My princess

Lana is going through a HUGE princess phase. Okay, I am not really into the whole princess-you need to be rescued by a man thing or the whole thing about being beautiful is the key element in landing your true love and that happily ever after is your dream come true. I really don't think Lana reads into it at all--she is just seizing an opportunity to dress up, put on jewelry and (gasp!) even a little makeup. But as I read the fairy tales, I am practically dry heaving when I read that Sleeping Beauty dances with Prince Philip and instantly falls madly and deeply in love with him. I try to instill in her that it is more important to be kind than it is to be beautiful and its super great to be smart, but humble. She gets a lot of attention for being pretty--strangers stop us all the time to tell us how pretty she is, which is nice and all, but I don't want her thinking its all-important to be attractive and that's it. I like Mulan because she is strong and independent-ish for a Disney Princess. But like I said, she is just playing dress-up, so its cool for now. Here she is in all her glory:

Dear Readers (all 9 of you!)

Thank you for all the helpful and sympathetic comments on my last post. Whenever I am feeling down and totally alone in my petty struggles, all I have to do is vent on the internet and a whole bunch of wonderful friends give me support, hugs and advice--how lucky am I? So, I am going to respond to each of you, Babycenter style,--LOL, plus a little tidbit on how I "know" each of you. I say "know" because many of my internet friends I have never met in real life.

Desi--Yeah, its no coincidence that our babies are pulling the same crap at the same time, since they are what, a day or two apart in age. I really don't know how you are managing to work during all this nonsense with the sleep deprivation. Man, if I was working, I don't know how I would be keeping my eyes open during seminars, meetings and at my desk. You are a rock star! If you ever find yourself near Seattle--please let me know!

Desi and I have been chatting via facebook pretty regularly. She has been so helpful and sweet. Its great that not only do we have new babies the same age, but the older siblings are the same age as well. I think we first "met" on the BBC May 06 board.

A.--Thanks so much for your comments and for visiting my blog! I don't really think I have a great attitude at the moment, although I am trying! Yes, we have considered the idea of allergies. We know Lacey is allergic to milk, so I am dairy free (man, do I miss pizza!). We have not yet had her allergy tested for other food intolerances, although we have not ruled it out. Milk allergies are so common in babies, as is eczema and the pediatric dermatologist assured me that its too early to get all freaked out about food allergies b/c most babies do outgrow the milk allergy and eczema is also very common. I also wonder about how accurate the blood tests are for food allergies. The other thing I could try is cutting soy from my diet, but if I did that, I should just go to hypoallergenic formula b/c my diet has a lot of soy--we eat so much Asian food. My ped doesn't think I need to cut soy for now b/c her skin got better, until the latest cold virus. But this is uncharted territory for us, so really, what do I know?

I have never met A., but we know someone in common. I found her through my friend Donna's blog. I'm not sure if you know it already A., but I too am a former scientist, although I am permanently on sabbatical--LOL. I met Donna when she was a grad student and I was an undergrad. See, even on the internet its a small world. I think that being a mom and having a scientist-mind is not a good combination--I always try to gather data and with babies, there is too much variation!

Maria--thanks for your support, always! Vacation? Yes, that will be in April for Bill's birthday and we are going to Kauai, Hawaii. Its so easy to get to from the west coast--direct flight to somewhere warm and tropical. It will be our first trip with both girls--I shudder thinking of the gear we will bring, but I know Lana will enjoy the pool and beaches. I hope Lacey won't try to eat sand. It should be fabulous!

I believe I "met" Maria once I began blogging, probably through LauraC's blog.

Beth--I will totally check out your early blog entries. I didn't realize or remember that you had such trouble with William sleeping in the early days. Oddly, I do feel comfort in the whole "misery loves company"--what does that say about me? If one more perfect stranger asks me if my baby sleeps through the night, I will clock them! Do I look like a person who sleeps? Check out the bags under my eyes and observe the lack of patience I have with my older daughter. I think I am starting to adjust to not sleeping very much, although I still get pretty pissed off in the middle of the night, which is really stupid--being pissed off at a baby. I am not really pissed at her, just the situation.

I met Beth the year we lived in DC. We initially met on BBC and then we met in real life when William and Lana were about 6 or 9 months old! We even got together last year when my dad was sick and we visited him in VA--Beth took a day off to drive halfway to meet us for lunch. Great friend!!

