After having a baby, it's unbelievable how time ceases to function as it did before. The first month felt like one continuous day, broken up into very small intervals. At times it felt depressingly like a terrible cycle of sleep deprivation with no relief in sight. But somehow, near the one month mark, things improved drastically. The same schedule that felt constraining a few days ago suddenly feels normal and comfortable. And by the way - I highly recommend the book Babywise to any first time parents - it has been an incredibly helpful tool in helping Daniel get on a schedule that's beneficial both to his growth and to his parents' sanity!
Lately, Daniel's cycles are generally as follows: waking up from the nap, eating right away (he's still very passionate about his food :), diaper change, then some play time. Right now he can only stay awake for about 30 minutes of awake time after eating, but we manage to get in some different types of play: tummy time (he actually seems to enjoy this), cuddle time (Mommy's favorite...), funny face time (he just stares at my face for surprisingly long stretches of time!), mirror time (he loves looking at his own face too), reading time (he can tolerate a few minutes of staring at a book or two), and dance time (we just crank the tunes and party away... current favorites are "Creepin on In" - Norah Jones, "Smooth" - Santana/Rob Thomas, "Bananaphone" - Rhonda Vincent, "The Bowling Song" - Asleep at the Wheel, "Miss Mary Mack" - Johnny Bregar, "Cachito" - Mana, and ironically, "Who Needs Sleep" - Barenaked Ladies.
Something else we've done that has been super helpful is to make a bunch of black and white drawings - just sharpie on white computer paper - he loves staring at them! I did all kinds of geometric patterns - think Venn diagrams for newborns :) I read that high contrast is best for him right now, so we taped some in his crib and by his changing table, and sure enough, he loves to focus on them any chance he gets.
These two weeks have been full of lots of "firsts" for Daniel - first tub bath (see picture), first shower, first time to a restaurant, first St. Patrick's Day (making Daniel our family's first Mexican Irishman :). This whole "having a baby" thing is becoming a lot more fun by the day as Daniel's personality starts to take shape. And what's funny is that as he seems to trust us more, we trust ourselves more. It took a few weeks, but now that we can take a deep breath and relax a little, we're finding out that this whole parenting thing is a blast :)
1 comment:
We also use Babywise and our soon to be 4 month old is sleeping 10-12 hours at night. When you are getting enough sleep and the baby is getting enough sleep everyone seems happier. I talk to a lot of parents who are still getting up 2 or more times a night--I always recommend Babywise.
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