adventures with baby

Today, I am going on an “actual” adventure with my baby.  We are flying across the country!!  I never thought I would want to fly with my baby, but my mom is getting married.  It’s important to be there.  So, I had to figure out the best way to get there.  Usually, I have one lay-over which isn’t too bad.  However, the last two times I flew to California, my connecting flights were cancelled. I ended up sleeping in the airport, and I was pregnant both times.  Nightmare!! I found a  way to fly non-stop.  I have to drive a ways to the Miami airport, but it will be worth it.  I cannot imagine being stuck in an airport with my 3 month old baby.  The advice I’ve been given is to nurse him on take-off and landing to help with his ears.  Also, I should only bring enough diapers for the flight, then buy more when I get there.  I’m traveling pretty light.  I found a company that rents baby gear. I will rent a car seat and a stroller for the week.  It’s cheaper than bringing them with me!  I will hold Thomas on my lap, so I don’t need to buy a ticket for him.  Wish me luck! 

OK, I know I post a lot about my baby’s sleep habits.  I guess it’s because every day is different.  For a long time, I could hardly get him to nap at all.  The other day, he took 5 short naps. Yesterday there was a 2 hour nap, a 30 minute nap, then a 1 hour nap.  Right now, it’s 6:41 in the morning, and he went to bed around 10pm.  He’s never slept this long.  Yesterday it was 8 hours.  I can only hope that his sleep system is regulating.  He is 3 months old.  I have read in the books on “getting your baby to sleep,” that around 4 months you should stop feeding them at night.  That way, they learn to not wake up in the night and will sleep straight through.  If he’s doing it on his own, that is fantastic!  I just don’t know if it’s a fluke.  I’ve never actually had to wake him up in the morning.  I guess I’ll wait a little longer and see if he keeps sleeping.

Rating:  (5 smilies out of 5) When I registered at Babies R Us I had done some research and chose theSummer Infant Day & Night Video Monitor.  I chose the hand-held version, so I’m able to bring it anywhere in the house while Thomas is sleeping.  The old-fashioned type of baby monitor was sound only.  You couldn’t actually watch the baby to see if he was moving around.  This monitor has a decent sized video screen, which shows color in the day time and black/white “night vision” at night.  There is volume, plus a light display that goes from yellow to red when the baby is making noise.  I still wake throughout the night, even when I don’t hear the baby. Just mommy instinct, I suppose.  I can just look over at the monitor and see if he’s awake or making noise.  There is also a “tap” button on the top that turns the screen on and off.  A few other features include a plug for headphones, a power adaptor that charges the battery,   a clip to wear it on your waistband, plus a “kickstand” to prop it up for viewing.  I highly recommend this video monitor.

When we first moved to our town five years ago, we lived near the beach.  A few miles away was a reasonable Chinese restaurant, and we went pretty often for dinner.  We usually had the same waitress, and she was always very friendly.  About a year and a half ago, we bought a house on the other side of town.  We’ve only been back to this restaurant a few times since then.  Since our baby was born three months ago, we haven’t been at all.   This brings me to last night, when I remembered about Cold Stone’s free ice cream giveaway for Make A Wish.  We had taken the baby out for a walk, hoping it might help him to nap. It didn’t.  We got home at 7:30, and I remembered that it was “free ice cream night.”  We only had 30 minutes to drive across town before the event ended at 8pm.  So, we hopped in the car and made it there with 15 minutes to spare.  Bonus- the baby fell asleep in the car!  When we got to Cold Stone, the line was out the door.  We got to the front of the line, and there was only a tiny bit of ice cream left.  They were using the small cups, and mine was only about half way filled.  Oh, well.  It was free.  I chose the Marshmallow, and hubby chose the Nutter Butter. We didn’t like the ones we chose, so we traded and were much happier.  We decided to walk down the sidewalk of the shopping plaza and eat our ice cream as we walked.  We walked past the chinese restaurant and then turned around.  As we walked past it again, our old waitress ran out to talk to us.  I knew she was friendly, but I didn’t think she would remember us so well.  We had a nice chat with her.  She didn’t know I had been pregnant, so she was surprised to see little Thomas.  Anyway, it was just a funny, random experience.   

