I want to be included too!

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In the past few days I've been more aware of my surroundings - I like to sit facing out on people's laps and see what's going on - hey, I am part of the family too and I like to be included! On Saturday Daddy's friend Jo Jo came over and I insisted on sitting at the table for dinner with them. I had to cry and cry and cry before Mommy and Daddy finally understood that was what I wanted!

I am also trying hard to talk to Mommy and Daddy. But all that's coming out are coos and googles! Although I can come close to saying "hi" back to them! Here's a video Mommy made of me today trying to talk to her!

Yesterday Mommy also tried to pose me for some 'model' shots yesterday. Needs some work, what do you think?

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The Sleep Challenge

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This sleeping thing isn't as easy as "3 nights and it's done". Over the weekend I think we spoiled some of what we got him used to, as on Monday (yesterday) he would not stay asleep by himself for his naps. So today I am trying again; he is currently asleep in his co-sleeper. So far I've had to sooth him once.

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Why didn't they mention this in the pre-natal classes?

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I've been trying to put Connor on a 'schedule' of sorts for the past 2 days, based on the book "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. I had heard of this book a few years ago from friends who were having babies at the time.

Simply put, the schedule is "E.A.S.Y." - Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (time for You). By giving the baby activity after eating, this prevents the baby from associated sleeping after a feeding (and being unable to sleep unless fed). Also by keeping this E.A.S.Y. order, the parent has a much better gauge of why baby is crying. The schedule does not need to be kept to any specific time, just keep the order the same.

Aside from this scheduled routine, I have been trying to put Connor down for his daytime sleeps in his co-sleeper. I suppose they are naps but he's sleeping so much still that I don't feel they are naps. I've found that Connor likes to be swaddled lightly and then I can gently rock or pat him to sleep and lay him down super gently onto his co-sleeper.

If baby stirs or cries, you can give him a few minutes to see if he recovers himself; if not, then you should pick up baby and soothe him, then try to put baby down again. This cycle could repeat numerous times (Tracy Hogg says it could be 20, 40, or even 100 times), but luckily Connor seems to be doing okay with it (I return to soothe him less than 10 times I think, and this morning I haven't had to soothe him once! Linds can do it too and I think it makes him feel a lot more helpful with baby.

So far I think the E.A.S.Y. routine, combined with the new sleep routine, has helped greatly. Yesterday at my Mom and Baby Fitness class, Connor was able to stay laying by himself for 45 minutes! And then, because of the E.A.S.Y. routine, I knew that it was time for sleep. After a quick diaper change, I swaddled him up again, patted him a bit, and he quickly knodded off!

I wish I had read this book earlier, it would have saved me some frustrations. The book does have some annoyances, such as being written with British sayings of "luv" and "dear" all the time; as well, at times Tracy makes it sound like you've done a horrible injustice to the baby if you haven't yet been able to do certain things with the baby. But as with all books you just have to process the information yourself and decide what will or won't work for you. The book also lists the signs to look for that would indicate what is wrong with Baby, ie. hungry or just tired?, which I found handy and interesting.

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Important Simplicity crib and bassinet recalls

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So I caved in again today and had one cup of coffee this afternoon. That may explain why I am up at midnight blogging - I added some resource links to the blog. I still have to add all the shopping links.

In the last month two different Simplicity brand products were recalled - the drop side crib, and the 3-in-1 and 2-in-1 convertible bassinets. While no injuries have been reported yet for the crib, according to the US CPSC website, two babies have died from the convertible bassinets, and there are almost 1 million of these bassinets still out there! The saddest part is, the CPSC releases report the first baby died on September 29, 2007; the second died on August 21, 2008. Why did it take this long for the recall and why isn't this front page news everywhere?? I remember when I did my research on bassinets in July 2008, I did see recall information on the Simplicity website, since I was considering purchasing one of these bassinets. I am however unable to see any recall posts for this product on the CPSC site prior to August 28, 2008.

If you search the CPSC website recalls by "Simplicity", you'll see this isn't the first time Simplicity has recalled cribs. So it isn't a surprise that the CPSC reports that they are no longer in business.

Even scarier though, search by the word "crib" and see all the recalls.

This is the not-so-fun part of parenting - a million things to worry about. Our Storkcraft crib isn't on the recall list, thank goodness (not that Connor is even sleeping in it yet, though - he's still sleeping in our bed between Linds and me).

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Thermometer readings for baby

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Connor did have a slight fever last night around midnight. It took hubby Linds and I quite a while to figure out the baby thermometer. To take an underarm temperature, you have to place the thermometer lengthwise next to the body under the arm for 90 seconds. 90 seconds sure feels like forever when you are trying to find out if your baby has a fever or not! I definitely need to buy a new fancy thermometer, one that takes temperature in 4 seconds and has the auto "fever" indicator. Linds and I also debated on how to read the underarm temperature. Underarm temperature is 0.5 C less than oral temperature. The normal "high" temperature is 37.7 C orally. Connor had an underarm temp. of 38.4 C, so we figured that is 38.9 C. I think I got it right now - Linds knew what the instructions meant and I was the one that was confused.

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