Donna--thanks for the suggestions, I will try them and hope for a pattern to form so I can repeat whatever works! One of the issues is that every single day is different. One day she will have crappy short naps and then she sleeps great (relatively) that night. The next day she has crappy short naps and that night is a disaster. I just can't seem to figure this kid out! I think in all of my whining, I totally misrepresented Lacey and her temperament. While she has all of these issues, she is such a happy, smiley, content and non-fussy baby. I know fussy. Lana was fussy--her colic lasted well beyond the 3 months--but Lacey is just happy. She just doesn't sleep or follow a schedule of any kind. I am totally aware and grateful for her temperament b/c if she was fussy on top of this, well I would be way way crazier. She even laughs! I don't remember Lana laughing as a baby--its miraculous that we ever got photos of her smiling b/c she just seemed so very unhappy. Lacey is so sweet and cuddly--I just wish she would sleep more without waking up every stinking hour.

I met Donna a million years ago (doesn't it feel that way?) when I was an undergrad and got a job at the Cancer Center in the lab where she was doing her PhD. She taught me so much about science, which led me to follow in her footsteps. She still has an awesome career and 2 great boys :)

Joanna--I totally agree that the books make you feel like you have to do something about everything. Its kind of like going on the internet with symptoms and you convince yourself you have a really serious disease. I forced myself to close the damn books--my kid doesn't go by the books and that is OKAY. I also agree that in the short term I can ride this out, but over the long haul it is not good for me physically to never sleep.

I have never met Joanna in real life, but I would like to. I have a feeling she would just make me laugh my ass off nonstop.

LauraC--I think about you every single time I do laundry (which is every day) b/c I am amazed at the amount of laundry with 2 kids and I think--imagine baby laundry with twins, especially one (or both) with reflux--holy crap! Lana was just like Nate with the fussiness, colic, swaddling super tight and the sleep training taking 3 weeks (not 3 days like the books say). It was brutal and as sleep deprived as I am right now, I am so grateful for Lacey's sunny disposition--whew!

Everyone knows LauraC is like a blog-celebrity! I "met" you through Beth's blog.

Jessikahsd--thanks for the support :) Yeah, we are super excited about vacation! Not exactly the types of vacations we used to take pre-kids, but still.

I know Jessikahsd from my time in San Diego. She was a tech in the lab where I did my post-doc. It was a nutty, nutty place, but we had a great time making fun of all the weirdos we worked with and for. Now she is about to get her PhD and is achieving great things!

Megan--thanks so much for the comment. It was just what I needed to hear! Not just that you went through it too, but that at some point, poof, it was behind you and you can almost not remember it. Hope! I need hope! Dude, driving on the highway at 2am? That is pretty crazy.

I also met Megan through Beth's blog.

So thanks again to all of you for making me feel better during this rough patch, which I know shall pass. I gotta go to bed now.

Hello again

Miss me? Our computer got a virus--the devastating, can't turn on anymore kind, so it was in the "shop" getting fixed. Then my husband has been monopolizing it to plan a vacation!!!! No complaints there, he is an awesome vacation planner--all I have to do is pack the bags and show up. Its awesome! So I am finally getting around to catching up with everything internet-related.

Its been a rough few weeks with Lacey's feeding issues, then the thrush, which seriously threatened my ability to continue breastfeeding. My lactation consultant helped me to get back enough supply so that Lacey was satisfied with nursing and I have abandoned pumping and bottle feeding altogether for now b/c I think Lacey was getting used to sucking down bottles fast and then not wanting to work at the breast. I am more comfortable (although not totally pain-free) following a course of anti-fungals.

