Knock on Wood

So, I've been afraid to write about Emily's sleep patterns for fear I would jinx things, but I'm gonna risk it and report that she's been sleeping 12+ hours each night since my last post! Occasionally she'll wake in the wee hours of the morning and cry/whimper for a minute or two, but we just listen from our room as she calms herself down and drifts back to sleep.

It feels amazing to have a few hours all to ourselves before we head to bed AND to get a full 7-8hrs of rest each night. I think Emily's enjoying all the sleep too--just look at that smile :)

parrots of bernal hill

We've seen them fly over in small flocks, but this was the first time that the parrots stopped by to hang out in our tree! Amy did an amazing job of quickly snapping some photos. It took the rest of the afternoon to convince Emily that we weren't in the Amazon.

-M

Nighty-Night

Well after nearly a month of unpredictable nights and an inconsolable Emily, I was at my wits end. She had slept so well her first 3 months, and as amateur parents we didn't appreciate it nearly as much as we should have. So earlier this week while wandering through our favorite neighborhood bookstore, I found a used copy of a sleep book by the "baby coach." Apparently this woman has trained over 100 babies to sleep through the night by the time they were 12 weeks old, AND she didn't employ the "cry it out" method which we find too heart-breaking to consider.

The book turned out to be a real page-turner and I finished it in 2 hours Wednesday morning. In a nutshell, the author claims there are 4 key steps we need to follow.

1.) Emily should only nurse 4 times during the day because stretching out her feedings will allow her to go for a full 12 hours at night without needing to eat.

2.) There should be no napping between her 3rd and 4th feedings to ensure she is very tired when we put her in bed.

3.) We need to leave her in her crib for a full 12 hours at night, something we have never tried before.

4.) Finally, when Emily cries at night we should be by her side to comfort her as she soothes herself. This means no eye contact, no talking above a whisper, no picking her up, and no feeding her. Our goal should be to support her as she discovers how to calm herself.

Reducing Emily's feedings from 6x to 4x per day was a snap. She didn't even fuss when I made the switch. Then for the first time ever we put her to bed at 7:30pm and skeptically tip-toed around until we went to bed. I was certain she'd wake up crying before midnight, but shockingly when I heard her and turned to look at the clock I saw it was 5:30am!!! Matt and I then spent 1 hour by her side, comforting her as she struggled to calm down and fall back to sleep. She eventually did, but only after Matt and I left her room to pow-wow in the kitchen about how to proceed. It seems that once she knew we weren't there, she was able find her inner strength to soothe herself.

Chalking the first night up to luck, Matt put Emily to bed at 7:30pm last night and I again went to sleep fully expecting to be woken in a couple hours by a screaming baby. But it didn't happen. Emily whimpered a few times around 4:30am, but it never turned into a full cry so we didn't even go in to check on her. Then at 7:15am when our alarm went off, we peeked in her crib and found Emily lying on her tummy in the corner of her crib admiring the birdies on her bumper. When she noticed we were there, she turned to greet us with a huge grin! Seems she doesn't have any abandonment issues from her night alone. Phew!

Wish us luck on night 3 tonight!!

a

toes

I found a new thing to suck on! Tastes like chicken.

Would you like to try?

the 4 month wrap up

Emily's 4 month check-up went well!

As usual we prepared a long list of questions, and Dr. Anne very patiently answered them all. We found out Emily's in the 70th percentile for both her length (24.25 inches) and weight (13lbs 6oz). We asked about her raspy voice and after noting her watery eyes and numerous spit-ups, Dr. Anne thinks the flare-up of all 3 was caused by a virus Emily caught. Apparently viruses can last 3+ weeks, and her raspy voice came last and was the only unusual sign we picked up on. Thankfully she's pretty much over it now, and her voice sounds much better. (We're still convinced she has a bit of reflux caused by Amy's diet, so Amy's going to keep monitoring what she eats and slowly introduce foods again to see how Emily reacts.) We also asked about introducing foods to Emily, and she said that since Em's at a healthy weight and content nursing we can wait until 6 months to start on rice cereal.

During the appt, Dr. Anne mentioned a few times that Emily has really good skin (yay!) and also noted her constant drooling. Apparently this is a pre-teething phenomenon--she didn't see any signs of teeth yet.

Since Emily's rolling has been causing her some trouble at night, we asked if it's ok to leave her on her tummy once she flips. Luckily, it's ok for her to be on her tummy if she gets herself there.

Finally, we mentioned that Emily hadn't started to "belly" laugh yet, which we thought would happen by 4 months. The doctor said we shouldn't worry, it'll come soon. Then she observed that Emily seems like a very cheerful baby, and said Emily's the happiest baby she'd seen all day :) That's our girl!

