Standing Room Only

It finally happened. We knew this moment was coming and thankfully we were prepared. Nothing bad happened, unless you count an hour of lost sleep as bad. Wait, that IS bad! Well, nothing REALLY bad happened.

Around 5:30am, Kaylani started crying. Its not unusual for that to happen so we kinda thought nothing of it. Sometimes, if we're lucky, she'll cry for a few minutes then fall back alseep. After a few minutes, it was pretty clear that she wasn't going to go back down easily. We had no idea how true that statement was.

Mommy looked at the video monitor first. She blinked a few times, then scrambled to get up. "She's standing in the crib! She's standing" she yelled as she tried to put on her robe. I looked up briefly and didn't see Kaylani standing. Looked like a normal crib to me. But then I put on my glasses, and yep, wouldn't you know it, Kaylani was at the front of her crib, standing. From the looks of it, she used the bumpers to pull herself up. Luckily we just put in mesh bumpers that don't provide much support or leverage, but apparently it was enough to get her standing.

So after taking a look at her standing in her crib for the very first time, I went in. Foolishly I tried to lay her down and see if she'd fall asleep (she didn't). That meant morning was here. 20 minutes before my alarm went off, or an hour before I had planned on getting up. Whoever said Standing Room only tickets are cheaper is wrong because it sure looks like standing in her room is gonna cost us.

Ever dress a fish?

I'm not a big fisherman. In fact, I'm not any type of fisherman. I went deep sea fishing once on a boat with my Dad when I was probably around 10 and I ended up getting seasick and throwing up off the side of the boat the entire trip. Then, to make matters worse, we got fined $50 a fish for the 2 measly fish that my cousin caught because they were too small. Then, on top of all of that, the cop took the fish for us. What a terrible trip.

So while I didn't take Kaylani fishing, and probably never will, I've decided that getting Kaylani ready for bed is like trying to hold a fish. Not a frozen fish or a dead fish, but an actual live fish. Kaylani squirms so much when we try and get her into her pajamas that if she was a fish and we were on a boat, she'd be back in the water and I'd be standing there looking over. Then, to top it all off, I'd probably get fined for letting a fish go.

Okay, maybe I'm stretching this whole fish thing a bit far, but she really is squirmy. She's so squirmy that I've given up on the changing table and I now change her exclusively on the floor while she's pinned down with my left leg. Sure she's crying most of the time because she hates when "the man" holds her down, but it's the only way to keep her still. The problem is that I can't get her pajamas on when my fat leg is over her. That means I've gotta let her loose.

Kaylani sleeps in full, long sleeve, footie pajamas that button all the way up (or down) through both legs. I can usually get her sleeves on just fine, but the rest is a challenge. Getting her to stay on her back doesn't work. Getting her to stay still and not flip over doesn't work. Trying to button 12 buttons between both legs and all the way up top while she's on her belly doesn't work. Trying to button her up while she's crawling away from me doesn't work. After about 10 minutes of flipping her over, buttoning a button, pulling her back to me, buttoning a button, holding her in a bear hug, buttoning a button, and so on, it's finally done. Finally she's ready for bed and released into the wild for a few minutes before the routine continues on.

Thankfully tonight's routine is over with and she's asleep peacefully in her crib. Tomorrow night we'll do it all over again. Maybe I'll head downstairs and turn on the Animal Channel or Discovery Channel to see if I can find a good fisherman's show. Or maybe I'll just keep trying to dress the cutest little fish I know.

We've only just begun

A few days ago I asked for tooth number 2 to come in so we could be done with this phase of teething. It's been one week since tooth number 1 came out, but months of anticipation. Over the past few nights, she's been sleeping better. Not great. Just better. Instead of waking up every 2-4 hours, she's been lasting closer to 6 hours. And what keeps us running (barely, but running) is that we've been going to bed the same time as she has. So Kaylani's in bed at 8pm? Well then we'll be in bed and hopefully asleep by 9pm. It's pretty lame, but it works. And we figured it'd only be a short term routine anyways.

Today, Kaylani's 2nd tooth finally came in. It listened to our calls and poked its way on out. And since teeth come in twos, that means we're in the clear and Kaylani will go back to her regularly scheduled 9-11 hour sleep shifts. More importantly, Mommy and Daddy could go back to their regularly scheduled 8 hours of sleep, and still have time to stay up a little later and get some stuff done (and boy does Daddy need a few extra hours to get stuff/work done). But then we found out that we've only just begun.

