Helping Moms work Smarter, not Harder
Each year, I make a scrapbook for our parents and siblings through Creative Memories. The book showcases my favorite memories and photos from the year. This year was no exception. The only difference was that the book had twice the usual number of pages this time around!
(I started this post 2 1/2 months ago, and it’s been sitting in draft since then, but, with the holidays coming up, I thought I’d better get it posted!)
My baby Isaac is almost 7 8.5 months old, so I thought I’d do a round-up of some of my favorite things for everyone who might be expecting a baby or needing to buy a baby gift!
1. The Miracle Blanket. Love it. I used SwaddleMes with Adam, and they worked well, too, but the Miracle Blanket was even better. Totally worth it.
2. Bumbo. With a tray. We used this all the time for both boys. Isaac loved sitting in it to watch his brother play. See?
3. Long-sleeved, white onesies. I love layering these under short-sleeved onesies. We get much more wear out of baby clothes this way, especially hand-me-downs, because they make short-sleevers work for any season! Walmart has some inexpensive ones – here’s one in action, underneath a short-sleeved jumper, modeled by Isaac and Great Grandma Ede.
4. “Shower Cap” style carseat covers. My talented mother-in-law made this one. It fits over the top of the infant carrier, and has kept both boys toasty warm when it’s cold out. The “shower cap” style is important…you are not supposed to use a cover that goes between the baby and the seat, or really put bulky coats on the kiddos in the carseat, either, so this is a great solution as long as you can still carry the baby in the seat! (This is modeled by Adam – we used it for both boys and it has held up great!)
5. The First Years Breast-flow BPA Free Bottles…mimics the real thing, inexpensive, and easy to clean! Bingo, bango, bongo!
What are your favorite things for 0-6 months? Anything I missed out on?
This morning, while our preschoolers were in Kindermusik, a couple of the mommies and I were discussing sleep training. This is the message I just sent them via facebook.
“oh mylanta. I snuggled Isaac for nap. Put him in the crib. he woke up. Repeat.
So, I decided to do the sleep training I did with Adam. I'm waiting the intervals and going in to sooth, and he just starts crying again. I unplugged the monitor and am keeping myself busy with Adam downstairs.
Pray that I have the strength to make this work and that he falls asleep soon!”
When Adam was born, I was FIRMLY against any sort of cry-it-out. Fast forward 9 months, and I was working full time, and he was waking up 6-10 times PER NIGHT for the pacifier. At his 9 month check-up, his pediatrician told me we could do sleep training, or he may learn to sleep through the night in a couple of years.
I knew, deep in my heart, that I had to do the sleep training. I was literally running on empty. We had tried some “no-cry” solutions and I just didn’t have the energy or patience to make them work.
So, following a modified Ferber method, Adam cried. For almost 45 minutes. And then he slept. For 12 hours. Ah-mazing.
The next night, he cried…for 3 seconds, while we walked from his room to ours.
Of course, there were regressions, and we had repeat the process a few times over the next year or so. But overall, we were SO HAPPY that we decided to do it.
This time around, I knew it was probably just a matter of time before I’d get desperate enough to do it again. And I swore I’d do it before Isaac could stand in his crib – that just seemed to make it harder. He’s 8 months old now, and today’s nap was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And I’m so relieved to report, after less than 35 minutes of crying (interrupted every few minutes when I went in to sooth him) it’s done.
He’s asleep.
P.S. No hateful comments allowed ESPECIALLY if you’ve never gone 9+ months without sleep and/or a super, amazing, perfect mother, because I am NOT.
P.P.S. This is pictureless because I looked at all my sweet, smiley pictures of my boys and couldn’t bring myself to post one with such a depressing topic.
