Sleep: The Journey

I drove home from a nice get together with old roommates determined to teach Macy to sleep on her own. I was waivering on letting her cry to sleep...it's just so hard to hear her cry. Well, she cried the entire 30 minutes home and fell asleep nursing when we got back. I figured I would start the next day. She woke up after sleeping 30 minutes, I went in and tried to rock her back to sleep...didn't work. I gave up, laid her down and let her cry herself to sleep. It took about 15 minutes. I thought, "Wow, maybe I can do this!"

The next day, I had a lot to get done, so I left Clark to stay with Macy while she cried it out. I got a couple "I hate you" text messages, and when I got back from the grocery store, Macy was sleeping on her daddy's chest. I gave him a scolding for saving her.

I started the routine of singing her "I am a Child of God" and then laying her in her crib. At night I also read her "Good Night Moon."

Macy would scream her head off when I laid her in her crib. She would slobber all over the place and then inhale her slobber and then scream louder. It scared me that she would suffocate on her spit, so I started going in the room after she cried for about 15 minutes and holding her head down and patting her back until she fell asleep. This became routine for the first 2 or 3 days.

I thought that Macy would never get better at falling asleep. I would start crying hearing her cry and it was really hard for Clark and myself. We were both really on edge during this. I prayed over and over that she would just get even a little bit better.

Right after I prayed...Macy started just whining instead of full on screaming. The time of crying went significantly down and she even started taking a pacifier when going to bed.

We have had times where she went to bed with out a single tear or noise and times where she cried for 20-30 minutes before falling asleep. I am so glad that I decided to let Macy cry herself to sleep...it has made for a happier baby and happier and more productive mommy.

4 Months

My little baby is 4 months old! Where has the time gone? They do grow up so fast, it's incredible. I can't believe how much she has grown. I watched her birth yesterday, and I can't believe that the Macy I have now is the Macy in that video...she has just changed so much.

Macy is just becoming so expressive. I can really see her personality shining through.

She is in love with my face. She grabs my mouth any chance she can...she also grabs my eyes and nose.

Macy's favorite thing is to be kissed...she smiles every time. This is also how I get her to laugh.

I kiss her over and over, or I pretend to eat her cheeks or hand.

Macy rolls over from her belly to her back...she doesn't much like this, so she never does it on purpose.

Macy's favorite toy is her froggy...she just stares and stares, tries to eat it, and when I put it far away, she works so hard to get to it.

Macy attacks anything she thinks she can eat...she makes the people at church laugh with this.

Eating time is now Macy's favorite play time. She talks and laughs all when she is supposed to be eating.

Macy's favorite position is standing...I don't know if she will sit before she stands because she never lets me hold her in a sitting position.

Macy is just the sweetest little angel...she can go days without crying. I hear repeatedly from people how chill she is and how they are so surprised that she isn't fussing. I feel so lucky.

Macy now responds to her name. I think she likes it too based on the smile I get when I say Macy.

Macy had her 4 month check up today. She is healthy as can be, and she did much better with her vaccines today. She only cried for a minute and then started sucking away on Mommy. She even gave me a smile. Thank Heaven! Shots make me so sad for the little babies.

The doctor confirmed that Macy is super long and skinny...I have me a little supermodel.

Here are her stats:

-14 lbs. 55%

-26 in 95%

-41 3/4 75%

Sleep: In the Beginning

Macy was born a sleeper. At the hospital, the nurses would have to wake her up in the night so she would eat. After coming home, she had one night of no sleep, but then started sleeping at least 3 hours in between each feeding. At night she would even go 5 or 6 hours almost from the get go.

I figured I had it in the bag...my baby would be the world's best sleeper. She started sleeping 9 and 10 hours in her 2nd month, but then the tables turned. When she was 3 months old, she started not wanting to sleep. She would wake up the moment I put her down. This poses a problem because I needed to get things done...and I was not getting in any better shape sitting down and holding a sleeping baby all day. At night, she would wake up again and again, even if she didn't want to eat, she wanted me to hold her. Every night she ended up in bed with me. I was scared that one day she would suffocate.