Right next to Kaylani's 2nd tooth we can see our dreams of extra hours in the day and normal hours of sleep disappearing faster than the gums holding in Kaylani's 3rd tooth. A 3rd tooth? Seriously? Now? I really thought teeth came in two's and then took a break for awhile. A 3rd tooth on the horizon means more moving, more teething, more pain, and unfortunately, not more sleep. Sleep is something we all need to keep going. For Kaylani and Mommy, sleep makes them able to play all day, nap at reasonable times, and not be fussy. For Daddy, sleep means that I'm able to keep my head in the game during 10 straight hours of meetings and still be able to play with Kaylani for a few hours before getting actual work done at night. Sleep means so much to all of us, but we've only just begun.

Teething means Kaylani is growing which is great. I'm sure I'll echo this sentiment for many years to come, if not for the rest of my life, but sometimes I wish that Kaylani would just grow a little bit slower. I wish she would develop faster, but grow slower. Does that make any sense? I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. I spend working hours ensuring that I make sense. Sleep would help me make sense all the time. Too bad we've only just begun.

Riding off into the sunset

Every night, we try and do quiet activities before bedtime. Whether it's a song, a book, or maybe even listening to a prayer from a doll that Titi Mayra Lee bought us, it's always something to relax Kaylani just a little bit. Then, she'll nurse for 30-40 minutes with Mommy and go quietly off to sleep. It's a good routine and it's been working well for us, but it just didn't have that Western flair to it.

At the end of old Western movies, the hero would ride off into the sunset on their trusted horse. The music would fade out, the picture would fade out, and a happy ending would be had by all as the movie and the story concluded. It all seemed so nice that I thought I would replicate something to that effect for Kaylani's bedtime routine.

Tonight, we decided to mix it up a bit and ride off into the sunset with Kaylani. I think it went pretty well since she's nice and tired now so maybe we'll keep this new routine up. Or maybe we should go back to our old song/book/prayer routine. What do you think?

On the outside looking in...

It's a sad day here in Daddyville. Today, we made an executive decision to rotate nights of putting Kaylani to bed individually, and tonight is Mommy's turn. Actually, we made that decision last night after Daddy came home from baseball practice. Apparently once Daddy said good night and went to practice while Kaylani was still nursing, it caused a serious disruption in the bedtime routine. Instead of nursing calmly, then going to sleep by herself, Kaylani stared at the door and cried for 30 minutes without finishing nursing because she was looking for Daddy. Finally, after being picked up by Mommy and soothed for 30 minutes, she fell asleep with an occasional whimper.

Some may think that not being involved in the bedtime process would be a good thing for me. After all, it basically means that Daddy is "free" for 30-45 minutes to do whatever he wants while Mommy and Kaylani are closed up in Kaylani's room. But that's not how I look at it. Instead of "freedom", I'm in "confinement." The fact that "confinement" actually means I can be anywhere but Kaylani's room doesn't matter because it means I'm on the outside looking in.

Right now, I'm sitting on my living room couch staring at Kaylani's monitor while writing this post just to feel like I'm still part of bedtime. I can't actually see anything except an empty crib since the camera angle is only of her crib, but it's the closest I can be. When Kaylani has to burp or is done nursing, she won't be able to look over and smile at me like she usually does. So sadly, she can't see me, and I definitely can't see her.

But this is one of those things that just needs to be done to help Kaylani in the long run. Crying when one of us isn't there isn't a good thing. It makes for restless nights for everyone involved and is a habit that we really want to break now. We've been a big fan of our bedtime routine for quite some time now, but the problem with routines are that they're too routine. And with other commitments creeping in now and then, a routine just isn't going to cut it anymore. It's too sad to watch Kaylani go to bed sad. This is good for her. At least we hope it is.

Tomorrow night will be Daddy's turn to put Kaylani to sleep by himself. It'll be a little different since Mommy will still have to nurse her since Kaylani still won't take a bottle and Daddy still isn't producing milk. But after she's done nursing, we'll do the hand off and Daddy will say good night all by himself without Mommy there. I have a feeling tomorrow night will be even harder than tonight, but that's tomorrow. I'm still not over the feeling that I'm an outsider. So tonight, I guess I'll just keep staring at the monitor trying to catch a glimpse of my little girl. Maybe, just maybe, she'll see me too.

