{Two Months}

I can't believe it has been two whole months since Charlotte invaded out hearts. Actually, it's been over two months, this mama just hasn't been able to find the time to write between going back to work, house work, etc. We are loving our sweet girl more and more each day. I mean, it's not that we didn't like her before, but let's be real people, having a newborn is hard!

Here is an update on the two month old happs of Miss Charlotte Mae:

• We kind of ditched cry it out (you won, Charlotte), but we still put you down for naps and for bedtime when you're not 100% asleep. We don't let you cry longer than 5-10 minutes (lucky goose) and we usually don't have to, because you find your thumb! You LOVE to suck your thumb. You started sucking your fingers at six weeks, but now you have mastered the skill of finding your thumb (usually your left hand). Sometimes, it still takes you a little while to find it and it's the most hilarious thing to hear you looking for it.You sound like a little piggy as you chew on your hand before finally finding your favorite digit. Your granny used to suck her thumb when she was a sweet babe, too!

• You weren't too sure about your swing at first, but the second you get a little sleepy, we put you in your swing and you drift off for a peaceful nap to dream about milk and puppies. We are so glad you like your swing, because it allows Mom and Dad to have a nice meal together at the table (don't feel neglected, we're actually talking about you 99.9% of the time).

• You still like being swaddled, but only beneath the arms. This way, you can have your hands free to do some thumb sucking or fly them high above your head like you usually do:

• You love Thursdays with your daddy. He reads Lonesome Dove to you and takes you on brisk walks around the park. He even picks out your cute outfit for the day! Mommy misses you while she's gone, but she knows you're having a good time with your number one boy. Here he is reading you Curious George Goes to the Library:

• You are a clock. You eat within half an hour of your scheduled time each day. It's amazing. I think you like the predictability of your day (sounds like me) because you are sure happy before and after eating. The downside is, your dad and I lose some flexibility because your feedings and sleep schedules are so structured. But, overall, we kind of prefer this.

• You sleep like a champ. Don't tell your friend's mothers I said that, but it's true! Sure, you'll have the occassional night where you're restless and don't go to sleep until 11:00 p.m., but that's pretty uncharacteristic of you. You usually go to bed between 8:30-9:30 p.m. and sleep until 5:00 a.m. (sometimes later). We really think this can be attributed to your consistent eating, awake time and sleeping schedule (taught by Dr. Ezzo). You are such a happy smiley baby and we know a lot of this is because you are well rested.

• You love your daddy and your daddy loves you. He scoops you up in his big arms and you nestle right into his strong chest. As he's holding you, you often grab tightly to the collar of his shirt. And when he feeds you your bottle at nighttime, you wrap your entire hand around one of his fingers. Sometimes, when you're crying and upset, your dad comes over and tells mom, "let me try," and the moment you are clutched tightly by your dad, you calm down. This might make some moms sad, but I am so incredibly thankful for your dad. I'm glad that he has powers over you that I don't. It's what makes him "Dad."

• This month, you battled a nasty diaper rash. You had four ugly raw patches of skin and your parents were very worried. We had to use paper towels to wipe your bottom for two weeks (now that's love) until you got better. Thankfully, our lovely nurse practitioner friend, Megan, gave us some Resinol to help heal your cracked skin. The Resinol worked wonders! Now that you're all healed up, we use Triple Paste diaper rash cream. It goes on nice and thick and sticks to your booty through wet and poopy diapers way better than any other cream we tried (you can buy a huge tub of Triple Paste for $19.99 at Walgreens).

• You decided you like your bouncy chair that your "Aunt Casie" got for you. You hated it the first few times we tried it, but now you like to sit in it in the kitchen while Mommy cooks.

• The biggest win that happened this month was you are finally big enough to cruise around in your front baby backpack. This makes Sunday mornings WAY easier on Mom, because she can carry you all around while she works. It makes the grocery store a lot easier too, because you're car seat takes up a lot of room in the cart (like all of it).

• The BEST part about two months old is that you are smiling. I can't describe how wonderful this is, so I'm just going to show you:

Catch Up

Greetings, ten people that read this blog! As you may have guessed, my life has been super busy with the arrival of Charlotte. Every time I've wanted to write a blog, I've had fifty bagillion other things to do instead. Just thinking about sitting down to type out a post was completely overwhelming. BUT! I've been scribbling all sorts things down on a notepad and I will write about them all at some point. I managed to type out some of my notes this week and form a couple posts about my new super power, Baby Wise bootcamp, and Charlotte's one month birthday. Click on my post descriptions above or scroll 'on down! 

Parent Bootcamp

I knew I would experience new emotions as a first time mom, but I had no idea how many feelings would come along with the elated highs and engulfing feelings of love. We’ve been practicing the principles of Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Gary Ezzo, M.A. and Robert Bucknam, M. D., and on Charlotte’s one month birthday, Tyler and I decided to go by the book and allow her to cry before naps and bedtime. Our desire is for Charlotte to learn how to self-soothe so that she can sleep on her own and not be dependent on me lulling her to sleep by one of my many methods: walking her up and down the hallway, rocking her in her glider, swaying her outside to the cicada’s tune, leaning my body against the dryer while it’s running.

I hate to sound overdramatic by saying “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done” but “THIS IS THE HARDEST THING I’VE EVER DONE.” Forget labor. Labor was a breeze compared to hearing Charlotte cry (hyperbole y’all).

We waited to let Charlie cry it out (CIO) until a day when Tyler was home. I’m so thankful we did this, because I would not have survived on my own. Ty is so good at calming me down when I’m frustrated or upset. As she cried, he calmly kept reminding me that it was for the best and that Charlotte is perfectly fine and she knows we love her. As she wailed, we paced from one end of our 900 sq. foot house to the other, looking at the clock. Each minute felt like an eternity. As she cried, we read and reread the chapter titled “When Your Baby Cries,” highlighting the reason and benefits of what we’re doing, hoping that our studies will make it easier. It doesn’t. Callie the Cat is even sitting by the door, looking at us, then back at the door thinking, “Why aren’t these people doing anything about this?” Tyler and I hug in the hallway. I cried. Here is our perfect, month old, nine pound, dark-haired, precious babe, screaming her little guts out and we have the ability to go try and console her, but chose not to. Who does this Ezzo chump think he is!?

Seventy minutes later (I count in minutes rather than hours in effort to make myself feel better), after several failed attempts to calm her – patting her belly, telling her I love her, trying to give her a pacifier, checking her diaper, she wins. Momma goes in. I scoop her over-heated body up and place her vertically against my chest. I can feel her tiny wet tears as I cradle her tiny head in the palm of my hand. Her body shivers. Her lip quivers. A few seconds pass before she’s willing to trust my whisper, “Momma’s here, Sweet Charlotte.” Finally convinced that I won’t put her back down, her petite frame goes limp.

The battle is over.

Charlotte =  1

Parents =  -100,000

We’re on Day Five of CIO. She is the perfect little angel and she loves nap time and goes right to sleep. It is still so very, very difficult. But I do think it’s getting better. I feel like I do a good job of interpreting when she’s getting sleepy and ready for a nap, so that I can put her down at just the right time. She doesn’t cry for an hour and the pitch of her cry has gotten softer. Some naps, she looks all around at the walls of her cute bedroom before fading into sleep. And three out of the past four nights, she’s slept six hours straight.

Perseverance.
Patience.
Prayer.
Progress!