Sleep

As many of you now know, I began sleep training this week. Sunday was such a terrible night, that I realized I needed to do something about it. Up until then, I had approached Scarlett's sleeping habits very passively. In my mind, I had no control over them as far as nighttime went. I was just happy she wasn't nocturnal like many babies I have heard about. One of my nephews was nocturnal for a while. I know it drove my sister to tears on a few occasions. So last Sunday when Scarlett was inconsolable (which she NEVER is) around 12:30 am, I was a wreck. We ended up getting an ok amount of sleep that night, but it didn't seem all that refreshing considering the balled-up cry fest I had had just hours before while Scarlett fussed at my bedside. When Texan got home from work that following day he kissed me and said, "Rough night?" Yeah. So, on my first 3 nights of training I experienced mixed results. The first night, the one following the disaster night, she slept 7 straight hours. It was incredible. But my only goal the next night was to stick to the same bedtime, which had been 10:30. And stick to it we did. It was just a matter of getting used to feeding at different times. Instead of staying up until 11:30 and having our last feeding then, I needed to shift everything by one hour. That worked up until Friday, when we had fondue night at a friend's house. I wracked my brain trying to find a solution to going out but keeping the schedule. The party wasn't to start until 7, and I knew there was no way we would leave it before 9. And I start bath time and quiet time at 8 at home. So when we left the party at 10 o'clock, I didn't know what to expect. Scarlett had sleep/nursed the entire party. (I'm not shy to nurse with a cover, and all of our friends either breastfeed/fed their kids or are planning on doing it. So, I know no one is stifling a gag). Sadly, Scarlett was wide awake until midnight that night. Gag. We got away with only 7 hours of sleep, leaving us both exhausted Saturday. 

Then, Saturday was such a beautiful day, our friends invited is over to cook out hot dogs and play games Saturday night. My first response was a resounding NO. I felt so guilty screwing up the new way of doing bedtime and I didn't want to do it again. But my friend who is a mom herself convinced me and even brought her video baby monitor. Her son is 18 months and sleeps in the spare bedroom where our friends have a crib for their future baby who isn't conceived yet. And after 4 attempts, Scarlett was down (on our friends' bed) at 10 o'clock! And she didn't even wake up when we left their house and got her home in bed at 11. She did wake up to feed at 11:30 for 15 minutes and then went right back to sleep. I was so elated to be able to play a couple rounds of cards hands-free while being able to monitor her sleeping with the nifty camera. She has never slept in a separate room from me. Even when she naps during the day she is in her swing in the living room with me. So, I feel pretty excited to go back to our schedule tonight. And I think we're having another growth spurt, because last night Scarlett slept 3, then 2, then 1.5 hours. It was so exhausting! And it happened about 2 weeks ago, too. I learned that babies go through big growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months. So, I guess we're on track. 

Here's the sleep log I've been keeping. Here's my A-type personality showing up. I know. I update it on my phone every time we wake up.

Sleep training

Monday: 10:30-5:30 (woke up for good at 10am) 10 hrs

Tuesday: 10:30-12:30, 12:45-4:30, 5:30-9 (9hrs)

Wednesday: 9:50-10:30, 11-3:30, 4:30-6:30, 7:30-8:30 9:50(7.5 hrs)

Thursday: 8:30-9 10:20-3:20 3:55-6:30, 7:30-10 (10hrs)

Friday: NO ROUTINE 12-3:30, 4:15-7, 8:30-9:45

Saturday: game night 10-11:30, 11:50-2:50 3:20-6 7:45-9

Sunday: 10:30-

In other news, Scarlett has a play yard that I lay her on each day, and yesterday she looked into the mirror that points down from above for the first time and couldn't look away. (Pictured below) Then today, same thing. It's very exciting to see her recognize something interesting and keep her gaze focused on it. I don't think she realizes how beautiful she is yet, but soon enough. 

Yes, that furry vest is satin-lined and from H&M. And, I adore it on her. 

Speaking of her unparalleled beauty, I love to photograph her. Each morning--who are we kidding? It's more like early afternoon--when I get her dressed, I sit her down in the glider if there's good light coming through the window and I capture her incredible eyes and porcelain skin with my Nikon. I got the camera as a graduation gift and I'm finally using it for its intended purpose. Yes, even 2.5 years ago I knew that camera would be used to take brilliantly clear photos of my offspring. So, thank you to my parents and Texan got going halfsies on it. Photos used in this blog taken with my phone because , well, it's 11:15 and I need to go to bed rather than get out my camera.