Yesterday was such a great napping day.  Every day is different, some days much harder than others.  For the past week Thomas has been much easier to put down for a nap.   I thought we were really making progress.  Today, we’re back to him waking up after just a few minutes, the rest of the time he won’t nap at all. He did have one nap in the car, but nothing like the 3 hour doozy yesterday.  Last night wasn’t a great sleeping night,  either.  He woke up after only one hour, then slept 5 hours.  I guess that’s not too bad.

First of all, I must apologize for the size of this photo.  I’m new to this site, and I’m working out the kinks.  (If you click and drag the photo you can see the whole image)  Rating:  (4 smiles out of 5) I really wanted a sling, so I could “wear” my baby during the day. I did some research on slings, and decided on the Hot Sling.  I found a local boutique and picked out a sling that I considered to be gender neutral, as I didn’t yet know the gender of my baby.  After Thomas was born, I tried several times to put him in the sling using the “cradle carry.”  Every time, he would scream as soon as he was in the sling.  Maybe I was doing it wrong?  Once he was about 8 weeks old, I was able to put him in using the modified cradle- where he is sitting up like in the picture.  Now that he’s 12 weeks old, I’ve been able to put him in using the “hip carry.”  He likes that one most of the time.    The sling earned points for the way it looks.  I think it’s a really nice looking fabric. The sling lost points because I couldn’t use it for the first 8 weeks using the cradle carry.  I do recommend this sling. It’s very easy to put on, and with a little practice, it’s easy to get the baby in and out.  I haven’t tried to nurse using it, because I don’t think it would work.

A week ago, it was great if Thomas took one nap a day.  It was usually a nice, long, two hour nap.  Then sometime last week, he started making a “tired” noise.  It’s a deep, low, almost gutteral moan.  It’s definitely different from his “wet diaper” cry.  So now, Thomas needs naps all day long.  However, they’re short. Only about 30 minutes each.  It seems as though he’s only getting through one sleep cycle, then waking up, unable to fall back to sleep. So, our new routine is on a pretty strict (baby-led) 3 hour schedule.  He eats and naps every three hours, and that might be part of why he is waking up from his naps- poor kid is hungry!  It is much easier to get him to sleep at night with this new behavior.  I’ve heard that napping and night sleeping are related- you must have both or you’ll have neither.

Co-sleep, that is.  When my baby was born three months ago, I never thought I would want to co-sleep.  I just didn’t think it was safe.  So, we set up a bassinet in our bedroom.  The close proximity made it easier to nurse in the middle of the night.  However, the beautiful bassinet was also incredibly noisy.  It squeaked when Thomas moved around, and when his arms hit the sides it woke him up.  No one was sleeping well, so after two months we moved him into his own room.  Suddenly he was sleeping up to eight hours straight, and my husband and I could get some rest.  We still needed to have middle of the night feedings, so I nursed Thomas in his nursery’s glider.  The location worked, but I was falling asleep in the chair, giving myself a sore neck.  It was also difficult to get Thomas back to sleep in his crib after we were both asleep in the glider.  I ended up traipsing back and forth for the next hour trying to get him back to sleep.  This is when we decided to bring him into our bed to nurse and fall asleep. Normally this feeding occurred between 2 and 4 am.  I was able to nurse him in bed, and we could both fall asleep comfortably.  Problem solved?  Unfortunately, not.  After about an hour of snuggling with my sleeping baby, he would start to squirm and cry.  So I still found myself traipsing back and forth, trying to get him back to sleep.  As far as co-sleeping goes, I now believe it can be done safely.  However, I do not think it is right for my baby.  We are still working on a method to get him to STAY asleep after his early morning feeding.