Sleep Update

The so-called "sleep training" (what a horrible phrase!) really worked. My new phrase is - "Milk is for waking up, not for going to sleep." Alexa now naps 2x/day in her crib, and sleeps there all night, too. She nurses while I eat dinner or right after if I can hold her off for a bit so I can actually get some food in me, then I give her a bath (which she loves!), put her in her jammies, read her Goodnight Moon and put her in the crib. She can barely make it through that short little book before she falls completely to pieces. She only cries for a minute or two before she conks out until 6am. I nurse her then on one side only for ten minutes, then again when she wakes for real at 8am. Not bad for younger than 5 months, huh? And Haley is great about sharing a room with her. "Mommy, if Alexa cries I don't listen to her and I keep sleeping." Yep, exactly. Only thing is, I have a portable crib in my bedroom for Alexa's afternoon nap. It's one hour, right in the middle of Haley's 2.5 hour nap, so I'll keep her out of there for now. God forbid Haley's nap doesn't happen!!!

What's really nice about the new way of putting Alexa to bed is that, if I want to, I can nurse her and then hand her off and be done. I'm not the only one who can put her to bed now! Wheeee! Freedom!

Sleep Training

Alexa is four months old and, with exception of the last few weeks, she has been sleeping through the night since she was four weeks old. So it's time to get her back on track. I'm tired!!!

She was super cranky tonight because she had 4 shots today. Surprisingly, this made night one relatively easy, so far. Up till now, I had given her a bath, put on her jammies, and then nursed her to sleep. She usually nursed for nearly an hour, tanking up for that long night of good sleep in front of her.

Tonight, I took her to our usual spot and nursed her like she was going to bed. She was really tired and only nursed for about ten minutes before passing out. I woke her up and carried her back down to the kitchen, where I gave her a bath and put on her jammies. I brought her back upstairs and read her Goodnight Moon, and put her in bed. I turned off the lights and closed the door. I didn't swaddle her like I have done since birth. she cried for a few minutes and is now asleep.

The plan is to nurse her once during the night for now, and phase that out within a week or two. By the end of the second week, she should be sleeping through the night again, hooray! At that time, we will move her from a cosleeper next to my bed to a crib in Haley's room. And there will be much celebration!

Vacation

We've returned from our vacation, which was pretty crazy but a ton of fun if you are 3 1/2! We left the house at 7am and drove to Disneyland, where we stayed till dark. Then we drove to San Diego. We stayed there two days, visiting the Zoo, Balboa Park, Old Town, the Bazaar del Mundo, and Felix's brother, Joe. We drove to La Jolla and took a long hike along the coast and through the town. It was cool, gray and windy but quite beautiful nonetheless. We drove to LA and stayed with my aunt and uncle for four days. That included two more trips back to Disneyland, The Getty Center, a Chanukah party, and dinner with Em Yay and her husband Brett. Next, we drove to Santa Barbara where we stayed over night at Sally's. We had a nice brunch the next morning on the beach and went for a short walk before hitting the road. We drove to Monterey and spent the night there. Our last day was spent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and then we drove back to the Bay Area. I think the highlight for Haley was meeting Cinderella!



Here we all are at the Getty Center in LA:




And you can see ALL the photos from our trip here: http://www.dabaum.net/socaltrip/