Grandma or Mom

Last Sunday night,we had my parents over for dinner. Our regular routine since Madie was a week old is to go over to there house for dinner on Sunday nights. My brother comes over and it is all 6 of us! I have noticed that my mom as much as I love her has issues accepting her role as a grandmother rather than a mother. We all know Madie is not a napper. I try getting her into routines and everyday is different, she changes it up on me. I am lucky if I get a hour a day out of her. Well, Sunday was no exception. She napped for about 45 minutes all day. So by the time my parents arrived at 5 she was about done for the day. My mother took her away from me and I warned her, that Madie's mood was lousy. She did everything she could to try and get a smile out of her and no a whine. I asked for her back a couple of times knowing that I should feed her solids and boob and she might and I mean might take a small cat nap. My mother said she had it. So I left the room took a deep breath and finished cooking dinner. Well, Madie wanted nothing to do with the solid food tonight. I tried her sweet potatoes, some yogurt and her sippy cup. She wanted nothing to do with it. By this time it was about 6:30. Madie was in need of her bath and bed and boob and book. My mom was determined to get Madie to eat. She got an applesauce out of the fridge, and not even opening it she sticks her pinkie through the wrapper and gives Madie a pinkie of applesauce. She did not want it! I frankly thought that was disgusting and told her so. She told me I was over reacting. I love my mom to death, she is a fabulous grandma. She goes out of her way for Madie. But I have come to believe that she has a hard time seeing me in the mom role. This is not the first time something like that has happened. Constantly, she is disregarding what I say and doing what she thinks is best! One time she went as far as to cut her hair while Mike and I were away for the evening. I have triesd talking to her about please listening to what I have to say concerning Madie, and it does not help. Just wondering if anyone else has similar issues or has an idea of how to help. Madie is going to be with my parents for the afternoon and evening tomorrow!

Travel Debacle

Last weekend we went away for three days to visit my in-laws. You would think a short trip like this would be easy, right?

For the 100+ degree weather I decided to pack easy things: 2 onesies, 2 outfits (shirt and shorts) and 2 pajamas. As usual, I had a long sleeve onesie, a short sleeve onesie and a pair of pajamas in my diaper bag for 'just in case' moments. So, I'm prepared, right???

Day 1- Drive 6 hours - when arriving we realized Brett had pooped and it was all over the car seat. Washed car seat cover and changed Brett into a onesie

Day 2- Realized that one of the onesies that I brought was the wrong size- too small, put on an outfit and it was too small! Second outfit fit fine. Put Brett in pajamas for bedtime

Day 3- Dressed Brett in the backup onesie from my diaper bag and drove to Vegas, went in Circus, Circus (it was a madhouse). We left to head home- a little over 4 hours of driving ahead of us. Brett falls asleep and we drive 2 hours to Barstow. We get to In-N-Out and my husband takes Brett out of her car seat while I was doing something (don't remember what). All of the sudden we look down and my husbands shirt is COVERED in POOP! He hands her to me to change her - now I have poop on me! I know that all I have left in my diaper bag is a long-sleeved onesie and pajamas- both way too warm for the weather. However, I have to dress her in something, so I choose the long-sleeved onesie. I look at the tag and it is a 3-month size! Too small! URGH. So, the pajamas it is. We put her in them but roll up the feet portion so that her feet don't get too hot. Ok, 2 hours to go. We get to the Orange area (only 30 miles to go) and I smell poop again. We pull off the road and stop at a gas station. Sure enough, she pooped again! AND, it leaked out of her diapers! So, we took her out of the pajamas and she rode the rest of the way home in her diaper!

Well, I learned my lesson here. I will always check the sizes of the things that I pack and I will double-check the items in my diaper bag to make sure that the sizes are correct.

Lastly, on this trip we brought with us our last pack of Pampers Swaddlers Size 2-3 diapers. I swore by the Pampers Sensitive when Brett was tiny but I was disappointed in the 'holding power' of these diapers. I have been using the Kirkland brand from Costco and have been quite happy with their ability to hold in the yucky stuff.

