Day 6: Gain an Hour My Ass

Oh, Daylight Savings Time.

You are the bane of my existence

Even though you only show up twice a year – once in our favor, and once very much against us – you are THE WORST.

Besides the fact that I will be finding clocks for the next 4 months that are an hour off, you mess up sleep.

Parents across the country are lamenting on Facebook how their children aren’t sleeping. How they're up at ungodly hours in the morning, and screaming at bedtime. 

In my house, it's a completely different story.

The only person affected by Daylight Savings Time is ME.

That’s right, I was up at 5:30am (really 6:30am) today.

Even my child slept until 7:30am!

Your only saving grace is that it’s not pitch dark out when I wake up. However, you even ruin that little perk by making it dark at 4pm.

Daylight Savings Time, you’re on notice.

Day 21: Operation Woombie

For those of you playing along at home, this is the 21st day in a row that I've posted. That's every single day this November without missing ONE DAY.

Just sayin'.

So.

The last few nights over at 1821 we've been working on our sleeping. And let me tell you, Max has been a star pupil. For the last week or so, he's been only waking up once during the night to eat. This is fabulous for Mommy's sleep schedule.

To help foster even better sleep, we decided to swaddle Mr. Max. I had written a few weeks ago about Max breaking free from every swaddle out there. Based on your suggestions, I purchased the Woombie (thanks, Kelly!).

I was a little skeptical; Max wrangles that one arm out of everything. But we were willing to try.

Let me set the scene:

Two nights ago.
Bedtime.
Max v. Woombie

the Woombie…waiting for Max

Some family members have threatened to call child services, but I SWEAR 

it's supposed to be this tight. It was created by a nurse, for god's sake.

Look how peaceful he is at 7am, after only ONE wake up during the night.

We are trying to instill on Max the age-old wisdom:

Rested Mommy = Happy Baby.

And…the operation was a success!

We've had two fantastic nights' sleep in a row.

(Did you hear that sound? It's the sound of me jinxing my good luck with Max sleeping)

Max also had his first nap in his big boy crib.

He'll still sleep next to us at night, but he got to enjoy his room during nap time.

This is one Mommy who needs her sleep.

And with the way Max is gaining weight, it might be time to get the Woombie in the next size up!

Day 8: Happiest Baby on the Block: OUR way.

It wasn't until we were having a baby that we heard about the "Happiest Baby on the Block" phenomenon.

If you haven't heard of it, a professor of pediatrics named Harvey Karp developed what he calls "The 5 S's" which help your baby sleep well and be happier and more adjusted than other babies in the neighborhood.

While we were in Georgia – babyless in our room when Max was in the NICU – we watched the 'Happiest Baby' video. I have to say, it was impressive. Screaming, crying babies were immediately silenced once Karp got his hands on them. Your could physically SEE when the baby was silenced into perfect babydom.

Harvey Karp's 5 S's are meant to mimic what it's like inside the womb, and they are:
1. Swaddle (wrapping the baby tightly in a blanket)
2. Side position (rolling the baby on its side on your lap or in your arms)
3. Shush (SHHH-ing your baby loudly in its ears)
4. Swing (jiggling or gently shaking your baby)
5. Suck (satisfying the sucking instinct with a pacifier)

They are good IN THEORY. And believe me, we've tried them.

But they don't work for us.

Max has what I'll call his 'witching hours', and they are between 9pm and midnight. He's just…awake. Sometimes fussy. Sometimes crying. Sometimes just staring at us expecting entertainment.

So we're sorry, Dr. Karp, but your 5 s's aren't working for us.

So I've created our own steps for getting our baby to quiet down and sleep late at night or after nighttime feedings.

"KK's 5 S's" 

1. Straight jacket. With Max, we need something stronger than the swaddle. I'm sure it works for many babies; however, we have "Little Houdini" at home, who can get out of a swaddle like it's NOBODY'S business. No sooner do we wrap him tightly that we see one of his little arms making their way up and out.

2. Sway. This is OUR fancy way of saying "rocking". Even moving him side to side works. Just MOVE. This kid likes motion.

3. Sing. After midnight, I turn into a singing sensation. "Mary Had A Little Lamb"? I know the first 5 verses and I make up the rest. "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift? We got it down.

4. Sweat. Our little baby likes to be warm. So sometimes when he can't sleep, we bring him in the bathroom under the ceiling heater. And now, with the colder weather, I'll bring him out to the living room after a middle-of-the-night feeding and sit in from of our toasty fireplace. Warm baby = sleepy baby.

5. Swig. This one's for the parents. Grab what you can: wine, beer, tequila…whatever you can reach.

Day 3: Let's talk about sleep, bay-bee.

I have always been a morning person.

Even in college I was THAT GIRL who would wake up at 6am on the weekends. I would lie in my bunk listening for one of my housemates to stir and go to the bathroom. Then I would lunge out of bed to make my move. I'd enter the bathroom and "coincidentally" bump into her and start a conversation that she would hopefully indulge me in and we could go to breakfast and start our day.

Fast forward to me – one month ago – and not much has changed. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my sleep. My days at the gym and work would just exhaust me. I would hop into bed by 10pm latest, be asleep within ONE MINUTE (no exaggeration), and sleep straight through until my alarm went off the next morning at 5am. I'd get a solid 7 hours in at least (some nights I wouldn't make it past 9:15pm…a trait that's totally cool on the college circuit). 

And now there's me – present day – living in Max's world. As far as babies go, he's fantastic. And best of all, he's an amazing sleeper! (Just like his Mommy!) 

When we first got home from Georgia in that first week, he slept a TON. Rob and I would look at each other like, 'is this normal?' And I'd come back with my perfectly reasonable rationale, 'well, Vito sleeps this much, too'. And obviously if my fur baby sleeps 20 hours a day, it's okay for my human child to, as well.

Turns out, babies that small DO sleep that much. Funny thing, though, they don't know the difference between daytime and nighttime. Probably because they don't have a job, or responsibilities like doing laundry or making dinner. Max sometimes gets confused when it's nighttime. He'll sleep a lot during the day and then when Rob and I are ready to collapse he's all wide awake and like, 'Why is everyone so tired? Let's play and walk around! Hey, can you sing me that song again? The one with the 27 verses???'

 Max at 11am.

 Max at 11pm.

But somehow, I'm still managing to get my 7 hours of sleep in. It's just not all in a row. 

If you add up all of my sleep, I'm getting the same amount I was getting before. Except I'm up for a one-hour stretches in-between. 

And for the first time in my life, I'm sleeping past 7am. In fact, after his 5am bottle, Max and I went back to sleep until 9am! I woke up in a panic; The day is half over! It's so bright outside! I missed all of Good Morning America!

We're all adjusting to our new schedule. And as long as mommy gets her tight 8 hours in each night, we'll ALL be alright.