Quote from Peter that seems more true every day:

“Raising a child is like playing Whack-A-Mole.  Just when you solve one problem, another one pokes its little head out of its hole.”

Well, actually Alethea wakes up much easier than I would like.  Today her longest nap was 1 hr long, so tonight she will either be too tired to go to sleep or she’ll crash and everyone will feel better in the morning.  I sure hope it’s the later.

On the topic of waking up though, Peter says Alethea and I have the exact same waking up face.

Thanks Honey…

In the continuing adventures of “Get the Baby to Sleep” I feel that I am beginning to understand cause and effect as it relates to Alethea and her sleep patterns.  These revelations began Wednesday afternoon when I took Alethea to Target.  To make a long story short, it took me longer to get out the door than I had anticipated and I was not as efficient in getting through Target as I meant to be, so we missed what should have been the beginning of nap time.  Alethea seemed to be taking it all in stride, enjoying looking at the colorful products as we walked the aisles and being the typical angel that she generally is in public.  However, as soon as we got to the car, she let out a giant wail and continued to fuss and grump the rest of the day, not sleeping for more than 30 minutes at any given point and didn’t finally give up until 11:00pm that night.  I did feel properly chastised for over stimulating her and getting to nap time late and resolved that in the future I should not attempt shopping trips without more careful planning.

Then Thursday evening, she started getting fussy around 8:00pm, but she was over-due for a bath, so I decided to go ahead and put her in the tub anyway since usually it helps her calm down.  She was the angel that she generally is in the bath tub, smiling and taking it all in stride.  However, as soon as Peter pulled her out of the tub, she let out a huge wail and continued to fuss and grump the rest of the night and into the morning, not giving up until 4:00am.  It was a exhausting night to say the least.

Now while I feel that the punishment Alethea dished out was probably not in proportion to the crime of keeping her up 1/2 an hour past bedtime, I have to say that the extreme nature of the punishment has certainly made me more vigilant since in getting her to bed at the first sign of tiredness.  We are doing much better now, nap time is easier, and she even slept for 10 hours last night with only one feeding.  I only wish I had realized earlier what was causing her extended napless crabby hours.  We could have gotten to this a lot sooner:

Prior to Alethea’s arrival Peter and I spent quite a bit of thought and energy in creating what I hoped would be a fun and memorable nursery for her.  (To see pictures of the nursery, click here.)  However, it seems that her favorite part of the room is the only thing that was in the room before we started, the ceiling fan.

Now I can’t see anything particularly special about it, but Alethea will stare at it for minutes on end, laughing and talking to it.

I suppose you are all thinking, “Of course she likes the ceiling fan, it moves and lights up.”  But the funny thing is, she only stares at it when it’s not on.

This it seems to me is a clear illustration of The Cardboard Box Principal.  That is, no matter how cool the toy (or room in this case), nine times out of ten, your kid will generally prefer the box it came in.  I guess I didn’t need to spend all that time painting after all.

Speaking of flag day, my friend Keity was over yesterday, but she had to leave to go to a “Ringing in Flag Day” party.  Talk about any excuse to have a party! Keity said this friend throwing the party goes all out with Red, White and Blue decorations for her annual flag day party.

This got me reminiscing about parties and fun themes.  The best theme party I’ve ever thrown was for Peter’s birthday last year.  We were living in a log cabin at the time, so Red Neck party seemed like a great theme.  We played Lynyrd Skynyrd, had NASCAR balloons and played with the plastic dart shooting shotgun I found at the dollar store.  My favorite decorative touch though was the Christmas lights haphazardly wrapped around the front porch, only two of the six strands blinking.  It was a fun theme and a fun party.  Plus I got to see what Peter would look like with a mullet:

How ’bout you?  What’s the craziest/funniest/weirdest theme/excuse for a party that you’ve ever participated in?  I’d love to hear about it!

Today is a big day, but before I tell you why, let me go back in time just a bit…

Valentine’s Day 2007 - Peter gave me the best Valentine’s Day gift ever.  It was a beautiful Waring Pro waffle iron.  Not just any waffle iron, a Belgian waffle iron.  The kind that you pour the batter in, close the iron and then turn the handle so the waffle iron flips over, evenly coating both griddles to achieve delicious crunchy-golden-on-the-outside, soft-warm-fluffy-on-the-inside waffles.  They were truly fantastic!

We ate many waffles over the following months.  Turns out waffles not only make a great breakfast, but are a quick and easy dinner and go with practically anything you might have leftover in your fridge.  Fruit, bacon, sausage, ham, whip cream… doesn’t really matter, it’s all good…  I raved about my waffle iron.

