To sleep perchance to dream...

So far, the roughest part of this parenting gig is getting Margaux to sleep at night. She is still an excellent daytime sleeper, but this skill vanishes at sunset. At the risk of jinxing us for tonight, we have seen some improvement. For the past several nights, she has slept from 3:00 am or so to 7:00 am or so. Four consecutive hours of sleep feels so very nice to me and Mike.

We’re hoping that she will expand those hours and start going to sleep at a decent hour. Books and friends (who have real live children of their own who are good sleepers) have told us that we should let her cry herself to sleep. Here’s an excerpt of an email I wrote last week to a friend (who also has a newborn) during an attempt at letting Margaux get to sleep on her own.

Hi Tracy,

….it is 4 a.m. and I think she may (read fingers crossed and holding breath) actually be asleep. This parenting stuff is rough.

4:03 a.m. Not asleep after all. Now screaming. Am forcing myself to wait 5 minutes before going in there. Argh.

I don't think we are quite up for a visit, yet, but we will be soon.

Do you have pictures of Claire? If so, I'd love to see some.

4:07 a.m. Stopped crying. Now feel compelled to go check on breathing.

4: 09 a.m. Never mind, crying again, so breath is implied.

Goodnight, Cindy

I am glad to say that this email would no longer be written at 4 a.m., but it is very similar to our experiences between 10:00 and 3:00. Thankfully, we think she is cute even in the middle of the night. Here are some pics of her just after a feeding. Please notice the sunlight in the room, which explains Margaux’s state of consciousness.

Grandparents are great

B and Pop came to Stillwater over the weekend to see their baby. That's what they call Margaux. They refer to her as "our baby." I'd just like to point out that that term was once reserved for me. Just an observation. I'm not bitter or anything. ; )

Their visit was short but wonderful for all of us. Mom held Margaux for hours on end. That made both Mom and Margaux very happy, and Mike and I got to run kid-free errands. As you can see in the photos, Dad didn't get to hold Margaux a whole lot, but he did get to hold his harriest grandchild.

So, here are some pics from the weekend and a couple of other recent ones.

Bath time

Here are some pics of Margaux's first real bath (all the earlier ones were sponge baths because she still had her cord). As you can see, she slept through the whole thing. In fact, the only time she made a peep was when we poured water on her head to get the shampoo out of her hair. I'm not exactly sure what she said, but I'm pretty sure she indicated that she would prefer to keep her dirty hair. By the way, these pictures are from last week. You didn't think we would forego giving our child a bath for a whole month, did you? We only do that to the dog.

.Time to hit the water!

This water stuff isn't quite as comfy as I remember it.

A warm towel and Mommy's arms. Now, that's more like it.