Our Visit to Mommy’s Work and What to do Without a Swaddle

03/07/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Avery is 16 weeks old today! Where did those other weeks go? I know I am impatient wanting her to grow so we can play and interact more, but geez, time flies! All of those experienced parents telling us how fast time goes with your baby weren’t kidding!

Today we made a trip to Kelley’s work, my old employer, just to see her and old co-workers. After her long morning nap and finishing a bottle, we were off to work….I mean Kelley’s work. That’s so fun to say; being a stay-at-home parent is world’s better in my opinion!

Mommy greeted us at the entrance and I wore Avery in the Baby Bjorn until we were inside. Kelley couldn’t wait to hold her baby and she immediately took her from me once we were in the main area. So, I was looking pretty cool with an empty Baby Bjorn dangling across my body. Not that I really cared, it was casual Friday!

Going Mom and Avery happy to be together!

Avery got to meet a lot of new people that mom works with and used to work with me too. They all took turns “ohhhing” and “aaahhhing” while passing her around. Avery did much better than I expected with all of the new people and she was hardly fussy at all. Go Avery!

We spent about an hour making our rounds and visiting friends/co-workers until it was time for us let mommy get back to work. It was an overall good trip and I was happy to be able to bring her to Kelley since I know how much she misses our darling little girl.

It felt weird wearing this, but a good weird.... — It felt weird wearing this, but a good weird….

Before leaving the campus (it’s a rather large area), I took Avery for a mile long walk around the dirt trails that surround the building. This loop is a walk Kelley and I would take together every day before having lunch, and it was nice to take Avery around.

She seemed pretty alert and interested in the new surroundings, but then fell asleep half-way through. I always hate waking her up to put her back in the car, but since I was in a Fire Lane, figured I shouldn’t press my luck any longer. Oops!

Taking my time before putting her the car seat.

Up to this point, Avery was oddly calm and she just felt like a ticking time bomb for when her major fussy time would blow! Once home, Avery ate a little and showed signs of tiredness setting in. At this time of day, I am usually laying her in her crib for an afternoon nap, but CRAP, her Woombie was wet in the wash and there is no way she can sleep alone without it. We’ll work on that, but not yet.

I put Avery in the carrier and went for another walk with our dog, Abby, since Abby usually gets a walk anyway. I usually have luck getting Avery to sleep while walking, but she squirmed forever while trying to what seemed like climb my chest to get out of the carrier. Finally, she fell asleep as I was half-way through again. I sense a pattern here…. I tried to extend the walk while she slept, but she ended up waking anyway. Is 20 minutes a good nap?

Short answer, no. That time bomb went off not long after coming inside. I offered her more bottle and she finished it fairly easily, but continued to wail and fling her arms about. Still without a swaddle, I just held her close and tried swaying with her. 30 minutes later and her eyes were heavy but still open and she was still crying. Ugh.

At this point I was just desperate to get her to have a little nap before night time, so I brought her to the recliner. With my arms wrapped around her and my hands holding her arms from moving to her mouth (a human swaddle!), I rocked the screaming beauty to sleep. And this is what Kelley came home to….

Kelley washed up and came back to get Avery for a feeding. The nap was successful and held Avery over until laying her down to sleep tonight. Phew, what a day! Poor girl was exhausted!

Aside from the tiring day, I do have great news! I spoke with a nice person from Onya which makes great baby carriers and they agreed to send one to us to review and write about! I can’t explain how happy I am and can’t wait to wear Avery all around with it. Stay tuned for constant updates on where we travel in the Onya Outback!

Have you ever had to make yourself a human swaddle to get your baby to sleep?
Do you or have you used a baby carrier? If so, what kind?

Parenting

Are You a Paranoid Parent?

03/06/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

I am, at least when Avery is sleeping. Not super paranoid where I’m putting a foil hat on Avery to block the microwaves beaming down from space, but just mildly paranoid where I still won’t flush when she’s sleeping.

Just yesterday, while I was walking in the neighborhood with Avery sleeping in the carrier, our neighbor asked how I was doing and I didn’t provide a response. I felt bad and tried to make a sleeping signal with my hand to my face, but not sure if I did it right. If you’re reading this, sorry, Charlie!

Asleep in carrier and scared to make noise. But I'll take a selfie! — Asleep in carrier and scared to make noise. But I’ll take a selfie!

I mentioned how I take extra caution when Avery is sleeping to make as little noise as possible in a past post. Although, after that post, my mom told me she flushed the toilet anyway and Avery never woke up. Then Kelley told me she flushes too, so basically I’m the only one not flushing!

Have I since changed my ways? Nope! I still refuse to flush, but I’m a little less uptight about it. My mom (G-ma) spent the night last night since our home is closer to her work and because it’s always great to see her. When she asked if she could take a shower at 5am when getting ready, I was hesitant at first, but finally agreed. But, I said, “No flushing!!”

In my defense, her guest bathroom is right against Avery’s nursery wall and it seems like soundproofing is simply nonexistent. Or maybe that’s my paranoia….hmmmm.

Avery usually ends up in our room in the middle of the night to feed anyway, so I didn’t expect the shower to be a problem. Well, Avery slept all through the freakin’ night in her crib! G-ma took her shower and Avery slept right through the whole thing. Geez, maybe I am really paranoid!