Sleep Training and Scheduling

I know I’ve griped to many of you about the bad habits I’d gotten Matthew into. For the first couple months he napped only in my arms, which I loved at first, but then realized: I will never get anything done again… ever! =0 He woke the second I tried to put him down, so I started nursing him lying down in my bed and then sneaking away once he fell asleep. That worked so well that I threw his bedtime routine out the window and started doing it then too! I’d sneak him into his crib after he’d fallen into a deep enough sleep and that worked for awhile, until he started waking up more often needing to be nursed back to sleep all night long. What did I expect?? This kid had no idea how to fall asleep on his own! Now that I was up multiple times a night with him, I was growing more and more exhausted… so what did I do? Bring him into our bed, of course. Seriously, as I write this I’m wondering, “what on earth was I thinking?” I guess sleep deprivation got the best of me.

Alright, so here I am with a 5 1/2 month old baby who exclusively nurses to sleep, won’t sleep in his crib, and wakes up more times a night than he did as a newborn. =/ Yikes! I knew I had to do something to help teach Matthew how to fall asleep on his own, but I was so hesitant to try sleep training because I couldn’t bear to hear him cry. Our pediatrician had suggested night weaning, but to be honest I just didn’t think it would work. However, thanks to Lisa’s post about the success she had with sleep training and Holly’s suggestion in the comments section, I felt motivated enough to give it a try.

Let me tell you, the result has been AMAZING and so much quicker/easier than expected!! I started off by listing out all the things I wanted to accomplish: (1) Teaching Matthew to fall asleep on his own – I made the decision that I would no longer nurse him to sleep, (2) ALL of his sleeping would be done in his crib, unless he fell asleep in the car – He was not going to be allowed back into our bed (a decision that actually made me sad knowing I wouldn’t be able to cuddle with him during the night), (3) Teaching him that nights are NOT for eating – Unless I could tell that he was truly hungry, I was going to rock him back to sleep when he woke, rather than feed him.

I knew I had to tackle everything at once and be consistent if I wanted Matthew to understand and accept the new plan. So here’s how it went: for naps I established a quick routine (wipe down with warm washcloth, read, rock) then put him down tired, but still awake. The first time he cried for 15 minutes, I checked on him twice, and then he slept for 1.5 hours in his crib!! I was so amazed, and this definitely gave me the motivation to keep going. I started consistently doing his bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pjs, read, rock) and just like naps, putting him down when he became drowsy. Bedtime actually involved less fussing because he gets so tired by the end of the day and falls asleep quickly. The first night he woke up twice and I was up for 45 min. – 1 hr. rocking him each time. The second night he still woke up twice but for only 5 – 10 min. of rocking. The third night he woke once, but again we were up for almost an hour. Since then he has been sleeping GREAT! 7pm – 7am + every night! I was so amazed at how quickly he adapted. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that I can put him down for naps and bedtime awake and he will curl up on his own and fall asleep with out making a peep!

(Side note: I had tried letting him cry it out a couple times previously and it did not work. I think we had to wait until he was really ready and old enough to understand we weren’t leaving him for good. The longest he ever fussed before falling asleep was 15 minutes.)

The sleep training along with introducing solids have all helped him fall into a good daily schedule. Something I’d been striving for since day 1! A usual day for him is…

7-8am wake/nurse

9am breakfast (2 tbs. rice cereal and bottle)

10am nap (30 min. – 1 hr.)

11:30 nurse

12:30 nurse

2pm nap (1 hr. 30 min.)

3:30 nurse

5:30 dinner (2-4 tbs. veggies and bottle)

6:30 nurse/bedtime routine

7pm asleep

Sorry for such a long post… hope it can be of some help to someone! =)

Cool iPhone Apps

I read this and couldn't resist passing it along. There are apps for everything from tracking your breastfeeding to a baby monitor (I'll download and let you know if it works) to cooking. Check it out!

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/11/14/parentwish-baby-monitor-iphone-app/

Bathroom Stops

I remember when I first had Brett I was so worried about taking her out in public because I wasn't sure how to take her into the bathroom with me. It seems to obvious now, but it didn't at the time.

My 'been-there-done-that' girlfriend suggested to take her into the handicap bathroom with me. If I had her in the stroller I would simply bring her in with me. If I had her car seat in a shopping cart it was a bit more complicated but I would just bring her in and set the car seat on the ground.

I had this pretty well figured out. That is, until this weekend. On the way home from visiting the in-laws we stopped at Circus, Circus in Las Vegas so that my nephews could play at the arcade. This was the worst idea ever. It was literally wall-to-wall people there. As soon as we walked in it honestly smelled like dirty diapers.

