Sleeping through the Night

...aka STTN, was an early goal for us, as I found waking up to feed Jane in the night tiring.  Well, of course it was tiring :)  It really affected me during the day, because I would often have trouble going back to sleep and found it hard to relax even when Jane was asleep.   I was always thinking she could wake at any minute.  When she slept next to our bed, I didn't sleep very soundly, which is probably natural. I was alert to every sound she made, and after her night feedings she always grunted a lot in her sleep.  STTN is the holy grail for many new parents, although some enjoy getting up with their babies in the night so they can bond.

I am proud to report that Janie is not only STTN, but she also just dropped her "dreamfeed" or late night feeding, which means I don't need to pump every night anymore.  I was pumping and Michael was feeding her around 10 pm every night, which he reports was very cute :), but pumping is a little tiresome.  The last two dreamfeeds Michael did, Janie actually woke up and smiled at him, which may be a sign that she is getting too old for it :).  She used to sleep right through it and was downing 5 oz.

Now, Janie is going to bed between 7 and 8 most nights and waking up between 7 and 8 in the morning.  More often than not, we actually have to wake her in the morning.  The other day we all accidentally slept until 9:10!  She was our alarm clock for a while, waking up like clockwork in the close vicinity of 7 am.  Now she just sleeps and sleeps.

It's amazing how infrequently she eats now compared to early on.  She is down to only four feedings a day.  A few weeks ago we switched from an every-3-hr. feeding schedule to an every-3 1/2-hr. schedule, so she has one less "cycle" and consequently one less nap per day (2 long and 1 catnap in the evening).  For the first 3 months or so, she had four naps a day (3 long and 1 catnap in the evening).  Now she eats around 7 am, 10:30 am, 2 pm, and 5:30 pm and makes it all the way through the night.  She is amazingly resilient--she gets very unhappy when we don't put her down for a nap because we are on an outing, but she always recovers almost immediately and gets right back in the sleep groove.  It is nice to have one less feeding and for Janie to sleep a bit longer at naps--I think it will make it easier for me to get stuff done when the school year starts.  She can also stay up longer for her awake time now.  She used to stay up about an hour total at a time, including feeding time. Now she can stay up about an hour and a half or two hours before she needs to sleep.  We do the EASY cycle (Eat/Awake/Sleep & You time). 

One big change since we dropped the dreamfeed is that Janie is not pooping very much.  We hope this is ok.  It is a big change since she used to have overflowing, projectile, liquid movements several times a day.  Lately she is going a few days between movements which means it may be practical to start using cloth diapers.  I am wondering if this is because of so many less feedings?

Janie first started STTN in New York in late May, at 2 months old, which I think is typical for a baby on a sleep and feeding schedule.  Then she went back to waking once, but at 5 am instead of 3 am.  She did that for a few weeks and then went back to STTN until 7.  Sometimes I would feed her when she cried out at 5 am and sometimes I would give her a paci.   When she cried at 5, she wasn't really awake.  I'm not sure if the paci helped her learn to STTN (the Baby Whisperer suggests it), but she has consistently STTN ever since June.

She also does great with going to sleep on her own.  She has a routine that may help her know that it's sleep time: I change her, change her clothes or put clothes on (because of spit up), swaddle her on the bed (usually leaving her left hand out so she can suck her thumb), give her a paci, say "time for night night," and put her in her Moses basket (which she'll outgrow soon) in her quiet room with the fan going for white noise, then I close the door. In the evening Michael also gives her a bath before bed, then I bundle her up in a towel, brush her hair, and get her in pjs.  Sometimes when we put her down to sleep, she makes a little noise and sometimes she can't go to sleep right away, especially if her schedule is off and she is overtired, but for the most part she can.

Janie is really an amazing baby.  It's amazing to see how her body just falls naturally into this schedule.  She is really a joy to be around at all times, and is so happy when she wakes up. We can definitely tell that her getting enough sleep is a big factor in her happiness and peacefulness.  She starts to fuss or show other signs of tiredness when it's time for naps or bedtime.  We used to wait for two yawns, but now she has other signs like rubbing her eyes.  She also does an energetic little dance before bed and has started sucking her thumb in her sleep.  We are convinced she's the sweetest and cutest baby ever :)

Family Reunion

This is Janie's smile that she gives us all the time--our favorite thing ever!
She was so happy to meet Cousins Bailey and Mason!

surrounded by cousins

About a month ago, Janie met her cousins on Michael's side at the annual family reunion in Marble Falls, Texas.  She really enjoyed bonding with her second cousin Mason, who is two years old and was great at getting Janie to smile and laugh!  She also met her other great grandmother, Grandma Screws, who has about 34 grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren. 

Janie has a Cousin!

Her very own girl cousin, her own age--a future pen pal named Annalisa Rose.  They both have old-fashioned feminine names and I picture them writing to each other like Jane and Cassandra Austen, on paper with ink pens.  

Annalisa is my sister's third beautiful baby.  Erin has been slowly laboring with her for a month, and Annalisa decided to show up very quickly last night--born less than an hour after they reached the hospital. Good job Erin--you're a champ!

Here's the little cutie--we love her already!  There are more pictures at www.groeberkids.blogspot.com

 

 

Sixteen Weeks

A few things Jane loves doing lately:

kicking her adorable feet

looking at Mommy and the camera from her perch on the boppy pillow

biting her hand

holding her own bottle--a few weeks ago

pure contentment...being carried around by Daddy

socializing with Nana (after a tiresome car ride staring at the back seat)

I think she looks like my sister Erin here

more contentment...sitting with Mommy after eating

eating Daddy's hand during bath time, like a little puppy

praying

saying hello

waking up...what a joy it is to fetch her

sucking her thumb while sleeping, and lifting her legs up in the swaddle

stretching!

