My big night out

Last night was a big deal for me. I left Adele for the first time in the evening. I am surprised by how at peace I felt to be honest. I had been planning it for a couple of weeks and had been doing a lot of praying.

I went to the playcentre introduction meeting. I fed A to sleep nice and early and put her down to sleep in our bed. The amazing thing was that she was asleep by just after 7pm. Bedtime usually ends up closer to 8pm. I was then able to go out at 7.20, relaxed and unhurried.

I arrived back home at 9.30 and as I drove in I could see my wee poppet in her Daddy's arm through a gap in the curtains. She was awake. But seemed to be happy.

She had woken at 8.30pm (1 1/2 hour sleep - not too bad for her!) and Mike hadn't been able to resettle her so they'd gotten up and read some books, watched a DVD and had a wee party it seems :)

I was stoked. It didn't really matter so much whether she slept, as long as she was happy and ok without me.

A was pretty happy to see me when I got home so we snuggled up in bed together, and I gave her some more mama milky and she quite quickly drifted off to sleep. I managed to sneak back out of bed and have a hot chocolate with Mike before going to bed.

Yep. It was a good night. I reckon I could do it again.

My two fav people watching Love to sing one morning last week.
I imagine last night was a bit like this!

Such a little trooper

You know, one of the good things about having a baby who isn't so keen on sleep, is that she can stay up happily for hours!

This morning she woke at 5.30 (arrghh, too early little lady!) played in the lounge with mummy and daddy for a good few hours (Mike and I took shifts) then went to church at 10.30 not getting home to nap until 12.30. That's 7 hours awake.

Now, you'd expect that she'd be a mess by the end of that, and yup she was definitely tired (evidenced by the fact that she lay still as I changed her nappy before her nap!). But she didn't throw a wobbly at church, no crying in the car or even really excessive clingyness.

She's just a little trooper.

Things I'm loving on Friday

Sneaking in on a sleeping baby

There can't be anything more beautiful and peaceful than a sleeping baby. I love to sneak a peek at Adele when she is having a snooze and see that gorgeous face so relaxed and that little chest rising and falling. Last night she was lying in bed on her back (unusual cause she usually sleeps on her side) one arm flung straight out and little legs all froggied up. I had to go get Mike to come take a peek too. Ahh. Thats why one becomes a parent.

My new heatpump

We got a heatpump installed last week. It's amazing. One push of a button and the room is warm. Now deciding whether to rip out the old pot belly or not...

Friends

I've been really enjoying my friendships this week. I'm slowly making friends in Hamilton and it's great! And it is especially nice to make like-minded friends. Sometimes I can feel a bit like I'm the odd one cause I do parenting things a bit differently to others (demand breastfeeding, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, baby-led weaning etc) so when I find other like-minded girls it makes me so happy. I had a lovely day out with one of these fab girls on Tuesday and we walked around Hamilton lake. [Hi M!]

Update on sleep

Just thought I'd give an update on sleep. Seems we're over the terrible patch again and back to satisfactory. I think the 'bad' patches come in cycles, probably has to do with growth spurts etc.

So she is settling more quickly again in the evenings, I'm usually outta there by 8 o'clock again. phew! But we'll see - take it one day at a time.

The not so good part is that she wakes at 5.30am now. Bit too early for my liking I'm afraid. Luckily though she is happy to come in to bed with us and feed and lie reasonably quietly for an hour.

I hate that I am so obsessed with sleep. I know that I am more laid back than some - I'm not obsessed about getting her to 'sleep through the night' and yet, sometimes it feels like every waking moment I'm thinking about sleep. It's not so much my sleep I worry about as hers. Ah well, life as a mum I suppose.

Too soon to say I told you so

I said that it was too soon to say I told you so. And I was right. Sleep has gone back to pot again. Sigh.

She was doing so well there for a couple of weeks but now she's gone back to taking ages (read hours) to settle for the night. She's not too bad once she's asleep. 5-6 hour stretches are common. But I'm getting rather sick of sitting in a small dark room trying to convince an awake baby that she shouldn't be. Yawn.

Must be teething.

Must be cause she's learning to crawl.

Must be cause we've been busy lately.

Must be cause she's been doing lots of talking (the baby babbling type).

There must be a reason...

On a brighter note. Check out this cuteness. She's discovered how to spin the wheels. Weee!