up every two hours and I wanted to pull my hair out. I can't imagine days upon days of that.
Of course, it would be amazing if he continued with this same schedule/pattern, but I REALLY don't want to get too attached to it. I know babies can change at the drop of a hat because of growth spells, getting older, everything. So I know that tomorrow he might do something completely differently. But I'm going to try to enjoy the predictability and sleep while it lasts.
We have been heading up to bed around 9 pm. James and I will bring the computer up there and watch shows on Netflix while I feed up the little dude for the long night ahead. Around 10-10:30pm I start really crashing and getting tired--and ideally by now James David is asleep or very nearly. If he needs additional changing/burping/rocking, etc, I pass him off to James and pass out. Usually little James is asleep by 11, though, in his cradle by our bed.
Then he will sleep until just about 4-4:30. I start hearing his waking up noises in my sleep(slash my boobs start ACHING) but both of us take a good half hour after this to get fully awake--this is usually the 4-4:30 time slot. Finally I wake up (big) James and ask him to change (little) James and while he is changing him, I sit up, arrange my pillows and boppy around me, and I'm all set to feed him.
James David eats for a good half hour, sometimes even 45 mins, because this is by FAR the longest stretch he goes without eating so he's really quite hungry when he wakes up, and needs to eat for a long time. When he's done eating, he usually needs to be changed again, and he typically isn't ready to go RIGHT back to sleep, so I wake James up again, he sets up the cosleeper, changes him again, and then usually hangs out with him for a half hour or so, burping him and rocking him--I go back to sleep while all this is going on. Then James David goes back to sleep from 5/5:30 until about 8:30.
We repeat our middle of the night situation at 8:30--James changes him before and after a long feed. Then we usually get up, get the little man dressed for the day, get ourselves dressed for the day, and go downstairs.
Around 9:30 or so, James will fall asleep again and take a nice long morning nap. Usually he'll sleep for at least an hour and a half--and sometimes he'll sleep for more than two hours and I'll start thinking about waking him up so he doesn't sleep too much during the day.
But usually he wakes up on his own between 10:30-12, and again wants to eat for a good long spell.
Then he is pretty awake for the rest of the day--a few hours later--sometimes between 3-5, he'll start his all-night eat-a-thon where he'll cluster feed and basically nurse non-stop (5 mins on, 5 mins off, etc) for several hours. He might at some point in the evening take another longer nap as well but this afternoon/evening time is definitely the least predictable in terms of eating and sleeping.
And then we're back to 9pm or so and it's bedtime again! Not a bad little schedule! I am SOOOO grateful that he is such a good sleeper and we have minimal middle of the night wake-ups. There was ONE night that he woke up every two hours and I wanted to pull my hair out. I can't imagine days upon days of that.
Of course, it would be amazing if he continued with this same schedule/pattern, but I REALLY don't want to get too attached to it. I know babies can change at the drop of a hat because of growth spells, getting older, everything. So I know that tomorrow he might do something completely differently. But I'm going to try to enjoy the predictability and sleep while it lasts.
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