Oh, Mr. Sandman...

Let me start by saying - HALLELUIA!!!! It is official. Paige is sleeping through the night. Which really means, MAMA is sleeping through the night! I've waited until a full week passed with successful full-night sleeps to determine that this isn't a fluke. And as we approach the 9th night in a row, I think I'm ready to acknowledge that this is our new reality. YAHOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm back, Mr. Sandman.

I wish I could take credit for getting Paige to sleep through the night, but I'm pretty convinced she did it on her own. Yes, I loosely followed the "Baby Wise" methodology of "eat, awake time, sleep time", but ultimately - I fed Paige on demand, which she decided early on was every 2-3 hours. I did try and keep her awake after feedings, but that was successful about 60% of the time. I think it's true what they say in all the books and magazine articles - babies will sleep through the night when THEY are ready. And each baby is different.

So here's the play-by-play on how it happened on Monday, March 1 - the fateful night I will celebrate annually as "Mama's Day of Rest." My husband had to wake up early the next morning for work, so he asked if I would mind staying up with the Peanut so he could go to bed early. Up until that night, she wouldn't go down until around 11:30 p.m., and sleep 3-4 hours, then wake up around 3:00-ish to eat, and again at 6:30-ish, and finally wake up for the day around 9:00-ish. So I agreed to stay up. Keep in mind, this conversation happened at 9:15 p.m. After Daniel went up to bed, I made Paige a bottle, fed her, and before I knew it she was fast asleep. I thought maybe it was one of her cat-naps, but figured I would try and put her in her crib anyway. I put her down, turned on her "Sleep Sheep" and with fingers crossed, tip-toed out of the room. At around 9:45 p.m., I bee-bopped into the bedroom where Daniel was still awake reading. He said, "Where's the baby?" And with an ear-to-ear grin, I said, "Sleeping!!!" And that was basically it. She slept that night (any every night since) until about 5 a.m. Then she eats, and takes a nap a little while later until around 8:30 a.m. For the past 8 nights, we give the Peanut a bath around 8:30 p.m., put on her PJs, feed her, and she falls asleep at 9:30 pm on the dot. Every night. Not a minute before.

So what do we do now with this new found freedom in the evenings? SLEEP! As soon as she goes down, so do we. And it is ahhhh-mazing. 

Mama Bear Moment

On Sunday I was chatting with a good friend about how we can keep our babies safe from all the bad things in the world. When do you start telling your children about strangers without scaring them? And how do you tell them what constitutes a "bad person" or "bad situation"? Growing up, I remember watching Winnie the Pooh: Don't Talk to Strangers. That seemed to do the job for me! Oprah recently aired two shows about child molesters, and an expert discussed two things you can start telling your children early on. Now, the shows were pretty nauseating to watch (actual child molesters discussed how they first manipulated and then molested their victims), but the two nuggets of info have stuck with me:

1. Adults don't ask children for help (i.e. "Can you help me find my lost puppy?")
2. Adults don't keep secrets with children (i.e. "This is our secret. Don't tell your mommy or daddy.")

I thought these were very interesting points, and something that children can comprehend early on. The expert - who I believe was with the FBI - said this helps children recognize a potentially bad situation. He said the truth of the matter is, the majority of crimes against children aren't carried out by a "stranger hiding in the bushes". It's by someone they may know or are familiar with. The adage "Don't talk to Strangers" doesn't really work anymore. There needs to be more to the conversation.

Just thought I would share for all the Mama Bears out there : )

Keeping Mama's Mind Sharp

Goo goo, ga ah ah ah oooooo, poopy, poopy poo! Translation: This Mama talks a lot of baby talk! : )

One of my besties introduced me to a new iPhone app that is helping me keep my mind from turning into steamed squash. It's called "Words With Friends". Basically, its like Scrabble. And I LOVE it! You can play multiple games at the same time with multiple people. Very fun and totally addicting. I don't know if non-iPhone users can also download it and play, but if you happen to have an iPhone, search my username (which of course is sweetleighmama) and let's start up a game!

Just a word of warning - In 2001 I was officially banned from playing a similar-type of game, Catch Phrase, after one fateful night in college when in trying to get my friends to say the word "Pine Tree", I used the descriptor "coniferous". Ummm.. how else do you describe a PINE TREE without saying the words TREE or PINECONE? I thought it was genius (and by genius I really mean that I must have just learned the word in my biology class earlier that day). My friends did not agree. So if we are playing "Words with Friends" and I throw out a strange word - just go with it. If you read this blog, then you've probably figured out by now that I can be pretty random. : )