Maddie's First Christmas (and sleep training success)

Wednesday, December 26, 12

It is the day after Christmas and we feel so blessed! We had such a wonderful time spending Christmas Eve at my parents’ house and seeing my Aunt Pam, Uncle Bill, Uncle Kenny and my cousins, Brittany and Ashley.  We had good food and great conversation. Maddie had a difficult time, unfortunately. I think she is used to quiet since it isn’t typically very loud when she is home with me, and she just got overwhelmed by the different smells, people, sounds…etc.  A couple of times, I brought her upstairs to change her and it was completely quiet and she took a deep breath and put her head to the side as though she were about to fall asleep.  She was very relaxed by the change in atmosphere.

We put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph

Towards the end of the night, we opened gifts, which was a lot of fun.  Having Maddie makes me feel like a kid on Christmas again! She got spoiled with so many fun toys and cute new outfits.  I am so grateful to everyone. 

Phil and I woke up Christmas morning and made waffles together (delicious!) before Maddie woke up at around 9.  It was hilarious: she looked grumpy on Christmas morning.  This will probably be the first and last Christmas we can enjoy without her jumping out of bed at 5am and waking Mom and Dad up to open presents and it was so funny to think about that and see her expressions as we opened gifts with her. She was genuinely excited about the little tambourine toy that we bought and she seems to like the exersaucer.  Success!

"This is it?"

Phil’s parents stopped by later in the afternoon along with Phil’s brother, Nathan.  We ate turkey and stuffing and just hung around and talked.  We exchanged gifts, too, which overwhelmed me.  Everyone is just so absolutely generous with us and Maddie.  All-in-all, we had a wonderful Christmas filled with so many blessings. 

Maddie and Daddy opening up presents. She loved the tambourine!

Merry Christmas! From Daddy, Maddie and Luka! 

Mmmmm. Delicious paper.  Mommy and Maddie after we opened all the presents.

Another gift we have been given is the gift of rest: Maddie has been sleeping during the day like a champ! Dare I say that the sleep training worked? For the past 3 days, I have been able to rock Maddie for a couple of minutes while I sing “Mary had a little lamb,” and then transfer her into her crib fully awake. I immediately leave the room and she, on her own with no assistance, has been drifting off to sleep after a few minutes.  Sometimes she whimpers a little, sometimes she bables until she wears herself out, but eventually she sleeps.  I am so excited and thrilled that I decided to do the sleep training and stuck with it through all of those VERY difficult days.  Here’s a breakdown of the schedule I followed, which I modified a little bit from various websites that I read:

Always start out rocking in the glider and sing “Mary had a little lamb” – I did this so Maddie would begin to associate that song with going to sleep.

Day 1-3: put Maddie in her crib and sit next to her. Help her fall asleep by touching her, talking to her, shushing her…etc.  If she became inconsolable, I would pick her up and start the process over again. I had to do this every so often, but rarely.

Day 4-7: Put Maddie in her crib while awake and sit next to her. Help her fall asleep by talking and shushing but do not touch her. If she becomes inconsolable, pick her up and start the process over. I think I had to do this 3 times over the course of the three days.

Days 8-9: Put Maddie down in the crib fully awake and move the chair further away from the crib. Help Maddie fall asleep by shushing her and talking to her. No touching.

Days 10-11: Here’s where I modified it a little bit. I put Maddie down in her crib and moved the chair a little further away.  I would shush her if she started to get fussy, but after a while, I decided to let her cry a little.  I timed 3 minutes (which is longer than it sounds!) on my phone and let her cry. Once the three minutes was up, I walked over to her and shushed her and putt he pacifier in her mouth, then sat back down in my chair. She quietly drifted off to sleep on her own.

Days 12-13: I have been putting Maddie down and leaving the room immediately. If she starts crying, I wait three minutes before going into her room. I give her the pacifier, tell her it’s time to go to sleep and then leave again (I’ve only had to go into her room to do this once or twice over the course of the past couple of days).  So far, she has gone o sleep right away!

