Swaddle-palooza

Save the date, ladies and gentlemen, for the 3-day extravaganza we're calling Swaddle-palooza, when Mom and Dad will forgo sleep for an entire weekend (er, only if necessary) to wean me off of the swaddle. Since birth they've been wrapping me up tight to sleep but recently I've been breaking out of it at all hours (and even trying to roll over swaddled), so it's time to quit. But we can't go cold turkey because I have a strong startle reflex and can't even get to sleep without the swaddle because I keep smacking myself in the face with one of the two arms I can't control!

We're not sure yet when this exciting event will be held, it all depends on how Mom's experiments at naptime go. She's been swaddling me with one arm out so I can get used to it. Then, we'll try with both arms out. So it may be another few weeks before we're ready to give it a go at night. But we'll keep you posted!

I got the memo

About 2 weeks ago the following memo came into my hands. Since then, I've been implementing it just as flawlessly as Mom has been implementing her so-called E.A.S.Y. routine. It's working!

Sleep Training

OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this: Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with.My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow". I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!! It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me

Gaby

Still hitting the bottle ...

While I fell off the wagon a bit, I'm still taking a bottle! Which meant that Mom and Dad got to go out to dinner last night, and Mom got to go to Let's Dish with her mom's group today. Check out this uber-cute pic of Dad giving me a bottle the other day. He said it was the most fun thing he had done all day!

Updates

Well, I haven't blogged recently because I've been exhausted. See, I've been waking up a LOT at night recently (as in every 45 minutes from midnight on, no kidding), which has made me a little less than cheery during the day. Not sure why, but I just get up at night and can't put myself back to sleep. Poor mom, she became my roommate two nights in a row, rather than traipse back and forth between her room and mine.

But other than that, I got a new jumparoo to play in (check out the picture), and I've been noticing my feet a lot more often. I'm still close to rolling over (both from back to belly and belly to back).

Just like Britney ...

Mom and Dad took me to get some 3-month portraits done today at Kiddie Kandids, and I behaved just like Britney Spears at her latest photo shoot. That is to say, I had a little meltdown and well, let's just say that the next time the phone rings it's not going to be Ford Models calling. But all was not lost, we got a few good pictures out of it (eat your hearts out, ladies), and Mom and Dad finally got around to making birth announcements. Hello? I was born three months ago guys. I think everyone knows I was born by now. After all, I was the most eagerly awaited baby since Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. Anyhoo, if you want to check out the pictures, click here. (If the link doesn't work, go to www.kiddiekandids.com, click the MyStudio link and type in the sitting number: 622000546 and the sitting code: 26284B4.

We didn't get up to much the rest of the weekend. Just kicked back and relaxed while Mom reenacted the battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg, for those of you from the South) every three hours or so on the ants that found their way into the kitchen the last rain storm.