• sucking her fingers, and her thumb when she can find it, which is amazingly cute because her thumb is so little and the rest of her fingers cover her face (she doesn't make a fist with them)
• sucking the edges of blankets, which are always around to catch spit up, and she also loves having her mouth wiped, which we have to do all the time
• being held by Mommy and Daddy, of course
• laying in her play mat, and trying to get the toys into her mouth, even when they are suspended in the air
• kicking her legs and stretching out her arms with her hands facing upward--at night she does the "Jane dance" right before bed which involves moving all four limbs at once at top speed
• scratching things for fun, for the sound it makes--like the chair while she's being fed, or the boppy pillow
• grabbing things with her new tight grip
• smiling to get our attention, and laughing silently with her open-mouth smile--this is the absolute best thing ever!!!
• smiling up at me while eating
• smiling when we get her from her nap or when she wakes up
• screeching and squealing
• saying some vowel sounds like "ooohhhh"
• holding our fingers
• sleeping long periods of time, sometimes almost 13 hours 
• putting her hands together
• getting bathed by Daddy and her hair brushed by Mommy
• watching Daddy make funny faces and noises and hearing Mommy sing
• socializing
• looking at the camera or computer with confused interest when being photographed or skyping
• sitting in her boppy pillow, any direction

A Baby at a Baseball Game

We met Michael's family at a Round Rock Express minor league game on July 4.  Janie did not really enjoy her first baseball game.  The PA system was very loud, playing hip hop music so the "breakin' bat boy" could dance for the crowd, and the crowd kept bursting into loud applause.  Janie doesn't do well with loud, sudden noises. We thought she might go to sleep, since the game started around her bed time, but alas, she didn't really get to sleep until we arrived home in Waco around 10:30.  It also threw off her bedtime for the next couple of nights. We didn't really get to watch the game, although I did get to experience nursing in the smokers' area of the ballpark. Janie cried hard. Maybe we should have gotten a babysitter?  At least we got her out of there before the fireworks started. And it was almost worth it because of the cuteness of Jane in a sunhat.

"Toyland"

When I was little, we listened to a Perry Como Christmas song called "Toyland," and that is what is going through my head when Janie is surrounded by her toys.  She has just taken an interest in them over the last few weeks--and she loves them.  She likes sound-making toys, and grabbable toys, and tasteable toys, and even burp cloths will do.  Her psychedelic elephant with crinkly ears, pink tweety bird with bell inside, and piglet with a bell inside are some of her favorites.

Rolling Over!

Even though we always forget to do "Tummy Time," or neglect to do it because of Jane's spitting up, today I put her on her tummy and she rolled over, first to her side, and then eventually, sort of, to her back.  I don't think she really likes being on her tummy--I guess that's the motivation to roll over :)  I didn't have the camera at first to capture her initial position, but here are pictures of stage 2 and stage 3 of the roll-over.

Jane's Big Trip!

Janie took her first trip, to "the North Country," for Memorial Day.  She rode on four planes and did great!  She only cried a little on the plane descents (the change in pressure hurts babies' ears) and slept like a champ.  She did have two explosive diapers on the plane, which I also attribute to the pressure change since other babies, such as Cousin Seannie, have had this problem, too.  Traveling was a little bit stressful--we very nearly missed our flight from Austin.  At the gate, my conversation with the ticket checker went something like this:
       Airline person:  are you passenger Crews, traveling with infant?  You're late. We've been waiting for you.
       Me: my husband is coming, too.
       AP: oh, is he in the terminal?
       Me: (having no idea) Yes.
       AP: well, we are about to close the gates. Are you comfortable traveling without your husband?
       Me: um, well, let me figure out how to break down this stroller.  I can check my stroller, right?  I'm not sure how to do this...
        AP: Do you want to call him?
        (I had already called him, and couldn't get through, and had no idea if he had even parked yet, let alone if he had made it through security, etc.  And at this point..Michael appears, like a mirage, at the opening to the tunnel)

how amazing is this bathing suit?

Janie's puffy cheeks

Jamesie kissing Janie

Emmy cuddling with her newest great-grandchild

Cousin Ben and Poppa Matt

Seannie is a great cousin and will be a great big brother--to a new sister in just a few days!

(Great) Aunt Annabelle, ready with the burp cloth

(Great) Aunt Mimi

Auntie Erin looooves kissing Baby Jane

and holding her up like Simba

Poppa

first "swim," which involved Daddy dipping her legs into foot-deep water

Janie's white outfit--a rare chance to use her hoodie

Janie learned to talk this week, cooing back and forth with Michael and smiling, too

awwww...Janie loves Daddy

boys wreaking havoc at the restaurant--the waitress had no sense of humor and I kept waiting for her to blow

first cousin in law three times removed John telling us that Janie is beautiful and having a baby is the best thing ever (he and Mary Claire had six)

Janie sitting on her cousin and wearing her Jane/peacock onesie from Lisa

feeding Janie next to Sackets Harbor

Janie's traveling clothes--ready to go at 5 am

We went to my dad's family's cottages in Knobby Knoll, Sackets Harbor, New York, the land of do-nothing and the land where time stands still.  Janie's cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma loved holding her.  She also started sleeping through the night--maybe because of the cold weather?  She was two months old at this point, and when we returned to Waco, she started waking once in the night again, although at 5 am instead of at 3 am like previously.  After a few weeks she started sleeping though the night again.  Anyway, we loved the weather up North and I wouldn't mind living in the North again some day :)