The appt ended with all 3 of us getting shots: Matt and Amy got flu vaccines and Emily got her series of immunizations. She was a trooper, but definitely felt the sting of the shots. We calmed her down pretty quickly, although she still had a miserable night afterwards. Despite giving her tylenol, she got up every 45-60 minutes all night long, just crying & crying. Consequently we didn't really get any sleep, and dragged ourselves around yesterday. Fortunately last night Em slept soundly from midnight to 5:30am, which felt amazing!

Earlier today we spent a few hours watching Matt and Lunar in their annual dodgeball tournament. They did well, and we saw Matt make some sweet plays :) With so much to look at Emily didn't nap while we were there, but crashed when we got home. Hope she has another good night of sleep tonight!

happy 4 months, Emily!

Another successful month has flown by and Emily is doing great.

new jumparoo

Overseeing the operation

I like dogs and cats as long as they stay in this egg.

Our brave sleeper!

Emily did an amazing job resting in her OWN room in her crib the past two nights this weekend. I'm pretty sure we got 9.5 hours of sleep on Friday night! We are so very proud of her.

Thinking that she may be suffering from a mild case of reflux, we propped the left side of her crib up by about 8 inches so that she would sleep with her head slightly elevated. As you'd expect, gravity slowly took her and by the morning she was resting nicely against the right side of the crib.

One nice thing about a small house is that when she was starting to fuss, we could hear her!

Fingers crossed that night three is just as successful. Hopefully her turtle night light will keep her happy!

-M

Eyes (and bubbles)

Still not sure about eye color! Darkish, greyish, green?

Peterson Grandparents!

Recently, Grandpa and Grandma Peterson made their way out to see the three of us. We had a great time!

In addition to all of the relaxing moments, we had some great walks around the block, fixing things around the house, and delicious meals like pot pie! Mmm.

Emily had a blast and so did we. Thanks for all your help, Grandpa and Grandma!

good advice

Occasionally, Mom is too busy for us and when we need to make a decision, I ask Emily for help. Here, she's helping me select some items to buy on Amazon.

-M

Past Month...

Time seems to keep flying by! Here are some highlights from August:

* Bath-time! Emily's always been a good sport about her baths. As long as we keep dribbling the warm water over her, she's one happy camper.

* Speaking of dribbling, Emily's mouth has become a constant faucet of raspberries and spit bubbles. Consequently, the shoulders of our shirts are forever drenched.

* Emily is regularly participating in involuntary "tummy time" --meaning we flip her over and make her root around on her belly for a few minutes. Depending on her mood she either loves this, tolerates it, or cries right off the bat. This is her on a good day.

* Emily's become an avid thumb sucker (yay!), giving our pinky fingers a much needed break. When trying to fall asleep, she often has her left thumb in her mouth and the other hand/arm swept across her eyes, presumably to block out the sun. (Although I wonder if it's more of a dramatic gesture. Is she destined to become an actress?)

* She had her first ride across the Golden Gate Bridge last week. Alas, she slept through it.

* No complaints about her night-time habits: Emily sleeps from around 9:30pm until 3 or 4am, wakes for a feeding, and then heads back to bed until 7 or 8am. We still have her in the Pack'n'Play in our bedroom--can't seem to leave her alone in her nursery just yet. Oh, I almost forgot: to celebrate her 3 month birthday Emily slept for 9 hours straight!! What a pleasant surprise.

* Emily went on several successful restaurant outings with me these past few weeks--and she was a dream on all but one occasion. Luckily Matt and I were together for that one, so we took turns walking her around the parking lot of Chili's. Ah, the joys of parenthood :)

* At a neighborhood garage sale and we came across an electronic baby swing in very good condition. Having no idea if Emily would love it or hate it, we talked the sellers into taking $20 for it. After loading it into our car, they were so glad it would be put to good use they only accepted $10. Hands down this was THE best $10 ever spent--Emily loves her new swing! She often naps for nearly 2 hours in it, and wakes up cooing like an angel. The only other time she got this kind of daytime rest was when lying on me. This swing has afforded me all kinds of freedoms--when she sleeps my hands are now my own again. So bless you, our neighbors on Folsom, for selling us a baby swing at a very reasonable price. Bless you, bless you, bless you.

* Finally, we had the first "portrait" of our family taken when my folks were in town!

Found it!!

Emily seems to have finally mastered the art of sucking her thumb. Hoorah! From time to time she still pulls it out unknowingly, but now she can pop it back in and continue sucking 'til her heart's content.

3 Months

For Miss Emily's 3 month birthday, we celebrated with an apple pie. It was about her size. She loved it. We did too.

who me?

the Grohowski visit

We had a great time with Becky and Grandpa & Grandma G this past week!

-M

coordination

There's been a little bit of this recently - an adventurous finger or thumb will fly a little too close to the black hole that is Emily's mouth. The gravitational pull is still not strong enough to keep these daring digits locked in, but they do occasionally leave quite wet.

-M

ready for blast off