Maya's 5W Rules for Sleeping

Hey! My name is Maya.

Nice to meet you!

I'm a big 2-month-old now, so I'd like to share with you a couple rules I have about sleeping.  Sleep is pretty awesome, but I'm pretty particular about the who, what, when, where, and why (the 5Ws as my Mom calls them) as it relates to MY sleeping, as well as other members of my household's sleeping.

Let me break it down for you.

WHO:
When it comes to naps, it is important not to select WHAT you will be sleeping on (crib, bouncy chair, etc.) but WHO to sleep on.  Napping MUST be done on a WHO.  And  do not accept when the WHO tries to put you down on a WHAT when she thinks you are totally out.  Wake up and complain. Immediately.  As for which WHO to select? The obvious choice is Mommy, since she is a total sucker around the most, but Daddy comes in a close second.

Mom and Dad...AKA My human mattresses

But really anyone will do.

What can I say?  I love sleeping on family.

WHAT: 
When it comes to sleeping, WHAT you look like is important.  Because if you're going to be spending so much time on with your WHOs, you need to look adorable.  So every once in awhile, let them put you down AND STAY SLEEPING so they can take precious pictures of you and remember (in their usual sleep-deprived state) that you are awesome AND capable of sleeping on your own.  I recommend something like this or this:

See what I did there?  Angelic.

WHEN: 
This is important.  I recommend doing most of your good sleeping during the day.  That way, when you wake up at 2am to eat, you are well rested and don't need to fall asleep for 30-90 minutes after eating.  Sometimes you can make it 3 hours and really give your parents a treat. 

They know that it is going to be an interesting night when it is after 10pm and you look like this:

You weren't wanting to go to sleep, were you Mom?

WHERE:
Really, the where should be anywhere BUT your bassinet.  I mean, you have to sleep there at night, right?  So for our other sleeps it is much better to sleep on someone (as I established during the WHO section).  But, when that is not possible (or your WHO tricks you into sleeping deeply enough), there are a few other acceptable places for sleep: the pink buzzy chair, the car seat, Mom and Dad's bed, and the baby carrier. 

If I'm jiggled, rocked, or driven, I'll probably fall asleep.
Unless there are stoplights, then I'll just get mad.

WHY:
Why sleep? My mom and dad would probably say so that THEY can sleep.  But I know sleep is important so I can grow big and strong. My weigh=in at the doctor proved I'm doing my job there.  I also know that when I get enough sleep I am much happier.  And then I make cute happy faces like this:

It doesn't matter how tired you are, you can't resist this face!

So there you have it- my sleeping 5Ws.  I hope I have been helpful to all you babies out there.

Now go get some sleep.

Weekend Wrap-Up

You know how sometimes you just want the weekend to end?  No, that doesn't happen to you?  Well, if you are parents of small children you may know what I'm talking about.  All the unstructured-ness of the weekend can sometimes be KILLER.

First off, we found out that the "Nap Nanny" we were using for Maya to sleep on was recalled (thanks for the tip, Casey!), so we took that out of her bassinet.  The Nap Nanny was an inclined mattress, and obviously the bassinet is totally flat.  So the transition has not gone very smoothly and we have not gotten much sleep the past two nights.  Because of that we have all been cranky this weekend: baby, parents, preschooler, dog.  Everybody.  And, oh yeah, preschooler has another cold.  So that's fun.

Anyway, we spent a lot of time at the condo this weekend. Their kitchen remodel finished this week so we went over there yesterday to help put it back together since my mom is on crutches with a stress fracture.

Notice the stray fridge in the corner

Even on crutches, she doles out kisses

Dot painting with Boom

Building with Yoda

Bops and Daddy rolling the fridge downtown to Bops' office (about a mile away)

Exercises with Boom


We spent the rest of the night at home surviving until bedtime. :)

Ikea play mat

Nap with Daddy

She should be sleeping

Today I hung out with Maya while Chris and Cal went to Sunday School.  Then I took Cal for a picnic lunch at the park, just the two of us.

This afternoon it was back to the condo to watch the Lynx game.  They won so they'll be playing in the finals!!

Well I have once again blogged one-handed since a certain baby won't let me put her down.  Hopefully we all get more sleep tonight...or no one is gonna want to mess with us this week. :)

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday everybody!

I currently have a half-asleep baby on me.  Her preferred sleeping position is still on her side on people. But thankfully she is sleeping better at night in the bassinet- when she is swaddled.  And, let's be honest, I love the cuddles during the day and evening. So here I type, one-handed once again.

I decided to break down my favorite things by day.

Monday:
*Maya is 2-months-old
*A beautiful day for a walk
*Cuddle time with G-ma and G-pa

Tuesday:
*Sister time at home
*Dinner out with Auntie Mari

Wednesday:
*Jogging stroller run
*Exploring the neighborhood: pumpkins, park, and fro-yo
*Sweet baby smiles (even when she is supposed to be sleeping)
 

Thursday:
*Coffee shop, library story time, and a walk with the girls
*Lynx game with no kids (they won!)
*Kids sleeping well for G-ma and G-pa when babysitting

Friday:
*Scoring some good deals at a kids sale
*Lunch with Bops and Auntie Yoda
*Callie's afternoon at G-ma's
*Maya meeting Libby

Have a great weekend!