So, sorry, mom, for restricting you from using our facilities, I will allow full use from now on. As for me, I think I’ll still be paranoid for a while. Once Avery is eating solid foods, my paranoia will increase substantially! Any time she goes somewhere else where food will be offered, I will try my best to not let the wrong things get in her mouth. To give you an idea of my retentiveness on food, I avoid eating out as much as possible because I can’t stand anyone else preparing my food. So I make all of my own meals when I can.

You said I can't eat what?! — You said I can’t eat what?!

Now, excuse me while I pee on the white next to the water so as to not make a loud splashy noise.

Are you a paranoid parent? If so, what is it that you are paranoid about?

Parenting

Our Nightly Routine and I’m Inventing a Water Swaddle

03/05/2014 R.C. Liley 9 Comments

Since the main purpose of this blog is capture the journey of raising Avery, I want to lay out our current nightly routine. Avery is 3 1/2 months old now, and I’m sure this routine won’t last, so it will be fun to look back and read one day.

Kelley (Going Mom) usually gets home around 5-6pm with her bag of breast milk bottles she pumped and eager to see her daughter. Depending how the day went for Avery and me, she might still be asleep in her crib, asleep with me in a chair, asleep in the baby carrier (attached to me), screaming anywhere around the house, or just keeping calm and hanging out with dad. Most of the time, it’s one of the sleep options, but you never know.

There will be a fruit and veggie smoothie I made waiting for Kelley to have to hold her over until dinner. I usually unpack her lunch bag and pack the next day’s lunch that I prepared her ready to take in the morning. The main goal is to take most of the load off of Kelley so she can spend some quality time with Avery. Kelley will get into comfortable clothes and wash her face while I ~~hide in a corner~~ attempt to entertain Avery.

Entertaining Avery at this age means making click noises and weird facial expressions or showing her cards with animals. We also put her in her Baby Einstein jumper, but that only lasts ten minutes at the most. If we have the time, Kelley and I will talk about the day while playing with Avery. If short on time, Kelley will hold her while I cook Kelley’s dinner which right now is some form of a Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwich and salad or tomato soup.

I normally have a salad with a lot of steamed veggies and egg whites, salmon, or chicken that I’ve prepared earlier in the day and ready to eat later. Most of my daily food intake is at night and had been for years now. It works thus far and I love being able to sit down and enjoy my big meal at night. Of course, Avery might have other plans, but it’s not too frequent, yet…….

Kelley will then hand Avery over as I serve her dinner. It’s close to bath and bed time at this point, and we’re usually searching for anything to keep Avery from being fussy. Right now, the almighty vacuum saves the night! While Kelley eats, I will strap Avery in our carrier and proceed to vacuum the house. With our dog, Abby, always rolling in the grass and tracking it in and me making a mess in the kitchen, a daily vacuum never hurts. Once done, I will find things to put up or just have Avery stand on my stomach and lift her up and down. Doing this is good for at least one smile and is most certainly worth it!

Once Kelley is finished, it’s time for the bath! Kelley gets the water ready and I get Avery ready. Every time I lay Avery on the changing table, she will eek out at least one more smile as she gets undressed; never fails. I carry over to the tub once ready and lay her in the baby bath chair. At this point, she usually pees and Kelley will have to drain and re-fill the bath. But we are happy to do so because Avery simply loves being in the bath and has yet to really cry when in the tub.

Just tonight, Kelley made the observation that we’ve been taking longer with each bath lately just because she’s happy. Every time we take Avery out of the tub, she’s a screaming mess the rest of the time! So really, we are more than happy to prolong the nightly bath however we can. We’ll typically just splash her with water for a few minutes after everything is done and she cares not one bit.

Which bring me to the water swaddle. Yep, I want to invent one. Since letting a baby sleep in the tub is frowned upon, and we can’t just sit and splash Avery all night, there must be an alternative. All you need is to take something like this water blanket I found via Google search and transform it into a swaddle of some sort.

Maybe the Woobmie would be a good design template where water could flow throughout while the baby is snuggly zipped in the middle. It could be called the Water Woombie (patent pending*)! Hell, I’d kinda like that for myself, but with freedom to move my arms though…

Would it be safe? Nope. And that’s why I really won’t invent the Water Woombie, but it’s a fun thought. Seriously, our muscles tighten in fear every time I lift Avery out of the tub to be dried off.

Back to the routine. Kelley will rub coconut oil all over our screaming baby and put a new cloth diaper (yes, we do cloth diapering and love it!) on for the night. Once she’s dressed, I’ll swaddle Avery using a cloth strip to hold down her arms and then her Woombie. Keeping those arms from going to her face has been the key to a longer, better sleep; for all of us.

From there, Kelley will feed Avery one last time and rock her to sleep. Kelley usually falls asleep for a couple hours herself. With my freedom, I finally take a shower for the day and sit down with my salad and protein smoothie I made earlier. After that, I enjoy low fat cottage cheese and a lot of plain, non-fat Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries. Peanut butter is usually involved too. Great way to end the day.

I’m not sure how long we’ll keep this routine, but for now, it mostly works and we’ll keep at it as long as possible.

*Patent not really pending

Do you have a certain routine to get your kiddos to bed?
Do your kids love or hate the bath?