Daylight Savings + 7 November 8, 2009

One week later and Sabrina is still no where near being adjusted to the new time.  She’s a mess.  For a few days I tried putting her on the new time “cold turkey” and that just did not work.  She woke up even earlier, napped less, and was crankier as ever.  Half way into the week I started adjusting to try to get her to sleep more.  It’s sort of working, but we’re back tracking from the new time.

Her schedule is currently: 6am wake up, 8:30 nap, 2:30 nap, 6:30 bed.

Far from ideal. But at this point, I’d be happy if she just slept 6:30-6:30.  One cup of Starbucks is no longer getting me through my days when they start before 6am. Save me.

No wonder Sabrina doesn’t travel well.  She does NOT do change very well.  Hmmm… wonder where she got that from?

If Sabrina were a Cartoon… November 4, 2009

Would she be Lilo from Lilo and Stitch?  A friend suggested that last night.  What do you think?

Daylight Savings, What? November 3, 2009

Halloween Night – Several hours before the time change

While to the rest of the world Fall Back means they get an extra hour of sleep, to parents of babies, it means an hour LESS of sleep.  5:00am wake up call this past Sunday morning. Great!  Babies and their parents were the only ones out walking around town at 6 in the morning, and it was like a playground in our local breakfast spot.

Monday was the same – Sabrina went to bed at 7pm but woke up at 5am.

Today was a bit better. 7pm bedtime, 6am wakeup.

I keep trying to explain to her that although it feels like 7am, it’s actually only 6am.  The explanations don’t seem to be working.  I changed the clock in her room this morning — maybe that’ll work!

In the mean time, I will load up on more coffee than usual.  Thanks Starbucks!

Admonish Bad Behavior? October 21, 2009

Sabrina and I on our first dinner date tonight.

We all know that Sabrina’s a feisty one. She does what she wants, when she wants, and she pushes the limits…

Food throwing is her one habit that I have learned to absolutely detest. It means mopping the floor three times a day.

Initially, I tried being nice. I tried using “my words” and saying “no,” “don’t do that,” “mommy doesn’t like it when you throw food on the ground…”  As time went on, my words got more and more stern.

Sabrina started throwing her food, then shaking her head.  That was funny. For a few days.  What was more “funny” was when she’d drop food, I’d do my stern NO, then she’d laugh… Man that was the last straw.  I decided it was time to put on my warden cap.

Whenever Sabrina threw her food, she’d get 3 strikes, then she’d get pulled from her high chair and thrown into her nice, large, dark, walk-in closet.  The first time I did this, it took her 5-10 seconds to realize what was going on.  The second time, she cried right when I shut the door.  The third time, she cried as I was carrying her over there.  Mind you, I only left her in the closet for about 10 seconds, during which time I’d be right outside telling her what she did wrong.  The fourth and last time, I said “no” sternly and gave her “the look,” and she cried instantly, while in her high chair.  That was pretty amazing.

Since then, she’s thought about throwing her food, and then she thinks twice and stops.

I’m ecstatic that it worked, and it worked so quickly!

Then today, her daycare provider was appalled that I’ve been punishing her!  Ooops.  She believes in just talking and explaining to kids.  She told me to look into her eyes and explain why mommy doesn’t like x, y, z.  I guess that’s great for daycare, but really? Does that work when you’re the parent and your kid knows YOU’RE the one they can be the worst to???  What do you think?

Two to One October 6, 2009

Chilling out on a Sunday afternoon with dad

Sabrina’s always been a great napper. Consistent, long naps that I’ve relied on for my sanity. Her naps are when I take showers, eat, clean, potty… I could always rely on a two-hour nap at 9am, and an hour nap at 3pm, and a 7pm bedtime.

All of a sudden, before 14 months old, she is starting to lose her PM nap! She is tired, but when in her crib she just rolls around, chills, but no sleep. Her AM nap is still the same.

I’M NOT READY!!!

