Bliss
OMG. I can hardly believe it, but as I write this, TerraDactyl is... sleeping. On her own! She's in her cradle thingie. She was sleeping, then she woke up and was just messing around. When she started getting upset, DH started the vibrate function and then she fell asleep! TerraDactyl does not do spontaneous naps unless they are on a warm body! This is HUGE! She's been unattached to us for more than 20 minutes!! Can you tell I'm super excited about this development? :) This is even more exciting than you realize because we've been trying to get her to like this cradle for WEEKS. She's OK in it for a few minutes and then she's done. Not today!
OK, OK, on to the pictures. I've got a bunch today. Here's a great post-bath picture of TerraDactyl in her adorable rabbit towel:
TerraDactyl really seems to enjoy baths. Not showers! Being sprayed with water is right out. But gentle dripping is great. And kicking the water? That's awesome.
Remember how I mentioned TerraDactyl seemed to dislike the warm weather yesterday? Well, DH is not used to having a loud, vocal family like I am. So he had to figure out a way to handle the sheer volume of upset. (See what I did there?).
He's a very clever man. Those aren't even headphones. They're better. They're gun ear protection. So they're designed (by Browning, if you were wondering) to block ear damaging noises.
Yesterday was also the first day we decided to try out the bassinet. My surgical site is bothering me less, so I've got good range of motion and can sleep on either side. Leaning over the side of the bassinet to lay down or pick up a baby is do-able. ...And I'm less paranoid that my baby will randomly stop breathing, so I can sleep with my head farther than 4 inches away from hers. Initial trials looked like this:
This is me timing the picture for when TerraDactyl is taking a breath instead of screaming. She almost looks happy. And her face is less red. The bassinet trials... did not start well. We tried all day to get her to sleep there. She was having trouble sleeping anyways and adding in the bassinet did not help things. But then, DH came home from Target with this:
This is a Swaddle Up by Love to Dream. The idea is that babies prefer to sleep with their arms up by their heads. They like to suck on hands. They like to rub their cheeks and ears. This allows them to do that without scratching themselves all to heck AND it does restrict their motion enough to keep them from whacking their face and startling themselves awake.
Keep in mind that this is only after 12 hours of owning this thing, but my initial reaction is... Thank you Australia for this wonderful invention! TerraDactyl and I both loved it!
The Swaddle Up made it easier to get TerraDactyl to fall asleep, and it made for faster diaper changes in the middle of the night because I didn't have to re-swaddle her. Part of our success might have been that we've cooled our house off a bit. We also added the bassinet variable in there. That's right, TerraDactyl spent the whole night in the bassinet. DH and I were not being good scientists because we changed so many variables at once, but when you're trying to make a crying baby sleep, it's hard to be a patient experimenter.
It wasn't ALL rainbows and puppies. TerraDactyl was a bit more restless in her sleeping. She kicked her legs and made more dinosaur noises than normal. But she was asleep for that. It woke me up more during the night, but I still ended up feeling more refreshed in the morning. That was probably because with TerraDactyl in the bassinet I just sat up cross legged and held her in bed to nurse. She'd fall asleep after 6 minutes of nursing or so and then I'd put her back in the bassinet and I could go back to sleep. Usually we'd get up and go to the nursery and sit in the rocking chair for at least 30 minutes for her to nurse and fall back asleep. So overall, I think I got more sleep this way. I'm definitely going to give it another try tonight.
OK, OK, on to the pictures. I've got a bunch today. Here's a great post-bath picture of TerraDactyl in her adorable rabbit towel:
 |
| Baths are great! |
TerraDactyl really seems to enjoy baths. Not showers! Being sprayed with water is right out. But gentle dripping is great. And kicking the water? That's awesome.
Remember how I mentioned TerraDactyl seemed to dislike the warm weather yesterday? Well, DH is not used to having a loud, vocal family like I am. So he had to figure out a way to handle the sheer volume of upset. (See what I did there?).
 |
| Physicists are problem solvers |
He's a very clever man. Those aren't even headphones. They're better. They're gun ear protection. So they're designed (by Browning, if you were wondering) to block ear damaging noises.
Yesterday was also the first day we decided to try out the bassinet. My surgical site is bothering me less, so I've got good range of motion and can sleep on either side. Leaning over the side of the bassinet to lay down or pick up a baby is do-able. ...And I'm less paranoid that my baby will randomly stop breathing, so I can sleep with my head farther than 4 inches away from hers. Initial trials looked like this:
 |
| You want me to sleep where?? |
This is me timing the picture for when TerraDactyl is taking a breath instead of screaming. She almost looks happy. And her face is less red. The bassinet trials... did not start well. We tried all day to get her to sleep there. She was having trouble sleeping anyways and adding in the bassinet did not help things. But then, DH came home from Target with this:
 |
| Yes, that's my baby and not a promotional picture! |
This is a Swaddle Up by Love to Dream. The idea is that babies prefer to sleep with their arms up by their heads. They like to suck on hands. They like to rub their cheeks and ears. This allows them to do that without scratching themselves all to heck AND it does restrict their motion enough to keep them from whacking their face and startling themselves awake.
Keep in mind that this is only after 12 hours of owning this thing, but my initial reaction is... Thank you Australia for this wonderful invention! TerraDactyl and I both loved it!
 |
| This is how TerraDactyl woke up this morning!! |
The Swaddle Up made it easier to get TerraDactyl to fall asleep, and it made for faster diaper changes in the middle of the night because I didn't have to re-swaddle her. Part of our success might have been that we've cooled our house off a bit. We also added the bassinet variable in there. That's right, TerraDactyl spent the whole night in the bassinet. DH and I were not being good scientists because we changed so many variables at once, but when you're trying to make a crying baby sleep, it's hard to be a patient experimenter.
It wasn't ALL rainbows and puppies. TerraDactyl was a bit more restless in her sleeping. She kicked her legs and made more dinosaur noises than normal. But she was asleep for that. It woke me up more during the night, but I still ended up feeling more refreshed in the morning. That was probably because with TerraDactyl in the bassinet I just sat up cross legged and held her in bed to nurse. She'd fall asleep after 6 minutes of nursing or so and then I'd put her back in the bassinet and I could go back to sleep. Usually we'd get up and go to the nursery and sit in the rocking chair for at least 30 minutes for her to nurse and fall back asleep. So overall, I think I got more sleep this way. I'm definitely going to give it another try tonight.
 |
| One million dollars you say? |
This picture cracks me up. TerraDactyl totally reminds me of Dr. Evil. She's got really impressive eyebrow control. I had to practice that one eyebrow lift.
Wow. That was a really long post. And it's happening before noon! All because TerraDactyl is STILL asleep. It's been over an hour in her cradle!
Ha, love that Dr. E!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you have your hands back to yourself for more than just a few minutes at a time. One whole hour, congrats! Keep on keeping on Ma Lawrence and I'll see ya at the beach in a couple short weeks.