So the feeding has become easier, but her sleep is horrendous. If there was any thought in my mind to have a third baby, the last month has convinced me that two is plenty. I am struggling at night. Lacey wakes up SO often. A good night is every two hours with a longish stretch of 3-5h at the beginning of the night. A bad night is her waking every hour from midnight till 7am. Its brutal and the bad nights outnumber the good nights. I do not know why she is waking. She sometimes just needs me to pop her paci back in, but more often than not, she takes a few drinks from the boob and drifts off into peaceful slumber (for a whole hour). Is it the itch? She still has some eczema around her eyelids, behind her ears and around her mouth. We had completely cleared it up and then she got a cold. Turns out viral illness can cause an outbreak, which means she will probably always have some patches since we are almost always sick around here. She is still being swaddled arms in b/c of the itching--when we take her arms out she scratches the crap out of her head and eyes, which wakes her up of course. Could it be unresolved reflux? She is on zantac AND prevacid, but she still has some days where she is so fussy during feedings. Does she just want to cuddle? Is it that she wakes up every sleep cycle wondering where the hell her mommy is? I don't know. We let her cry the other night to see what happens--she cried for an hour and fell asleep for...a whole 2h! What reward for enduring the screaming (note sarcasm). My ped said she is just barely of the age where they can actually learn from sleep training and that we should wait a few more weeks to try it in earnest. In the meantime I am so freakin tired from being up all night. Its hard for me to determine whether she has some physical discomfort, is truly hungry or if she is just workin me over. I need this phase to be over soon b/c I am driving myself nuts trying to make it better. I have decided to change my attitude as a means of coping. I used to read read read as much as I could to find out strategies to "fix" this problem--parenting websites, books, sleep books, etc. I obsessed about what a 4 month old should be doing (i.e. sleeping through the night or at least getting close to it, having some regularity in a schedule, feeding every 3-4h). But I have since decided that it doesn't matter what should be happening because Lacey is just not that baby. She has not fallen into a pattern for eating or sleeping, she feeds whenever--sometimes 2h, sometimes more like 4h, her night is all over the place and despite my best efforts to impose a pattern on her, all it does is make me feel like I am doing something wrong b/c she is not having it. So I have closed my books and decided to go with the flow. The important thing is that she is happy and growing. I just really want some sleep tonight. Send me some good vibes. Lack of sleep makes a mommy a crazy lady.

At least we are going on vacation!!! In April.

Catching up

Things around here were getting better. I say "were" because I have developed thrush in my left boobie and it SUCKS. I cannot bear to have Lacey nurse on that side because the PAIN! Its like a needle is going through the nipple over and over and over again as she drinks. So I am pumping just the left boob, letting her nurse on the right boob and letting Bill bottle feed the pumped milk. My lactation consultant gave me Gentian Violet to use, which is messy to say the least. You paint it on your nipples and you paint the inside of the baby's mouth. It looks like I took a purple magic marker to my nips and then drew on a purple goatee on Lacey after she nurses. It better work, dammit.

So before this whole thing surfaced, things were getting better. We got her eczema treated--it was gone in like 2 days, although we need to keep on going with the treatment until Monday to make sure all the inflammation is gone. Its great to feel her soft skin again! I also saw my lactation consultant and she was AWESOME. She told me that she thinks Lacey pulling on and off is due primarily to her reflux and that the prevacid will take at least a month to kick in full strength, so she probably is uncomfortable during feedings due to the reflux. She gave me some great tips on positioning during nursing. Subsequent feedings were much more comfortable for us both. Not perfect, but do-able. I have her in football position, laying on a 45 degree incline on pillows, in a dark, quiet room. So far, so good and I am thrilled. A week ago, I thought I may have to give up nursing because it just wasn't working. Now I feel like we are getting back on track as far as breastfeeding goes. That is, until we got thrush. But hopefully the treatment will work and we will be back on track for real. Sleep is still unpredicatable. I am routinely up with her every 2h. Sigh.

I finally decided to change the name of my blog to reflect the fact that I now have two kiddos. "Roundface" is what we called Lana when she was a baby and I wanted to see what nickname would stick with Lacey. We call her "mei-mei" the most. Pronounced, "may- may", its little sister in Chinese. We call her mei-mei more that we call her Lacey.

Lacey is such a happy baby. I can't believe that I ever worried about her not smiling because this kid is always smiling! It is so joyful to approach her and consistently get a smile--so rewarding. She also likes to "talk". If I lay her flat on her back and hover over her, she will coo for like a half an hour. She has a lot to say and its so cute! Lacey has recently learned how to grab at her toys hanging on the play mat. She is no where near rolling over because I don't give her enough tummy time. I am so surprised at how content and happy she is, given all these issues. Oh, I just love to snuggle her!

Lana is getting to be so independent. She is in school 4 mornings a week now. Getting out the door by 8am each day is a drag, but we do it. She can do so many things now without my help, its just insane. She picks her clothes (they don't always a match, but I let her express herself), gets dressed, brushes her hair and teeth and even puts on a little lip gloss or chap stick all by herself. She can do crafts by herself which can occupy her for an hour at least. She helps me around the house to earn an allowance. It was my grandmother's idea--and it has been working out great! Friday is pay day and she earns a dollar a week, but she has to pick up her toys, she helps me with washing dishes, cooking, sweeping and any other household chore I help her with. I am impressed with all that she can do and she is super motivated by money, which is a little surprising. She has spent $1 so far (she has earned $6 in total) on a piece of candy.

