Cry It Out

A well-rested baby on a sleepy Daddy.

Although Zoe has been a pretty good nighttime sleeper since she was about 6 weeks, her sleep patterns definitely started to shift around 4 months. She started resisting going to sleep more and waking up more in the nights. When she did wake up in the middle of the night it would often take about 2 hours to get her back to sleep, and I was even having to nurse her in the middle of the night even though I knew she wasn't actually hungry. Additionally, she needed to be rocked to sleep every night, which was taking its toll. It got to the point where we had to place her in the crib so carefully that the slightest wrong move woke her up and we had to start the process all over again. Jody and I were once again sleep deprived and Zoe was cranky because she wasn't getting the sleep she needed. So, last week we finally decided to try the whole cry it out method.

I bought book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and we used the Ferber method. Basically, you let your baby cry for a certain number of minutes before going in to reassure the baby for 1-2 minutes without picking her up. You increase the amount of time you let her cry each time and each day. So last Friday Jody and I mentally prepared for an entire night of crying. We did our whole bedtime/feeding routine and placed Zoe in the crib sleepy. Then she just rolled over and slept until 7.30 am. Not a tear shed. Crazy. The next night we were hoping for the same, but no such luck. The waterworks started. It was so sad and felt totally unnatural not going in there to comfort her immediately. But, it only lasted 10 minutes (a very LONG 10 minutes, I must say) before she put herself to sleep. And again she slept until around 7.30 am. We've now had almost an entire week of this new system and it's going pretty well. I don't want to jinx it, but so far we haven't had any crying that lasts too much longer than 10-15 minutes. She's woken up a few times in the middle of the night, but just makes some noises and then gets herself back to sleep.

I had been so reluctant to try the cry it out method because I have such a hard time hearing Zoe cry. But, especially since we're still really struggling with naps, Zoe really needs that nighttime sleep.

Our next big challenge is tackling naps. We are still rocking her to sleep for naps and we still cannot get her to nap in her crib. The other day I actually had to hold her for an hour and a half so she would nap. My arm fell asleep and I eventually had to just wake her because I had enough. We may try crying it out for naps, but the book says it is best to do it once the nighttime sleep is all set. Plus, the book says that it often is much harder and less effective for naps. Does anyone else out there have any experience with doing cry it out for naps?

Tasty Summer Treat

Sure it's no Tag-a-long Blizzard, but for Zoe this was a big treat. After weeks of staring longingly at them, Zoe finally got those toes into her mouth. And she couldn't be happier.

Hey Friend

Zoe and Lydia's most recent playdate was a fun one mostly because the girls are finally starting to notice one another. While Zoe's attention span is a little shorter than Lydia's she did grab onto Lydia...and proceeded to try to eat her shirt. Yup, Zoe puts everything in her mouth these days, and Lydia is fair game. Lydia seemed to stay focused a bit longer than Zoe and had fun watching Zoe squirm around. It's been awesome to watch these two change. We've come a long way in just 5 months!

The Search Is On

So for the past two weeks I have spent every second of Zoe's sporadic nap times searching for a part-time nanny. I've been trying to get back to work, but I know I won't really be able to get any real work done until we get some help in here a couple days a week. I've been scouring the NPN web site every day and answering a gazillion different posts about part-time nannies. We interviewed two this week and have two more coming in this weekend.

It has been totally overwhelming. I know it's only going to be part time and I may be at home working some days, but it's so difficult knowing how a total stranger will care for our daughter.

This summer Jody's mom has been coming down one day a week to watch Z for a few hours and we have a babysitter coming in another day. But, Jody's mom goes back to school in August and our babysitter is heading to med school at the end of the month.

We really liked one woman who came this week, but she lives on the far northside, so we may be too far for her. Keeping my fingers crossed that something works out though. As much as I love my days with Zoe, I really am ready to get back to writing. I am getting way too rusty.

Fun in the Sun

Yesterday we had a great day with family in the 'burbs. We headed out to Bonnie and Roger's for Charlie's annual swim day/doggy date with Favor. He learned how to swim in their lake a couple years ago and he loves it. And even though Favor is way too cool for Charlie, he still loves seeing his doggy cousin. Yesterday was an extra bonus because Brian, Marijo and Mason came out too, and Zoe got her first taste of swimming in Mason's baby pool.

As usual Charlie was in total heaven running around, swimming and spending the whole day outside. Zoe was also a happy girl and seemed to enjoy her pool time. She especially liked getting those pool toys into her mouth. Although Mason didn't come into the pool with Zoe, he was just too cute with her calling her "Baby Zoe" and giving her kisses (which she reciprocated with several drops of drool). And the added perk of the day? Zoe was so worn out that we got a two-hour nap out of her (a major rarity). Thanks to Bonnie, Roger and Favor for having us out.

Yes Michigan

Sorry we have been so MIA from the blog lately. Last week, Zoe and I went up to Michigan for the week and then Jody met us there for the long holiday weekend.

This marked Zoe's first plane ride and it went pretty well. Luckily my mom came to Chicago the day before and flew back with us, so I wasn't totally alone with Z. Zoe did great on the plane. It was iffy at first. When we boarded she was crying quite a bit and all the people boarding the plane looked none too happy about the screaming baby. Once I started feeding her she calmed right down and then slept for the rest of the flight. I think an hour-long trip was the perfect first flight for our girl.

The rest of the week in Ann Arbor was a lot of fun and very relaxing. It was nice having my parents around to help out with Zoe and they got a chance to get to know her a little better. They also gave me some time to get away to go to the gym and write a couple of articles that I had due.

While Zoe was happy in Michigan, she was much more herself once Jody and Charlie drove in on Friday. She missed her dad!

My parents took care of Zoe for a few hours while Jody and I went to see "The Hangover." It was pretty good. I didn't like it as much as "Old School," "Knocked Up" and those types of movies. But I have liked Bradley Cooper since his Alias days and I love Ed Helms on The Office and from his days on The Daily Show, so that was fun.

I also met Kristy, my sorority "twin" (we had the same big sis' in the house) for lunch. I hadn't seen her since her wedding so it was great to catch up. We did a lot of baby talking since she is due with twin girls in October!

The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing. A bbq for the 4th and plenty of Zoe-Grandparent bonding. Such a nice trip!