Working Mom

Go ahead and label me because I've been doing it for a full week already. I started back to work last Monday. The transition has not been nearly as hard as I imagined it would be. Jayla's ability to basically sleep through the night now has done wonders for making this an easy transition. Plus, her day care is absolutely awesome! I am loving it and she seems to really like it too. Of course, the day care teachers absolutely adore her which leads me to believe that she must be behaving herself nicely throughout the day...which can only mean that they are meeting her needs - who could ask for anything more? On top of all that, I am pumping adequate milk during the day at work and leaving about 45 minutes early to nurse her in the afternoon/evening. It's almost too good to be true.

I noticed a few changes in Jayla during her first week of day care.

1. As I've mentioned before, her sleep habits are great. She had a hard time napping at the day care at the beginning of last week so, she passed out in the evenings. But, I think she's doing a better job of sleeping during the day now even with so much going on around her. At night, she's going down pretty easily between 10 and 11, usually. Then she wakes around 6:00 - 6:15 in the morning. It's not even a biggy if she wakes a little before that. For instance, this morning, she woke up at 5:30, I swaddled her, gave her a pacifier, and we slept together for another hour before I got up to feed her.

2. She's decided that she can sleep just fine without being swaddled, thank you very much! When I dropped her off at the day care last Monday morning, I was worried about her ability to nap without being swaddled and was giving the day care teacher instructions on how she needed to be swaddled. Ummm...maybe not...that night, we decided to try to put her down without swaddling (mainly because she punched out of it as soon as we did it and her daddy was tired of wrestling with her). She slept fine for 4-5 hours and then swaddled to finish out the night. So, we've been putting her down unswaddled for a week and she is doing great. She basically shows major displeasure if we try to swaddle her now (unless it 4:00am - if she happens to wake in the middle of the night, she loves it and drifts immediately back to sleep). We thought we were going to go through some major drama when it came time to stop swadding her. The little girl weaned herself.

3. She basically feels the need to chew and suck on anything in view except for a teether!!! She needs to have something in her mouth...her fist, my finger, the little bumble bees on her carseat straps...anything!! I think this has alot to do with not being swaddled anymore. She seems to want to suck on her hands all the time and she apparently realized that this impossible if she's swaddled. On Thursday night, she finally discovered her thumb. But, just that once - it hasn't made it into her mouth since then. She's sticking to the full fist for now. At the day care on Friday, she spent all day sucking/chewing on a doll's arm. So, Saturday, we went and bought her a lovey. I think we'll give it to her for Christmas and see what she thinks of it.

4. I think Jayla is learning/has learned her name!! She used to not respond to her name EVER. Then on Wednesday night, she responded in three different instances. I guess it's because the day care teachers use it. I usually call her, "mama's baby, pretty girl, girly, etc..." So, a couple of days of hearing her name and she's starting to recognize it, I think.

So, last week was full of developments. I was so worried about how all of this would play out but, it has just been absolutely perfect so far...

Jayla has her 4-month appointment tomorrow. I'm anxious to see how big she has gotten. I guess we'll also be talking about starting to introduce her to solid foods soon. I'm thinking sometime in January as she's approaching 5 months old!!

Perfect Timing

So, last night was a 7.5 hour one. I can deal with that. She went to sleep about 10:30 and promptly woke at 6:00. I fed her and then we played in the bed and watched Daddy get dressed for work. I explained to Jayla that this time on Monday we would need to be getting dressed too. Then, I decided that it was time that we had a weigh-in, which just involved me weighing on my regular scale with and without her (and then exercising my subtraction skills). I weighed 15 pounds MORE with her. So, my husband and I were in awe of her ability to just put on the chub. We played a little bit more on our bed then, I noticed she was getting tired. I decided to change her diaper so she could go back to sleep. But, I first explained to her that I was thinking of buying her size 2 diapers for the day care since it didn't make sense to buy many more size 1's. Then she proved me right...she had the craziest poop EVER!!! Whan I picked her up off my bed, she was perfectly clean. I was thinking I'd just be changing a wet diaper from overnight. By the time we made it to her changing table, there was poop all the way up her chest, on her hands, from my neck to my foot on the left side of my body, and on the carpet between my bed and her changing table. HOW did she do that!!?!?!? Luckily, my husband was still home - he collected all of the nasty clothes (mine and hers) and ran some bath water and we just dunked her. So, ummm...yes, we're going to Target to buy size 2 diapers as soon as she finishes this nap...

