well, i'm not as sleep deprived as i thought i would be. the first week was hard, there were some tears, but it gets better every night. Kitten is eating more each feeding, which means more time between feedings, which means more sleep! she will even go for 4 hours if she's comfortable, after which point i have to wake her up to eat.
she does not like her bassinet, however, and won't sleep in it for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, so she keeps ending up in bed with me. and NO lectures about co-sleeping. i've already heard it from my cares-for-infants-for-a-living sister, who has been my go-to person on all things baby care:
me: "is co-sleeping really that bad?"
erin: [prolonged blank stare] "no." [long pause] "okay, now do you want to know what i really think?
we've even had some successful outings with Kitten. mostly to lowe's for home improvement items because J and i are utterly insane and decided to put our house on the market to see if we get any bites. we are quickly outgrowing this house. we are in no rush to move, but if the right buyer comes along we'll be happy to oblige. especially since there seems to be a number of homes on the market right now that fit what we're looking for, so i feel confident that the right one will be waiting for us when it's time.
but that also means that alllllll those home improvement projects we've been meaning to do for forever must be finished before the realtor comes to take pictures for the listing later this week. ack!
this house was a "flipper" when J bought it in 2002, and previously we had installed new:
- privacy fence
- (energy efficient) heating & air
- (low-flow) toilets
- countertops and plumbing fixtures in the kitchen
- (energy efficient) windows and doors
- (energy efficient) light fixtures in the hallway, dining room, and kitchen
- painted the siding outside (grey-beige with white trim)
- put in a vegetable garden, and
- tore down this awful uninsulated carpeted half-room in the garage and turned it back into, well, the garage.
in the last three days we:
- replaced the bathroom sinks, plumbing fixtures, and light fixtures
- laid new bathroom floors
- painted the bathrooms and the kitchen (ultrasellable khaki/taupe, for those who care)
- caulked and painted the new windows and doors, and
- had a new (insulated) automatic garage door installed
later this week we will be getting a new roof, courtesy of force majeure and the nice people at state farm insurance. and we did it all with a two-week-old baby, who slept through the whole nightmarish mess in her well-ventilated swing. i'm glad the weather's been nice. and i'm glad Kitten's a happy baby.
Kitten's done great going out so far. for her first outing we went to lowe's, and we tried out the infantino slingrider:
as my friend maria mentioned, this sling is sort of hot, but it is roomy and Kitten seemed to like it a lot. she slept the whole time we walked around lowe's. then we went to chili's to eat and she slept through dinner passed out in her carseat. then we went to vintage stock. still sleeping. we got home and i woke her up to eat. perfect baby!
it fits more snugly and Kitten liked it, too. except for the part where she spit up and it ran down the inside and soaked through all over my shirt before i could get to it with the burp cloth so we spent the rest of the outing sitting in the jeep waiting for J to finish up. this is life with an infant.
**confidential to maria: i promise i will wash it before i return it to you.
we also went to the ped's last week and aislinn got a good report. after getting down to 6lbs .08oz from her birth weight of 6lbs 11oz, by the time she had her first peds appointment she was back up to 6lbs 7oz. yay! she had some monstrous diaper rash, though, which came on seemingly overnight and with a vengeance. we followed her ped's advice to stop using the wet wipes and switch to kleenex soaked with a little baby oil and to use desitin or boudreaux's butt paste religiously, and it's almost gone. poor little kiddo, though. owwwww.
and if i were a better blogger, here is where new pictures of Kitten would go, but she's starting to fuss in her swing and i'm craving kool-aid, so you'll have to imagine it for now.
[picture of super adorable baby]
6 comments:
No worries on the puke. I figured it would happen. It doesn't bother me. If you want to try the ring sling, let me know. I'll drop it by.
I'm a BIG FAN of co-sleeping, so no lectures here. Just a big smile. I was anti-co-sleeping...until I had my son. Now, I am a HUGE fan. When he was young, I kept the thick blankets and pillows away and snuggled with him to keep me warm... it was awesome. Who doesn't like snuggling their baby? LOL! ;)
Oh, and not to freak you out, but I hope the infantino is new. The older ones have been recalled... 2007, IIRC.
Not that you asked, but another great thing for diaper rash is to use a few drops of calendula oil in water and wipe the baby's bum with that, then be sure it is dry before putting on the diaper ointment... My midwife told me about calendula and its wonders. :)
OK. I'm ending my unsolicited parenting notes now and saying... I want more pictures! :)
I agree I want more pics too! As another person who formerly cared for infants for a living, I will say that cosleeping created somewhat of a nightmare in my classroom at naptime - but at the same time, I would NEVER judge a new mom on WHATEVER WORKS FOR THEM, especially during the first few months! I mean, I dealt with it, you know? My point is really just that I think childcare workers have somewhat of a biased view on the topic, is all. I am so glad things are going smoothly!
Ok. The Co-sleeping thing. I'm not saying it's HORRIBLE and you should NEVER do it. I mean, when you think about it, she has been in your warm womb for all this time, then suddenly, she's expected to sleep all alone on a flat mattress. That's just not realistic. I understand that. Also, for the sanity of the mother, sometimes, you just need to sleep, and if that means laying her next to you, then so be it. Also, I think it is a great bonding time between mom and baby. I have no doubt that when I have a baby, some day FAR in the future, I will have her sleep in by bed some. I would like to say I wouldn't do it, but that's just not reasonable. I will try and keep it to a minimum, but I'm sure it will happen.
Now, the flip side. No mother wants to place her young child in childcare. I understand that. As a mother, it is your responsibility to make the transition to childcare as smooth as possible on your baby. If all your baby knows is sleeping next to you, they are going to have a HORRIBLE time adjusting to naps at childcare. In addition to adjusting to a new people, new enviroment, and new noises, they have to now SLEEP ALONE!? How scary would that be? It's really just not fair to the baby.
There are also many moms out there that decided to co-sleep, and now have a 2 or 3 year old that is terrified to sleep alone. That's not fun. How would you like to have a potty-training bed wetter next to you every night. Now I know that this is the extreme and I seriously doubt this would ever be a problem for you.
So I'm not saying co-sleeping is horrible, but you just have to not let it get out of control. And from the discussions we've had, I'm not too worried.
Now, I'll step down off my soap box, and when I have a baby and I do ALL these things, you can remind me of this post.
:)
Erin/Kara-- I think that a family who co-sleeps does not necessarily nap together, and if that is the case, it would make daycare napping a non-issue. For example, my son naps well at daycare. We don't nap with him...usually (ha ha), yet at night, we enjoy our family bed. It doesn't have to be to the opposite extreme (co-sleep 100% of the time-- naps, night, etc). ;)
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