Throwback Thursday

THROWBACK TIME!!!  This is quickly becoming my favorite of the weekly posts, as I love looking back at old pictures of Callie and comparing them to current real life Maya.  I have heard from others that they like the Throwbacks too...so it will be fun to keep them going as Maya gets bigger.

I'll start the throwback off this week with some 2-month stats.

Callie at 2 months
Weight: 12 pounds 2 ounces (90%ile)
Length: 23 1/4 inches (90%ile)
Head: 98%ile

Maya at 2 months
Weight: 13 pounds 4 ounces (95%ile)
Length: 23 1/3 inches (86%ile)
Head: 95%ile

Miss Maya is definitely a chunky monkey and a WHOLE POUND bigger at 2 months than Callie was.  I guess the fact that she is still a solid every 2-3 hour eater is helping her stats out big time.

On to the Throwback pictures...

Boppy smiles
Two month old babies are adorable when they grin

Car seat sleepers: Bundled up vs. Breezy
This illustrates a major difference between winter and summer babies!

2-Months-Old!

Miss Maya is 2 months old today and that is pretty darn crazy.

She had her 2-month well child check today and we learned (what we already suspected) that she's a CHUNKY MONKEY!  She weighs 13 pounds 4 ounces (95th percentile), she is 23.3 inches long (86th percentile), and has joined her sister in the big head ranks with a 95th percentile head (though the nurse today seemed pretty new, so she may not have measured totally accurately...).

She got some shots which was pretty traumatic, obviously, and spent the hours after either sleeping...

...or doing some major screaming.  But I found that our new Moby wrap was just the ticket to calm her down...

So I wore her for most of the rest of the day.  Then we went to get some G-ma and G-pa love.

She finally showed her cute smiley face with Daddy just a little bit ago.

At two months, she:
*is sort of getting a schedule down (morning nap, afternoon nap, evening nap, etc.)
*is smiling and cooing a lot more
*is screaming less (except for today, of course)
*is pooping more (hooray!)
*is still hit or miss with night time sleeping (most nights I get a good 4-5 hour stretch, but then she is usually up every 2-3 hours after that)
*loves watching her sister and is very tolerant when her sister is in her face
*loves staring at things with contrasting colors
*doesn't love being on her back very much
*is totally adorable in every way, of course!

Weekend Wrap-Up: The 45-Months-Old Edition

CJ is 45-months-old.  We are approaching 4 pretty rapidly.  That is crazy.

I'm watching the Emmy's at the moment so I'm going to jump right into the weekend. :)

Saturday

We went to an awesome parade as part of Heritage days.  There was a lot of local businesses and schools represented, and more importantly, LOTS of candy thrown out!

Later in the day Chris had reserve duty, so I took the girls to a park.

The rest of the day we just hung out at home...and got a visit from Boom and Bops.

Sunday
Today we had church and Sunday school (Maya slept through the WHOLE service), watched football with the Helds and Uncle Dan, and visited the park again.

Have a great week!

2, Part Deux

Back in March I wrote a post called 2. In it I expressed my fears and excitement about baby #2 and all the changes she would bring.

Now that we're on the other side, I thought I'd address what I wrote and also include all my favorite pictures of our 2.

Back in March I wrote:

First off, I feel ridiculous even having this much anxiety.  I'm obviously SO thankful that we are having another child.  SO SO SO SO SO THANKFUL.  And then I think about Chris' parents who went from a family of 3 to a family of 5 with the arrival of the twin boys...and I also think about Chris' cousin Simone and her husband Tyler who went from a family of 3 to a family of 6 with the arrival of their triplet boys...and I think to myself, Get over it, self, you'll be fine.  But no matter if you're going from 3 to 4 or 3 to 6, the fear of the unknown is going to be there.  And I'm living in that fear right now.

The unknown is here, and self, you ARE totally fine.  Better than fine, you are great.  Just a wee bit tired.

We're sitting pretty here in the land of 1 child.  We're dealing with the mood swings and ups and downs that toddler hood brings but we're able to play a little zone defense because there are two adults.  Two of us can sometimes barely handle our 1.  This summer we're going to be moving into the land where we'll have to play man-to-man.  My coveted "me" time will be drastically reduced, our lovely uninterrupted sleeps will be done for, and...well...there is always the scary thought of dealing with diaper blowouts again.

Well, at this point I'd welcome some diaper blowouts, but we did have 3 poops this week so we're on a roll.  As for man-to-man defense...we're doing pretty good.  And during the week it is 2-on-1 and I'm totally surviving.  Most days.  As for my "me" time?  A lot of it is spent with a baby sleeping on my chest.  Like right now. I'm typing this post one-handed. Are you impressed?

And as for sleeping...let's just say it is getting better. 

