This past Saturday was a great weather day here. We took advantage of it to get Mia outside for a nice long stretch. We walked around the park (Mia slept through that, Piper nearly passed out...she's a little out of shape these days) and had our first family cookout of the year on the deck. The ladies even made smores... although I think they were underwhelming on the gas grill. Mia was a little fussy through parts of the weekend (more on that below), but it was a nice weekend nonetheless.
A quick update on "the routine"... It's been close to two weeks now of the nightly routine, and it is still working just as well as it was at the beginning. The start time has moved up as we have experimented with timing her last meal before bed, and she falls asleep so quickly after eating that I never get around to turning on the music. Besides those tweaks, the rest has remained the same. It worked so well that we've tried instituting something similar for daytime naps, but with far less success. Mia's daytime napping patterns are all over the place right now. There are days when she won't nap at all unless you hold her the whole time, and there have been days when she has slept in her pack and play for an hour by herself. I think we still have some work to do on this front, but hopefully we'll make some progress. One thing that seems to work without fail is riding in the car or her stroller, but that doesn't seem very practical as a nap routine (don't get me wrong, we'll still keep those in our back pocket for the rough patches)
One of the best developments in the past few weeks has been her increased smiling, and even the occasional laugh...at least it sounds like a little laugh. When she smiles, her whole face lights up and it just feels amazing to see. It's one of those things that momentarily makes you forget about every stress that you may have amd simply revel in her happiness. I hope for many moments like that.
It's a short post tonight, sorry about that... but look for more pictures later tonight on flickr, there are some really good ones.
One more thing, for those that don't know, Monday is Ashlei's birthday, so if you see her or talk her please wish her a great one...she deserves it.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Routine
Before I get into the real topic of today's post, a quick health update. Mia was diagnosed with two hemangioma's yesterday by a pediatric dermatologist. Hemangiomas are basically clusters of blood vessels gone amock. The clusters grow for some unspecified amount of time, and then over another unspecified amount of time they receed. In Mia's case they are both under the skin, with one on her nose, and one on her eyelid. At this point, the Dr. says it is too early to know just long long they will grow, or how long they will take to receed, or if any intervention will be necessary. So, we wait, keep an eye on it, and go in every few weeks for a checkup.
And now, for tonights regularly scheduled programming...
We have officially entered the phase of child rearing where we attempt to institute some sort of routine. Our routine is currently focused around bedtime, consistently winding down the night the same way every night, and it goes a little something like this:
prior to 8:15 - Ashlei and I do our best to try and eat dinner together, this usually works for at least part of dinner. At some point Mia will eat and take a short nap (this nap is very hit or miss)
8:15 (go time) - It's bath time. Ashlei gets the baby bath tub ready with some warm water, while I try and find some soothing music on the XM channels on Direct TV, and get Mia undressed. Once the water is ready, Ashlei gives Mia her bath, followed by a transfer from bath to towel in a carefully choreographed handoff that minimizes any "open air" exposure (and thus crying). Once dried off, she gets some lotion and is dressed for bed. Finding decent music on the XM channels that is agreeable to all three of us is almost the biggest challenge of all... this evening we relaxed to Holiday (Green Day), Mr. Jones (Counting Crows), and Waiting on the World to Change (John Mayer).
8:30 - the pre bed meal. This has thus far been relatively uneventful, Mia sits with Ashlei and has what is usually the last meal of the night.
9:00ish - the cool down. The goal of this part of the evening is to basically get Mia to sleep. The past three nights this has consisted of me walking in a circle around the island in the kitchen at a very specific space while bouncing Mia in my arms and singing along to Billy Joel in my Ipod. This is probably my favorite part of my day, as Mia stares directly at me the entire time I'm singing to her, and then doses off to sleep. Thankfully, I love Billy Joel and Mia apparently is relaxed by me singing his songs (and those of you have heard me sing can attest to just how impossible that is to believe). It only takes a song or two and she is out cold.
9:15ish - the final transfer. Mia is put to bed... not in her crib, mind you, but in her car seat.
For the past two nights, following this routine, Mia has slept until 6:30. Yep, 6:30. I have no idea if that will last, but we'll take it while we can get it.
And now, for tonights regularly scheduled programming...
