Sleep
We’ve been thinking and talking about sleep around here quite a bit lately. The sleep we used to get (oh, those 8 consecutive hours), the sleep we didn’t get last night, and how much (or how little) the baby slept last night. As she approached 12 weeks, I started thinking about making good on our plan to move her to her room at that point. I thought about it, fretted over strategy, and then one night decided to just stick her in the crib and see what happened. She slept! And I slept a little deeper that night, not hearing (and waking up) every little wiggle and grunt.
Riding high on the success of The Switch, I decided to get daring and start plotting a bedtime. Friends I asked shared mixed experiences with trying to establish set sleep times for babes this young; some laughed and said there was no way, and others said soon PB would be going to bed at 6pm and sleeping 12 hours. Worth a try!
I began reading the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and put some of the suggestions into practice immediately. One premise of the book is that a well rested baby sleeps better, and stresses the importance of a regular sleep and nap schedule. The first thing that made a big difference was putting PB to bed in her crib 2 or 3 hours earlier than usual. This meant between 6 and 7pm. Crazy, I thought! She fussed a little but was soothed easily, and within half an hour was out. Two hours went by. Then four, and she was still asleep. I went to bed tentatively, expecting to be awakened by hungry cries as soon as I fell into a deep sleep. Instead, I was woken at about 2am with full breasts and had to pump because she was still asleep! All in all she slept 11 straight hours, and I woke up to check on her about 4 times. Oh, and the dog had diarrhea so Sweetie was up tending to that most of the night. Not a very restful night for anyone except the baby!
Since then I have continued to put Peaceful Baby down for bed between 6 and 7pm with varying results. She usually falls asleep within an hour, but has been waking up 1-3 times per night either to eat or just fuss. Every night I go to sleep hoping another glorious 11 hour stretch is ahead of us, because I could sure use that recharge. Sleep deprivation is no joke; I totally see how it can be used as a torture technique with great success. Somehow I am able to function on minimal sleep, though, and I’m only depending on my morning coffee for outside stimulants. It certainly helps that I usually wake up to the sound of PB playing and cooing in her crib, and go in to find a happy, smiley baby waiting for me. There’s nothing sweeter.
Plum Tasty
While food shopping this weekend I could not resist the allure of these plump, shimmery red plums. They’re not exactly in season, but the sun was out and I felt like baking something tasty as soon as I saw them. After looking at a couple of recipes, I came up with my own variation. This was sweet and tart, with crunchy, buttery goodness on top. Best of all, it’s a cinch to make!
Plum Crisp
Filling:
2 pounds fresh plums
1 cup light brown sugar (add or decrease depending on sweetness of fruit)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Topping:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 stick unsalted butter, diced
Combine sliced plums, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a large bowl. Pour into a 9×9 baking dish.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and cut in the butter using two knives or a pastry blender. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle this over the plum mixture.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes.
It was delicious served warm out of the oven as dessert. I can only imagine what adding a little bit of vanilla ice cream would do to enhance the experience. I can also say it makes an indulgent breakfast or afternoon treat…
Determined
Check this out, from the new issue of the
Twist Collective and the Problem Ladies:
Q. What’s the best way to knit while holding a small baby? This two-month-old of mine hasn’t really taken to knitting, and I miss being able to sit and knit! — Sarah
A. When the Little Problems were small, the Problem Ladies found it best to hold off knitting until a child was asleep, or at least bored and listless. (Tuneless lullabies and NPR will expedite this process.) Holding the youngster in the crook of the left arm (if you knit right-handed), work as many stitches as you can until squirming or other distracting behavior occurs, then pause. Jostle the baby gently, to see if you can get a couple more stitches in. Steadily increase the number of stitches, until the child is old enough to understand the concept of “the end of Mommy’s row.” In the children of determined needlewomen, this can occur as early as six months, and is a predictor for the child later winning big money on Jeopardy.
Love this! I have been knitting around a sleeping Peaceful Baby every chance I get.
The biggest challenge is keeping the yarn and pointy sticks out of her face…
Do What You Do
This has been a week of doing what I want or need to do, and just toting the baby along with me.