Most of our friends that have kids already have more than one.  We have had the benefit of seeing a number of families transition from 3 to 4 fairly close up.  We're obviously not there for the middle of the night shenanigans and the lack of sleep and then ins and outs of having 2. But what we don't see, our friends have been pretty good about being honest and telling us about.  It is a wee bit scary to hear their stories sometimes.

Now we are living the ins and outs and shenanigans and it is amazing how you just deal with and power through the tough times and live for and soak up the great times.

If you know us well, you know that Chris and I are HARDCORE about sleep schedules.  We don't venture out between 1:00 and 3:00 because we would rather lose a limb than miss out on nap time.  And if there is an evening event scheduled that will go past 8:00, well, you'll only see one of us there.  Because there is no way in heck we're messing with bed time.  

We still don't mess with bed time, especially now when nap time is hit or miss.  But to be honest, it is a little freeing to not worry about getting home by 1:00.  And Maya sleeps better out and about in noisy places than she does in the quiet of home, so we are pretty flexible now. During the day.  Bedtime is 7:00 now.  Sorry social life.  We'll catch you again in about 10 years.

 
THE MOM GUILT.  I'm terrified of the guilt I'm going to feel when I can't help Callie when she needs it or I can't give her the attention she wants like she is used to getting.  While I know that she needs her world to be rocked a little bit (can you say DIVA?), I worry about how our relationship will change as I open my heart to this other little diva.

The guilt isn't really there.  I do feel bad sometimes when she asks me to do something and I can't because I'm dealing with the baby.  She has had her moments and we have had our struggles, but her world was definitely rocked for the better.  She knows I'm still her mom and that will never ever change.  My heart is big enough for both little divas.

Whenever I'm home with Callie and want to go do something, we do.  She is easily portable and generally behaves in public.  I'm scared of losing the ease of travel.  How in the world do you wrangle a toddler into the car while holding a baby carrier?

Done and done.  No biggie.  We get out, no problem.  Babies can't move from baby carriers, so you can set them down to wrangle the other one in the car.  It will be more tricky when they are both in regular car seats.  But I won't let my brain go there yet...let's just get through this baby stage first.

But with all the anxiety and questions and lack of confidence in my abilities to multi-task, I am SO. FREAKING. EXCITED. for Hamsie to join our world and make our 3 into a 4.  To make me a mom of 2 instead of 1.  And to make Callie a big sister.  I can not WAIT for Callie to be a big sister.  She is going to be amazing.  And I can't wait to watch their sister bond form and grow and flourish.  I can't wait for Callie to help with diaper changes and feedings and play time.  I can't wait for her to introduce her to all things princesses and pink and purple.  I can't wait to see how they are similar.  I can't wait to see how they are different.  I can't wait to compare their pictures at every age (prepare to see A LOT of side-by-side shots on this blog once #2 comes!).  I can't wait to watch Chris fall in love with yet another little girl.  I can't wait to pick out her name (haven't really thought about it much yet, in case you were wondering).  I can't wait for our families to see us go from 3 to 4, and to support us in the same amazing way they do now.  I just can't wait.

 

As you can see, the love our big girl has for our little girl is steadfast and true.  It is by far the best thing about our 2.  Callie can get Maya to smile more than anyone.  Maya can get Callie excited about everything she does ("Mom, she's AWAKE!!!", "Mom, her EYES ARE OPEN!", "Mom, she's SMILING!", "Mom, she bonked me IN THE FACE!" "Mom, can I read her BUTTON NOSE?").



Sisters reading from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

As for the side-by-sides, hello Throwback Thursdays!

So despite the lack of sleep, lack of "me" time, and some preschooler shenanigans, we are here in the land of 2 and LOVING it. 

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday everybody!

We had a busy week...so here are the pictures in no particular order...(and a lot of Maya, but Callie has been on her own on this blog for over three and a half years now so I don't really feel bad)...

Favorite Thing #1: Early in the week activities:
A walk and lunch with Boom,
A walk with a baby in a hat, dinner with friends, and a trip to the library.

Favorite Thing #2: Hanging out with this girl while her big sister is
at preschool



Favorite Thing #3: When the two sisters hang out together

Favorite Thing #4: It is EXHAUSTING being 8 weeks old!

Favorite Thing #5: Playdate with the Kuhlmans
Calvin and Callie- 3.5 yrs
Sylvie- 10 weeks, Maya- 8 weeks

Favorite Thing #6: Sleepy baby

Favorite Thing #7: This girl ROCKED her early childhood screening!

Favorite Thing #8: Mid/end week activities:
Going to Southdale, finding a turtle on a walk, playing at G-ma's house

Favorite Thing #9: SWADDLE!
We tried swaddling again (after I read "The Happiest Baby on the Block") and
the past two nights I have gotten 5-6 hour stretches of solid sleep!
*knock on wood*

Favorite Thing #10: She's getting a little mobile.  Tummy time ended in her
scooting OVER the boppy.

Favorite Thing #11: Mommy/Callie swimming class!
She's by far the biggest and oldest kid in the parent/child class, but
we had fun.  She is slowly and surely getting braver in the water.

Have a great weekend!