Piggysnoot

Dear Nora,

Caution: This post contains a partial shot of your Mommy’s boobie. The photo is just beautiful…and was, of course, taken by your Daddy while you were eating. I know this isn’t the first time you’ve seen Mommy’s boobie…but it is the first time the Internet has seen Mommy’s boobie…at least the first time they’ve seen it for free…

Daytime is for playtime. That’s what I’ve been telling you all this week because it became apparent that you had nights and days mixed up. You would sleep five or six hours at a time during the day…only to spend a few hours a night crying because you didn’t want to be in bed. I remembered reading the Baby Whisperer book and set out at the beginning of this week determined to get you on a schedule…whether you were going to cooperate or not. At first you definitely did not jump on board…but amazingly enough it only took a few days and things are going much better now.

I must admit, it took diligence on my part to get this schedule thing working. On the nights that you cried from 4-7 am it was tempting to let you sleep the morning away…so that I could do the same. On those days, I donned my Good Mommy hat and woke you up at your regular morning time…and woke you up 2 1/2 hours later. This seemed to show you pretty quickly that the daytime is for being awake, and you had the day schedule down in no time. Now I wake you in the morning…you eat…we play…and you go down for a nap…usually with minimal fussing.

The night time routine was a little more difficult if only because it forces your Daddy and I to be home and ready to get things started by 8:30. There were a few days that we were out and couldn’t get you started on bedtime…I’m pretty sure this is why you didn’t get bedtime right away. Amazingly enough, though, three or four nights of doing the routine and you now go to sleep within twenty minutes of being put down. So every night you take a Daddy Bath around 8:30…then you get in a last minute snack…Daddy reads you the animal sounds book (that you love)…we tuck you in and turn off the lights…and we read the Snuggle Puppy book. This has been working so well I almost feel like we’re waiting for the night that you scream for hours…just to show us who’s really in charge, here.

We had to take you to the Children’s Hospital this week to have blood drawn. Hopefully we’ll have the results back by the beginning of next week. We’re trying to get the official word about a suspected genetic problem. The doctor we met this week says he’s pretty sure you’re a carrier for this disease called galastosemia…apparently the screening tests they do are so sensitive that they pick up carriers, too. He said you look healthy and are responding to stimuli and progressing like you should be. This will just determine for sure what exactly is going on.

I feel like this week has been such a success! Daddy and I are getting better sleep because we’ve got your night time schedule working so well. I still have to wake you during the day…I’m pretty sure if I don’t, you’ll revert to being mixed up…so I’m fine with having to wake you if it means I can get a decent amount of sleep at night! This whole schedule thing has made all the difference in our days. You like to play and swing…you nap when you should…I feel like a rock star, Baby Girl!

Another thing we’ve noticed is that you are positively mesmerized by your hand…specifically your thumb and first finger on your right hand. One day this week I thought you had been asleep for an hour…I went to check on you and you were wide awake just looking at your hand. You study your thumb and first finger like you’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on. You will lay there making a pinching motion and be content as can be for quite a while. It’s so awesome to watch you as you have that look of recognition as you see your hand come into view…and then as this look changes to extreme concentration…it’s a very cool thing to see. You amaze me more and more each day…

Love,
Mommy