This time, it's all about the baby

I wrote a whole post last night about how we've decided to let Baby Girl cry it out at bedtime. For a few minutes, I even made the post public. But after reading it over, I felt like it was a tad too personal for this public forum. I don't mind talking about the events going on in our lives, but the post was really about all of our convoluted feelings and the inner turmoil of making this decision, and I didn't/don't feel like making those intimate thoughts so broadly known. So I'll boil it down: We decided it's time to let Baby Girl "cry it out" at bedtime. I wasn't sure if I was ready for this step, and I have a lot of mixed (mostly bad) feelings about it, but two things happened that changed my mind...

(1) I talked to a co-worker who shared her experience with her first daughter (now 3 years old). They didn't want to let her "cry it out" so they continued to nurse/rock/cuddle/etc. their daughter to sleep until she was 18 months old. She was a terrible sleeper and never, ever went to bed on her own. They finally decided it was finally time for her to learn to put herself to sleep, and apparently the first night it took her five hours (FIVE!) to go down. Because she could talk, she was screaming mommy and daddy and saying things like, "I need you!" Ohhhh that sounds like torture. (They started "sleep training" their second daughter at about 8 or 9 months -- she's now 18 months and a very good sleeper. Puts herself to bed, and stays asleep at night.)

(2) We had a long week of poor sleep. The pediatrician said that Baby Girl will sleep better after she learns to put herself to sleep, and frankly, we all need to sleep better. I can't keep doing this up-and-down for two hours every evening, get nothing done, up-and-down three times a night, exhausted and cranky during the day routine. Ugh.

Thus yesterday (Friday) night was long and difficult. But for all of my bad, sad, worried feelings, I also felt very strongly that it was the right thing to do. I felt comfort from the Holy Spirit that it was okay, and the right decision. (I'm not trying to speak for anyone else here or tell anyone how to do things -- this is just my experience, my perspective.) Tonight she fell asleep faster than she did yesterday, and she has stayed asleep.
I'll report more when there's more to say; I hope by next weekend's post I'll be able to report tearless bedtimes and long stretches of sleep.

So, what else is new with the baby? Glad you asked...

We finally got a high chair. (I say we, but really this is one of those things -- both the final decision and the delay -- that is all on me.) It is just plain ridiculous how long it took to finally make up my mind and buy one. We had Baby Girl in her Bumbo on the dinner table for ages. We ended up getting a space-saver high chair. Specifically, it's this one:

I saw it last year (on Amazon -- I love Amazon!) and wanted to get it, but balked at the cost. Turns out that high chairs are expensive. When the new year came, the above chair disappeared from Amazon. Apparently it was a 2011 model and it looked like they weren't going to make it in 2012. Three months went by and suddenly, when I was checking my Amazon wish list one afternoon, there it was! And for $4 less than it cost  in December. What's more, I got to see one of the space saver chairs up close while visiting a good friend from church. Baby Girl got to test out the high chair and seemed to like it.

My one complaint is that the padding is not very fluffy. My friend's chair has cushy, thick pads on it. This one has a very thin pad. But on the bright side, this pad is very easy to remove and wash. It would also be very easy to replicate the pattern and make my own pad (which I'll want to do it we have a boy sometime).

Speaking of the need to buy expensive things: Stage 2 car seats. Oh my gosh. How could my baby be big enough to need a new carseat already?! She's still within the weight restrictions (she's just over 21 pounds and they go up to 30) but she is maxing out the height restriction (28 of 29 inches). So now we have to research and shop around for a new car seat. I was chatting with a new-parent co-worker this week and they just got a stage 2 seat. He argued that they should have picked up a stage 2 seat in the beginning -- gotten the kind that goes from 5 to 100 pounds (like an Alpha Omega). Then he wouldn't need to buy two. I reminded him that they're going to have another kid at some point, and Baby 1 will be using the Stage 2 car seat, so Baby 2 will need the infant car seat. Point to me. :)

Anyway, all of that is to say, yowza. I can't believe it's nearly time to upgrade.

Another recent upgrade (does this list ever end?!) was in baby-wearing gear. For many months now we've been using and loving the Baby Bjorn. Actually, I should rephrase. Somewhere around 17 pounds, Baby Girl got a little bit too heavy for me to wear in the Bjorn. Nate has forged ahead, but she wears him out -- ha, ha -- pretty quickly. There's still a big need for baby-wearing in our house, however; we're very active people. So I started asking around about baby backpacks and learned that the Ergo is a good choice. I borrow one from that same recent-parent co-worker/friend, and we like it. We ordered one from REI. It's on backorder -- should be here in another week or two. I got the really cute one with stars on it, oh yeah!

In the meantime, we have a Snugli "Serenade" baby backpack. (I tried to find a picture online but it looks like they stopped making the Serenade, and their current products look a lot different from the one we were given.) It's not a very good backpack -- puts all of baby's weight on the shoulders -- but it gets my hands free and that's important. Today I used it while doing some shoveling in the backyard. Oh, it was such a help! Then Nate came out and set up our 2-man tent and brought a basket of toys, so Baby Girl crawled around in there for an hour and we talked to her while we did yard work.

Baby Girl discovered her "mmmmmm"s this week. On Wednesday afternoon she suddenly started saying "ma ma ma ma ma ma ma". Oh man, even though she doesn't know what she's saying and isn't calling me mama or anything, it still gives me such a thrill! Really warms my heart. Unfortunately "ma ma ma" is her preferred sound for expressing frustration. So if I leave her in her high chair too long or is she gets tired and cranky, she'll start throwing out very aggressive "ma ma ma ma ma"s.

This paragraph is going to be about poop. If you don't want to read about baby poop (mom), skip to the next paragraph. I'm sure my other new-mother friends (Amy, you especially; and Anne and Kimmy) will totally understand the reason I am talking about poop. Every little noise and bodily function is fascinating and significant to me! I'm mom! I made all of those little parts that do all of those little things, and they are taking new directions of their own accord! It's amazing!!! Darling's poops have become much more like real poop. It's gross, but exciting. Seriously, her little poops are really little turds now, not just massive diarrhea splashes. This means her diapers are actually easier to change, so long as it's not a big poop and I catch it soon enough. (If she's had time to squirm around, well... you can imagine.) But the downside is that, oh my gosh, they stink! They smell like real, grown-up poops. Yuck. When does potty training start? Do I have to wait until she can walk? Ha. :)

Hmm. I just looked at the clock and it's well past nine. I don't want to wrap it up (I didn't talk about elephant hunts or the importance of calcium or any of the non-baby things on my list!) but I really should call it a night. So I will save the other items for another post... probably next weekend. In the meantime, have a good one, and stay safe!