1
Bad news. I read through an entire book about raising a family cow and have decided that we won't be doing it. At least not until I'm past childbearing years and can really do it right. (Because let's be honest, who would want to get up and milk a cow at the end of the third trimester or after nursing all night long?) I can't tell you how disappointed I am.
2
I can't tell you how relieved my husband is that I got that cow notion out of my head.
3
My husband found the video below (here) a few months ago and showed it to me. We debated whether it was a real baby or just a doll. But ultimately I had to turn it off - I was just too horrified at the sight.
(Hopefully I embedded this right. It was all in Russian... )
Now that Miriam is bigger, I'm able to pull her up by her arms, though, and that video came to mind again. So I thought I'd try to rewatch it. Turns out, I'm still aghast. Especially since it turns out it's real.
4
I was tempted to make all seven of these takes about baby sleep. It's all I've thought about for a few weeks now, since Miriam's decided she'd like to go from waking up 2-3 times a night (which I was fine with) to 4-8 times a night (which I'm less than fine with). But I have been very unimpressed with the several books I have read about the topic so far. So would you mind if I asked you a couple questions?
5
What is your bedtime routine? Or perhaps more specifically, what was it when your child was a baby (approximately 5 months old)? I hear a lot of suggestions for giving a bath every night, which I do think would be a strong association, but my husband and I would rather not do that - it's too much work, especially since it's not like she's crawling through mud and actually needs to be cleaned every single day. We actually think it'd be better for her skin to not be bathed daily. So are there any alternatives to taking a nightly bath? I can't figure out how reading three little board books and saying prayers will amount to the 30 minutes of pre-bed soothing that I keep seeing suggested. What routine works for you?
6
What time do your children go to bed? Or again, more specifically, what time did they go down as babies? I'm thinking 7:00 would be good, but that would mean we'd start soothing her down at 6:30, which my husband thinks is way too early. Plus it's still light out! Right now we have a bedtime of roughly 8:00, but I'm pretty sure she's overtired by then, because she'll just cry in our arms until I nurse her to sleep. Also, if it makes any difference, she usually wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning.
7
It's interesting trying to balance EC with sleeping. I had totally planned not to try to do it at night, but sometimes when Miriam halfway wakes up crying, I know it's because she has to pee. I keep a tupperware container right next to the bed now and will sometimes put her over it; she'll then pee and go right back to sleep. Sometimes. Fascinating.
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Have a great weekend and a happy Mother's Day!