My Gardenside

Five Months

Hazel,

Before you were born, I intended to write you a letter every month, but you came along and have wanted to spend so much time curled up with me that I never seemed to have time.  And really, it seemed that you would always want to stay right by my side, so I didn’t even feel like the letters were necessary.  But then independence started to happen.

At 3 1/2 months, you started to roll over both ways.  This was great because it meant that you were starting to like being put down a little bit.  Slowly but surely, you were able to hold your head up and enjoy tummy time for longer than a minute.  You also started to take much more notice in the world around you.  Bandit is one of your favorite things to watch.  When he’s in the room, your eyes follow him everywhere and when he wants to get close enough, you love petting him, which looks more like grabbing and pulling.  Luckily he tolerates it pretty well for now.

At 4 months, we borrowed a jumperoo from a friend and you love it.  You concentrate on the toys and like to go crazy with jumping and moving the seat so that music plays and lights light up.  We started to practice sitting more - you loved your bumbo and sitting in our laps during dinner and while we read stories.  A week ago you still toppled over after a minute or two, but now you are sitting pretty much on your own, and when you do fall, you fall gracefully, usually not even bumping your head. 

Yesterday I left you with Daddy so I could go see a movie with a friend.  When I came home, he mentioned that you you had found your hands and knees and were rocking back and forth.  This morning I caught it on video.  Daddy and I are sure that you will be crawling within the next month which blows my mind.  I thought that you would be my snuggly baby until at least 6 months.  Of course I am so happy to see you grow and discover your independence.  I tell you every night before bed how strong, smart, beautiful and wonderful you are.  And you are finding that out for yourself, at an amazingly fast pace.

So I guess that I will try to be better about these monthly letters.

With Love.

ps - it’s totally okay with me if you want to start sleeping more than two hours.  anytime now ;-)

Sleep (and the lack thereof)

The reason why pictures, blog posts, and keeping up with people in general has come to a grinding halt is mostly due to the sleeping patterns in our house.  For a while we used to talk about how Hazel was such a great sleeper, which was a surprise to me because my brother has reminded me over and over again, that I was not a good sleeper.  Well around month 3, we decided to transition Hazel out of our bed and into the co-sleeper.  The first night, I was actually excited for her to wake up, so I could bring her back into bed.  Famous last thoughts. 

Our sleeping girl went from sleeping about 5 hours a stretch to 1-2 hours and sometimes even less.  So after considering different options and researching infant sleep patterns, we came up with co-sleeping again.  This means I can get a little more sleep and function a little bit better. 

But the real point of this post is for me to say that I believe this is part of Hazel’s personality.  I never thought that I would be into Attachment Parenting (believe me, I like my freedom), but that’s kind of how Hazel rolls and it’s really nice to be able to bond with her in that way.  I’m also of the opinion that if we meet her needs for cuddles and whatever else now, she will become a confident and independent baby and toddler in the coming months.

We have also done everything “right” - we have put her down drowsy and even wide awake, but she still wakes up a ton; she gets plenty of milk during the day; we have an out-of-this-world bedtime routine and we have tried to not rush to her side when she makes the slightest peep.  The only thing we haven’t done (and we won’t for a few more months, if it gets to that) is let her cry.

I am grateful for all the support from friends who have offered insight into what has worked from them.  And I’m hoping, in the near future, to have some of my own insight to offer - insight into a spirited baby who doesn’t need much sleep but mommy and daddy do :-)