Sleep "Learning"

There has been much discord in our house over the fact that I am the only one who can get Clare to sleep and it is not an easy process at that. Brian has been getting frustrated because 1) he wants to be able to do it - so that I can get out of the house and 2) we're hoping to be able to go on a date soon. She sleeps great once she is asleep, but it takes bath, books, rocking, singing, nursing up to 3 times - basically if I think it might work I do it. So tonight it began (or stopped?) ...I've been reading Healthy Sleep Habits...which I didn't get. I know everyone raves about it, but I just didn't like it because I needed to be told exactly how to handle this whole going to bed thing. I checked out a book called The Sleepeasy Solution from the library. One thing I especially like is that they call it sleep learning instead of training. WOW - this is what I needed. It gave me a plan and while I am not an advocate of crying - it gave great explanations for why I was doing what I was doing which I was able to read between checking on her. It took 1 hour and 18 minutes of going in at specific intervals, but she's asleep. I feel good about the fact that she did it on her own - just wish me luck tomorrow night!

Voyeur Parents

Last night Clare went to bed with little effort. She had a few good naps, which if you read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" you know means she should sleep well since "Sleep begets sleep". Anyway, she went down about 9 PM and we heard her wake up and talk to herself for a few minutes around 10 PM. Brian and I held our breaths because that usually means one of us is going to get her to try to settle her back down. Well - to our amazement, she fell back to sleep on her own. Usually, she wakes up around 3 AM to eat. At about 4 AM, I woke up to her talking again. The monitor on our nightstand is both sound and video, but it may be used without the video. I turned the video on to see her smiling and kicking her feet. I woke Brian up after a few minutes and we watched her play for a good 10 minutes. It was the cutest thing ever. She was having a ball. She kept looking at the camera and smiling! Brian pointed out that the camera has a light on it which must be why she was looking at it.

Wahoowa!

Daddy went to Charlottesville yesterday for the UVA vs. ECU football game. He left at 5:30 AM. He was expecting to be disappointed, however, the Hoos pulled it out. Clare and I spent the day running errands and caught a few minutes of the game - I had turned the XM radio on in the car and heard the score at halftime, so I thought it might be good to watch on TV. We emailed this picture to Brian so he could see it on his Blackberry, but... his email system sends my messages to a separate folder that he can't view on it. He didn't see it until he came home last night.

Closing in on 5 months old!

This picture was taken on Ana Clare's four month bday. Of course, now she is nearly five months old. Time is flying by. She had her checkup a few weeks ago and is in the 95th percentile for weight - 16 lbs. 2 oz. and 75th percentile for height at 25 inches. I'm certain that she's closer to 17 lbs. now. I've had several people tell me their children weighed that much at a year old. So, yes, Ana Clare is a chub! We're on a 3 hour eating schedule and doing a pretty good job of sticking to it. She had been eating as often as three times between 7 AM and noon, so the pediatrician put a stop to that. I think it was more for me than baby!

We're working on a sleep schedule which has not been quite as successful. At this point, I'm the only one that can get Clare to sleep - she has become quite the Mommy's girl. What this means is I have to be around for bedtime - no babysitters and I have to be home to help Brian if I go out.

She is adorable. She's grabbing everything within reach, rolling over in both directions, laughing, making MMM sounds which is so cute - she has so much to say.