We might have turned a bit of a corner. I think our effort to establish a bedtime routine is paying off, because Allie started sleeping til about 3:30-4am most nights. We usually start the routine somewhere between 7:30pm and 8:30pm. Every other night we do a bath, and then we put her jammies on, read her a book, snuggle her a bit til she seems sleepy, then swaddle her and put her in the bassinet with white noise on. She actually falls asleep anywhere between 9pm-10pmish. She is really good about going to sleep on her own, even if she's still awake when we put her in the bassinet. The side effect to this, is that now that she's going about 6-7 hours without eating at night, my boobs are adjusting (whoa engorgement again)! I actually think she might be able to go slightly longer, but if I wake up, feel engorged, and hear her fussing, I usually get up and feed her. The other issue is that I'm rested enough that I have a hard time going back to sleep at 4-5am when I'm done changing and feeding her. Before when she was up more, I'd still be so tired that I'd usually fall back asleep pretty easily. I'm a lighter sleeper in the morning, so this is more difficult for me now. Still, I think this is a really good thing- that she's going to sleep fairly consistently and sleeping longer stretches now.
We need to work on napping. I started trying to track naps to see when she seems to be sleeping, but part of it is our fault because we often take her out to do things and when we do she falls asleep in the car seat for a long nap, so we don't really know when she would naturally choose to nap if we let her dictate the schedule. We also need to figure out when we are going to transition her to the crib. We keep talking about doing it, but then just keep defaulting to the Pack N Play bassinet because we know she sleeps fine there. I did try having her do a morning nap in the crib a couple times this week and it went pretty well. I saw that she was getting tired, took her in there and she slept about 30-45 minutes a couple times. So we're making some progress.
I waited to post this because Allie had her two month pediatrician appointment today (she will be nine weeks tomorrow). She is still about the same on her percentiles- still 75th for head circumference, 50th for height, and about 25th for weight. She's 22 inches long and weights 10 lbs 7oz now. The doctor was very happy with her stats. She's definitely in size 1 diapers and I have now put pretty much all her newborn clothes away, so she's in mostly 0-3, and a few 3M outfits that run small or are a little big on her. I feel like she's chunking up!
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| Love her long eye lashes! |
Allie now has a lot of days where she is happier a lot more during the day which is awesome. This is probably my favorite part about her growing. I love the smiles and sounds she is making. It's fun to be able to interact with her. I feel like we're in kind of a fun phase because she's still a little baby, but she's getting more happy and interactive. She likes it when I talk to her and sing to her, and sit with her on the floor while she does tummy time. I also carry her around and tell her what things are and she seems pretty mesmerized.
She still has her share of melt downs though. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a bunch of whiny tweets on Sunday when we were having a rough day. She's starting to be awake more in the car now, so it's not as much of a sure thing that I can take her somewhere and rely on her to fall asleep in the car and stay asleep. I've had my share of car trips where she was screaming in the back til I could stop and calm her down. She usually does sleep in the car, and in the car seat for a while after, if it's between 10am-2pm, but after that I don't count on it. She also sometimes has meltdowns around 3-4pm at home when she is fed, changed, stimulated, and nothing really calms her down. I find that rocking her and stroking her back and whispering or singing to her is the best bet til she calms down. I hate those times though, it breaks my heart!
We try to do tummy time a bunch of times a day but usually it only last a few minutes each time. I feel like she tolerates it pretty well though, and I think she's getting closer to rolling over. The doctor even commented on it today when she was checking her out and saw her propped up on her arms! She's still a fan of the play mat and I let her play on that a couple times a day.
As much as I savor every moment and stage with Allie, I really think the best is still yet to come. I think she's still in that "fourth trimester" fussy stage and I look forward to her being happier and more adjusted to life outside the womb. This makes me glad that I still have four more months before I have to go back to work, because I really want to spend more time with her during the less fussy more happy time.
As for me, I got a yoga pass at my local studio and have been twice. Running is only happening when Greg is home so only about once or maybe twice a week if I'm lucky. My major exercise is still daily walks, weather permitting. I fit into more of my pre-prenancy clothes now, including a couple pairs of jeans, but most of my clothes fit very differently (hello muffin top!), and I can tell I'm still a long way from the shape I used to be in. I bought two tankini's for an upcoming trip to Hilton Head, because I am not going anywhere near a bikini any time soon! Still, I know it could be worse and really it's not that important in the big picture of things- it was totally worth it to have my baby.
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