But then came that fateful day in August of 2008, 6 months after the warranty had expired, when my waffle iron simply quit working in the middle of a batch of waffles.  No warning, it just died.  I went through many of the stages of grief: Denial (it’s not dead, I just need to plug it into a different outlet), Anger (stupid Waring Pro, how could they make such a sub-standard product) and Depression (dinner time, staring into the fridge, all I can see is my milk, eggs and Bisquick).

I had a hard time letting go, but I am proud to say that 10 months later, I have finally reached the stage of Acceptance and have purchased a new waffle iron!  After much research (during which I discovered that many people had the same problem with the Waring Pro maker) I selected the Wlliams Sonoma 4 Square Waffle Maker by All Clad.  The manager at WS assured me that this iron will not die and that if for some strange reason it did, I can bring it back ant time for a refund.

Now I just have to find out if it makes good waffles.  The iron is going for its maiden voyage tomorrow morning accompanied by bacon, sausage, whip cream, strawberries and real maple syrup.  If anyone wants to come help test it out, just give me a call.  Really.  Consider it a reward for reading to the end of a long blog entry about waffle irons.

Alethea has suddenly decided that she likes sleeping at night.  She slept 7 hours straight on Saturday and Sunday nights and last night she did 5 hours before she wanted to eat.  I certainly feel better, but what is more exciting is that Alethea is a much, much easier baby the past few days.  She’s smiling, talking and laughing more and when she’s awake, she actually goes for more than 10 minutes without fussing.  I only hope this sleeping during the night phase will last!

Here’s a picture of our happy baby girl (Peter thinks this could be a cuter version of the Uncle Sam “I Want You” poster):

Bedtime Routines - So you would think bedtime routines would be a good thing.  The books all say that they help calm a baby down and can prepare them to sleep well during the night.  I am all for sleeping well during the night.  However, the past two nights during Alethea’s bedtime routine, she has suddenly gone stiff and let out a huge long hysterical wail.  The crying doesn’t last long, but it comes on suddenly and is quite loud.  Is it possible she has figured out that the routine means she’ll be put to bed and is crying to delay that moment from coming?  Can a 5 week old throw a temper tantrum?  So the verdict for bedtime routines - a good thing that is perhaps turning into a cue for bad behavior.

Peeing on Dad - Normally I would say peeing on Dad is a bad thing, but just as Peter was pulling Alethea out of her bath last night she totally went all over his hand.  The expression on his face was rather hilarious, and I’m glad she was still over the tub, so I didn’t have to clean up a mess.  Given that I got a good laugh out of it and Peter washes easier than carpet, I’ll say, peeing on Dad - in this case, a good thing.  (Sorry Honey!)

Weight Loss - I had my 6 week post-partum check up yesterday.  I’ve officially lost 40 lbs since my last still-pregnant appointment!  That puts me just a couple pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight.  The jury has an easy time with this one, weight loss- definitely a good thing!

The Brownie Batter Blizzard - Yes folks, it’s true.  The best Blizzard ever made by Dairy Queen is back for a limited time.  I encourage every one of you to go to DQ during the month of June and try it out so the they’ll make it a permanent menu item.  Unless you are one of those freekish people who don’t like chocolate (sorry Keity!) this tempting treat is not to be missed!  Given the above paragraph, if it were any other Blizzard I’d have to give it a Good Thing with Too Many Calories rating, but for the Brownie Batter Blizzard I’ll say unequivocally - A GOOD THING!!!!

Alethea had her one month check-up today.  Her current stats are: Weight 11 lbs 14 oz, Height 22 1/2 inches, Head Circumference 16 inches.  That puts her in the 90th percentile for height, and off the charts for weight and head size.  I have a big baby!

Alethea continues to interact with us more and more.  She has an extremely cute dimpled smile and when we were playing the other day she chuckled at me when I “beeped” her nose with my finger.  She has not rolled over again since that other day, although sometimes it looks like she’s really trying.  Maybe it was a one time accident that won’t repeat itself for a while.

On the schedule front, we seem to be getting into a better rhythm of eating/sleeping which definitely helps me plan out my day and seems to help Alethea sleep at night.  She does sometimes sleep in her crib, but will still generally awake after a half hour or so.  The pediatrician said today that even though she doesn’t have projectile spit-up, she may have some reflux, which would explain why she will sleep for 3-5 hours at a time if she’s in her swing or car seat since those keep her head up above her stomach.  Last night Alethea slept for 1 1/2 hours in her crib and then started crying.  I moved her to her car seat and she slept for 3 1/2 more hours!  I could get used to getting that much sleep at night!

That’s all for the Alethea update today.  I’ve got several ideas for other posts, so stop by later this week for more to read!