So that's my catch up post. I have so many things I want to blog about, but so little time to sit down and write. Someday...

Out of sync

My easy baby has been having some troubles lately. Its been frustrating for us all. When she was first born, I thought we might have a good sleeper! Then about a month ago, she got a cold and all went to hell in a handbasket. She started waking up every 2h all night, every night--sometimes even every hour! Every hour makes me want to jump out the window. We thought it was reflux--she started on zantac, then prevacid and it kind of helped on some days, but overall, her sleep was still messed up--she would often wake up every 2h, sometimes every hour. Then we thought it was my supply--even during the day she would nurse every hour! So I ramped up my suppy with fenugreek and water and nope, it made no difference. I know other babies this age can go 3h between feedings--WTH is going on with mine? Then all of a sudden she started fussing at the breast--pulling on and off, yanking my nipple, crying, kicking. OUCH. Is it a GI thing? Reflux again? What is going on? I took her to the ped and she said she is probably eating out of habit and for soothing since she doesn't take a paci. She also noted that her cradle cap was BAD, and not getting better, so she sent me to the pediatric dermatologist. I am so glad we went. She said Lacey's cradle cap was not typical--she had a staph infection on top of it, plus eczema on the scalp, face, arms and legs. She told me eczema is super itchy, especially at night and can definitely cause night waking. She gave us several ointments which are so gooey to rub her down with--an antibiotic ointment for the infection, plus 2 different hydrocortizone ointments. I felt kind of relieved thinking, "okay, there is a reason for the night waking--she is uncomfortable! Maybe she never even had reflux in the first place!" Maybe she was just eating mini meals at the breast b/c she was trying to soothe herself from the itch, which would lead to all that nursing.

So we started treating her, but she is still fussing at the breast. So I pumped and bottle fed. She is not good with the bottle, but I have no choice, I will not let her destroy my nips. She drinks the bottle with minimal fussing. She will not breastfeed peacefully unless she is super tired or its in the middle of the night. I am sad. So sad. Here I am pumping and bottle feeding again, just like with Lana. I hate it. This is my routine for feeding her the past couple of days: I offer the breast. When she starts hurting me, I take her off, give her a bottle of breastmilk, then I pump for the next time and do the dishes. It is so time-consuming! I am not sure if its just a phase or if she just doesn't have the patience for letdown or if its the itch bugging her or what. I am going to see a lactation consultant b/c I don't know what to do. I know I don't want to quit breastfeeding if I think she will come back. I also know I cannot pump for a year like I did with Lana. I would rather just switch to formula if she will not breastfeed. I don't mind pumping once or twice a day, but not six times a day. I just don't have that kind of time and endurance. I am fine with formula, but I can't help but feel a loss if breastfeeding doesn't work out. It was my dream to do it this time and I felt such elation when it was so easy for us both the first 3 months.

It has been extra tough b/c I have been spending so much time focused on Lacey's sleeping/eating/reflux/eczema issues that I feel like I am neglecting Lana. Or maybe I just miss her a little b/c I feel like I don't see her much now that she is in school 4 days a week.

I know I am sounding all whiny and melodramatic, but I can't help it. We are not in a good pattern and routine right now and I so wish we were. I know we will get there and I am trying to tell myself that we should tackle one thing at a time. First let's get rid of this rash, then we work on the feeding issues and decide what the best path will be so that mommy and baby are happy. Hopefully the sleep will come after that.

Christmas 2009, a little late

We had a very nice Christmas, actually the whole season was festive, despite my often cranky attitude, I tried to snap out of it and remember how very lucky we are as a family. I also tried to focus on the fact that Lana is at that perfect age to enjoy Christmas and all of the magical things that the season brings. Lana really enjoyed looking at all of our neighbors' lights and we always would try to find "crazy lights" which means the houses that were lit up the most. We even put up some lights after much cursing from Bill. But he did a great job and we realized that putting lights on a house requires a lot more lights and extension cords that putting lights up in an apartment, so I bought some more lights the day after Christmas at 50% off for next year. Hopefully our house won't be the most sparse on the street next year. We will get there. Sometimes I am still amazed that we are homeowners, grownups, even parents! Wasn't it like a minute ago we were young, single people living in the big city? On December 11, Bill and I celebrated, well actually we just remembered that 10 years ago was our first date, a wonderful and special first date. I can't believe its been a decade. That could actually be a whole separate post and now I am totally off-topic about Christmas.