SUCCESS!! I am so happy that this is working. I feel like I will get a little bit more time back during the day to work on other things rather than trying to rock Maddie to sleep for hours.  YAY!

Maddie loves playing in her exersaucer. She doesn't grab at the toys a lot, yet, but she will soon, I am sure. 

Hanging at Home with the Husteds and an Update on Sleep Training

Friday, December 21, 2012

This morning was really nice! Maddie had a play date with her friend, Rory and I got to hang out with Rory’s mom, Erica, for a little while.  Well the play date consisted of Maddie eating bananas and cereal in her high chair and Rory running around the house pointing out things that needed to be childproofed.  Thanks, Rors! I appreciate your input! Let me know next time you are free and you can come help put up some gates and cabinet locks.  Both girls went down for naps and then Erica and I had a little bit of time to catch up.  It was so great to see her – I’m sad she couldn’t stay around longer.

Maddie and Rory: Friends! 

Maddie was a little beast and didn’t feel like being social today, but at least she was an angel for lunch yesterday.  I went to meet my old co-workers at the Capital Grille for a lunch with our Actuaries (Hewitt) and to reminisce about working together.  The hostess looked taken aback when I walked in with a carrier, but they were really great about letting me change Maddie in the coat room and bringing me whatever I needed to heat up Mad’s bottle.  Maddie let me pass her around to people and was smiling, but mostly she just slept through lunch. First meal outing was a success! 

Sleep training is going really well.  This past week was very hard at times, but I have stuck with the schedule and it seems to be paying off. I have moved my chair a little further from Maddie’s crib, now, and she seems to be taking it well.  Today I rocked her and sang to her until she was drowsy and when I put her down, she drifted off to sleep  twice without any intervention. The third nap required a little shushing, but nothing that took more than 2 minutes.  It was fantastic! I think I am going to move the chair a little closer to the door tomorrow (a day early).  She seems ready.  YAY! My inspiration (Erica) showed me how wonderful it is to be able to put your little one down in her crib and walk straight out of the room.  Nikki in awe. I simply can’t wait until we reach that point. I think we are close!

Falling asleep in her own like a pro! 

Today is the last working day of the year for Phil and I am excited for him to come home so we can really start thinking about Christmas.  We bought a few gifts for Maddie and I am looking forward to her opening them, with some assistance, of course, on Tuesday.  It will be a great photo-op, I am sure.  We never did get out to see Santa this year, but Maddie would probably just screamed through the experience anyway.  Haha. 

Well, to all of you who read my blog: Merry Christmas!!! 

Sleep Training - The No-Cry Method

Saturday, December 15, 2012

For a long time I thought that I wouldn’t need to do sleep training.  I thought that Maddie would eventually regulate herself into her own sleep pattern and I would be able to set her in her crib with no problem, walk out of the room while telling her to take a nap and that would be the end of it.  Well, things have gradually gotten better over the past few months, but I reached a point where I was sick of sitting in the rocking chair for hours and hours everyday waiting for her to drift off to sleep.  Most of the time I would be able to lay her in her crib after she drifted off, but there were plenty of other times when I would spend a half an hour rocking her only for her to wake back up upon hitting the mattress.

So many people recommend the “cry it out” approach, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing it.  My natural instinct is to run to my baby as soon as she makes a peep and I couldn’t imagine letting her lay in her crib crying for any extended period of time. So, I looked into some other methods and found one that I have been trying for the past 3 days.

Day one: This day was really rough.  Basically, they tell you to put the baby down in her crib while drowsy and pull up a chair.  The parent sits next to the baby and verbally and physically tries to comfort the baby through patting, rubbing, hushing, singing…etc. The goal is to avoid picking the baby up out of the crib.  If she becomes inconsolable, though, you pick her up, rock her and calm her down, then start over again.  So, day one was rough.  I literally sat next to Maddie for hours trying to calm her down enough to go to sleep.  My lips were chapped and cracking from all of the shushing and I was warn out. I almost fell asleep at one point while rubbing her chest.  I was so frustrated at the end of the day but not willing to give up. I decided that I was willing to torture myself for 2 weeks if it meant that I would be able to put Maddie down without any assistance thereafter. 

