Watching My Baby Sleep

As I lay here watching my baby sleep during our new sleep training efforts, I have to chuckle to myself. I love these sweet moments with my son.
Pantley’s Gentle Removal Plan

One of the several techniques I am implementing with my 4 month old son is called “Pantley’s Gentle Removal Plan” from Elizabeth Pantley’s book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution.

Essentially this plan incorporates gently breaking the baby’s latch so that he or she can get accustomed to falling asleep without this association.

Pantley recommends starting with bedtime. I did this successfully the first night and then excitedly went to use it for nap time the following day.

My son makes me laugh because even at this young age, I believe his personality shines through. At night we primarily use a bassinet that side-cars next to my husband’s and my bed. During the day, my son’s naps are co-slept with me. I’m not sure why there needs to be such a stark contrast for him at this time, but I’m letting it fly so that he gets very good naps which are said to beget better nighttime sleeping.

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The New Mama Workout

If you’re like me, you’re already wearing your sweatpants around the house and have your hair pulled into a messy bun anyway. So what’s a Mama to do when she’s all dressed up for the gym with no time to go?

New and seasoned mothers alike know how difficult it is to work exercise into your day to day activity.

Having a baby significantly changes our bodies and we need time to recover. But once your healthcare provider gives you the all clear, here are 10 exercises you can do with your baby.

(By the way, Dads, you can do these too!)

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Before Parenthood

Before the birth of my son, I considered myself a fairly organized person. One might say my house is “lived in” but usually one wouldn’t say my house is “a mess” (I hope). Now that my son is here, any weakness I had previously has been brought to light.

One of these weaknesses is my propensity to forget to switch clothes from the washer to the dryer. My mother can attest that this has been a shortcoming of mine since childhood. Doing laundry with good intentions gone bad…or soured actually. Oops!

One of my husband’s weaknesses is how much he hates to do dishes…but we won’t go there.”

Wait a second, I thought this was supposed to be about a bedtime routine, not your shortcomings regarding housework!

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I was recently sent an article regarding a woman whose baby was struggling to nurse and basically starving because the baby could not physically remove milk from the breast. After much trial, the mother chose to formula feed. The article’s point? Fed is Best.

I would like to reiterate this point: Fed is Best. (And no I don’t mean the Federal government. I mean that a fed and full child is best. Yes, my mommy brain went there and was confused by the article until my smart brain kicked in.)

This article hit home for me because my son also struggled to nurse and for the first 4 weeks, before we put him on high-calorie formula, he was in fact, a failure to thrive baby.

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Am I a Failure? People would tell us “Once you stop trying, you’ll get pregnant.” To this day, I still don’t know how to mentally or emotionally stop trying. God instilled an innate desire to bear children within a woman. Needless to say, I was not good at following this advice. Being pregnant was all I wanted. It was all I could think about. 

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Our Little Dinosaur
This endearing term refers to my son. The name was coined by my husband (aka Lil Dino Daddy) a few weeks before he was born. One day, while he and I were shopping for baby clothes at our local resale shop, my husband would only consider items that had dinosaurs on them. After my son arrived in early November, 2016, we finally gave those cute little clothes a purpose. Remembering our shopping adventure, I stealthily selected one of the outfits my husband had picked out – one featuring dinosaurs. I then dressed my tiny baby boy and took him into the other room to show his Daddy. Once my husband saw him in his “stegosaurus” outfit, his eyes grew wide in excitement as he exclaimed, “Aww, come here my little dinosaur!”

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