winter morning routine

now the e has gone back to work, i have been able to retake my morning routines quite happily. the lazy morning habits of vacationers is over as i wake each morning to make coffee, do the dishes & tidy the kitchen, give the floors a sweep and check on the sleeping baby. yes, you read right-- "check on the sleeping baby." for the past few weeks we have been putting little c to sleep in his own crib in his own room under his own mobile. now it's become normal and we have established a fairly good sleeping schedule for him. he likes to resist falling asleep each night, but is getting better at it despite the fussing. once asleep, he's been known to not wake for 10-12 hours at a time! incredibly he's skipped night feedings for about a week and usually out-sleeps me in the mornings. so i have time to get up and do a few things before he wakes (or if it is getting too late, i wake him).

i know what some people must think of this: "you wake your sleeping baby!?" but it's true, i do. seems outrageous and i often hear things like "we would never do that, it's a miracle to get our baby to sleep so we take what we can get!" but truth is... my baby sleeps! and to ensure he sleeps, i regulate his sleep schedule. if he begins sleeping in too late, i wake him. i keep him up for a feeding and some playing, then it's an early morning nap around 10:00. once he wakes from that, usually by 11/12:00, it's another feeding and some play time. we don't have a definite scheduled day, but after playing a few hours it normally time for a feeding and a late afternoon nap around 2 or 3:00. if no sleep happens, we do our best to keep him awake until bedtime (if no nap has happened it's 8 or 9:00 bedtime, if a nap happens it's 10:00). the tricky part is still bedtime. he likes to be close to us and even when he's perfectly happy, putting him in his crib usually makes him a bit mad. but i'm learning. i make sure he's hungry before bed and i nurse him until he's full and has either fallen asleep or is almost there. i then place him in his crib under his lights & sounds mobile (which i never imagined would be so crucial in our bedtime routine), and he will do one of three things: continue sleeping, happily "talk" to his mobile animals, or fuss. knowing that he is nursed and full, his diaper is clean and dry, and he's been burped... there is no reason for his objection other than i put him down. if i pick him back up it's all smiles and "talking" again. so i am learning that it's okay, as long as he is not crying, to put him in the crib and let him fuss it out. which he does and usually falls asleep within 10 minutes. if more than 10 minutes have gone by and the fussing is still pretty adamant, i will pluck him from his crib to nurse him once more to calm him and coax his slumber.

funny, though, that i have also been told that nursing my child to sleep each night is wrong and only provokes his dependence on nursing to be able to fall asleep. this i know to be false in my child's case, but i do get a chuckle out of other people's insistence on what's best for my child. though i resist, i often think "you really think you know my child better than i do?" just for that, i always try to be conscious of other parents and their choices in parenting their children. unless advice or opinion is asked of me, i do my best to keep my thoughts or judgments to myself. let's face it, there is enough judgment in the world without adding mine to it. and, as long as what a parent is doing is not hazardous to the child's well-being, who am i to say they are wrong? the same goes for people's judgment of what we do with our child. now, if i were doing something potentially detrimental i would of course want someone to say something to me, but, as it stands, i need no coaching from others when it comes to my baby. if i ask advice, i welcome response and suggestion openly. i am not against a candid conversation about parenting. i am against someone claiming there is one and only one way to skin a cat (in this case the cat is a baby, and i am not encouraging skinning of a child so rest assured). as if they are the one person who figured out the trick that works for all babies..

but i have digressed.. far, far from my intention in this post.

so my mornings have been reclaimed and i am loving being back to the natural flow of things. it's as though all things are right in the world.. well, in MY word at least. we all know that there are plenty of things not right in OUR world. again, i digress.

this morning i am going to take another running leap at my valentine's day projects that i have been royally fudging for three days. the initial idea was well executed, followed closely by a sewing disaster that only left my machine jammed more than once and miles of broken thread trailing onto my dining room floor.. but today i am shaking off my previous failures in valentine-creations and attempting a new strategy and some new ideas. here's hoping this works! i happen to be one who falls in love with each holiday and sees it as a reason to celebrate, decorate, and eat.. so i cannot resist the chance to handmake some valentines for our beloved family members now that little c is in our lives. though i should have been doing them all along as i once did, i will renew my passions and dive back into my project with vigor. well, perhaps after this cup of coffee has kicked in...