Sleeping Problems Demystified

Well, apparently Claire's recent sleeping problems is supposed to happen. I had to google the heck out of "problems sleeping at nine months" and hundreds of variations to figure out what the heck is going on. The changes is sleeping patterns could be a couple of things (and I have a feeling we got a double-whammy): separation anxiety and pre-walking. Fabulous.

Separation anxiety happens after a child learns about object permanence (oh, you still exist even though I can't see you) and suddenly realizes that Mom and Dad are out there somewhere WITHOUT THE BABY! With Claire, oftentimes she's okay, but as soon as she realizes I've left the room, I'm stuck carrying her for the next hour or so after I come back in because she doesn't want to chance me leaving her again. It's weird though because she'll get distracted and then be fine if I'm not around she's fine until she sees me again and remembers that she was upset that I left. So there's that.

Then, apparently there's another milestone in which babies mess up their otherwise pretty good sleeping habits, and that's when they're getting ready to walk. What I've read says that they're so focused on putting together the new movement patterns they're learning that they're not able to turn off their excitement at night and will probably wake every 3 to 4 hours to practice (which usually includes standing in their cribs holding onto the side and wailing). Sums up Claire pretty well, except add "mamamamama babababababa mamamamama dadadadadada!!!!" to that wailing. Nothing like it, especially at 1 and 4 and 5 and 6 in the morning. So what's the timing of THAT being resolved? After she's taken her first steps per my research. Needless to say, I tried to get her to practice walking a lot this weekend after I read that ... but with the separation anxiety, it was hard to pry her off my hip long enough to even get her to try and stand!

This too shall pass. :) I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. I'm in awe and wonder of the amazing transformations and growth in my baby. I know what I'm going through just watching it all happen; for her, it must be overwhelming! A few sleepless nights and less personal time is worth it for a happy, healthy baby.

P.S. A random tidbit for you as long as we're talking about sleeping. I've reverted back to the early days of sleep deprivation where I'll semi-wake in the middle of the night to make sure the baby isn't in the bed with us. Seriously. This first happened the first month -- before Claire ever even got in our bed -- when I was so sleep-deprived, disoriented, and brain-dead that I woke just certain that I carried our newborn into bed with us. Well, apparently I'm doing it again where I'll wake up to make sure Claire's situated safely in the bed ... but she's not there. Weird, right? At least it's just a "is the baby okay?" and a gentle rustling rather than the crazy freak-out like it was that first time, and it's not coupled with a James-sized freak-out to match and intensify the moment anymore, either! :D I've also figured out that I don't remotely do this at all when I'm actually IN the bed with her. Maybe the baby monitor is too close to my ear or something to where I can hear her too well. I dunno. I'm sure James thinks I'm a total weirdo, but I know he's also getting used to it and handles the situation to get me coherent pretty quickly. Oh, and I also don't really remember it in the morning (it just blends in with my other dreams), but James is quick to remind me each and every morning what a looney I am. Thanks, honey.

P.P.S. For those of you offering to help watch the baby so that I can sleep, it's not all her; it's me, too. During the crazy work hours weeks, I was pushing myself too hard. Plus, apparently my body hasn't forgetten my old habits of wanting to stay up late, yet it somehow learned to auto-wake too early. So I appreciate your offers, but I'm okay. Feel free to come over and help Claire practice walking, though. ;)

Miss Independent

It's crazy how every day it seems like Claire does something new and grows up a little more right before my eyes. In an effort to assert herself, she has recently decided that she is tired of taking bottles and us feeding her; she prefers to feed herself and usually prefers whatever we're eating on the table instead of jar food (can't blame her, really). She also babbles to herself when she's eating; I think she picked that up from watching her dad and I. Luckily, we passed that 9-month milestone with the whole wheat thing, so the world is wide open for her except for the main allergens: shellfish, egg whites, milk, and nuts. I'm also grateful that she's not a picky eater and seems to love all new foods. I hope she keeps that up!

You can just tell no good will come of this

Oddly enough, the school still reports that she eats her food and drinks her bottles (she's finally up to 8oz), so it's just at home that she thinks she's Miss Independent. I'm considering having the school also feed her from their menu (save some money!), but I'm not convinced yet ... it seems like their fare is so sugary and full of sodium and nitrates. Not exactly what I want to be feeding my babydoll quite yet. At least the jar foods are organic and not full of preservatives even if I'm not Martha Stewart enough to make it myself.