This is a notion I always had in the back of my mind, and one we have been pretty good at so far. Sweetie and I have taken Peaceful Baby out shopping, to restaurants, and on daily errands since she was just a week or two old. Not one to stay home hibernating all winter, I needed to get out and about fairly quickly after she was born. But the thought of breastfeeding or managing a crying breakdown in public intimidated me, so I didn’t really go many places alone unless they had a drive-thru window!
That is no more. With each week that has gone by, I have gained confidence in our getting-out-of-the-house routine, and I try to do so every day. Even if it’s just a walk around the neighborhood, I find the act of leaving the nest very refreshing and restorative, even if it is a bit stressful at times. Last week I even took PB to a movie by myself, and we made it through the whole thing! Sweetie and I took her to see How to Train Your Dragon yesterday, which is a wonderful movie. So far we’ve stuck to kid-oriented films for the shorter length and it’s worked out pretty well; I actually think she likes watching all the flashing color and lights on the big screen. This is good news for a couple that saw over 60 movies in the theater last year!
The weather has brightened up and we’re able to enjoy the outside a little bit more. We went for a family walk with the dog yesterday evening, which was lovely. PB loved getting jostled about in the front-facing baby carrier. I was able to get a pretty good self-timer shot from a big rock:
Hope you have a wonderful weekend doing what you do!
The Mom Haircut
Well, I fought off the urge as long as I could. I wanted so much to be one of those moms who maintained her pre-baby style, but in the end I grew tired of always wrestling my hair out of tightly-clenched baby fists, of wearing a dreary pony-tail day after day, and of using about a cup of shampoo daily.
Before
After
Of course, my hair is naturally curly, so it never looks this sleek and smooth once I leave the salon. But I’m happy I took the leap of faith and got it cut. I feel so much lighter and ready for spring. Plus, I think losing that much hair (8 inches or so!) has the added benefit of making me look like I lost weight. As I’m still working on dropping some baby pounds, this is a good thing!
See that necklace up there? That was a Valentine’s Day gift from Sweetie. The Vintage Pearl is a lovely website where you can customize your own jewelry. I chose a typewriter font “g” and a garnet birthstone for Peaceful Baby. So sweet!
Mail from the White House
Peaceful Baby got her first letter from the White House this week!
If your little one would like a note from the president, send a birth announcement to
Whitehouse Greeting Office
Room 39
Washington DC 20500
Family Vacation
Last week the three of us set out on our first family vacation adventure. In the last weeks of my pregnancy, Sweetie and I thought it would be nice to plan a beach vacation for March. Somewhere warm that we could drive to… Hilton Head Island won out, and it was something bright and shiny to look forward to in the dark days of winter and painfully early mornings with a newborn.
I had been a little nervous over the logistics of travelling with a baby, having never done it before. I wanted to be sure I packed all the necessities without overdoing it, as well as a few fun and just-in-case things. That’s how we ended up taking the bouncy chair, a sling, and a baby carrier. I went into this trip with the mindframe of staying as relaxed and flexible as possible, and I think that really helped things go smoothly.
Waking with the sun has its benefits
8-week old Peaceful Baby was a superstar car-tripper. We spend a lot of time driving, whether it be to visit Sweetie’s parents in Michigan, friends around the country, or on various vacation adventures. We’re from the West, where it can take an entire day to cross a state, so a few hours in the car is really no big deal. It’s a nice time to catch up with each other, daydream, or spend some time knitting. So it was a welcome surprise to find that PB slept most of the way down there, including a peaceful night in the hotel. She fits right in to this road-tripping family!
We tried to conduct our vacation as we normally would, with the slightly complicated addition of a baby. This did affect the activities we could engage in, but not to the point that we felt limited. There was a brief temptation to make use of the hotel’s babysitting service after a particularly harrowing restaurant experience, but we decided it was just to creepy. We would get takeout or go to bustling family friendly restaurants for the rest of the trip and forget about fancy dinners. A small sacrifice, but well worth it.
First trip to the beach...unimpressed.
We strolled on the beach, walked the streets of Savannah, took a trolley our, and spent plenty of time enjoying our beautiful hotel (including some time at the spa for both mamas). It was wonderful experiencing these things that felt somewhat normal as a new mom and member of a 3-person family. There were challenging moments, and funny-strange moments… But mostly it was just so good.
