If husband had a parasite this big he'd be in the hospital!

Today LM is 7 months old. It's amazing how they grow so fast and you don't even notice (except the crippling back arthritis that has set in) until you look back at old pictures.

Anyway, We have been working on LM's sleeping lately (As in she doesn't and I would like her to) and it is wearing me out man! We were co-sleeping and it was fine except I wasn't sleeping much (which was the point of the co-sleeping). LM was still waking up 3-4 times per night to eat, etc. So I decided something had to be done. The wee one has too much control of this situation and I have to take back the night as it were.

We aren't doing the cry-it-out thing for 2 reasons: 1. I don't know that agree with allowing children to cry like that (but if it works for you go for it-not going to start a sleep-training war here) and 2. We live in a 550ft. studio so we can't just shut the door and walk away pretending we don't hear her....she's like 8 feet from us. plus she knows we are there and she is not fooled into thinking that she is alone.

So we have begun Operation "sleep dammit!"

Phase one - Ritual behavior: Every night we do the same things to get ready for sleepy time. We eat, then we take a bath, then we read a story, sometimes she breastfeeds to relax, and then we sit quietly until LM gives up and goes to sleep on my shoulder. So far so good on this front!

Phase two - remove multiple night feedings. Now when she wakes up (and she still does every 2-4 hours because she thinks it's fun to kill me slowly from sleep deprivation) I rock her back to sleep. I have left in 1 night time feeding around 2am that will eventually be removed....baby steps people, baby steps.

So Phase one is a success. Phase two still has yet to really work, but I am hoping that soon she will only wake up once and then not at all. But knowing LM (she's awful persistent) it could be a while.

When you have kids it is all of a sudden perfectly ok for other people to criticize everything you do because they know everything because they also had a kid......yay for you!

SO the consensus around guru's office was again that LM wasn't eating enough and if I would just give her cereal (which is heavier, which we don't give her - I just don't, deal!) she would sleep through the night. I told them that they underestimate LM's resolve, but they insisted on pretending that I was not only the first mother in the world to not give their baby cereal(because "it's really healthy for them"), but also the stupidest person ever. Trust me, you can only take so much beating with the pushy advice stick before you cave.

"Fine!" I said. I will mix some cereal into her food and we will see.

Suffice to say...uh, she still woke up 3 times that night. Proving my point that not only am I not starving my baby, but she wakes up for comfort and not necessarily food....but what do I know, I am only her mother right!

Glory be to the sleep gods!!

Miracle of miracles, the little monster slept all the way through the night last night...I would like to say that it was a great night of sleep for me, but instead I was waking up every couple hours confused and startled because she wasn't in the bed. But it was nice to wake up and be able to roll over and go back to sleep in any position I wanted without rolling on the baby.

Lets hope this continues.

According to the guru (if you don't know to what I am referring check out this post. and this one.) LM is too old not to be sleeping through the night....uh, she's 6 months old guru! "Yeah, I was very strict with my kids. I would put them in their beds and walk away!"

That would be nice, but I don't have anywhere to walk away to...I live in a 550 sq. foot studio. (In my head) And I don't parent that way. and I'm not taking parenting advice from someone who fed infants jello!

"Well you just aren't feeding her enough."

She eats all the time. We feed her whenever she is hungry.

"Well she needs more food. Not just milk"

SHE'S 6 MONTHS OLD!!!! Babies can live on breast milk alone for a year. If only the cave women had had jello...everything would have been much better.

Breeding and Baby's first, uh....jello?

Discussions turn - as they always do - to if/when we are going to have another kid. Personally I would like to wait until the one I haev is done breastfeeding before I pop out another crotch fruit, but that is just me. So the other day I was having this conversation with "nutrition guru" from this post and it went something like this:

Me: I just can't imagine taking care of an infant while trying to deal with a two year old! Babies need so much of your attention.

Guru: Well, you just don't hold the second one as much....or play with it or anything....

Me: (In my head) Great, so I can have a second kid so I can ignore it! (Out loud) Right!

That Guru, she is just a wealth of knowledge. Most recently she suggested that LM's first food should be jello because it is easy for the to eat and melts in their mouth. Awesome! I was just thinking that my so far completely natural babies first food should be pure sugar and gelatin....

Conversation I had today:

me: "Little Monster had her first real food yesterday. we gave her sweet potatoes and she really liked it."

woman at work: "why didn't you give her cereal? It has vitamins in it and babies like it (not a question...an accusation)."

me: "real food has vitamins too and LM really liked her sweet potatoes."

w.a.w: "Why didn't you give her cereal? Everybody starts with cereal."

Me (in my head): of course I should always do what the general public does....that's never backfired. Next week we're giving her avocados, so there. (out loud): "Anyway...wanna see a picture?"

Gotta love unsolicited advice/opinions.