Sleep and Routine

Well Chloe had her first night in her new bed on Monday night. She didn't really seem to notice the new bed. Or the fact that her cot had mysteriously disappeared while she was out with Daddy. She went to bed as normal and woke up as normal. She hasn't attempted to escape from the bed yet, but I'm sure she will figure it out soon enough that she actually CAN escape! So the switch is going well... on to the next daughter.

Poor Megan, I feel sorry for her, Chloe got a whopping 19 months out of getting a bottle in the middle of the night. Megan is not so lucky. This feeding every 2 hours at night is going to stop! And soon! I was always of the mindset that those babies that sleep through the night have some lucky parents. I was jealous, but those babies only come around once in a blue moon. Well, I am going to change MY luck. It was ME that got Chloe addicted to the bottle, it was ME that got Chloe used to waking in the night for a bottle, so it is going to be ME that gets Megan to sleep a decent amount of hours. Something she is well capable of! So I started the "pick up put down" method yesterday. For those who don't know, this is a method to get baby used to putting themselves to sleep, without any other form of "comfort". You do exactly as it says on the tin, you put baby down, let them cry for a certain amount of time, pick them up and calm them, and repeat until baby is asleep. So far so good, the HARDEST part is doing it during the night, when baby is used to being picked up and fed. Yesterday I also decided that I am going to feed Megan at 4 hour intervals, I figure its not fair to feed on demand during the day and then be strict during the night, too many mixed messages. She did fine with the method during the day, and being put down last night... but during the night was a different story.

Stewy was banished to the spare room (actually he begged me to let him sleep there). Megan was put down at 10pm, no problem. Then it started at 1am, she whinged but put herself back to sleep. At 2am she was now getting cross, as the minutes dragged pass, she got more and more cross. I picked her up, but a few minutes later when she realised I wasn't heading towards the bed, she got very very cross. I offered her a bottle of water (bearing in mind she hates the bottle anyway, never mind water coming out of it!), I wanted her to know that this is all she is getting if she wakes in the night. I put her down, very very very cross baby. I waited about 20 min and picked her up again. Put her down, this time I turned on her mobile which has very soft lights that go around, she switched from concentrating on the lights to crying every so often, and then she drifted off to sleep when the mobile stopped. (3am - not too bad me thinks!) She then woke at 5.40am, and I fed her, I told myself I would feed her after 5am, went straight back to sleep after I put her down awake and she then woke at 8, she went back to sleep and woke at 9.45!!! SUCCESS. Recently she was going to bed at 11pm, feeding every 2 hours and waking up for the day at 6/7am. I will see how the next week goes, I am not such a hard ass and if she doesn't get used to this after a week then I will feed her at night and try again in a month. But no way am I going to have a 19 month old waking at night again, not going to happen! Sorry Megan.

Yummy Mummy v's Frumpy Mummy

So I went out today to meet up with a few Moms that I met from rollercoaster.ie. They are all Mums to baba's about the same age as Megan. We met in a Starbucks Cafe. Well, didn't I feel right out of place. They are all dressed so well with their hair and make-up perfect, with the top of the range buggy's, baby bags and baby clothes. I on the other hand have a sports bag as a baby bag, a second hand (top of the range mind you!) double buggy, and baby clothes from Penny's. I am not dressed well, and not a hint of make up on, and hair all scraggly. To top it all off they started talking about the "must-have" baby toys, toys that I can assure you are WAY too expensive for me to even look at! Don't get the wrong idea, they are a lovely bunch of women, and they don't judge me for being frumpy (well at least I don't think they do!?). I did feel right at home when they were talking about things like, sleeping through the night, addicted to the boob/dummy, not eating enough/too much, and hitting milestones. They are all just such yummy Mummies, and I couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Of course there is always the fact that even if I did have a clue of how to apply make-up, I would probably be too lazy to apply it every morning. People at church would be lucky if I decide to apply a little bit of eye make-up. But I would like to think that if I knew how to do my hair, that I would. I like my hair to look good, but really how do women manage to keep their hair down and for it to not get all tangled and look scraggly!? Without it looking like there is a ton of hair products in it? I would also like to think that if I knew how to dress like a yummy Mummy, that I would get good substitute clothing for cheaper in Penny's and Dunnes and still look great. I would love Trinny and Susannah to tell me "What not to Wear" or more importantly, What TO Wear!! Without making a TV appearance of course, how embarrassing.

So I did what I do best when I need a pick me up, I went shopping! Not such a great idea considering the last post, need to save money, not spend it! I bought my very first pair of skinny jeans (although I'm not sure they can be called skinny jeans unless you are a UK size 10 or under, like my skinny sister Jenna!!) They seem to be popular at the moment, and I wanted to feel like I was "in-fashion". They were only €5, so not a huge spend. I then had to buy boots (kind of like Ugg boots, but not) to go with the jeans, but they were only €9. (I'm trying to justify buying them by saying they were a bargain, but in reality I don't really NEED them). Then I noticed that its mostly teens that seem to be wearing the above items. Am I trying to be a teen again? So what if I am! I'm only 23, I deserve to dress young and not like a frumpy Mummy!


On a completely different note, Chloe is biting her nails! She is biting them so short that I'm sure that it's got to hurt. I blame myself, I very rarely cut her nails with a nail clippers because the first time I did, I chopped the tip of her finger off, no joke! So, I bit her nails and now she bites her nails. Even her toe nails!! (not so much her toe nails, but still, I have seen her do it!) So I went to the chemist to get that stuff that you put on kids nails to stop them biting them, but she is too young for it, as I suspected. Have no idea what to do, I want her nails to grow strong like her Daddy's, not weak like mine.

Megan is waking quite a few times at night, I am getting exhausted. She is waking for a suck on the boob, not a drink, just a suck. I have no idea what to do! I put a blue outfit on Megan today (something her Aunty Mel brought her back from America) and it looks lovely! Her eyes are so blue, so it looked really well. Must remember to take a pic.