Do you ever stop wondering...

Do you ever stop wondering if your baby is breathing? Am I more paranoid than most parents, since Kiddo is now more than four months old and I still wonder if he is breathing in his crib?

Am I weird?

My guess is that this is still pretty normal for a first-time-dad of a 4-month-old. Then again, maybe it isn't and I'm an irrational freak. I can live with that.

In any case, my feelings of discomfort have heightened since Kiddo has started sleeping longer at night (some nights).

Last week there was a night when Kiddo ate and went to bed at about 7:30 PM. We didn't hear from him until around 3:30 AM. That was an eight hour stretch. I had to get up sometime after 1:00 to go into his room to make sure he was okay. Sure enough, he was just sleeping. I went back to bed convinced that he was seconds away from waking up, but he slept like two more hours.

When Kiddo was first born, I wasn't sure I could handle the stress of him waking up every couple of hours. Now I wonder if I can handle him sleeping through it!

Read full post...

Event Planning with a Baby

This weekend I was on charge of a rather large event. It involved quite a bit of planning and quite a bit of work as the day got closer.
Last year I did a similar event and worked like crazy. I remember coming home tired to the bone and crashing. It was the next day we found out I was pregnant.

This year I recognized that I would not be able to keep up the same pace in preparation. For some reason having a 4-month-old really makes things happen at a different pace. And overall, I was successful in both the mothering of the day and the event itself. I took things an hour at a time, worked while he slept, got help for when he was awake, etc.

The only rough part for kiddo was going to sleep in a strange place (his stroller in a dark room) and having to wake up to come home.

Oh well, you can't win them all. But I won most of it!

Read full post...

The Psychology of Sleep

Last night Kiddo slept for another 6 1/2 hour stretch. The great news of the day? I slept through 5 hours of it. Now, kiddo did wake up three times; and three times my DH (and I mean dear) got up and put the plug back in and Kiddo went back to sleep. What is weird is that I never heard him cry...

It turns out that even though the monitor is right over my head and I am very attuned to his noises, when I feel no responsibility for responding to Kiddo--based on a previous tactical decision--I don't hear Kiddo, much less wake up for it.

What is funny is that 2 weeks ago, DH could sleep through any nighttime escapades without stirring. Now he wakes up and takes care of the Kiddo before I even hear him.

Seems that the person who feels the responsibility is more likely to wake up.

Read full post...

A great night

Last night Kiddo slept for 6 hours straight. Well, he did kind of wake up and DH went and put the plug back in. And then he fussed and DH carried him in to put him back in the bassinet.

But then he slept without getting up for his 2am feeding. Wonder if it'll ever happen again! Ok, it'll happen again; he won't be getting up to eat at 2am between the ages of 4 and 14 for sure. But I wonder if it will happen again in the next 2 weeks!

Read full post...