When you are pregnant, you hear all kinds of stories about strange places babies sleep and weird things mommies feed them to keep them happy. Some of the funny stories included ones about babies turning orange from the beta carotine(sp?) in carrots that baby ate too much of and stories of the good old days when babies slept in dresser drawers.
"Babies sleeping in empty drawers, how barbaric" I thought to myself...etc.. All the old wive's tales, words of wisdom from your elders, mindful advice....BLAH...BLAH I will ACE this stuff!!!
..and then you have a baby.
My lovely little sunshine is now the color of the sun...Slightly orange tinted. In fact, she looks tan, or like she got her hands on some rub on tanning lotion. Why you ask?? I believe she too is having an overdose of "beta carotine" in her food.
"WELL MOM???" you ask ....."Why don't you stop feeding her carrots???" Here's why: EVERY FLIPPING FOOD OUT THERE is mixed with carrots. Even when you don't intend on giving her orange things....there they are, on the ingredients list. I am feeding Sophie all organic, and often homemade foods. I try to give her something green every day, but just recently realized that even those things are mixed with carrots sometimes too. Spinach and carrots, green beans and carrots, summer vegetable medly (primary veggie--carrots)
You try feeding a "non-solids" eater without the ole' orange veggies: Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, butternut squash, corn etc... OH WELL...so she's orange!!! Give me a break! At least she is breathing!
Now, for the sleeping thing....My daughter has officially become a closet sleeper. Rather, she is now sleeping in a closet. Yes, you heard me correctly. Before you go and judge this sleep deprived mama, hear me out!!! Jason and I have a "spare bedroom" in this house. Well, sorta. It is an extremely tiny room that we turned into our walk -in closet because there is no where else to put clothes. Jason installed closet racks on all the available walls and we shoved a dresser in there too. (Picture to follow) The window in this room is painted shut and we covered it with a blind (the old fashioned vinyl kind that blacks out all light) Things are stacked from floor to ceiling and it is also the favorite hiding place for the senile old cat. The ceiling in this room tends to flake off too, due to a small leak, so placement is precarious. There is no door on the room, but it leads to the hallway, which does have 2 doors.
I digress...So, the other day I was watching the "Today" show and they had these 2 beautiful 30 something stay-at-home mommies (blonde, rich and skinny too) on the show advertising their sleep book/training. Apparently, these two women are so perfect in every way that they have developed the "ultimate" way to get your baby to sleep. They also had their fair share of condescending scolding comments about those of us who don't have sleeping babies and what a disservice it is to our child. They continued to talk about brain development and how it can be stunted by lack of sleep...and there's where they got me. Guilt consumed me! We know we need to move desparately, but after watching that 10 minute segmant, I was ready to have the boxes packed by the time Jason got home. Their system (and the system that has existed for 1000's of years) is basically this: Consistent schedule, consistent wake up time and bed time, same environment everyday, blacked out room with no distractions, white noise and crying it out.
I marched over to the pack-n-play. I dragged it into the closet room. I removed the few toys I had in there and carefully avoided the chipping portion of the ceiling. I dragged the box fan into the bedroom. I chased the cat into another part of our house and shut all doors leading to and from the closet room and I waited for nap time. When it arrived, I placed the little pumpkin in there, turned on the fan, and left. To my joy, she took a 3 hour nap. "YAY!!!! Her brain developed today!!!!!" I thought. She took her afternoon nap as well and was a joy to be around. We tried it that night and, hold on to your hats, SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT, 12am-5am. I decided to push it the next night. I put her to bed and I didn't go get her when she woke up to nurse...she cried it out (did this before but she wouldn't stop crying because we were in the same room) and we got a whopping, 8:30pm-6:00am. Last night was the pinnacle of our efforts...she slept from 8:00pm-7:00am, got in bed with me and nursed for a solid hour this morning, making wake up time 8:00am. She is currently napping now, and has been since 10:30am...it is currently 12:30pm.
Dare I even say it, she is sleeping well overall. She did miss a nap yesterday for no apparent reason and crying it out did not work on that nap, but other than that. We are in a better sleep pattern. The bad news is that her whole situation will change again here in a few weeks when I go back to work and she will have to be cared for by others. I can't require a "black out" room and a box fan for any of her future caregivers. Her brain better grow quick!!! She's only got a month of this stuff!!
and continues with this:
And then goes to lunch on top of those things...then THIS is what they come home to. 
The next morning, getting ready for our trip to the zoo. A major case of bed head!
Dude??? Are those penguins???? Very cool!!
All the "girls" at the Children's museum! Sarah LOVED this place. A must for anyone with kiddos. 
Something tells me I've been watching "America's Next Top Model" too much lately. Can she strike a pose or what???? She looks like a skinny string bean, but I promise I feed her constantly. She OBVIOUSLY has her father's metabolism. I'm jealous. If you look close, you can see her drainage tube running across her chest. It is very subtle. These last two pics were taken today. We got all dressed in our swim suits to go to the pool, only to find they were closed for a private party...so we just ran around in our "Lil Swimmers" and played naked baby instead!