Baby: I was cryin' till I met you!

My baby goes through many different sleep cycles, she rotates! Some days she will sleep from the time I put her down until 5 or 6am when daddy leaves for work. Other days she wakes up at 2 or 3am to get a bottle and then she will go back to sleep for me anywhere from 5-7am. Then other nights like last night, she slept until 7:53am! It was so nice to have uninterrupted sleep! I just wish it was every night!

It wasn't easy to get to this level, I lost sleep, I had to hear her cry. It was rough, I won't lie. I am not a fan of the cry-it-out method, in fact I hated it. I thought that people who used it were bad and lazy parents. But to be honest I think it was the best thing for my baby. She used to stay up until 11 or 12 at night when we went to bed and she slept in the bed with us because it was easiest and we were breastfeeding, I would usually sleep until 10 or 11am.
It took 2 nights of crying for 30 minutes. Then when she woke up at 2, 3 or 5am I would bring her in bed, slowly that was phased out and I don't have to bring her into bed until 5am if at all.
She now has a bedtime ritual, she takes a bath at 8pm, gets a story and some snuggle time with mommy while she eats about half of her bottle. Then I put her in her bed with the rest of her bottle, I might have to go in a couple times and pick up her bottle when she drops it. Anywhere from 10-15 minutes later she is happy, full and asleep.
Like I said, I didn't believe in crying it out, and I still kind of don't.
I would have never let her cry more than an hour. I don't think it's healthy for them to cry for too long or when they are very young. My daughter was 6 months when we started having her sleep on her own. Now she is almost 7 months and sleeping great by herself. My husband and I finally get time to snuggle at night while we go to sleep (something we missed so much!).
It's better for the whole family.
I think that all babies are different, some will do great, others will take more love and reassurance when learning to sleep alone.

I found naps also play an important roll, for one they are good for establishing good sleep habits! My baby used to only sleep after I nursed her, which meant she slept on me which was okay when she was a little baby but she got big fast and it became uncomfortable for us both. Teaching her to sleep in her swing or bassinet for her naps has helped a lot too. Now she will sleep for 3-4 hours for her big nap, and an hour or two for her small nap early in the day.

I found good nap tips on this site
http://www.babysleepsite.com/

I hope things I've said help someone, I know I scoured the internet when I was thinking about my baby learning to sleep alone.
Do what is best for you and your baby!

Thank you for stopping by today I appreciate it so much, have an amazing day!

Me; Fitness:Envious? I am!

Hello Makeup Moms!

As I talked about in a previous post, I decided to quit smoking and start working out. I plan on working out every day either during my daughter's nap or after she goes down for bedtime at night. At first I just looked for a low impact cardio workout through google but I was looking on Hulu today and I found this pretty cool series called ENVY, it has a full body work out and then it has separate targeted workouts, buns ,arms, abs, etc.
Yesterday after my first workout after my last cigarette, my chest hurt, I was so out of breath, I was dyin'. I only got through 5 minutes the first time before I had to stop, but I tried out the full body work out of ENVY a little bit ago and I got through 8 minutes! It's great, it has weight resistance with nearly all the moves, great at using gravity to help you get a good workout (like squats), and it has these fit and pretty girls taking you through everything. And the great thing is, they aren't all twigs! Yes they are thin, fit and healthy but most of them are a good healthy weight, neither chubby nor skin and bone. So just like calling it ENVY, it's a pretty good motivator to see real women of a few different sizes (not over weight but from petite and slim to healthy but plump) doing the work outs.
I plan on doing this every day, all I did was one 8 minute workout and when I walk my thighs feel kind of wobbly and shaky, which to me is great, it means it worked!

So if you are like me, just had a baby, are overweight due to a baby or just genetics/poor decisions have left you overweight and frustrated and are ready for a change, I highly recommend these workouts.

http://www.hulu.com/envy-girls

If I can empower anyone to take the reigns of their health and start working out or quit smoking or just feel a little bit more secure in how they look and feel, it's a good day. Thank you so much for stopping by and listening to what is going on in my life. I really appreciate it, if you have any questions, comments, opinions or suggestions please feel free to let me know, I love to hear from you.

Thank you for making me part of your day.

Have an amazing day!

Baby: Baby Blues

Have you ever in your life thought, "I would love to never see Aunt Flo again!" That is one of the things I loved about my pregnancy, and about choosing to breastfeed my child. Aunt Flo got kicked to the curb for about a year and a half! It was so amazing, so freeing! But I have been recently nursing her less, she is almost 7 months old and is taking more formula and baby food now, plus my milk supply was never good, and for her to be healthy I had to supplement. But anyhooey, Today Aunt Flo decided to ring my doorbell once again. And I will tell you, I didn't miss her.

This is one thing I will love next time I'm pregnant, and all  I know is, once I am on normal birth control again, I'm getting the pills where I get 3 or 4 visits a month rather than every single month. See ya Aunt Flo!


Sorry for such a biological post but if you are a woman or a mom I'm sure you feel the same!

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me rant, I really appreciate it!

Have an amazing day!

Baby: What Sleep?

It's 5am and my baby didn't let me sleep more than 3 hours last night. She kept waking up, squiggling around in her bassinet or whining. I tried a bottle, rocking her. Breastfeeding her, nothing helped. Then she spit up on me. I don't know if she was gassy or had heartburn.
Finally after me and my husband were wide awake, I set her down with another bottle after changing her diaper and I haven't heard a peep! Although I am in the living room while she and the hopefully sleeping husband are in the bedroom.

Most of all I just hope that she is ok now and gets some sleep. I'm sure me and my husband need it more right now after going to bed at 1am but I hope my little one feels better.
I'm such a softy.

She just started sleeping alone in the past month, she used to sleep in bed with us but my husband was dead set on us getting cuddle time in bed before sleep again. So at 6 months I gave in and we started a bedtime routine to help her sleep on her own. It took about a week for her to stop waking up screaming in the middle of the night. Usually between 1 and 3am, then she started to sleep until 5am, then 6. Now if she wakes up during those times, she wiggles, whines/moans and goes back to sleep, she's been doing so good. I have to say it was hard at first hearing her cry for 15 minutes, but she sleeps better and so do we.

I still stand by the thought that you can't spoil an infant..... :)

Thank you for stopping by, hope I gave you a smile!

Have an amazing day!