21 weeks: No. Sleep. Til Brooklyn!

My dear, sweet baby and I have gotten off track somehow. We used to start each day at 7am (and this was when she was two weeks old and getting up every three hours to eat). We'd turn on all the lights, say hello to various rooms and objects around the apartment.

Once Harper started distinguishing day from night and once she started sleeping longer in between night feedings, I think I started to realize just how sleep deprived I was. In the past month, the only thing that has been regular about Harper's day/night routine was that she would wake up at 4 or 5am, eat and want to play which promptly earned her a spot between her dad and me in the big bed and we'd all sleep some more. Dad got up for work at 7:30. Mom got up when Harper got up. (and I think Harper got up when Mom got up)...usually around 9.

I knew this was not the best thing; that she was supposed to be going down for a morning nap around 9 instead of just waking up. Yet at that point, sleep, no matter when it was garnered, was a very welcome thing. Even the Dr. said it was fine. It was like she was taking the morning nap first thing, right?! Well...wrong... She would only nap for an hour (at the longest) twice a day. Which left me with so little time not in mommy-mode (hence the delay in updating this blog). And the effort to try to get her down at night proved that she needed a better schedule. We all did.

So all this week we've been trying to get up by 7am. No matter how the night went before us. Harper would go down around 8a the beginning of the week...by the end it was 9a. Her naps have been longer (well those not disturbed by construction or heat). If she woke up, I'd get her back down is she could. Girl needs her sleep! And I realized it's not HOW she gets the sleep (ie. in her own crib, falling asleep on her own)...it's that she gets it. Period. Be it Bjorn, Stroller, Sling, Bouncing for half an hour, Music, Ocean waves, Air-conditioning (sorry planet, I'm usually nicer to you, but I've got a baby with heat rash who needs to sleep), Fan, Pacifier, Bumper, Lavendar scented pillow...under her legs, Swaddle, No-swaddle, or Cuddling in the big bed...
We'll worry about bad sleeping habits once she's getting good sleep. (New moms: learn from my mistake!) I mean it's great if you can get your kid to sleep on her own, by my kid...she needs help. At least right now. And she's getting it. Even if it kills me.

One of the highlights of this week though: trying solid foods again. After all, who can sleep on an empty stomach.