ahhhhh.... spring!

The other day I realized that this is the first spring I've been able to actually enjoy in at least five years.

Last year at this time I was pregnant and sick all day every day. The four years previous I spent working at a job so wholly demanding that I almost never had a guilt-free chance to pause and marvel at the flowers, the sunshine, the warm spring breezes.

But this year is different.

This year I am a mother. This year I am working my own hours, in my own company. This year I can take my laptop outdoors and soak up sunshine while being productive.

Or I can just scrap it all and spend a few hours on the porch swing with my son, watching him blow bubbles and stare in wonderment at every new thing. And, since everything is new, he finds it all magnificently fascinating.

Today I planted flowers, mulched the shrubbery beds and potted herbs. Little Man rolled around on his blanket in the grass, observing my every move and babbling contentedly.

This is paradise.

© Sarah K. Asaftei, 2009 unless otherwise sourced. Use allowed by express written permission only.

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on sleeping through the night...

So a lot of my friends think I'm crazy for trying to keep Little Man on a schedule... They ridicule my "Babywise" philosophies, goodnaturedly of course.

Honestly there are days when I'm trying to maintain his routine (while packing boxes, organizing our final church dinners, attending christmas weddings and December graduations, and spending days househunting in a new city) that I think I must be crazy too!

But when Little Man sleeps through the night two nights in a row at 8 weeks old, naps an hour and a half at a time, and sets himself on a four-hour eating schedule without any outside interference... I'm reminded of how great the payoff is.

Some folks might think I just got lucky and won the easy-baby lottery. But I don't agree.

If you ask me, it's all in the training.

© Sarah K. Asaftei, 2009 unless otherwise sourced. Use allowed by express written permission only.

(Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.)

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update on baby schedules...

So some of you wanted to know how the "mommy's schedule instead of baby's" has been going.

I'd have to say it's a good thing. And we've done pretty well at keeping it despite the packing boxes and hunting for a new house.

Little Man sets the schedule, I just help him keep it. That means when he moves from a 2-hour feeding schedule to 3, I make sure his schedule gets reset and he keeps eating on time. He's kind of like clockwork: he knows exactly when it's time to eat and is usually happy right up until then.

Right now he's eating every 3.5 to 4 hours, napping in between and waking up only once at night (around 4 AM).

And he's twelve pounds of chunky monkey, so I think our feeding issues are over.

© Sarah K. Asaftei, 2009 unless otherwise sourced. Use allowed by express written permission only.

(Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.)

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on schedules and routines...

So far we know the Little Man likes a routine, since he responded well to me having one even before he was born. For the first couple weeks I've just monitored his natural rhythms.

Now I'm basing a parent-directed routine on those rhythms, and hoping I can stick to it. It's posted on the frig, loaded into my iPhone's daily calendar and everything. Of course that doesn't mean we won't ever deviate, but it gives us a general guideline.

Most of all, I want to make sure that he gets enough feedings a day, with enough time between eating for adequate waketime and naptime. And that he gets a chance to naturally regulate his metabolism by having a daily rhythm where things happen generally at the same time every day.

Yup, it's extra work right now, but I think it'll pay off. Will have to let you know in a few weeks on that!

© Sarah K. Asaftei, 2009 unless otherwise sourced. Use allowed by express written permission only.

(Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.)

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