Not Impressed

Jayla only slept for 6 consecutive hours last night - not her best work. We talked about it and she assures me that she is going to jump back into the saddle tonight. In her defense, she woke up after 6 hours of sleep, quickly ate, got re-swaddled, and promptly fell asleep for 3 additional hours...things could be worse...

What about 3 points?

She pretty much did it again last night. We had a much harder time with getting her to sleep though so, the total sleep time was more like 7 hours and 45 minutes but, still very consistent with the new trend that we have hopefully established this week. In the process, she has dropped a feeding, I think. I only fed her 5 times on Monday and Tuesday. All of this is very good as I prepare to go back to work on Monday. With her sleeping sound from about 10pm to 6am, it will fit perfectly into the ideal morning schedule for us. Plus, with her stretching out her feedings, it is highly likely that the day care will feed her twice a day and I can feed her three times a day. God, I just pray that this continues and isn't just a fluke...

Is two data points a trend?

I sure hope so! Jayla slept 8.5 hours staight on both Sunday and Monday night. Keep it coming!! I am trying my best to duplicate those two days with the same nap and feeding times. I think in the process, she has effectively dropped one of her feeds. Could it be that she only wants to eat 5 times a day now?

In other news, I've decided to return to work next Monday. Jayla will also be starting day care next Monday. I think I am finally at peace with my decision after going back and forth SO MANY TIMES!! Today I went to the pediatrician to obtain Jayla's shot records for the day care. Another mom was there doing the same thing. She asked me how old Jayla was. "3 months". She made a horrible face and said, "You're going to put your child in day care at 3 months!?!?". For once, I did not second guess my decision...I must be ready.

Jayla at 3 months

Well, my baby turned 3 months on Thanksgiving Day. She has grown so much. At church yesterday, every single person that saw her commented on how big she has gotten.

I think she's changing alot developmentally too. Since Thanksgiving, it apparently is no longer cool to lay on your back and be happy. If Jayla is awake, she now wants to be in a sitting position. It has actually made her alot more fun. I guess the next thing you know, she'll be doing it all on her own!

She still hates tummy time though. So, I basically never do it. My husband thinks I'm retarding her by not doing it but, I just can't stand to see her screaming on her face. She's a pretty strong girl and I think she just get frustrated really quickly when she isn't able to immediately do what she wants to (rollover, crawl, etc.) while on her tummy. I won't push it - she'll do it when she's ready, I guess.

So, while she doesn't like tummy time, she now loves to watch tv, watch ceiling fans, and play on the computer. Watching football became one of Jayla's favorite pasttimes right before Thanksgiving. She loves it! My guess is she just likes the flickering lights but, she turns her head away from the television during commercials. So, it's almost like she knows what she's watching!! Her daddy loves it, of course. Her fascination with ceiling fans probably comes from the fact that we never invested in a mobile for her. I think it's on her Christmas list though.

And her newest trick - the computer. A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine sent a link to games on the Fisher Price website. I took a brief look at the infant games, decided they were stupid and then forgot about them. Well, last Friday, I had Jayla on my lap while doing some email and decided that I was being selfish because watching me email couldn't possibly be entertaining for her. It then occurred to me to dig out the Fisher Price website. I pulled up the infant games and Jayla immediately fell in love with the characters that scream Peek-A-Boo when you hit any keys on the keyboard. Of course, I started out striking the keys but, as of yesterday, Jayla can hit the keyboard and knows that something on the screen will move in response. She loves it!!

We basically spend the the rest of our days walking in the park. Now that she has the head control to face forward in the Snugli, she loves to walk and hey, it kills time. When we walked last Friday, I just stood on one side of the park, near a street for about 30 minutes (literally!) and Jayla tracked the cars. She'd see one and follow it as far as she could then pick up another one and follow it as far as she could in the opposite direction. Even the people driving by her were smiling as she intently watched the cars.