The entry that has no sense of direction.

Ev took two long, marvelous naps yesterday. Not only was I able to lay her down (this is a work in progress which I'll expand on later) but she took a ~2.5hr nap and then shortly after took a 1-1.5hr nap. During the super long first nap I even snoozed for about 30 minutes! Cha-ching.

When she was itty-bitty-bitty I didn't ever want to put her down. Besides it seemed like when I did put her down and was able to take a nap myself it seemed like I had barely closed my eyes before an alarm or something else woke me up to feed her. The doctor said you cannot spoil a baby by holding her or him too much so I figured I wouldn't let her go. It is all kind of a haze from the first few weeks anyhow.

I still agree with the doctor that you cannot spoil a baby by holding them a lot but now when she naps I have a slight bit of energy to accomplish something. Often she'd fall asleep in my arms (or Dan's, at night or on the weekends) and when she'd be moved somewhere so we could get some work done, her little eyes would pop right open.

The Moby wrap and Bjorn are handy for hauling her around the house with us and that's great but my lower back aches sometimes. It makes me feel like an old woman so until I start doing something to combat the lower-back aches, I'm not carrying her around as much.

I scoured the internet for napping tips and talked to a friend of mine who has two kiddos of her own. She said with her second baby she'd always swaddle her at naptime which is what I had read on various message boards, too. An ingenious idea that did not occur to me - go figure.

The past two days I've been trying to actually pay attention to when she naps so we can eventually make our way to a baby-led napping schedule. I haven't really noticed a pattern yet. Swaddling at nap time has done the trick, though. She hasn't woken up as much as she did when she had her arms free and her naps last longer, too. The last week or two her naps have been in 10-20 minute little spurts.

I'm writing this while she's napping, by the way. Swaddled and rocking in her swing. It's nice. We hung out outside for a little while where she sat content, licking her Sophie-giraffe's ear. We listened to some music while I fiddled on the iPad then I furminated Toby-san and clipped his nails. She started to fuss right about the time the sky started to spit rain drops at us so we went inside.



When she was a newborn it was convenient that she slept most of the time because no matter where we took her, she was out like a light and there wasn't anything changing that. Now that we're figuring out some sort of routine that works for us I'm wary to go anywhere during her scheduled naps lest it throw her off for the day. Experienced Mamas (or Papas, or guardians) - any advice or thoughts?

During her first nap of the day I was able to get most of a midterm for my history class done (the class only runs 8 weeks) but someone started stirring in her swing very shortly after being laid down, so it was a hold-the-baby and answer multiple choice questions sort of midterm. See, our long naps are still a work in progress. She just had to remind me who is the boss...and it isn't me.

I think this is the last "long" nap she'll have today so I should probably go find lunch. I really want my second (caffeine-free) Diet Coke of the day but I'm trying to save it for our Dexter session tonight when Dan gets home. Or maybe with our ground-turkey burritos. I don't know.

All I do know is that I'm trying to ration myself. It just tastes so, so good - I can't even blame it on the caffeine because there is none!

We bought four twelve packs that are meant to last us a month. For the greater good, Dan is being the tough guy and saying if we run out we can't get any more until March. I either have to continue to work on curbing my habit or hope I can beg really well.

Has anyone read any good books lately? I just finished Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult today and was left unsatisfied. Not only did it take me a super long time to get through it I had to trudge through it. It is unlike me to have to make a conscious effort to keep reading a book by Jodi Picoult; usually I can't finish them fast enough.