HOORAY!!!

Amelia slept through the night last night!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Do you think that's enough exclamation points?)

I'm not looking for it to happen again anytime soon though. I think it was a fluke. We weren't even trying to get her to do it. I'm gonna venture a guess that it happened b/c she was so freaking tired. I nursed her around 9, but she wasn't really satisfied, so we gave her 2 ounces of formula after that. She still didn't seem satisfied, so we gave her another 2 ounces. So her total feeding experience lasted about 1.5 hours (including actual feeding, burping, and some cat naps). We put her down around 10:45 or 11. She woke up 15 minutes after she went down, but I went on paci duty. I was so sure that it was gonna be a bad night that I slept in a guest bed and closed the door to our bedroom so that Chris wouldn't wake up (not that he wakes up anyway). But after my one tour of paci duty, she went to sleep and stayed asleep.

I thought we were gonna have a horrible night b/c we were out of town this weekend. We had a hard weekend b/c she was in the room with us. This of course meant that we heard every little peep she made which made it hard to get a good sleep. She also got out of her "routine" a little because we were visiting people. They of course want to hold her at every opportunity which means she didn't get the little naps that she does get during the day. Or we were going somewhere so she would have to be bottle fed instead of nurse, which was bad on me b/c I felt like I was going to burst after not nursing or being able to pump. Since we came home yesterday, she slept in her carseat for about a total of 5 hours on the way home. And I just knew that she was gonna be raring to go by the time we got home. I guess a full stomach really does do the trick.

Paci Duty

I have found a way to get my child to sleep for 4 hour stretches at night. The only downfall...it requires me to stand over her crib for about 15-30 minutes to make sure she doesn't spit out her paci. But when she does, I'm right there to put it back in before she wakes up too much. You may say, "Why not just give it to her, go get in bed, and when she wakes up, go give it to her?" Well, I find that I am less frustrated if I just stand there instead of getting in bed, getting comfortable, then, right when I'm about to fall asleep, hearing the wonderful noises of her screaming in protest because she's lost her paci for too long of a stretch. And, if I can sleep for 3 hours instead of 1, then why not stand there?

So far I have been the only one to stand paci duty because I know that Chris doesn't have the patience to stand there until she's asleep. He'd give it to her, stand there til her eyes close, then come get in bed. Maybe I will be able to convince him to use my method soon so that we are both up at night, instead of just me.

Sigh

We finally found a pacifier that Amelia likes. And, surprisingly, it is probably the cheapest one out there. I tried the Soothies brand at first because Lucy still loves hers, and I didn't want Amelia to use a butterfly one b/c I was afraid she would get a rash on her cheeks from the contact. Then we tried the one from the hospital, but she didn't like it too much. Finally, one night Chris was trying to give her the Soothie, but she wouldn't take it at all. He didn't want to go downstairs to get the hospital one (which she liked a little better than the others), so I told him there were some like it in her dresser. He broke one out, and we were both surprised to see that she liked it, cause I was starting to believe that she just wasn't gonna be a paci kind of girl.

Anyway, we found a paci she likes. It helps her go to sleep, which has been a lifesaver these past few nights. My only problem now is finding out how to keep it in her mouth. She either takes it out or spits it out right after you walk out of her room, and of course starts crying to get it back. So a vicious cycle begins of going in to give her the paci, getting it in her mouth, getting her to sleep (by holding the paci in front of her face as she tries to spit it out), feeling comfortable enough in the belief that she's in a deep enough sleep to leave, leaving the room, getting in bed, hearing her cry, getting out of bed....it goes on and on. The only thing I have been able to come up with so far to keep it in her mouth is taping it to her cheeks, but I don't really think that would be looked on too well, and I really don't want to do it. So I'm extremely open to suggestions.