We visited Santa twice this year. Lana was mystified! She did really great and told him what she wanted: "Hello Kitty stickers and a mini play kitchen that I can take anywhere". She wanted to know why the one Santa had glasses and the other one didn't. Contacts, I told her.

Lana loved singing the songs this holiday season. Her go-to favorites were Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and The Twelve Days of Christmas. I have a feeling we will be singing these the whole year through. She loves to sing and I think she can carry a tune pretty well for a 3.5 year old. My favorite part of Christmas Day was when after dinner, Lana skipped around the dinner table singing each of these Christmas tunes (with everyone joining in). We were all laughing, smiling and singing, even my in-laws who don't know the words. They just did the la-la-las to each of the songs. It was a great moment.

Christmas Eve we went to a friend's house who holds an open house party every year. We stopped by, had some snacks and socialized for about an hour before we took off for Chinese Hot Pot at my in-laws'. My mom also joined us and it was fun. We beat it home kind of early so we could get Lana in bed at a decent hour. Lacey's sleep has been all over the place, so I can't exactly stay up till midnight these days. We put out cookies and a carrot for Santa and the reindeer and we wrote a quick note to Santa. Lana was so excited that Christmas was FINALLY here!

In the morning, Lana woke up and said, "Baba, is it really Christmas?" Then there were tears--yes, tears. We hung a stocking in her room in addition to the stocking downstairs on the mantle. (The one in her room is from last year. I bought new matching stockings for the 4 of us this year to hang on the fireplace in our living room). So I told her that she should check the stocking in her room b/c it looked like there may be stuff in there. Before I could take 2 steps, she ran over to it and pulled it down, along with the heavy stocking holder that hit her square in the cheek, causing a lovely abrasion, complete with blood. She quickly recovered when she saw what was in her stocking. We made it down stairs and we quickly opened gifts. Lana had a blast looking for her name on the tags and ripping everything open, of course. I even managed to surprise Bill with a gift this year, which is a feat, since I am the world's worst liar and secret-keeper. After we cleaned up the mess, my mom and in-laws came over for a wonderful, casual meal. It was so nice not to have to travel or even get dressed and get over to someone else's house. Lana could just play with her new toys, show her grandparents all her stuff, while Bill and I prepared the meal. We called other family members back east to wish them a Merry Christmas, but it was so nice to have our immediate family all together. Of course this year was the first year without my dad and boy, did I feel his absence. Not his physical absence, b/c we have never spent the actual holiday together after my parents got divorced and I moved away, but the absence of my dad in our lives remains to feel immense to me.

I tried very hard to remember the things that my dad loved/hated about Christmas and I made sure I told Lana and Bill all about them. Mom helped me to remember and we had a few laughs and tears about our memories. I am so grateful to have mom here with me for the comfort of just having your mommy. I told Lana about how Grandpa Dennis always would make fun of homes with WAY too many lights, but he secretly loved to put lights on our own house, and later his house in VA. He also loved to listen to Christmas music, but he found Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and Jingle Bell Rock to be the most annoying tunes out there! Every year when I was growing up he would take me for a special day of Christmas shopping, just the two of us, list in hand, so that we could shop for my mom. Although my dad hated big crowds and shopping in general, he actually loved to Christmas shop. We would always talk about whether it "felt like Christmas" whether "we had the Christmas spirit this year", which would often depend on how much snow we had (growing up in Buffalo, you EXPECT a white Christmas). We would get mom way too many gifts, we would have lunch at Swiss Chalet (its a Buffalo thing) and then I would wrap them as soon as we got home. We both really enjoyed this day together every year.

My mom told me that when I was a kid I made my wish list for Santa, which always had a ton of things on it. Mom and Dad would then discuss what would be purchased since we were on a very tight budget at the time. Apparently, on Christmas Eve my dad would go out and buy the rest of the items on my list, which infuriated my mom b/c it blew the budget out the window. Another tradition we had was that my dad would get my mom 2 lbs of chocolate from a local candy shop--a pound of "turtles" which were carmel and pecans covered in chocolate and a pound of "sponge candy" which is a honeycomb candy covered in chocolate. These were under the tree every single year and we each got to eat some on Christmas morning.

I miss him, but we have some wonderful memories of Christmases past. I am happy that I made it through the holidays this year without totally falling apart. I felt a little sad at times, but overall, we had a great holiday with the grandparents and the kids. I didn't get a lot of photos b/c we were just too busy enjoying ourselves and each other, which is what Christmas is all about.