She's so proud of herself, you can't help but laugh

Claire's also crawling like a madwoman and pulling up on everything. She'll actually stand on her own for a second or two when she forgets to hold on to something, but so far it's purely accidental. One of the most fun things is that she now dances whenever she hears music. Sometimes it's a little sway from side to side, sometimes we get a head bop, and other times it's an all out full-body wiggle-wiggle. She's waving bye-bye to things and people, and she shakes her head no when she doesn't want something. She's slowly learning the nod as well, and I'm trying to teach her gongxi-gongxi (hands together thanking).

Probably foraging for more food. She likes to harvest her dropped food after the meal.

The last few days, her sleeping has seemed to gone awry. Even as I type right now, I'm listening to her cry it out yet again. :( Not sure what's up, but the girl has been waking at 12:30am (but sometimes puts herself back down) and then again about 4:30am. The 4:30 is the killer because that's when she stands up in the crib, holds onto the side, and just bawls until you get her ... which she then proceeds to want to play (which I do NOT indulge or at least make her do it by herself in the dark) for an hour or two before falling back asleep (usually with me on the couch or in a bed). The last two days, the falling back asleep was until 8 or 9 in the morning! Luckily it was flexible enough at James' work this week that he could wait until she woke, but I have a feeling we need to get her back on track pretty soon. I blame it on teething (I try to blame everything on teething .. hehe).

The roll is almost bigger than her head!

James and I are staying in Dallas this year for Thanksgiving, and all of our families are staying in their respective cities as well. We just happened to all see each other during November somehow, so I guess the urgency isn't strotng enough to deal with the traffic. My parents plan on coming to Dallas over New Year's before they head to Taiwan for Chinese New Year, and we'll see his family in a few weeks in Austin when George's baby is born. Instead, James and I are hosting an "Orphans' Thanksgiving" for all the folks who can't be with their families this holiday weekend. Food, drinks, and football ... sounds like a great combination!

Just a slight drinking problem

Surfacing for Air

It's been a little insane lately, mostly with work. Between SOX testing, yearly audits, 3rd Party pressures, CSI, and the economy (and the inevitable organizational impacts), I've been totally swamped. It wasn't until today though that I realized it was a little out of control and it's time to take my life back.

For the last month or so, I've been working my normal 8.5 hours during the day, coming home to have dinner, play a little while, put Claire down, and then would hop back online for another 3 hours to get more done. Wash, rinse, repeat. Hence why I haven't been able to post on her blog. I used to do updates in the evenings while watching TV or relaxing, but that time no longer existed. Other things that went away was time to check everyone else's blogs, time with friends, time with James, and time for myself.

This week, though, I realized that I can't continue like that much longer. It hit me while I was on a business trip, away from home, and missing family. Even when I had the chance to go to bed early, sleep without interruption, and do whatever I wanted without having to worry about others, I found myself working long hours, staying up to deal with work, and getting up early to do even more. Not a good way of balancing my life!

It was even worse that James got sick early in the week while watching Claire. Luckily his parents were able to drive into town to help out, but it just killed me knowing that there was so much sacrifice going on just to bring in my paycheck. >:(

So, today, I took my life back ... or at least one sliver. I sorted through pictures, posted on Claire's blog, and didn't check my work email all the while. Woo-hoo for me!

Diaper Rash

I'll bet you thought I was going to write about Halloween and how incredibly cute Claire was (and I will ... and she was), but I first need to document Claire's first diaper rash.

It's awful. :( On Wednesday when she got home, I noticed that she made a poop so I went to change her. Her bum and surrounding area was all red, splotchy, and sensitive (based on her whimpers as I tried to change her). Heartbreaking!

I'm not sure what caused it (well, my guess is it's the runny poop ... which my guess is caused by the ill decision on our part to give her plums and oatmeal after a couple of days of pellety poop), so I'm not changing anything about her diet -- except no more plums. I also put the jar of spinach way back in the pantry so that we don't accidently pull that one out.

We've been slathering diaper cream all over the area after every changing - Desitin, Boudreaux's Butt Paste, and even Dr. Smith's (the stuff that they keep behind the pharmacist's counter for some reason -- does that make it truly OVER the counter?) - and have been trying to give her nekkid butt time. No accidents until today when she decided to straddle my foot and give it a nice wash. You can tell I've quite evolved as I just let her finish, as to not startle her, and get James to come clean it up. Having learned from that event, I decided to faux-cloth diaper her, though that may slow the flow, however it doesn't stop it altogether. I think I'm missing something in the cloth diapering step-by-step process.

It's getting better; it's just awful to experience. People at work are amazed that she's made it to 9 months without a rash until now. I would have been happy to make it 9 (or 19 or 9 million) more!

The fun stuff (ie Halloween with LOTS of pictures) will be posted on Claire's site shortly.