Here's the rundown:
Lane's first beater after making cookie dough.
Pretty cookies!
Potty Training: A few weeks ago Lane started expressing interest in her potty, so we gave it a go with letting her run around pants-less. She hasn't had any accidents in about two weeks if she's bare-bottomed. If she's wearing pants (we don't have any "big girl panties" yet)...well, accidents have been known to happen. But still, we're down to only two diapers a day (one at nap time, one at night) unless we're out and about. And that makes my mama heart happy, too.
Snow, snow, and more snow: Enough said.
Gotta love all the snow, even if it's not really sticking. It's looked like a snow globe in Istanbul for over a week now!
Babywise: We followed Babywise loosely with Lane after she was about six weeks old (I'd never heard of it before then). I was a big fan of the eat, play, sleep routine mentioned in the book, and found lots of good principles (like to let a baby try to fall back asleep if they wake up 45 minutes into a nap because that's how sleep cycles work). But I think that starting so late didn't really help Lane sleep through the night, as I distinctly remember her being five, six, and even eight months old and still not sleeping longer than 7-8 hours (10-5...yuck) without eating. So we started early with Noel, working on getting her to stay awake for a few minutes after eating, encouraging her to take a full feeding, and eating every 2.5-3 hours in those early weeks. I'd let her cry herself to sleep if I knew she was tired (after those first 2-3 weeks). Now, at almost two months old, she is sleeping 7-9 hours straight at nighttime. (Unfortunately she likes to sleep 6 p.m. to 1, 2, or 3 a.m. Any ideas on how to move her schedule a bit later?) She rarely cries herself to sleep, but falls asleep on her own in her bed for most naps (sometimes a mama's just got to hold or rock her baby to sleep no matter what the book says...she's just so cuddly!) and always for bedtime. She's eating well, gaining well, and overall happy. At two months in, I can say I'm a big fan of Babywise, thus far. I'm not exhausted, and my body is happy.
She's so snuggly and cuddly!
Cloth Diapering: has been put on hold. Little Noel is still too small for our cloth diapers and leaks out of them, even though she's over eight pounds (the minimum suggested weight for using them). And since Lane is only using two diapers a day, and we've always put her in a disposable overnight anyways, it doesn't seem cost-efficient (or time-efficient, for that matter) to wash a load of 3-4 cloth diapers twice a week. So, less laundry for me to remember to wash, hang, and fold. And guess what? It makes my already-too-busy-self happy.
Fenugreek: Ever heard of this herb? I'd heard of it before but had never needed it. Well, back when I was pregnant I heard a friend mention that you could buy it here (who knew?), and when we came back from Antalya a month ago, exhausted, sick, and stressed, I noticed my milk supply rapidly decreasing. I wanted to be able to pump some to start getting Noel used to taking a bottle but just didn't have enough. So I started taking one teaspoon in juice twice a day and noticed a considerable difference. I ran out early last week (right in time for Noel's growth spurt) and once again noticed my supply dropping. So a friend picked some up for me and within a day my supply was back up. All that to say...seriously, try the stuff if you're a nursing mom (especially a busy, tired, or stressed nursing mom!). I don't know how much it costs in the States, but here I can buy 100 grams for 2 lira (that's a rate of about 4 oz for $1.30 or so). That's a price that makes me...guess what? Happy.
Stir one teaspoon of this into about one ounce of juice and down it (yeah...it's pretty nasty. It doesn't dissolve, so it's a bit like drinking dirt in juice). An easy way to increase your milk supply.
Tattoos: My mom sent Lane some temporary Christmas tattoos. So I gave her one of a star and one of a reindeer, and now my 2-year old knows the word "datdoo." I'm such a cool mom. Or a bad mom. I can't decide which.
Flowers: Sunday was a gorgeous day (we got two extremely nice days in between all the snow from last week and all the snow this week) so we went to the Sunday Bazaar as a family. Shannon bought me flowers on the way home.
And these...these flowers make my home happy.
In short...it's been a happy (although busy) kind of a week!
Babywise! Love that book! You might try waking Noel before you go to bed and feeding her again. Our last feeding was around 10pm when Mabel Jo was that old. Once she was sleeping consistently until 6am from 10pm then we s.l.o.w.l.y. moved that last feeding up to our desired bedtime for her. I did not like that last feeding, but a babywise friend really encouraged me that it would make the difference in her being able to go the 12 hour nights. It worked for us:)
ReplyDeleteLove "datdoo" Definitely cool mom points :D And I love hearing about such happy stuff from you!!! It encourages me to look around me and do the same.
ReplyDeleteYay for one vote for "cool mom!"
DeleteI had a lot of catching up to do! I like your apartment. :) And I am so impressed with Lane's potty training--yay! We did Babywise (mostly) with all 3 girls. Have you tried waking Noel up around 9 or 10 and feeding her, then putting her back to bed? She sure does look cuddly. Cuddle them both for me!
ReplyDeleteI started doing Babywise with Levi before we even left the hospital and I love it. I agree with your friends about waking Noel before you go to bed to feed her. Levi's bedtime has been 8:00 pm ever since he came home from the hospital, and for the first six months of his life I always woke him around 10:00 or 11:00 to feed him before going to bed. Yes, it meant I had to stay up later, but it also meant he slept until 8:00 every morning. When he started solids I dropped it cold turkey and he never missed it. He has been sleeping 8 pm to 8 am since about 11 weeks. I also have to say that for the first 4 months I totally rocked Levi to sleep for naps despite what Babywise said. Actually, the first time I read that book, when I got to the part where he said to not rock your baby to sleep I got mad and tossed the book to the side. But I decided to give it another chance and only follow the stuff I liked and it has worked just fine. Since 4 months Levi has had no trouble putting himself to sleep on his own for all naps and at night. I love just laying him in the crib, giving his blankie and leaving! Cuddle that sweet girl as much as you can, I say! :-)
ReplyDelete