I haven't written in a couple of days because almost all I've been thinking about is sleep, napping, and schedules. Today I decided that maybe Libby is a little too young for a strict nap schedule, so I'm just going to put her down when she seems tired. She started a nap at about 11:45, woke up maybe an hour later VERY cranky, so I changed her diaper, rocked her a little bit, and put her back to sleep. And she's still sleeping almost 1.5 hours later. Crazy!

I also decided yesterday that I was in denial about Libby growing out of 3 mos. clothes. It is time to move her up to 6 mos. size. There are some two-piece outfits she can still wear, but sleepers and onesies for sure need to be longer. Todd was wondering last night how much she weighs, but she's not going to the doctor for over two more weeks, so we'll have to try to weigh her with the Wii balance board.

I just remembered something from when we first brought Libby home. Marionette seemed so huge! Which is hilarious, because at 8-9 lbs, she's the smallest cat I know. But Libby was barely over 6 lbs when we brought her home, so the cat was gigantic. Libby is bigger than the cat now, of course. Lots bigger. She's been taking an interest in the cat lately, just watching her when she's nearby and reaching out to touch her. I think she grabbed her once, but the cat was surprisingly tolerant.

Libby and I went to meet Shawna, who is in charge of the daycare where Libby will go in January. There were only four other children there, and one is leaving before Libby starts! I think one is starting tomorrow, though. This daycare has two locations, one for infants and toddlers, and one for preschoolers. The woman who owns it told me yesterday that she is thinking of consolidating into one location in January. I'm glad she chose the one around the corner from my school! Shawna was very loving with Libby, and I'm sure she'll have a lot of fun there!

Day 3 of napping in the crib, and Libby did not cry at all. I hope we're on our way to 3 naps a day. Yesterday afternoon she was very crabby. She woke up after 1.5-2 hours nap and ate, but just wouldn't stop crying. I let her sleep in my arms till Todd came home, then he succeeded in waking her up and getting her in a better mood. She just needed her daddy! I think she wants to take a really long afternoon nap (like over 2 hours), but getting hungry and having a wet diaper gets in the way. She took a short evening nap for Todd while I was at Bunko.

Something new

We're trying something new with Libby's naps. For the last week or two, she has gotten fussy when it's time for a nap, then she'll calm down when I hold her and give her a pacifier, and very quickly go to sleep in my arms. The problem is that she has become aware enough of her environment that as soon as I put her down in the crib or anywhere else, she is awake, and sometimes refuses to go back to sleep.

So we're trying to teach her to fall asleep on her own. We're using a technique called the "Ferber method". When she's ready for a nap, we do our naptime routine, put her down in the crib, say goodbye, and leave the room. We let her stay for three minutes, even if she cries. Then we calm her down for a couple of minutes, and leave her again for five minutes. Then we repeat, leaving her for ten minutes. Yesterday for her first nap, she fell asleep before the 10 minute section was up. For her second nap, I think she fell asleep before the 5 minute section was up. At bedtime, she didn't even cry for three minutes. Just now, I put her down, and went to check on her after 3 minutes. We're in the 5 minute waiting period now, and she's not crying. I think it's working!

I'm trying to encourage her to be a little more regular with her naps. I feel like she's still napping just a half hour here and there like a newborn, and it seems like it would be better for her if she consolidated those naps. We'll see. If it doesn't work out this week, I'll wait another couple weeks.

Well, it's been five minutes and no crying. I think she's asleep! Now I have to quietly let the cat out, because she wouldn't leave the room with me.

Sweet Sleep

Today has been a rough sleep day. Libby has napped in 20-minute bits and has been kinda cranky. So when she fell asleep while eating about 45-60 minutes ago, I decided to just let her sleep in my arms so she'd get a good nap in. I'm getting very good at one-handed typing!

The bad news about sleep is that Libby has started wanting to sleep with a pacifier. This is bad because I'm worried she'll always wake up when it's not there. That happened last night after 1 hour of sleep. She did go back to sleep about 10-15 minutes later.

The good news is that Libby seems to be headed toward 6-hour sleeps before waking up. She slept until 5:15 this morning, which was actually almost 7 hours if you don't count her little wakeup at 11:30.

I want to start back-blogging, if you will, about the past three months. I guess it would be good to start with August 29th. T and I went to help some friends move. I got the easy assignment of sorting baby clothes. I had my first painful contractions during the day, including back pain. I didn't really think anything of it since my due date was 2 weeks away and I knew you could have sporadic contractions for days or weeks before labor.

That evening, T and I went grocery shopping. I know we checked out at 6:30 because I kept the receipt. When we got home, Todd started a frozen pizza and I decided to start timing my contractions. By 7:00, they were coming 5 minutes apart and I was in Labor Land, where everything is kind of hazy.

I wanted to try the Bradley method of natural childbbirth because it really seemed like a good match for me. So I laid on my side during the contractions and focused on relaxing. Todd rubbed my back during every contraction because it was very painful. After awhile, he packed the car because it seemed like it was time! At a little after 8 pm, the contractions had been 5 min apart for an hour, so we went to the hospital. I remember asking Todd to wait for one more contraction to be sure--I couldn't believe it was happening so fast.

To be continued...