I’m reading and learning from friends that this means I have to start pushing her AM nap back, and possibly move her bedtime earlier for a bit.  Sigh.  SOO not looking forward to this! Dad and I have the two-nap schedule down pat. We know how to visit family and friends who live far away, what time to leave for a day at Disneyland, and what our rare days without any plans are like. We have to figure that all out again?!

On the plus side, she’ll be in sync with her friend K, which will make B&K outings easier. Maybe we’ll even start doing zoo days and museum days again!

Second Time Moms October 4, 2009

No, not me. I’ve been noticing them recently in public places — farmer’s market, Huntington Library parking lot, Disneyland… A little baby is doing his panicked cry, and no mom is dropping everything to run to his rescue. I look around and see a mom also with an older child, just going about her business. Not hearing a thing.

Love it.

That was SOOO opposite of how I was when Sabrina was that age. I dropped everything, picked her up, stressfully tried to sooth her to not only make sure she’s okay, but to make sure people around me didn’t judge. A year later, I realize that they’re usually okay when they’re crying and even if they need something,  it can wait a few minutes (I’m obviously referring to the normal every day cry, not a piercing something-is-really-wrong kind). And unless you’re in a quiet, romantic restaurant, people don’t really care that much about hearing a baby’s cry. They often kind of like it.

I wish I knew that before. Would have saved myself many times of very elevated blood pressure.

Happy? September 25, 2009

Is it possible to love your baby but not love life as a parent?

Stomach Bug Timeline and Aftereffect September 24, 2009

Gastroenteritis, stomach flu, stomach bug… All names for what Sabrina had last week. The weird thing is how it long it took to play out.  Here’s the timeline:

Last Tuesday Dinner – no appetitie, barely ate

Wednesday – low appetite all day, threw up at night

Thursday – low appetite

Friday – threw up a little, grouchy

Saturday – no appetite

Sunday – carbo loading

Monday – normal, not eating too much

Tuesday – no change

Wednesday – no change

Thursday – Eating machine!  She woke up STARVING. Drank her entire bottle of milk. 5 minutes later went to her high chair wanting to eat breakfast. Ate oranges, yogurt, waffle, banana… And that scarfing lasted all day.  I picked her up from daycare and they told me that she wanted to eat everything and everything in sight all day.  And her belly showed.  ;)

*** Update: I just found out that a baby we played with Tuesday got the stomach bug too.  So I guess it’s still contagious after the appetite comes back.  Bad mom friend.  :(

Dr. Visits September 18, 2009

Sabrina with a gut — before her 3-day fast took it away.

Sabrina has a mild stomach bug. Poor thing hasn’t been eating much the past 3 days, and she threw up twice.   Just a quick google search helped me learn that she has Gastroenteritis. She hasn’t been all that fussy so I wasn’t too worried, but I called her doc anyways. She instructed us to go in and get checked out. So I did. I woke Sabrina up early from her nap this morning to bring her in. Dr listened to her breathing in the stethoscope, then confirmed she has a stomach bug. Told me to just feed her bread and crackers for a few days, Pedialyte, and not to give her milk.

…Ok duh!  Did she really need to SEE Sabrina in order to give me generic instructions that I found with Google?  And I don’t even agree her instructions. I say if Sabrina is willing to eat something, bananas, yogurt, whatever, then feed it to her.   And the no milk instruction is to prevent diarrhea and Sabrina doesn’t even have diarrhea!

This is the second time that we’ve gone in to see a doctor “just in case.”   Now I don’t want to risk my child’s well being or anything, but really?  $100 for an ER visit to confirm that Sabrina was teething and for some Tylenol instructions? $20 + time and inconvenience for advice that I found on BabyCenter.com?   I’m thinking twice next time we take her to see a doctor.  Especially next time I have to wake her in order to see a doctor. I think the sleep will add to her recovery more than a visit.

MD friends and family, expect calls from me in the future!

It’s All About Me September 5, 2009

I thought I needed therapy this morning. Turns out, I only needed some sleep!  A nice nap made me feel like a new person.

I always forget that I’m still sleep deprived, and motherhood is emotionally and physically draining.  I need to remember to set aside a little me time. Take a nap. Get my nails done.  Go shopping… It’ll do me and my marriage wonders.