5 months and counting

So I haven't posted a lot and this will be fairly uninteresting, but I thought I'd take a minute to comment on Sam's sleeping. I keep asking my mom questions about when I did what and she says "I dunno, I'd have to look at your baby book" Well, being the bad mom I am, I don't have a baby book for Sam, sooo, I thought I'd post here before I forget.
On sleeping. I remember the first night she went more than 5 hours (or so) was the night after my brother's wedding. She slept straight through 8 hours and I kept checking on her in the last 2 hours to make sure she was ok!! It was a tiring evening for her, so I can imagine she was exhausted! That was at 6-7 weeks of age. The 8 hours didn't happen again for a couple more weeks.
Somewhere between 3-4 months, she started regularly sleeping 8 hours, on occasion 10 hours. Of course, when she went to bed at 7pm, getting up somewhere between 2-5am was still the middle of the night for me. Her pediatrician thought this was great though, so I didn't push to have her sleep 12 hours.
She regressed right after 4 months and started waking up all the time in the middle of the night and needing to be fed at least twice just so she'd go back to sleep. I thought at first it was traveling, then maybe a growth spurt. I think now it was because I had started nursing her to sleep even at nap time (because although she was sleeping well at night, naps weren't going well) Nursing her to sleep got her to take fairly good naps, but I think it messed her up during the night. After 3 weeks of getting up with her 4-6 times and feeding at least twice in the night, we started letting her cry at nap time and I did my best not to let her fall asleep while nursing (during the day) It cured the night time wake ups within a few days. Thank goodness. Because I was so tired and irritated that she was about to be an only child forever.
So at 5 months she made her first real all-nighter by sleeping 12 hours. She has now done this twice, I think and I'm really hoping we're getting closer to this being a regular thing. She takes 2-3 naps during the day, depending on how long they are. Usually she gets pretty fussy by 6pm, but I start cereal then and bath time and nursing and she can usually make it right to 7pm before she falls asleep. I think it has been 2 weeks since she was up past 7:15pm.
Today was beautiful for sleeping. I laid her in bed for nap #1 and she cried a few minutes, I put her paci back in her mouth and she fell asleep. Nap #2 she fussed about 30 seconds and put herself to sleep. And bedtime she was a little awake and fussed once and went to sleep on her own. New trend?? I sure hope so!
Most told me letting them cry it out worked after 3-4 days. I have been doing it somewhat consistantly at nap time and not consistantly at night (because she mostly falls asleep at the end of nursing) for about 3 weeks. This is because I'm a pushover and I don't like her to cry too much. I never let her go the alloted 5 minutes (usually its 2-3 minutes) And she still pretty much needs her pacifier to fall asleep. I also am not a wonderful scheduler and when we're out or we have people over or we're at someone's house....she's a little off and I don't usually let her cry. Or she's so tired watching people in the store that she falls asleep in the car on the way home and the schedule is off.
But what I did worked for me. I don't mind that it has taken 3 weeks for her to fall asleep without crying at all. I like how I did it and it fits my schedule. I hope it starts working more often and she cries less.
We are also (finally) slowly transitioning her to her own room. We tried in the midst of the 3 weeks of wakeful nights and thought that was also a contributing factor. We are being better now and going slowly (nap time but not night time) and I hope that it helps.
I write this all so that I remember for next time that things don't work like a book (unless maybe you are as strict as the book) and that some things do work better than others. I vow not to nurse the next one to sleep (at least not every nap time) and I hope to let them cry a little more than I let Sam cry at first. And the next one will come with their own personality unique with his/her setbacks and wonderful milestones.
I also want to work harder to enjoy every age. Now that Sam is sleeping better, she is so much more joyful during the day, she grins ALL the time and laughs pretty often. She is beautifully and wonderfully made.
Thank you Lord for a gorgeous, joyful daughter!

5 months

Things did get better soon after that post. Then they went a little sour and now they are better again.
We at least have a morning routine. From there its kinda hit and miss. Sam takes 2 or 3 naps a day, at least 45 minutes sometimes as long as 2 hours (those are my lucky days)
She stays entertained alone for a little while and I'm able to get things done around the house and also to sew!
I am trying hard to get a business going. I need to be able to advertise better so I can get customers. But the products are coming and I'm getting to actually use some things myself with Samantha. I'm very excited that I'm working on 2 different quilts. I hope to have them finished soon, especially with my mom in town next week :-)
We've traveled so much of October, I'm sure that's why Sam doesn't have as much of a routine as I'd like. She also slept 12 hours the other night without feeding, but that only happened once. She has often gone 8-10 hours, but since she goes to bed at 7pm, I like the 12 hour stretch the best! I'm hoping that now that we won't be traveling till Christmas (except maaaaybe one weekend) we'll be able to enforce her schedule and she'll get back to that 12 hour night. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll get 8 hours of consecutive sleep. Oh that'll be the day!!

Still crying...

So I heard that around 3 months things are supposed to turn around and babies don't cry as much....
3 months and one week: I'm still waiting.
In fact this past week she's been even worse. Our day is pretty much this: Wake up, eat, happy!, sleep, scream, eat, scream, eat, scream, maybe sleep, scream, eat, scream, eat, scream, sleep.
Ok, those are maybe only the worst days. But still, better days are still not pleasant. It is very wearing.

Diaper Decisions...

So I had recommendations about which brand of diapers to use but in the beginning I thought "Does it really matter?"
Answer: YES
Different kids fit differently, but here is my take.
I have a little girl with (sorry this gets descriptive) runny, explosive bowel movements. Meaning it is very important to have the right diaper fit.
Huggies has one kinda with a little pocket in the back. They're most expensive version, but it held in her poop most of the time. I have really liked Pampers babydry (not the newest swaddlers, meaning they're a little cheaper) but I was still looking for a cheaper version. Its hard to know if store brands will hold up.
Well, I had recommendations to try Targets store brand and never try Walmarts. So I got the Target brand and have been very disappointed. Just about every poop comes out the leg. Somehow it doesn't fit my chubby-theighed, small bottom girl right.
I liked the Albertson's store brand fairly well, however that was just once while visiting my parents, since I don't have one around where I live.
My final conclusion was Luvs. They appear on the inside just like the Pampers BabyDry, but cheaper! The difference is that Pampers seem a little softer on the outside while Luvs have a little bit of a plasitc feel.

I must also say, just keep going up in size! She was leaking through newborn size like a pro. I moved her up to size 1 at 2 weeks and that was probably 1 week too late. She was out of size 1 around 1 1/2 months. However, size 2 have kept her contained for awhile now. And they finally actually fit. Probably about time to move up a size, haha!

Growth Spurt

Sam must be having a growth spurt. Shes about a week and a half from her 3 month mark, so I guess this is it.
She has eaten 5 times already today plus twice in the middle of the night (when she had been down to just once) and its only 4:30. She'll likely eat 2 more times before bed and then middle of the night again (or twice!)

My baby naps!

I gave up on the cry it out because I wasn't ready to do it. But I did discover that my child is sleepy when she's fussy, we can get a routine going and she LOVES her paci.
So she gets fussy, I go through the naptime routine, prop her paci in her mouth and she sleeps in her bed 3-4 naps a day.

And now I can get things done at home!
In fact, by nap #4, sometimes I'm bored :-)

Don't you wish...

Don't you wish that..
*Money really did grow on trees (and that I had a green thumb)
*You always had the right answer
*Children never cried
*Doing the right thing was easy
*Protecting the innocent didn't invade other's freedom