Napping

There are few things as precious as something like this:

Tummy Time

You were expecting a video of her crying, weren't you? Well, time to be disappointed! Kessa actually likes tummy time so long as we time it for right after a nap and eating so that she's nice and happy. She'll stay down on her tummy for 10 minutes or so, then as soon as she starts getting fussy, we'll pick her up and go on to something else. (The exception being if she's fussing because she's trying to roll over. Then we let her keep going until she rolls over or becomes super frustrated.)

Happiest nap day

Bedtime and naptime were quickly becoming dreaded times at my house. Not so much when she was sleeping, but the time we were trying to put her to sleep. I was feeling sick, not getting enough sleep, and in tears at the first sound of her crying. Each one made the other ones worse. BJ had to take over bedtime because I just couldn't take it. What made it even more aggravating was that EVERYONE else could put her right to sleep. Grandmas, aunts, cousins, random friends of siblings, etc. Everyone except BJ and me.

I read through almost every sleep book I could get my hands on. Although I learned a lot of good things in them, they also confused the heck out of me because each of them contradicted each other, citing evidence on how the others were wrong. (Yes, they would even quote each other.) I established a routine to get her to sleep (one thing they all agreed on) but it still didn't really help, so in my desperation, I would grasp at random things I remembered from various books and probably confused the poor baby out of her mind. No wonder she was so cranky.

Sunday we had "cousins dinner" at BJ's aunt's house in Bountiful. Kessa had had a horrible day in terms of sleep. Her longest nap had been on the car trip up. 20 minutes of crying and 40 minutes of sleep. She had one other nap… in my arms while BJ taught Primary. 20 minutes top, but I doubt it was that long. In other words, she was cranky. BJ's cousin, Laura, asked if she could hold her and next thing you know, she was sound asleep. I was pleased and irritated at the same time. This was getting old. But the difference? Laura taught me some swaddling techniques that have changed my life.

First, start with a stretchy blanket. Make sure when you put her on the blanket, put her off to one side so that the second side you wrap around is longer and can tuck underneath her. If she's old enough to kick, don't worry about swaddling her feet. (Though, I've been putting socks on her feet, cuz it's so cold!) Instead of putting her arms across her chest, put them straight on her side, slightly tucked under her bum. Instead of wrapping the blanket straight across her chest, start at her shoulder and angle it down so that the two wrapped portions make a V-neck.

Next, take a not stretchy blanket. I use receiving blankets. Repeat the swaddle.

The first, stretchy swaddle allows for a tight swaddle (don't be afraid to wrap her tight!) to keep her arms tucked in and to feel all wrapped up and cozy, like in the womb, and the second, non-stretchy swaddle keeps her from wiggling out. And let's be honest, we all know that she's fantastic at wiggling herself out of swaddles. (If my instructions don't make sense, let me know and I'll post a video of me swaddling her so you can see.)

"But my baby doesn't like being swaddled," you say. Well, to be honest, I didn't think Kessa liked it much, either. She was world champion at getting her hands out of there before you could even finish swaddling her.

We started swaddling her like this yesterday. By her second nap, she was smiling as I swaddled her and took less than 5 minutes to fall asleep. Today she's started putting her arms down by her sides when I start to swaddle her. She smiles when I swaddle her. I have laid her down and let her fall to sleep completely on her own for three naps today. I haven't been in the room once when she actually fell asleep. Heck, I don't even think I was in the room during the drowsy phase. Then, when she'd wake up in the middle of a nap, she'd cry out, but immediately put herself back to sleep. The first time she did it, I didn't even make it to her door before she was back to sleep. She has slept for almost 5 hours in naps today. She slept for almost 11 hours last night.

Life is bliss.

Private blogs

Don't freak out. We're not going private. But I have a lot of friends that have gone private. So, to keep track of you all, I've made a bookmark folder of all the private blogs I read. Well, I got a new computer and lost most of those links. I only have 4 now. So… if you have a private blog and think I read it, let me know your url again. Unless you're family. I definitely have yours. Also, Stacie, Meagan/Tyler, and Ashley. I have all of yours. Anyone else, I wanna read your blog again. Send me the URL, please!

Also, those of you I do have, Update Your Blogs! Out of the 4 private blogs I read today (and it's been awhile since I read) there was only one new post! What's the point of a private blog if you never post new things? Puh-lease?

Dear Google Reader, you know the email address and password I use to read these private blogs. Would you please use them to subscribe in my RSS feed? It'd sure make my blog-reading easier...

Reception Etiquette

I went to a wedding reception tonight. It went from 6-8. I got there around 7:30. By the time I got there, the line was broken up (actually, I have no proof there ever was a line) and by the time I found the groom (a friend from high school) he was being pulled in all directions and I only got a short time to talk to him. (For the record, I'm not upset by this. I had a reception once, too. (Twice, actually.) I know how it goes.) So I grabbed a slice of double chocolate cake and sat down to eat it, just in time to get an almost front row seat of them cutting the cake. It made me ponder reception etiquette. I thought of two scenarios and I was wondering what you, my dear readership, think is the most appropriate. Mostly just to satiate my curiosity.

Scenario:

A reception is scheduled from 6-8 pm.

Options:

1. The bride and groom should be available to greet guests from 6-8, saving things like cutting the cake and the bouquet toss until after 8.

2. The bride and groom should leave right at 8. They've got better stuff to do! So, if you want to talk to the bride and groom, be sure to be there at least a half an hour before the scheduled ending of the reception.

And just for fun, what are your opinions on cutting the cake? Should you smoosh it into each other's faces, or should you treat it with respect and do it nicely? (My grandma was insistent on the second. "It's your first act of service as a married couple. You should respect each other!")

Picture!

Hmmm… I think it's about time for another picture of Kessa on the blog.

Much better.

Lullabies

When we're putting Kessa to sleep, she often does better if we sing her a song. And like a good LDS couple, the vast majority of the children's songs we know are primary songs and church hymns. When you sing a song over and over like that, you start to notice things you'd never picked up on before.

For example, did you know that the song "Our Savior's Love" has one verse about each member of the Godhead, specifically how that person helps us gain exaltation? Yeah, I had no idea. I just figured it was a nice song with poetic lyrics about how much Christ loves us and a great melody.

Kinda interesting how much we don't pay attention.