Mads with his horsie rattle from cousin Aoife and Auntie Kristy, and the ever-popular Bear Parade:
Archive for July, 2009
New Toy
Thursday, July 9th, 2009This Week So Far
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009On Sunday, we hung out with our Bear Parade mobile:
Monday was terrific – Mads took a 2 hour nap in the morning, swaddled in his Pack ‘n Play. In the afternoon, we went to visit Dad at work. Mom and some ducks had a pb & j sandwich by a pond in a pretty cemetery by Jon’s work while Dad held Mads.
Monday night was a nightmare. Mads was up 4 or 5 times and silly me, I didn’t go to bed until 10. Usually, I try to catch a nap before bed which sounds like the height of folly out of context, but is really helpful when you know you’re going to be up half the night.
On Tuesday, Mads wouldn’t nap until 2pm. Needless to say, Tuesday is kind of a haze. Auntie Kate came up in the afternoon bearing coffee and 3 cute new outfits (Mads is kind of like the hulk, he keeps bursting out of his clothes).
Today, Mads has been pretty adorable:
After playtime, I tried the Trifecta: swaddling, pacifier and Norah Jones on iTunes. He’s also facing the windows so he can watch the light. The paci fell out awhile ago, but I’ve learned (oh have I learned) that if it falls out and he doesn’t mind, do NOT try to put it back in or you’re just asking for trauma.
So far it’s working, but cross your fingers – a lot of times it’s a fake out.
My mom’s coming up later today to help out so Jon can go to a meeting for webmaster Dads tonight – cool idea organized by @prwood whose baby Esme has just learned how to roll over – we can’t wait until Mads learns this! =)
Swaddling Your Baby – the Human Burrito
Monday, July 6th, 2009Initially, when we got home from the hospital, we tried swaddling. Mads would freak out, scream his head off and make it very clear that tying his arms down was NOT OKAY.
Seven weeks later, Jon ran into one of our neighbors and mentioned how Mads wouldn’t sleep unless he was being held. The neighbor suggested swaddling, and Jon decided to try it. Mom sewed together two little blankets (he’s outgrown all the summer-weight blankets we have) and Jon wrapped up Mads like a little burrito.
Success! It takes some maneuvering: for best results you have to wait until he’s sleepy, wrap him, rock him to sleep and then gently set him down. But, Mads will take a nap or two on his own during the day and he will sleep in his bassinet during the night. (During at least part of the night, that is. Sometimes at 3am it is just not worth attempting Baby Origami and I just let him sleep on my stomach.)
It’s very hard for Mom to put Maddox down when he’s snuggly. Sometimes we don’t make it past the wrap and rock him stage, and we end up sitting together for awhile. Overall, I think letting him nap on his own sometimes will help me to not feel so exhausted all of the time, though, which will make playtime more fun for both Mads and me.
Cross your fingers – right now he’s in between falling asleep and deciding to Houdini his way out of the blankets. Once his arms are free, all hell breaks loose and there’s no way you’re getting him back to sleep.
To wind up, here’s a happy baby for you photo junkies out there. Every morning Mads and I (and Dad if it’s the weekend) play for awhile, and Mads smiles and smiles and tries to giggle. He’s socially smiling now, and will respond to silly voices, Mom and Dad’s faces, and his Bear Parade mobile.
