This baby is wonderful.
This baby is frustrating.
This baby is adorable.
This baby is infuriating.

Everyday is a battle. Has she blown out her diaper? Is she getting tired? Will she last 40min. in the crib? How can one little person be so dang cute? How can one small smile light up the room? How can one tiny baby make it all worth while? But she does.

Sorry for the lack of updates but we’re still working on crib sleeping. Right now, we have her sleeping alone in the crib for a whopping 20 minutes! Don’t laugh. That’s 20 minutes more than she used to. And from what I understand at this age the max is about 45 so I think she’s doing pretty well.

Of course it takes me 45 minutes to get her to sleep so I guess technically I’m in the hole but who’s counting, right?

And in those precious 20 minutes, the priority list looks something like this…

Go to Bathroom
Eat
Change cloths
Brush teeth
Run Laundry
Pay bills
Check email
Blog

So you can see that there isn’t much time to play around on the computer which just kills me because I have so many GREAT Leina stories and no time to write them down! I’m afraid once the baby amnesia hits, I’ll forget them all. Grrrr.

Well, I’ve used up enough of my precious 20 minutes and my bladder is calling but I wanted to add a quick note to let you all know we are still managing. Oh yes, and she is very very cute! (See Ofoto for confirmation!)

Leina went to sleep in the crib without a single cry. It’s a miracle.

I decided I couldn’t do the cry to sleep method. I’m too whimpy. So instead, I tried the Baby Whisperer technique and it worked! Don’t know if it was a fluke or not but tonight, I got her to fall asleep with only a peep. It’s like magic. Now, it’s my turn to crash but I wanted to post my first success.

Yes!

So before my mom leaves, I decided to try the last resort.

Yes, I’ve begun letting Leina cry in the crib.

As many of you know, Leina refuses to nap during the day. My mom didn’t believe me until she came to visit. This kid is on the go from 9am to 9pm with (on a good day) about 1-2 hours of sleep. The rest of the time she is a handful. She gets so tired and fussy and mom gets tired and fussy. So Tutu decided to help me begin crib training since what I was doing before wasn’t working. I’d get her to sleep by nursing, rocking, dancing, walking, and then try and sneak her into the crib. Of course, the phone would ring or the dog would bark and wake her. If I did manage to get her into her bedroom unroused, she’s a smart kid could sense when she was put down and boom – she’d pop up wide awake within minutes of being put down. So no more sneaking. We’re taking a direct attack. Yup, we’re putting her down awake and letting the crying begin.

Well, first we wait until she starts to yawn, rub her eyes, and get fussy. Then we go into the baby’s room and close the blinds. We hold her for about five mintues and rock her quietly just to let her unwind. Then we put her down. Usually, it takes her a few minutes to realize we mean business. She’ll coo and fuss and suck her hands for a while. After a while, the coos get louder and turn into cries that turn into screams. Our current technique is to let her cry for 5 minutes, then pick her up and comfort her. She has 5 minutes of comforting and then back in the crib where she’s left to cry for another 5 minutes. Then we pick her up. We do this over and over and over until she falls asleep. The first time took 47 minutes, the second 43 and this last round took a whopping 50 minutes to get her to sleep. Of course, she only sleep for about 30 minutes in the crib so we’re actually behind but I’m hoping her cry time will slowly decrease and her sleep time increase.

I just hope I can do this after my mom leaves. It totally helps to have someone else tell you “no, you can’t pick her up yet” and “keep on going, we can’t stop know.” Every mommy instict I have says, “your baby is crying, why are you just standing there?!?!” But I’ve tried everything else to get her to nap and this is really my last resort. Tough love, my mom says. According to her, this is how she crib trained both me and my sister. All I can say is thank goodness Leina doesn’t have tears yet. I don’t know if I could handle that!

I’ve decided that all parents get baby amnesia.

As Kevin and I have been learning all about Leina, we’ve often turned to friends and family for advice. For example, we asked around about how to get Leina familiar with sleeping in the crib. The reply we recieved from quite a few parents was, “oh, we didn’t have that problem, we just put baby in the crib and he/she fell right to sleep.” Now, I just don’t believe this. No baby is placed in the crib to fall right asleep. This is a classic case of baby amnesia.

I think it’s because these first few weeks are so crazy with the full time job of caring for baby and the lack of sleep and all the visitors it all sort of blurs together and you can’t really remember what you did (or didn’t) do. All this causes the baby amnesia to set in.

I’ve decided to combat this baby amnesia by taking very detailed notes of everything Leina does. Then, when someone asks me, “how much often did she nurse” or “how long did she sleep” or “what did you do with her when she was awake”, I’ll whip out my log book and be able to say, with great accuracy, what exactly I did. Of course, every baby is different, (they’re just like Cabbage Patch Kids), so there’s no guarantee that my advice will work but at least I won’t get that strange stumped expression that I see on so many parents’ faces. Of course, maybe a little amnesia would be a good thing!

But Tutu is back for this week to give my poor arms a rest. She, of course, jumps at every opportunity to snuggle with that little baby and has declared her absolutely perfect! Leina is currently going through her growth spurt and eats and eats and eats and eats. It is actually quite scary. My poor boobies don’t know what has hit them and they are desperately trying to keep up. When they run dry and Leina is still hungry, she rears back and lets out the most pitiful wail you’ve every heard. But, my baby class warned me this would happen and they say that in a few days my body will catch up with her demand. In the meantime, I just pass her off to Tutu who loves her to sleep. We make quite the tag team.

So I’ve caught up on the laundry, packed up my maternity clothes, unpacked my sweaters, finished up the birth announcements, and actually eaten three good meals a day. The kitchen is getting cleaned nightly and the beds are made. It’s quite the treat having an extra set of hands around all day long.

Forget the baby, Tutu is definately a keeper!

Kevin called me into the baby room the other day full of excitement.

“Chrissie! Come quick, you won’t believe what Leina just did!”

Curious, I ran into the baby room expecting to find Leina crawling, laughing or even jumping up and down only to find Kevin seated in the nursing chair with Leina on his lap. They were face to face and she was watching him with her bright blue eyes.

“You won’t believe this game we’re playing,” Kevin enthused. “Watch what she does when I close my eyes.” Kevin leaned forward toward his daughter and slowly closed her eyes.

Leina sat there.

“Wait, wait, she doesn’t always do it….” Kevin hastened to add as he once again leaned forward and slowly closed his eyes.

Leina sat there.

“Oh come on, she just did it!” By now I was getting amused. Again Kevin leaned in and closed his eyes.

“There!” he exclaimed. “Did you see that?”

“Um, no, I think I missed it,” I said, slightly baffled.

“She closed her eyes back at me!” my husband beamed up at me. “See, if I closed my eyes, she’ll close her’s too! How neat is that?!?!’

“Um, Kevin, I hate to break it to you but I think she just blinked.”

Kevin sat there a moment, crestfallen, until his eternal optimism kicked in.

“Well, I think she’s playing. Blinking,” he mumbled as I left the room, “don’t you listen to momma baby Leina, you just keep on playing with your dad.”

As I looked back, Kevin gently leaned forward and slowly closed his eyes.

Leina sat there unblinking but I swear she smiled at him.