Today, my friends, was a very good day. It was a day of milestones achieved. Not your every day, ordinary milestones, though. Riley did not crawl, or sit up, or any of those things. Nope nope. But she DID (1) survive her first grocery shopping trip with only mommy without crying at all and (2) go for a 30 minute walk in the stroller without crying and (3) go down for all of her naps today with little to no crying. This is big, people. Very big. Mostly just big for my sanity's sake.
See, remember how I was trying to be more positive, and take one day at a time? Well today I decided that Riley and I were going to the store. I was hungry, but more importantly we were out of laundry detergent and dish washing soap. And the way Riley goes through clothes, the lack of detergent was going to be a big problem. So after her morning nap, I fed her, popped her in the car, and off we went. We strolled around the store with her in the Baby Bjorn (which is literally the ONLY carrier she will stay in for any extended period of time). And she was totally happy to cruise the aisles with me. And we came home, and she took a nap! Then in the afternoon we went for a walk, and she was perfectly content! And as for the napping... we've got a little nap-time routine down, which I think she's finally gotten used to and so she knows it's nap time. First I change her diaper, then wrap her in a blanket, then we sit in her rocking chair and I give her a pacifier and her ellie to hold on to. Occasionally she whines for about 30 seconds, but it isn't even really a cry. Then she just lays there quietly, sometime we read a story, sometimes not, and she literally starts to fall asleep in no more than 5 minutes. Then I either lay down and nap with her if I'm feeling tired, or I put her in her crib drowsy but still awake, and she goes right to sleep!! It's amazing! She has taken 4 naps today, totaling almost 5 hours!! I never, ever get sick of this sight...
See, remember how I was trying to be more positive, and take one day at a time? Well today I decided that Riley and I were going to the store. I was hungry, but more importantly we were out of laundry detergent and dish washing soap. And the way Riley goes through clothes, the lack of detergent was going to be a big problem. So after her morning nap, I fed her, popped her in the car, and off we went. We strolled around the store with her in the Baby Bjorn (which is literally the ONLY carrier she will stay in for any extended period of time). And she was totally happy to cruise the aisles with me. And we came home, and she took a nap! Then in the afternoon we went for a walk, and she was perfectly content! And as for the napping... we've got a little nap-time routine down, which I think she's finally gotten used to and so she knows it's nap time. First I change her diaper, then wrap her in a blanket, then we sit in her rocking chair and I give her a pacifier and her ellie to hold on to. Occasionally she whines for about 30 seconds, but it isn't even really a cry. Then she just lays there quietly, sometime we read a story, sometimes not, and she literally starts to fall asleep in no more than 5 minutes. Then I either lay down and nap with her if I'm feeling tired, or I put her in her crib drowsy but still awake, and she goes right to sleep!! It's amazing! She has taken 4 naps today, totaling almost 5 hours!! I never, ever get sick of this sight...
I've got to say, for a while there, when her napping was really bad, I was worried. Was I doing something wrong? Why couldn't I get my baby to sleep? My initial thought was that our night time sleeping situation was setting bad habits. I mean, she starts out in her crib every night, and does her longest stretch of sleep there, but then we co-sleep the rest of the night. And for some naps. But what if this was confusing her or something?? That was when I half-heartedly attempted some sort of cry-it-out method to get her to sleep. One time. And that was enough for me to decide neither of us was ready for it. But now, I'm feeling better about it all. Sure she sleeps with me half the night, but she can and does still sleep on her own just fine! So I think while it still works for everyone, we'll stick with our sleeping arrangements. Because a happy baby means a happy mommy means a happy daddy. We all win. Even if she doesn't look all too thrilled in this self-portrait...
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