Babies smell fear!

Not unlike a wild animal-- I think babies can smell fear. Especially Alex. She will sleep in her crib all day (little naps here and there for about an hour at a time) but as soon as night time comes she won't.


I have narrowed it down to fear. I think about her sleeping in the crib at night all day long. I think I HAVE to get some sleep tonight, so nighttime comes and the fear and anxiety starts. And she won't sleep in the crib. I pretty much obsess about it.


We have tried keeping it very quiet, playing music, swaddling her, keeping it dark and leaving a light on. We tried holding her until she sleeps and then putting her down. As soon as she hits the crib her eyes pop open. It is like a magical baby waker-upper. But during the day she will sleep in the crib with no problems. In fact we have had a handyman here doing some work on the house and he was banging, drilling and basically making a lot of noise and Alex slept right through it in her crib.


I have deduced that it is because during the day I do not have that fear that she will not sleep in the crib. I only have that fear and anxiety at night. So yes my daughter is like a wild animal. She smells my fear of no sleep for the mommy.



Picture of Alex sleeping in crib




Otherwise, baby is doing great. She had her 2 month check-up and other than a little reflux and baby acne, she is right on target! She is now 11 pounds 2 ounces and 23 1/2 inches long. She had her first set of vaccinations (2 shots in each thigh) and she was fine until 3 hours later when she started to scream bloody murder! The doctors office failed to tell me that we needed to start her on Tylenol every 4 hours for the first 24 hours. Well, I forgot to ask also but I thought that my baby would be different--yeah right, when will I ever learn?



Here is a picture of her as Andy and I try to comfort our little monkey butt. We just gave her Tylenol and yes she is naked.

nursery pictures

Here are some pics of the nursery-these pictures are kind of deceptive. My carpet, glider, wall and lion are not all the same color but looks like it.

Here is a close up of Alex NOT sleeping in her crib.This is my fabulous glider that we fall asleep on quite regularly. That weird white slinky thing in the corner holds her toys.


This is her closet door which I put some stickers on.


I put her name on the wall because I always secretly wanted it myself!

Alex loves her daddy

Alex and her Daddy have a special bond. Mostly it involves sleeping on him. He is more comfortable than mommy because he has a flat chest and a deep vibrating voice. Also it seems like when she has been a complete stinker all night for me, she will be an angel once Daddy takes over. We have so many pictures of Alex and Daddy in this same pose. I chose this one because it looks like she is holding on to his shirt to keep from falling.

Andy is such a good daddy and great mommy helper. Check out these shelves he put up for mommy so she doesn't have to reach the too high cabinets for supplies!

Also, he got me this cool coffee machine that makes cappuccinos and lattes one at a time! Since I am not a big coffee drinker, I just wanted one cup and I was having a hard time making a pot of coffee that tasted good. This does it automatically! He also got me a organizer for the little pods that go in it! How fantastic!

OK well I know you guys want info on Alex and see pics so here it is. She is still in growth spurt stage but getting a little better. She is being extremely fussy today though! She has found a new squeal that kinda freaked me out at first. Also she is pretty sick of me taking pictures and videos of her. Check out this pose--no autographs please!

Alex has her next Dr's appointment on February 10th and I will be updating you with stats on height and weight. Also, will be posting pics of the nursery soon-hopefully today!

7 weeks old

Well, Alex is going through a growth spurt and can't seem to get enough food right now. Her schedule is as follows -- eat lazily for an hour (about 4-5 ounces), spend 15 min holding all my burps in from mommy and daddy, 30 min of sleep (very restless-with arms and legs still flailing about), and then finally waking up screaming for food prompting mommy to spend 15 minutes trying to get pacifier in baby's mouth cause she CAN'T be hungry again. Needless to say I am not getting anything done and minimal sleep -- BABYWATCH 2009!! What happened to eating every 4 hours?




Along with this growth spurt Alex has developed baby acne. It doesn't look too bad if she is calm but as soon as she starts crying and getting really red in the face it looks horrible! I want to slather anti acne cream all over it but Dr says it won't matter. Hormones are the culprit! I wonder if it itches-it looks like it would itch. The pic below really doesn't show it but it is just a cute pic (I might be biased).




I was thinking yesterday that if I didn't make the decision to stay home with Alex that she would be in daycare by now. 6 weeks is the standard maternity leave. With baby being almost 7 weeks I can not imagine her going to a child care center now because she is so needy. How can someone take care of her and 10 other babies? I have a hard time looking after just her! I am turning into an overprotective mommy.



Alex has a bouncy chair that has vibration and she digs it. Especially digs what it does to her feet-she sticks her feet on the vibrating part and spreads her toes, look at the pic :)

6 weeks old

I can't believe that she is 6 weeks old! The time has gone by so fast and it seems that she is developing even faster now. I sometimes catch her smiling and she is now making eye contact. Still eating like crazy and only sleeping when held. Mommy and daddy are trying to get her to sleep in the crib. She had her newborn portraits done on her 6 week birthday and slept through the whole thing even though she had hiccups! I had to really jostle her around to get the one pic where her eyes are open!