We have officially entered the phase of child rearing where we attempt to institute some sort of routine. Our routine is currently focused around bedtime, consistently winding down the night the same way every night, and it goes a little something like this:
prior to 8:15 - Ashlei and I do our best to try and eat dinner together, this usually works for at least part of dinner. At some point Mia will eat and take a short nap (this nap is very hit or miss)
8:15 (go time) - It's bath time. Ashlei gets the baby bath tub ready with some warm water, while I try and find some soothing music on the XM channels on Direct TV, and get Mia undressed. Once the water is ready, Ashlei gives Mia her bath, followed by a transfer from bath to towel in a carefully choreographed handoff that minimizes any "open air" exposure (and thus crying). Once dried off, she gets some lotion and is dressed for bed. Finding decent music on the XM channels that is agreeable to all three of us is almost the biggest challenge of all... this evening we relaxed to Holiday (Green Day), Mr. Jones (Counting Crows), and Waiting on the World to Change (John Mayer).
8:30 - the pre bed meal. This has thus far been relatively uneventful, Mia sits with Ashlei and has what is usually the last meal of the night.
9:00ish - the cool down. The goal of this part of the evening is to basically get Mia to sleep. The past three nights this has consisted of me walking in a circle around the island in the kitchen at a very specific space while bouncing Mia in my arms and singing along to Billy Joel in my Ipod. This is probably my favorite part of my day, as Mia stares directly at me the entire time I'm singing to her, and then doses off to sleep. Thankfully, I love Billy Joel and Mia apparently is relaxed by me singing his songs (and those of you have heard me sing can attest to just how impossible that is to believe). It only takes a song or two and she is out cold.
9:15ish - the final transfer. Mia is put to bed... not in her crib, mind you, but in her car seat.
For the past two nights, following this routine, Mia has slept until 6:30. Yep, 6:30. I have no idea if that will last, but we'll take it while we can get it.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Moving right along
It's been a while since my last post, so I apologize to all of you that are waiting patiently for the latest and greatest. Over the past week and a half we have revised our thinking on the acid reflux vs. colic debate. Although the acid reflux medicine seemed to help a little bit early on, it never really got rid of the problem, and nothing really changed either way when we stopped giving it to Mia. Combined with the lack of any other reflux symptoms, I doubt she ever had reflux, so we are now just going with colic. Based on the various colic anecdotes I've heard from friends that went through that with their kids, I would classify Mia's as mild... so we are thankful for that (and sorry for those that had to endure severe cases).
Ashlei did some reading on colic and found some things that seem to be working well, although none work every time. For a few days, wrapping her up tight in a swaddle, leaning her all of the way back in her swing and turning it on full speed calmed her right down and put her to sleep for a while. For the past two days keeping her in a sling seems to be doing the trick for Ashlei, and when I have her she just wants to me to be walking around. It's pretty comical actually, I can walk in circles for 20 minutes and have her completely asleep in my arms, but the second I sit down, she wakes up and starts chirping... if only we could harness that power for good.
I've heard two good baby crying quotes (paraphrased due to my lack of any decent memory for quotes)...
From Lisa, "colic is just the doctors way of telling you they have no idea why your baby is crying".
And from Erin, "Baby's cry for 4 reasons, they're either wet, hungry, tired, or there is no reason".
The oddest part of it all is that Mia is really good at night now. She goes to sleep almost every night around 9 or 9:30 and sleeps for 5 hours, wakes up to eat and sleeps a few more hours... all without much fuss. Ahslei and I will credit that to our Ninja like parenting skills... ninja because they apparently only work at night.
There are 3 new pictures up on flickr too, so check them out... she's already growing fast.
Ashlei did some reading on colic and found some things that seem to be working well, although none work every time. For a few days, wrapping her up tight in a swaddle, leaning her all of the way back in her swing and turning it on full speed calmed her right down and put her to sleep for a while. For the past two days keeping her in a sling seems to be doing the trick for Ashlei, and when I have her she just wants to me to be walking around. It's pretty comical actually, I can walk in circles for 20 minutes and have her completely asleep in my arms, but the second I sit down, she wakes up and starts chirping... if only we could harness that power for good.
I've heard two good baby crying quotes (paraphrased due to my lack of any decent memory for quotes)...
From Lisa, "colic is just the doctors way of telling you they have no idea why your baby is crying".
And from Erin, "Baby's cry for 4 reasons, they're either wet, hungry, tired, or there is no reason".
The oddest part of it all is that Mia is really good at night now. She goes to sleep almost every night around 9 or 9:30 and sleeps for 5 hours, wakes up to eat and sleeps a few more hours... all without much fuss. Ahslei and I will credit that to our Ninja like parenting skills... ninja because they apparently only work at night.
There are 3 new pictures up on flickr too, so check them out... she's already growing fast.
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