But it's still light out...

Before Kaylani, I used to think that daylight savings was the greatest thing ever. It meant that the sun would still be shining when I got out of work, and that I could actually take advantage of it before heading inside for the night. And now that we have Kaylani, I can remember when I was really young and used to think that daylight savings was the greatest thing ever because it meant a few more hours of light, but never quite understood how I could be put to bed while the sun was still shining and I could take advantage of it by playing outside. I wonder if Kaylani thinks the same thing now.

Kaylani's bedtime is sometime between 7:30 and 8pm usually, which means the bedtime process on a night that includes bath time (like tonight) starts around 6:30pm. The first step of the process includes going up to Kaylani's room and closing her shades. That's when the memories hit me. Here I was, closing the shades in my daughter's room, and the sun was shining real bright. It just doesn't seem fair.

Now I know babies need to be on a routine and that going to sleep early breeds better sleep (and by I know, I mean I read in a book), but would it really be that bad to keep her up so she could take advantage of the sun just a little bit more? She could play outside with us, maybe even go for a walk with Mommy and Daddy after dinner, or just sit outside in the backyard and watch the sun go down when it gets a little warmer. Doesn't that sound like more fun than going to sleep?

On the other hand, I guess keeping her up a few extra hours would make her overtired, which would then make her sleep worse. And since her afternoon nap is usually over by 5pm at the latest, she wouldn't make it much past 8pm anyways. I guess we'll keep things the way they are, but it's only going to get worse from here on out since it's just the beginning of Spring right now. The sun is going to last longer and longer for awhile, and Kaylani is only going to get older and older. So I guess we'll put Kaylani to sleep whenever we want, whether the sun is out or not, because I know that's something that I won't be able to control for much longer.

And, as promised, here are pictures from the last bunch of days. I've been a little busy and haven't had a chance to post, but I do have pictures from every day so take a look and enjoy!

Computer Addict

Daddy has spent a majority of his life in front of a computer. From the second he started using LOGO on his very own Apple IIe when he was 4 years old (remember the digital turtle that you could make go crazy by using the right commands??), his parents knew that he was going to be obsessed with computers. Back in 1984, anyone using a computer was pretty ahead of the game, so a 4 year old using a computer was REALLY ahead of the game, and that was Daddy. And 25 years later, he's still obsessed with the computer.

Kaylani's not even 4 months old yet, and already I think she's obsessed with the computer. I think she's obsessed with TV/monitors in general, but since we don't let her watch TV (or watch TV in front of her) anymore, it's just down to the computer. Well actually, we don't LET her watch the computer, but she does anyways. And if Daddy wants to keep this blog a daily blog, then it's going to have to be something we just accept.

Every night while Mommy nurses Kaylani before bedtime, it signals the start of roughly 25 minutes that Daddy has to get the following things done: turn on the nightlight, prepare Kaylani's blanket for bedtime, fill the humidifier, get Mommy water, write his blog, and then read it to Kaylani and Mommy. The first 4 things take less than 5 minutes, so that leaves about 20 for writing and reading. And on average, it takes about 15 minutes to write and post. It's during these 15 minutes that we noticed Kaylani's obsession with the computer.

When it's time for Kaylani to take a break from nursing, Mommy burps her, and then stands her up for a few seconds so she can switch sides. It's during these few seconds that Kaylani finds the light of the computer (which isn't hard since it's dark in the room except for the light from the monitor) and stares at it. She stares at it the entire time she's not nursing, and twists her head as far as she can so she can still see it while she's trying to nurse. Sometimes, when she's really attentive still, she'll actually unlatch so she can see the computer (which is not one of Mommy's favorite things).

The "scientific explanation" would be that Kaylani is attracted to the light in the dark room. But Daddy didn't become a scientist for a reason, so forget the scientific explanation. Daddy's explanation is that Kaylani takes after him, and will also become obsessed with the computer. And the fact that she started 4 years earlier then Daddy just means that she'll be far more advanced then he will, which I have to admit, would make her pretty damned advanced.

Anyways, it's time to wrap it up and shut down since she's staring our way right now. It's lights out time in Kaylani's room, which also means its time to start the night's sleep training session. As a quick update, she's been sleeping the first 5 to 6 hours after only crying for 10-15 minutes, so I guess it's working. We're still hoping she'll turn that into 8 or 9 hours, but she might just be too old for that now. Oh well, it was a good run while it lasted!