Go to Sleep

As a first time mom, I wanted to cuddle and snuggle my new baby every single chance I got.  Which meant every night I rocked him to sleep and ever so gently laid my sweet sleeping baby down to sleep.  When he would wake, he woke up crying - not all out screaming, but that I'm-awake-come-get-me cry.  Every now and again EM would wake up laughing or giggling.  It was the sweetest thing, but not all the time.  I read all these books that tell you to put the babe in their bed while they were still awake.  Reason being is that when you rock them to sleep that's the last place they remember being.  When they wake up in the morning in bed, they are all confused and a little frightened.  While the babe is in a familiar place, it's not where they last remembered being.  Imagine falling asleep in your hubby's arms on the sofa only to wake up the next day in your old auntie's bed.  How are you going to feel when you wake up?  Dazed and confused?  Babes, I think, feel the same when they wake up in a crib haven fallen asleep in someone's arms. 

Now, baby #2 comes along and I, of course, do not remember all this great wisdom I gleaned from baby #1.  I'm just tired and I have to put this one to bed, go read the other one a story, fix lunch, straighten up a bit.  I don't have time or energy to rock the baby to sleep, if I do I'm going to be asleep too.  So I put #2 in the bed, he's no totally happy, but I tell myself I'll go back in there after I've read the first babe a good night story.  Only when I finish the story #2 is sleep!  Huh!  Ok!  Everyday #2's unhappiness when he's put in the bed is less and less until finally you put him in the bed and he just lays his head down and goes to sleep (we're not to this milestone yet, but I know it's coming - have faith people.)  Now!  Here's the best part, when #2 wakes up in the morning.  He wakes up laughing and "talking" to his little glow in the dark seahorse, Seabert.  It can be 30 minutes before I go in his room.  He and Seabert will just carry on a conversation like that's what folks do at 6:30AM.  :)  It is straight up awesomeness.  This morning NA wakes up, talking about some craziness.  I go in his room to get him up for the day (after about 5 minutes of his talking) only to discover his little legs sticking through the slats in the crib.  He's not crying, not freaking out.  Just talking to Seabert about how he got his legs stuck in the slats.  I'm all panicy like, "NA!  What are your legs doing sticking out the crib."  He's like, "Hmm, dunno.  Good Morning, Mommy!  You bring me a snack?"

Motherhood Karma

You know when you were little your momma used to say, she couldn't wait til you had kids of your own so you'd get a dose of your own medicine.   Well, my turn is now.  All those wonderful things I put my mom through when I was a kid, I am now having the joy of going through on the other side as a mama.  OY!  Craziness is I remember doing all these stuff, so I know it's Karma.  I know it! 

Today, I am feeding NA trying my best to get everyone dressed and out the house so we could go to church.  Em was dressed, we just had to get NA fed and dressed and we'd be on our way.   EM is playing on the floor in front of me while I'm feeding his brother.  He's doing magic.  :)  I won't tell you his magician secrets, but he was making a coin disappear.  All of a sudden he gets real still and starts whimpering.  I'm thinking he's bit his tongue because he was concentrating so hard on his magic trick.  "What's wrong, EM?"  "Did you bite your tongue."  EM shakes his head, then starts crying.  Well what happened?  "I swallowed it."  Ummm, what?  you swallowed what, your tongue?  Please tell me you didn't swallow that coin.  "Did you swallow the coin?"  EM nods his head, then the waterworks really start like in the cartoons with his head tilted back and the tears shooting out the sides.  Oh boy.  Old me would have said "Eh, what goes in comes out. No worries."  But since becoming a mother, other mothers like to tell me about the trauma their kids go though when it's a normally benign situation.  So I've got all these stories from other mamas floating in my head.  I calmly pack up the kid (and the ipad - incase there's  a long wait, mama's gotta be prepared) and head off to the hospital, to "get some pictures made."  I'm a nervous wreck.  EM is just skipping along asking if there is wi-fi so he can watch a movie.  LOL  That should have been my first sign.  We get in, the Dr. "takes the pictures" and we discover that the coin has made it's way to his tummy.  Whoop!  No we just wait for him to make change on the toilet and we're good to go.  Karma is a - - - - -!

Babywise

Finally!  He's sleeping through the night!  Whoop!  I took advantage of the Eid break and put NA on a schedule.  I did the same thing I did with EM many moons ago.  I loosely followed Babywise.  Eat, Wake, Sleep, Repeat.  I still have him on an every 3 hour schedule because I like being able to sneak in an extra feeding (so does NA.) We may move to every 4 hours at 7 months.  We put him down for his naps and bedtime while he is awake.  The first few times he fussed.  Started out with 30 minutes of fussing (and me going in there every 10 minutes to reassure him that he was capable of falling asleep while he wasn't eating.)  Each day the fussing got less and less.  Now he fusses for 1 minute (just one) before he falls off to sleep.  Oh!  and I play a music - I didn't do that with EM.  Its a recording of a rain storm.  Play it every time he gets put in the bed and I play it very loud - like you're sitting on the front porch during a rain storm.  My thought was that it would be like Pavlov and his his doggie.   On top of him sleeping through the night when he wakes up in the morning he rarely cries.  He just chills in his crib talking to Seabert the seahorse until I come in to get him up for the day.  I'm happy that NA responded well to it. 

EM is starting to show signs of being in the middle east too long.  He has a love for fast and/or expensive cars.  I don't know how he knows which ones are the expensive ones and which ones are not, but he knows.  While he was picking out the car that will take him to work - a McLaren mind you - he comments, "I like expensive cars, huh Mommy?"  Well, yes son.  That's affirmative.  Bless his heart.  At least he has a generous heart and won't be all stingy with his expensive cars, because he offers to buy me one of whatever he's getting.  :)  Must get this in writing ... and signed.