Friday, July 8, 2011

Sleep Woes

Just when we think we are starting to see a trend...

Up until Wednesday night, Madison had been doing beautiful, wonderful, amazing 10+ hour stretches at night. It was so nice to feel rested and refreshed. We knew we were lucky, but we didn't know how quickly it could change. When I woke up Thursday am, Madison had rolled onto her tummy (I tried to take a picture, too dark). Thus - the swaddle is now banished forever. I knew this was going to be a scary, but I wasn't prepared for the terror to come...
Thursday night we put Madison to bed without her woomie (google it, I can't make that up. think glow worm).

She fussed and stirred and flailed her little arms and legs until 2 am. Yup, 2 am. I slept on an air mattress, or rather, laid awake and stole 10 minutes here and there while in the supine position on an air mattress in her room. Finally, at 2 she slept until 6 am.

But here is the real delimma. Madison wants to sleep on her tummy. Today during naps I caught her on the video monitor trying her hardest to get to her stomach. She hasn't mastered rolling, so she gets stuck on her side. Tonight we put her down and almost instantly she tried to roll over. For the past two hours she's been sleeping on her side. Peaceful, deep sleep.

But for those of you that know me, it should come as no suprise that this has me freaking out. My capstone paper in college was on the "Back to Sleep" campaign to reduce SIDS. I've always been the poster child for recommending it. Now, here I am with my own baby who is making a decision not to sleep on her back.

One call to the pediatrician later they now have me convinced that I don't need to stay up all night watching her. It was their recommendation that her side is fine. If I wake up and she's on her belly, I should put her back on her back.

I am freaking out. I admit it. I'm terrified to know what is the right thing to do. This child HAS to sleep. She is clearly much more comfortable on her side. But, the risks are huge. However, perhaps with her not-so-beautiful "breathable bumpers" and the angel care monitor and sleep sake mattress wrap...perhaps we are taking a lot of the necessary precautions. What's a momma and dadda to do????

I think another night on the air mattress is in my future....

Just for fun, here are some pictures of Madison sleeping:

This is Madison's "mad scientist" hair

Favorite position to be in on her back, arms up


One of my favorite pictures of her sweet face and arm

Very young Madison all swaddled up

Thanks for checking in!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Parenting Fail(s)


So this whole "new parent" thing is certainly a challenge. Every day is a challenge. We struggle with how much to feed, how often, when to sleep, how to fall asleep, if we should wake up, what she should be "playing" with, who should watch her, is she cold, is she hot. Really I could go on, but you get the picture. We do feel we are starting to make some progress with understanding Miss Madison and cracking the parent "code." However, we've had a few mishaps over the past 24 hours that are worth sharing.

Friday, Ryan and I are in the car returning from the dreaded DMV, when I look in the rear view mirror and see this:


Perhaps you can't tell (ie the glare is terrible)...but this is Madison with her headband pulled down completely over her eyes. Like horse blinders. Of course we had to photograph this first before fixing it. Poor girl wasn't even fussing.

Then later...the same day. We are working on "sleep training" by having Madison learn to put herself to sleep. This does NOT involve crying it out, I just am not there yet. But does involve putting her down awake and having herself learn how to fall asleep without being bounced and rocked and patted for an hour! So I often stay in the room (aka hide in the corner out of sight) and peek on her. This is what I saw during one peek:
Not my finest moment. I am so worried about crib safety, this child has no blankets, the ugly breathable bumpers, an angle care monitor and yet she still manages to put the small "lovey" over her face! EEEEEEK. Of course she was just fine, and once I made sure, I snapped a quick picture for your viewing pleasure. We are now doing more frequent checks!!