Tired & Challenged
Breastfeeding is hard. Not only is it physically challenging with positioning, milk leaks, chapping, etc., it is emotionally challenging as well. The rewards are great; I feel confident that my baby is getting the best nutrition possible (as evidenced by her hearty weight gain), and it is a miraculous connection only the two of us share. But there are days. Days where I feel tied down. Days where my nipples are chapped like an Olympic skier’s wind-burned lips. Days where I just want to do my thing and not be interrupted to sit and nurse for the 14th time that day.
Yesterday was one of those days. The baby was being great, and there was nothing really going on out of the ordinary (aside from the aforementioned chap), but I was tired. tired from my ears to the tips of my toes, and with a headache to boot. So 9pm rolled around, and I wanted to get one more feeding in before we both went to sleep, hopefully for a good long stretch. PB was calm and sleepy, my favorite way to nurse her. But as soon as I lay her down in position, she stirred and let out a pitiful, raspy cry. She then proceeded to wail like she was in some sort of desperate, incurable pain. A pacifier and some rocking calmed her down fairly quickly, and we tried again. Same thing!
I know she was very tired by this point in the day, and she did need to eat. So why all the fuss? Was it gas? Frustration? THis has happened a couple of times before, and it’s always the same: a calm baby erupts into fitful cries as soon as we try to nurse. Exasperated and on the edge of an emotional outburst myself, I said “I don’t understand why she’s doing this!” And then Sweetie said, with what I am sure were the best of intentions, ”Maybe you should try another position. Sometimes it looks like you’re trying to feed her upside-down.” Well.
Of course, I took this personally and like a criticism of my ability to breastfeed PB. I know she was only trying to offer a suggestion (Sweetie is very much the type to try to fix and do to make things better), but what I needed in the moment was some emotional reassurance and support. It’s hard to be sore and tired, with breast milk leaking down onto your clean nightgown, trying to calm and feed a screaming newborn. Sometimes as a new mom, I just need a pat on the back and someone to acknowledge the challenges of the moment. I know Sweetie is tired and challenged, too. We try to share the responsibilities around here, and I think we do a pretty good job of it. But as new parents, it’s hard enough to remember to take care of yourself, let alone your partner. We need to be sure to fit in some time each day to connect with one another, get and give a good hug, and remind each other that we’re doing the best we can.
Anyway, all of this is just to say that breastfeeding is hard, yesterday was a challenging day, and today I get a fresh start. Babies don’t necessarily remember what happened yesterday, so each morning we get the chance to start fresh and begin as we intend to go forward.
I hope today is a good day.
Rhythm
The days are starting to take on a familiar rhythm, a flow of activities that, while not consistent, are at least somewhat predictable. My Sweetie usually gets up with little PB, and they snuggle and drink coffee while I get a few more zzzz’s. I’m also trying to shower and dress every day before Sweetie leaves for work, an action that leaves me feeling much more human and ready for the adventures of the day ahead. Then there’s morning eating, dressing, and playing, hopefully followed by a nice long nap.
This is the time I do things like write blog posts, check email, clean up around the house, knit, play with the animals, and generally try to do a few things that feel somewhat productive and/or restorative. I’ve always been an independent, happy-to-be-by-myself type of person, so it’s important to me to have some alone time every day, even if that time is brief.
Then we both have lunch, with PB typically eating first while my stomach begins digesting itself. If I’m lucky, I have anticipated this moment and set myself up with something to drink and snack on while she eats. Note to self: drink more fluids this week! Eat less chocolate!
After lunch, there’s usually another long nap. This is the point in my day where I take the advice of several dear friends and sleep while the baby sleeps. I really get into it, crawling back into bed and slumbering for an hour or two. Unless, of course, the baby has other ideas…
There’s a lot of impromptu sleeping, eating, and baby-gazing sprinkled throughout the day. I’m hoping for some calm weather so she and I can get out of the house for some walks and dates with friends. I’ve watched what could be considered an unhealthy amount of television lately, an activity I am trying to cut back on as I regain mobility and independence while the baby sleeps. We listen to music or knitting podcasts instead! Although right now it is blissfully quiet; all I can hear is the hum of the refrigerator and the soft snores of a Peaceful Baby.
It’s bliss.
I love being a mom.