Maddie is growing so quickly all of the sudden!
Here, she is sporting one of her size 3-6 month outfits for the first time
(and her pretty headband!). Oh my goodness, I just love her so much! 

Day two: Much better! I did the same thing as day one and for Maddie’s first nap, she went to sleep without so much as a whimper.  She got a little fussier throughout the day, but I barely had to lift her to calm her at all.  I feel like she’s getting the hang of it.

Day three: That brings us to today. I have put Maddie down twice today and both times  were very successful. I had to do very little touching or hushing. I, for the most part, just sat next to her and put her pacifier back in her mouth when needed.  I am so excited!

So, tomorrow begins the next step. I am not supposed to touch Maddie at all, but only try to soothe her verbally.  I do that for three days, then I am supposed to gradually move the chair further and further from the crib until I am out the door.  After a couple of weeks, I am hoping to be able to set Mads down and walk out of the room completely.  We shall see! So far, so good! 

Oh, and PS: we have decided to try out making our own baby food.
We couldn't believe the difference in color between the fresh peas and the jarred
ones we bought earlier this week.  So far, Maddie is loving bananas, pears and peas.
We are going to add carrot to her diet later this week. 

Solids and Sneezes

Monday, December 11, 2012

Maddie had her first solid foods! We went to the doctor last week and we were told we could start her on rice cereal and then move up to fruit and vegetables over time. Phil and I were so excited for her to try the new foods.  We carefully mixed together the cereal with some milk and Phil slowly lifted the spoon steadily to her mouth.  Just as it was hovering in front of her lips, Phil holding carefully so as not to spill a drop of liquid, Maddie sneezed.  Cereal everywhere.  It was so funny! I told Phil that Maddie just thinks that her dad should always be covered in some sort of liquid.  When Phil cut the umbilical cord, he was squirted in the face with blood, he has been pooped on and peed on (who hasn’t, right?), his shirts have been covered in spit up and now, rice cereal and boogers are officially added to the list.  Classic. 

This is the face: working up to the sneeze.  "Ahhh, ahhhh....choo!"

Second bite went much smoother.

A few days later, we gave her some mashed up bananas.  She had been having some trouble with her tongue thrust reflex with the cereal, but when we gave her the banana, she slurped it up right away.  She really likes them, which is nice to see. Bananas were my favorite food when I was growing up.  She’s getting better and better at eating with the spoon now and tomorrow we are going to give her some carrots that we boiled and mashed up.  We are really excited to see all of her fun faces as she discovers that there’s more to eat than just milk.   

Counting 1-2-3-4 month check-up!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

 Just a quick update: Maddie loves counting.  We have been singing to her recently and she giggles! I mean, she actually laughs. It’s so wonderful. I just love watching her play and talk.  Last week, in the nursing mom’s room at church, Maddie started singing along with the music that came on during worship and the other moms were cracking up.  She’s such a sweetie.

Today Maddie had her 4 month doctor’s checkup and she did great! She was very alert and happy and the doctor said she is perfectly healthy.  She has the ability to roll over, according to the doctor (after seeing her on her tummy), but she just hasn’t really figured out how to do it, yet.  She has only done it once recently, but I am sure she will get the hang of it soon. Mads is 11 lbs 9 oz and in the 5^th percentile for weight.  She’s such a little peanut! We got the go-ahead to start giving Maddie cereal and baby food, so I am excited to try that out soon.  It should be fun! I guess it’s time to assemble the high chair.  She also had her shots at the end of the appointment.  It was so sad.  L She really hates them and looked so confused and miserable afterwards.  Poor baby.  The shots seem to make her sleepy, so she’s been snoozing since we got home.  I’m sure she’ll wake up soon and be ravenous!

We are finishing up our Christmas cards this week and can’t wait to get our first set featuring Madelynn out in the mail! This should be a really fun Holiday Season!