I had Brett in the umbrella stroller, which we were using for the first time. She didn't love it but she seemed to be managing. When we got there I took her into the restroom. There was a long line and only one handicap bathroom. The whole place was filthy. As we waited in line, she started crying.

I kept looking around wondering if I should just wait for the handicap one to open or squeeze her into a small stall. I was going to wait for the handicap restroom when my mother-in-law walked in and entertained her while I went and then we switched.

I'm not sure why this stressed me out, but it did. I was nervous in the entire situation- just too many people in too small a space. We left after about 15 minutes.

I guess the moral of the story is to be prepared when going out so you know how you are going to handle your own 'potty' stops.

Fussy Baby/Frustrated Baby

Reagan's "colic" symptoms were textbook- started at 2 weeks, peaked at 6 weeks, subsized at 5 months. Inconsolable crying for long periods of time and a sense of serious discomfort for my baby. As a first time mom, this was a very difficult time. While my friends-also first-time moms, were enjoying these first months with their babies, I was almost in tears most nights. We tried everything to console her (strollers, car rides, pacifiers, sshhing, swaddling, bouncy seats, swings, the amby bed.. and on and on). One by one, we'd conclude that she didn't like them. We went through all of tests to rule out reflux, gasteo issues, teething, etc. Every pediatrician's appointment, I prayed for the "ah ha" moment where I would go home with a cured baby- it never came.

Reagan struggled in public places and new faces would set her off into tears. We didn't want to isolate ourselves, so we would try outings but knew they would probably be cut short. A few times I went to Target and saw new moms pushing around their new stroller with a sleeping baby inside. That looked amazing to me- but so far from our reality. Our new stroller was practically unused.

The diagnosis of colic was unsettling to me as no one could tell me exactly what it was and what it was caused by. I was just told- constant crying to extended periods of time is colic. But I needed to find out why she was crying and what I could do to help her. My lifesaver was a book called, "The Fussy Baby" by Dr. Sears. Also "Your Fussy Baby" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth and "Raising Your Spirited Child" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka were great books. Even though we never did figure out the "why", these books gave great advice for parenting high needs babies, who require a great deal of soothing, holding etc. And the best thing I got from these books was reassurance that "you will get through this".

And we did! Now at 6 months, we couldn't be happier. Reagan is a happy, curious, full-of-energy little girl. We weathered the storm of our fussy days and they now seem like a distant memory.

Baby's First Movie

On weekend afternoons, my husband & I have been dying to go see a movie....you remember that big fancy thing called the movie theater =)!? Someone at our Gymboree class had mentioned a nearby theater with a baby cry room. The room was created to give families an opportunity to see movies even if they have young children...genius! 

I called the movie theater ahead of time to get more information about the room, like is it soundproof! I didn't want to be THOSE people in the theater with a small child crying their eyes out. We were reassured that the room is soundproof and you didn't have to reserve it ahead of time. So yesterday we took the leap to bring Molly to her first movie.

I, of course, packed up an arsenal of toys and baby entertainment. Two hours is a long time in a baby's life! We planned the timing of the movie around her naps. Nap on the way, nap on the way home and hopefully play contently throughout the movie =).

It is an older theater called Regency Theater (formerly known as Mann Theater). The person who takes your ticket stubs is also the person who sells you the tickets. We were impressed with the the baby cry room. It's literally a soundproof box with 4 theater chairs, but it is located in same room as the rest of the population and wired with it's own sound. A small open space behind the chairs provides enough room to lay out a baby blanket and toys. We felt like we had the best seats in the house! 

Molly woke up to the loud sound of the movie starting, so we started entertaining her with toys. We noticed she was a little fussy, so I put her in the front carrier. She ended up watching the movie for a while and then eventually falling asleep. She slept through the rest of the movie, our entire trip home and for another 45 minutes at home...almost a 2 hour nap!!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the movies! We would do it again in a heartbeat. The real icing on the cake is, as we exited the theater, there were two ushers waiting with a bowl full of mints. Now what theaters do that anymore!?

** For those of you who live in South Orange County, the theater is located off Greenfield & Crown Valley Parkway- www.regencymovies.com. Only their two biggest theaters has a baby cry room, so make sure you call the movie hotline ahead of time. **