I knew it was time to do something about this. I started looking around and asking for advice. People said to let her cry it out...I tried twice and she cried for over an hour each time with out going to bed and of course I went and rescued her. I also would be next to her while she was crying...this probably didn't help.

Nursing her to sleep went on a little while longer, but I knew something needed to change. That's when I met up with an old roommate and friend, Kristen. I asked her about her baby's sleep and she told me about Babywise. The point is to teach your baby to soothe themself. I read a little and realized that I needed to be consistent, and stick to this letting Macy cry it out, and have her cry for naps and not just at night. BIG CHANGE...will it work??? Find out...

3 months and more

I can't seem to move the pictures, so here we go:
Our friends, Mark and Noelle took these pictures of our little family on St. Patty's Day. We have been having so much fun hanging out with them. We eat dinner, play Risk, and watch "How I Met Your Mother". They are so patient with how much I have to feed Macy and try to put her to sleep. It is so fun to have married couples to hang out with that both Clark and I get along with.

Macy is also 3 months...well she is now almost 4 months, but we have been busy and I haven't had time to post.

We went to the doctor to check on macy's head and Torticollis, we are going to the skull doc to make sure no bones have fused.

At the Doctor's office they weighed Macy and she weighed 12 lbs 13 oz, that is only a little over a pound since 2 months. I'm guessing her weight gain will speed up since she has been wanting to eat CONSTANTLY for the past couple of weeks. She doesn't give me a break.

Macy used to be the most wonderful sleeper, sleeping 7-10 hours straight at night, eating a snack and going back down for a couple more hours, but lately she doesn't want to sleep at all. Getting her to take naps is torture, and they almost never last more than an hour. Today she has only taken one 15 minute nap so far. AHHH she needs to sleep. I know she is over tired.

When she does sleep, she talks in her sleep. It is really cute when she coo's. She also has nightmares. She will cry in her sleep without waking up. It makes me so sad and worried that I will cause her to have more nightmares if I let her cry too long.

Macy has rolled from her tummy to her back once. She doesn't enjoy tummy time, so it's hard for me to put her on her tummy all the time.

Macy loves music and she likes to sing along. When I sing to her, she will coo along. She also coo's along with music on the tv or radio.

Macy is afraid of the dark. When we are riding in the car at night, she will cry, but she usually stops when we put on the light.

Macy has a really hard time getting her burps out. She usually wakes up from her naps or in the night because she needs to burp. If anyone has any suggestions for how to help her burp, I will gladly take them. I can't wait til her burps don't wake her up and she can burp on her own.

Macy is very expressive. She loves to talk ALL the time...even when she is eating.

Macy LOVES her fingers. Her hand is always in her mouth. At first it was just her fist, then she stuck one finger in and was choking herself, now she found two fingers to suck on. I'm nervous that she will get buck teeth from this, so I am trying to force the pacifier on her. She just semi started taking the NUK pacifier last night...let's hope it works.

Macy loves to touch my face and look at me...this is a problem when I am trying to feed her and she just wants to interact with me.

Oh how I love my little girl!

SMILE

I finally got a good picture of Macy smiling! She smiles all the time, but whenever I would try to take a picture, she would just stare at the camera in amazement or the delay would miss the smile. Yesterday, we had success. I LOVE it. I love how bright her eyes look and how her eyelashes show and if you look closely, you can see her dimple on her left cheek. LOVE my Macy.

1st time Bumbo-er

We put Macy in her Bumbo seat for the first time yesterday. I wanted to see how she would do and if she would like it. She did ok for a little bit. She wanted to reach for her feet...I think it was the first time that she has actually seen her feet. After a couple minutes, she started to fuss a little, so she was done. I think she will start to like it more and more as she gets bigger and gains more control.

This Makes Me Happy

Macy loves Daddy and Daddy loves Macy!

I came home to this cute scene. Macy loves talking to Daddy.