And, just in case parenting wasn't challenging enough. I got up the courage to try out some new baking recipes for a BBQ we are going to tonight. The pictures on the internet of these cupcake ice-cream cones look easy enough, and so fun. However, several things went wrong with my attempt. First to note, the chocolate dipped cones are a bad idea when you plan to bake them in the oven. Chocolate at 350 degrees melts. And, what doesn't melt does burn. So yucko all around. Even after burnt melted chocolate, I decided I'd give the icing a try. As you can see below, it was not so much a success but a failure...


*Sigh* Such is life. So far, today our parenting has been a little better:) We spent the day at the pool with Madison, Aunt Michelle and a few friends. Now we're off to a BBQ (without the burnt, melted ugly ice cream cupcakes). Happy pre-4th of July to you all!

Thanks for checking in!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Welcome Madison Kay

We are only 3 months late in our announcements. Yup. We haven't sent out birth announcements. We haven't posted on our blog. We are that on top of things...opps. Sorry Madison. But, the past 3 months and 1 day have been a whirlwind and a blessing. We'll provide a quick synopsis and then lay on the pictures.

Madison was born March 30th at 5:59pm. My water broke at 11pm on the 29th, coincidentally on my due date! My parents had arrived at 2pm that day - so Madison was just waiting for them to arrive before she came (sweet isn't she?). Labor was not fun, please don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It hurt. A lot. And yes, I had an epidural (my friend Suzanne can vouch for my low pain tolerance, when I passed out from jamming my finger). But, she is totally worth it. I know people say it all the time, but it really is true. Here she is...fresh out! All 6lbs 13 oz



Here is Madison the first week:



1 month:




2 months:
I love this one - I know she isn't looking at the camera, but that sideways look is one she does a lot!


3 months:
Here she's waving to the camera


A little about our girl... She's such a delight. I literally cannot get enough of her. Luckily she puts up with me. She knows where she gets her food - smart girl! Madison is a happy baby. Of course she cries, but mostly if she's overtired or hungry. Currently, she goes about 3.5-4 hours between feeds. And yes, she sleeps though the night. Kind-of. So we try to put her down around 8ish. Then between 11-12 Ryan gives her a "dreamfeed." He picks her up, puts the bottle in and doesn't wake her up. Back down she goes and wakes up at 7am. So lucky for me, I go to bed around 10 and sleep till 7. She does have infrequent night wakes where she needs her paci or a little TLC, but for the most part she's a sleeper. Madison is in her own room too. She lasted 2 months in our room, but she is a noisy moving girl in her sleep and it just wasn't working out for us!

She loves, loves, loves her rain forest playmat. I couldn't believe how expensive these things are $75, but worth every penny. The girl cracks herself up when she plays on it!

Of course, being the daughter of a PT, she get's plenty of tummy time. She's rolling, but only on accident and Ryan has yet to see it! If you're up for it, below is a video that Aunt Michelle took.

A quick little update on Ryan & I. I know, not nearly as exciting as talking about Madison. Ryan is still enjoying work at Cisco. He is primarily working from home, but doesn't mind the 3 minute drive when he does go into the office! He very much enjoys what he does and is looking forward to his new Mac computer. I've been rebuilding my caseload to start back up at work. This has proved more challenging than initially thought, as the company I contracted with stopped providing the services. So...after a week of high stress...I found a new home, which I am very happy with and look forward to a long happy future with this company. I will also continue to do outpatient services at the clinic 2 afternoons a week. We finally found a "nanny" for Madison for 10 hours/week (in addition to the one day that Aunt Michelle watches her). This woman seems wonderful, lives in the neighborhood and we will be taking Madison to her. Additionally, we lucked out and found ourselves a few good babysitters so that we can have the occasional night out with friends! All and all, life is pretty great with the Castile Family.

Thanks for checking in!





July 1 Resolution

I will blog more...I will blog more...I will blog more

I want to blog more, I like blogging. I am just terrible at it. Kind of like I'm terrible at catching up with people on the phone. I love to talk and I love to email, but apparently I struggle with blogging. But, my July resolution is to be better. With that said stay tuned...I've got all sorts of fun blogs heading your way!