Hello, dear readers! I know it’s been too long since my last post. I’ve had lots of thoughts and post ideas percolating in my head, and not enough time/energy to get them down — I was going to say “on paper,” but I guess “on screen” is more accurate!
Before I dive into my more substantive posts, a quick update on what’s been going on over here at Loving Lucy. Hubs’ parents visited this weekend and we had a lovely time. Lucy has been showing off some new skills, including increased comfort with tummy time and an ability to grab onto toys with both hands and move them around.
We also visited the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA, which I found extremely cool. I admit. though, that I was relieved when Lucy slept through most of the visit. I found myself preoccupied with whether she’d see something bizarre that would then be burned into her subconscious and give her nightmares for the rest of her life. (Is that even a thing at this age? Better safe than sorry, I guess.)
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
And in what is probably the most exciting news for this mama, Lucy has become even more of a champion sleeper. A couple of weeks ago, at the urging of my Mommy & Me instructors, we initiated a bedtime routine. Before that, I admit that we hadn’t had much of a routine at all. When bedtime approached, we went from having Lucy with us in the living room while we watched TV and played with her, to moving her to her bassinet when we were ready to retire to the bedroom and expecting her to go right to sleep. As a result, her bedtime was late (9:00 or 10:00 pm) and it sometimes took a long time of Lucy whimpering and us retrieving her dropped binky before she’d finally go to sleep.
Now, the routine is bottle, bath (or at least wiping down with warm washcloths), PJs, sometimes more bottle, some snuggling/rocking, and bed. In the beginning, this entire process could take up to 2 hours (including a lot of screaming and crying), and I was on the verge of giving up and thinking that maybe we were trying to make her bedtime too early. But now that we are settled in the routine, I am a total convert. We try to start the routine between 7:00 and 7:30 pm, and she is asleep between 7:30 and 8:30 pm. Ideally it will eventually be consistently on the earlier side of that time frame (or even earlier), but we are definitely making progress. Some nights I end up having to rock her to sleep or at least rock her until she calms down enough (despite the top sleep tip from Mommy & Me being “DO NOT ROCK YOUR CHILD TO SLEEP!”) but it only takes 10-15 minutes max. Plus, while I understand why you don’t want to set a precedent and end up having to rock your 5-year-old to sleep, my feeling is that they are little for such a relatively short period of time, and I want to get my baby snuggles while I can. I may or may not tell my instructor that part…..shhh.
Anyway, once she is asleep, most nights Lucy is sleeping 10-11 hours straight! And because she is well-rested and the timing of her sleep is better, she is now putting up much less of a fight at naptime. This also means she is mostly extremely calm and happy during the day. (She’s always been a pretty easy baby but a few weeks ago we had several days of her being a fussy bunny. That has passed, at least for now!)
Speaking of the little bean, she is waking up from her (2.5 hour!) morning nap now. More to come this week on the Marissa Mayer controversy, my own struggles re work/life, and my admittedly bad tendency to be a Judgy McJudgerson. Stay tuned!
Loving Lucy 