Jinxed It

Apparently, my last post "jinxed" it all for me. This week, Lilah has not slept more than 4 hours at a time, and has spent most of her broken up sleep in my bed instead of in her crib. I am tired and cranky.

On the upside, Shimmy has been home a lot more lately. He has worked from home 2 days and gone in 2 days. Tomorrow is Friday, so he'll be home again. Parenting is so much easier with 2 parents. I have a pretty good handle on this 2 kid thing- much more so than I thought I would have, but it is still nice to have someone to share the load with!

I'm not sure what we're all going to do today. Sophie is home since it's Thursday. It looks like it's going to rain again. I would love to stay home in our pj's all day. We'll see how stir crazy Sophie gets. We could go to the grocery store. We do need some things, but nothing we can't live without for a while. And taking both kids to the grocery store is kind of an ordeal. I have enough projects to keep me busy around here, but Sophie needs constant stimulation.

I guess I'm done rambling.

HOW DO YOU DO IT???

This post is dedicated to Sarah, and everyone else who wants to know how I got Lilah to sleep through the night by the time she was 2 months. Here's the thing- it's mostly luck. I've read that babies' little tummies can stay full enough to keep them sleeping through the night (which is defined at 6+ hours, BTW) once they weigh 11 pounds. I have found this to be true for my kids. Sophie did not weigh 11 pounds until she was closer to 3 months, and that's when she started sleeping 8 hours straight. Lilah was 11 pounds shortly before she turned 2 months, and that's when she started sleeping 7 hours straight. So it's partly just a waiting game. Sophie's last feeding was formula, so I thought that had something to do with it. However, Lilah is exclusively breast fed, so there goes that theory. The only thing I CAN pass along is routine routine routine. Sophie was horrible with eating and sleeping so I just had to force her into a routine. Once I did, she slept better for longer and was a much happier baby. Lilah pretty much put herself on a schedule, but once I picked up on what she was doing when, I started helping her maintain her schedule. I started putting her down roughly the same time every night to send her the message of bedtime. Then she just kept increasing the amount of hours between bedtime and next feeding. Another thing I have read (and found to be true) is that babies who sleep more during the day actually sleep better at night. So a baby who does not nap well during the day will likely not sleep well at night. If the baby is at least 3 months old, I recommend doing some sleep training to help them learn to nap during the day. This made all the difference in the world with Sophie. Once I helped her learn how to nap during the day, she was a totally different baby. And how did I do THAT? I was dead set against letting her cry it out. At all. If she peeped, I picked her up. Rookie mistake. I was not doing her any favors by letting her stay awake. She was so overtired that she was miserable. One day it dawned on me that she was crying because she was TIRED. I decided to take care of all of her needs- eating, changing, cuddling before putting her down. That way I would know that she was not crying for any of those reasons. Then I let her cry. I would not let her cry for longer than 20 minutes, but it rarely took her that long to fall asleep. And each day it took less and less time until she stopped crying at all. I think first time parents make the same mistakes I did- not remembering that one of the reasons babies cry is from being tired, and thinking that letting them cry at all is tantamount to torturing them. Not so. Robbing them of sleep and of the necessary skill of putting themselves to sleep is much worse than letting them cry for a few minutes. One more thing comes to mind when helping babies learn to sleep longer. I do not get my kids at the first peep. I hear them and I roll right back over. If they continue crying or start crying louder a couple minutes later, THEN I get them. But I often find that the next time I open my eyes another couple of hours have passed. Sometimes babies stir and cry out in their sleep, but they aren't ready to wake up yet. So don't hurry to wake them up!

That's all I got. For now.

2 month update

I'm sitting here watching the girls play on Lilah's activity mat together. I love watching them interact :) I love that they are close sisters and friends and I hope it will always be that way. Tomorrow Lilah will be two months old. It's hard to remember what life was like before she joined our family. I'm so glad she did!

Lilah has her doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll have to update with her stats, but here are my own observations:
-She has been sleeping through the night for almost a week, last night sleeping for a consecutive *9* hours. Woohoo!
-She is already in size 3-6 month clothes. Her little legs could not extend all the way in the 0-3 month clothes with footies, so I'm going to pack them away. Packing away baby clothes always makes me a little sad. I always wonder if I'll get to use them again.
-She smiles! Regularly! Without impending gas! It is sooo precious!

And what about Miss Sophie?
-No more head to toe blue clothes THANK GOD. She is now favoring her "red dress," which is actually pink.
-She is obsessed with the show Caillou, which I hate hate hate. Hopefully it is just another phase and this too shall pass.
-She is really impressing me with her knowledge of songs. I have caught her singing HaTikvah several times, and she knows almost all of the words (which is more than I can say for many adults that I know).
-She is at the verrrrrrrry early stages of potty training. She'll sit on the potty, but hasn't done anything yet. I'm taking a very laid back approach to potty training. My psychology and social work degrees won't let me feel otherwise. It's not worth messing with someone's psyche for the rest of their lives over. She'll get it when she gets it.

This past weekend we had Lilah's kiddush. It was nice. We really enjoyed the company of the friends and family who stayed with us. Lilah wore the same dress that Sophie wore to her kiddush, which was a handmade lace dress that we bought in Venice way before we ever had kids. I had hoped one day I would have a daughter who would wear it. I have been lucky enough to have two daughters to wear it! I redressed the girls in their dresses on Sunday and took some pictures:

Snack and Chat

A conversation whilst Sophie eats animal crackers:

Sophie: A teddy bear!... Another teddy bear!
Me: That's right. And what animal is on Lilah's outfit?
Sophie (without looking): A horsey!
Me: No.
Sophie: A kitty cat!
Me: No...
Sophie: A doggy!
Me: No! It has big flappy ears and a long trunk. What animal has flappy ears and a trunk?
Sophie pauses and then smiles knowingly: A zebra!

Sigh.

Tickers are fun!

So fun, in fact, that I've added another. I finished planning our vacation this week! It is going to be the perfect vaca. At least, perfect for our family. Once upon a time we planned vacations to London, Paris, and all over Italy. But that's hard to do with a two and a half year old and a five month old. So... I rented us a beach house in Charleston for a week. That way we get to visit all of my family, which I would have had to do anyways probably in the form of flying down by myself with both kids and staying with my aunt. This way we get to be in Charleston, but still have a "vacation." I rented a house that is right across the street from the beach and has its own pool! It has no internet so Shimmy cannot work! HA! Don't worry, I didn't trick him, I actually told him "the house does not have internet, so I guess it's a no go." And HE said, "good, that will force me to actually relax." WOOHOO. I cannot wait to relax!

Speaking of tickers, notice the weight loss ticker- another 2 lbs lost this week! Now that I've been given the clear from my doctor, I'm back to exercising and loving it!

I want to write about a lot of other things, but I retrieved this post from my draft box as it is. I think I started it about a decade ago (or last Sunday- it's now actually Friday).

Question

Here's a very serious question for you fellow bloggers:
How do you draw on real life experience for inspiration as a writer/blogger without offending people in your real life?
I have a feeling the answer is: "You don't. You take the high road and get over pet peeve type things and just stick to writing about yourself and your defenseless children."
Hmph.
Can't wait to read the comments.

A Late Night Feedings Digital Short