Christmas was fun, but...

I am too tired and distracted to record it all right now. I had planned an awesome post covering this year's festivities along with some memories from my childhood--things that have been swirling around in my brain for quite some time now, but I will postpone b/c I am right now so focused on getting my baby to sleep more and eat on a better, more regular schedule. Is this possible? I don't know.

Lacey is such an easy-going baby. I have always just followed her lead with sleeping and eating patterns. Hungry? Have a boob. Nevermind that you just ate a half hour ago. Sleepy? Go to sleep! I will hold you or you can hang in the swing, or your crib--whatever! It seemed to be working just fine and she was giving me a 4-5h stretch of sleep from about 10-2ish, so I thought everything was just okey dokey. Then she got a cold which messed everything up. She has since recovered but her sleep pattern has not returned. She is STILL waking every 2-2.5h at night to eat and her day sleep is all over the place--sometimes a big nap (2h), sometimes only a catnap of 45min. Last week she did this totally wacky thing where she woke up and had a boobie snack at 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am. I thought I was going bonkers. So my "whatever" attitude about Lacey's sleep has been replaced with "Holy shit, I better do something to get this kid to sleep more before I crash the car because I fell asleep at the wheel".

I know there is a growth spurt at 3 months, which is probably what we are experiencing, but as a first time breastfeeder, I can't help but wonder if I am making enough milk and maybe she is legitamately hungry. I would pump to see how much I have, but she won't take a bottle. She also won't take a paci (I am the paci). She gags a lot with artificial nipples. The other issue is the reflux. Gosh, her reflux is so much worse than Lana's ever was. She just cries in pain, burps and upchucks. Poor little bugger. Sometimes when she cries in the night, all you have to do is pick her up and she will do the burp and puke routine. So I am working on drinking water and taking fenugreek. I also thought to try to supplement with formula, but she doesn't take a bottle (I know I already said that) and she seems to be allergic to dairy, since everytime I would ingest cheese or milk, she got blood in her poop. I have since cut that out and I suppose I could try soy formula, but there is that damn won't-take-a-bottle business. I hope that my milk supply can catch up, but to be honest it may or may not be a food issue. These sleep patterns are often brain development milestones, not hunger patterns, but its so hard to tell, especially with the reflux--sometimes I think she is just waking up from heartburn and a couple of swallows of milk relieves it temporarily. I have been feeling like a first time mom all over again. There is something about sleep issues that are so stressful, especially when you are the one not getting any sleep.

So here is our action plan (and yes, I have the sleep books, which make you feel like a total incompetant idiot): Her last feeding session of the evening will take place in her dark room. I bought a music thingy for the crib which I will play at naps and at night as a sleep cue. She is still swaddled, so we will continue that as long as possible. I will try for a consistent bedtime of 8ish (although I would love to move this to 7ish). If she wakes up at 10pm, I will treat it like an overnight waking--I go in for a quickie feed--no talking, no unwrapping of the swaddle unless I suspect poop. On the overnight wakings, I will let her fuss a bit before running in there in hopes that she will settle down a bit. Hopefully one of these days, she will surprise me and drop one of these wakings. As for naps, which are all over the place, both in time and duration, I will try to stay at home in the afternoons to give her at least an opportunity for a consistent afternoon nap in her room. Mornings are tough b/c I have to take Lana to preschool and pick her up, which means a lot of time in the carseat.

I am totally willing to sleep train at 4 months. With Lana we sleep trained to get her to go to sleep on her own, but with Lacey, its going to be harder, b/c its not going to sleep that is the problem, its staying asleep. Right now, I cannot be sure if she is hungry or not, so I address her waking. I imagine it will be harder to let her scream in the middle of the night, especially b/c I will be worried it will wake up Lana.

After doing the whole toddler thing, I totally forgot the nonsense of the infant sleep craziness. I so wish I blogged back when Lana was a baby, I would totally be looking up my earlier entries. I do know that when Lana was 3 months old, she had a schedule--fixed naptimes and bedtimes and they were set in stone. But then again, I had no other children at the time, so I could devote all my energy to getting her patterns established. The thing is, it worked so well for Lana.

In the time it took me to write this, I have been into Lacey's room 3 times doing the whole burp/puke routine, followed by a little nursing and/or pacifying. Man, I wish she took a paci. Cross your fingers that this gets better for me soon, I am exhausted!

More on Christmas to come!