Can time please just slow down?? As I was rocking my baby to sleep for the third time last night, I got a little emotional thinking about how fast she’s growing up! I just want to freeze time and keep her this little forever with her perfectly chubby rolls and adorably innocent smile, but yet I still get so excited thinking about the next stages – sitting up, talking, walking …
Rewarding Moments this Month: Isla is ON. THE. MOVE. She rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls, all day, every day (and night) – on the floor, during diaper changes, while she’s sleeping (more on that in a bit). She desperately wants to crawl but just can’t quite get her arms and legs to coordinate motions. She does manage to army crawl across the room toward an object if it interests her enough. We are going to need to baby proof the house soon!
Isla is really starting to take an interest in her puppies and smiles at them while they play. Sometime I think she believes she’s a dog, too. I’ve caught her panting and trying to lick the dogs after they kiss her.
She is just so fun to interact with! Little Miss lights up when her daddy comes home from work and seems to really “listen” to us when we talk to her. Her smiles and giggles are the best sights/sounds in the world!
Challenges: SLEEP. We are really struggling. I’m realizing that we’ve established some bad habits like rocking and feeding to sleep and now Isla is lacking self-soothing techniques. It hasn’t really been an issue before because she slept in her swaddle and then her Merlin’s sleep suit, which both constricted her movement at night. Now that she’s rolling and sleeps in a sleep sack, she wants to roll in her sleep, too. She wakes herself up every time she rolls to her stomach at night, which is every 45 minutes after bedtime (8:00) until she’s so exhausted she sleeps the rest of the night from about 12-7 A.M. Naps are a huge struggle, too, for this very same reason. She hasn’t napped for longer than 45 minutes in quite awhile and it usually takes that same amount of time just to get her down for a nap in the first place. We’re working on establishing more of a nap and bedtime routine and allowing her some time to self-soothe, even if it means fussing for a few minutes.
In case you missed Friday’s post, read more about Isla’s first airplane ride here. I think I’d categorize it under the “challenges.” 🙂
Despite the challenges, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our little girl and thank God for the opportunity to be her parents. We wouldn’t trade this parenting gig for the world!
Please leave me any and all sleeping tips you have. Or if you want to come hang out at midnight (and 2, and 4 and 6), I’d welcome that as well. 🙂
XOXO, Jenna
My son is 3 months old and we are struggling with sleep. He never really slept through the night, but now we are lucky if he sleeps 3 hours at a time. He’s still swaddled, although now we are trying 1 arm out. We are exhausted!
Oh my goodness, I’m sure you are tired! I am really not the one to give advice, but have you tried a white noise machine and/or a fan at night? They have seemed to help! I have also heard from many moms how important a nap time and nighttime routine is. We’ve been trying bath (not every night though), change into PJS, read a story or two and rock or feed. If it has been a particularly over-stimulating day, I take her into her room 15 min or so before we start the routine to calm down and play a little. We also tried Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit (available on Amazon) after she could break out of the swaddle and roll. Isla slept great in it if you’re looking to try something new! I’ll be praying for you, mama!