Long Weekend

This past weekend went too quickly. It is always sad when a long weekend comes to an end. We did a pretty decent job this weekend of balancing productivity and relaxing. Friday night Matthew and I left Noah with a sitter and were able to go out to dinner and just reconnect and get on the same page. It was great to just check in with each other and laugh together. It is true we still see each other every day, and chat even, but since Noah's arrival I can't count how many times I've thought, "Matt and I should talk about this", or "I want to share this with him, I wonder what he would think." But when it comes down to it and we actually have a few free minutes I am too tired to engage in real discussion. So a night out was refreshing.

Truthfully, I can't even remember what we did Saturday, so probably not much. That night we had movie night with my brother and sister-in-law. Good times.

Sunday Matthew and I actually made it church. Noah was put in the nursery so we could focus on the message. Finally, success. Later that day we took Noah swimming. Actually, Matthew took him swimming with my family. I sat on the side and took pictures. Noah loved it! He is such a water baby. We finished off the day with family dinner at mom's house.

Then Monday the 4th, we started off the holiday going to the local parade to see our church's float. Noah was such a trooper in the rain. He watched the doggies and police lights go by, and eventually fell asleep. After the parade Matthew and I spent a good portion of the day cleaning our house. Very productive of us! And concluded the day visiting friends whose daughter is in the hospital. This holiday was very different from how we usually spend the fourth but was good nonetheless.

Below is a picture of Noah and Daddy enjoying the pool for the first time.

Routine

As a new mom, I find myself frequently being asked two questions... 1.) "Are you getting any sleep?" and 2.) "Have you gotten into a routine?" Currently the answer to both is "no".

Last week, Matthew and I decided to attempt going to church for the second time with baby Noah. After the service concluded I basically made the decision that I will not being going to church again for a long while, at least without a babysitter. Both times we made this attempt baby Noah has forced one of us to miss the service and stand out in the hall calming him down. The other parent of course, although able to sit through the rest of the service is too busy wondering what is happening in the hallway, and misses the sermon anyway. Anyways, Matthew who was standing in the hallway was approached by a few of our friends that are also moms. They recommended to him the book "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo. It took me a few days to get a copy but I managed to read the book in of two days time. 

Basically the book suggests that if you get your baby on a flexible routine during the day, (feeding, waketime, naptime) waking them up every three hours to eat, then the will sleep long stretches through the night. The book is full of information on all sorts of things such as baby's crying, spitting up, growth spurts, feeding issues, etc. as well as statistics as to why routines are important for even the youngest of babies. I am interested to see if the plan this book lays out helps our fussy little man, and sleepless nights.

Tomorrow is Monday, and after a weekend of visiting family and lots of events on our calendar, I think it is a great time to start trying to establish this "routine". Currently the biggest challenge in our house is getting him to lay down and sleep, on his own. He will fall asleep and we will leave him, and within about 10 minutes he is wailing. He absolutely does not want to be put down. We are hoping we can overcome this battle soon and that Noah will learn to sleep and we (or myself 5 nights a week) can get some sleep.

My hope is that soon I can be one of those mothers that says, "Yeah my tiny little man is sleeping through the night," like I hear so often. And when people ask if we are getting sleep or in a routine I can answer with a resounding "YES!" :)