Currently

LOVING
'Scraps' brought home from Dan's landscaping job last weekend. Everything is really beginning to bloom here in Oregon. I am really excited to see the buds on the cherry blossoms and magnolia trees open up. Dan and I have set aside time Saturday to go to the Japanese Garden and enjoy it all.

THINKING ABOUT
My career. Or lack thereof. The JOB. Three months into being a full-time worker and new mommy, I am POOPED. I am very grateful for this particular job that I have--the super good insurance benefits, being able to take breaks whenever I need to pump breast milk, a long lunch hour that enables me to visit and nurse Raine, the location, and the fact that I can wear jeans and a t-shirt. But sometimes I wish I had a job that was more of a career, you know, the way I always assumed I would. I always thought I would *be* something: graphic designer, professor, small business owner, etc. Right now I am just another simple data entry office assistant. Actually, I would take it if it was for a company or organization that had anything to do with something I am passionate or even naturally curious about. Insurance? Not my kinda thing. But like I said, I am grateful and this particular job suits me for now. I just hope that there will come a time when I can make a change. I know I am only 31, but after spending ten years to get my undergraduate degree and then not even following that up with a job in the industries that I studied...Well, it makes me feel like I missed the bus.

ANTICIPATING
Our trip to Colorado in 1 week! We will be staying with Besty and family Wednesday and Thursday in Castle Rock, and then we have Friday and Saturday with Allyson and Marc in Boulder! I have never been to Boulder and I am anxious to see what it is like! Boulder beat out Portland by a slim margin, mostly to do with Marc finding a killer job there. ;) I am looking forward to getting away for a few days and enjoying a different landscape (I hear there is SUNLIGHT there!?) I can't help but wonder what it would be like to live in Colorado. I mean, come on! The SUN everyone speaks of, it is half the distance back to Illinois, and Allyson and Sarah within an hour of each other? Sweet! I am sure I will be thinking about it in the back of my mind. ;)

LISTENING TO
We Are Young (featuring Janelle Monáe) by Fun. I can't get enough of it. So catchy! Reminds me of Chicago...Hattie...Lots of fun nights out staying up late!

EATING
These little nuggets of goodness. I call them "my snackies." I am addicted. For sure. I discovered this snack when it was sampled at our grocery store (NSM). A gal that works there came up with it:

Spinach tortilla, spread with sunflower seed butter and slices of pear, sprinkled with sunflower seeds and sunflower sprouts, rolled up, and sliced into wedges with toothpicks to hold them together.

My super awesome hubby makes a batch out of four tortilla rolls and stacks the little guys in a tupperware container for me to take to work. The idea is for me to have them to snack on all week...but I kind of end up eating them in one sitting. Or two. It depends. ;)

WISHING
There was a magical super easy way to teach my son how to put himself to sleep and sleep with peace and content by himself in his crib all night. Tonight is the sixth night of our sleep training "experience." (What else do you call it!?) And it isn't easy.

As an infant, Raine slept in a bassinet in our bedroom. We had to mega-swaddle him and he woke very frequently if he didn't have a pacifier (or if he did, he woke angry if he spit it out). From 3 months old until 1 week ago, he co-slept next to me in our bed. Co-sleeping/family bed worked very well for us over that period of time. His need to suckle to stay asleep was met by my immediate presence and I could sleep while nursing him. However this created a problem in that Raine couldn't learn how to fall asleep without me. The only exception to this rule would be if he fell asleep riding in the car or by Dan carrying him around and soothing him (and all of the stars and planets were aligned.) So, if Raine was ready for bed at 8, I went to bed at 8. I would try to nurse him to sleep and then sneak away, but he would inevitably wake and cry until I returned and nursed him back to sleep. Or if Raine was NOT interested in falling asleep or couldn't be soothed by me or Dan at midnight, we would put him in the car and drive. In the last month, sleeping with him also became increasingly restless for me. I woke a lot, perhaps because he did, for whatever reasons...I don't know. It just stopped working.

I talked to several friends who had children ages 1, 2, or even 3, who told me that they wished they had weaned from co-sleeping to independent crib sleeping at Raine's age. They thought that 8-9 months would have been easier than 1, 2, or 3 years old! Dan and I decided to go ahead and just do it; Rip the band-aid off. My friend April's advice is always if you want to make a change, DO IT. Just do it, and go whole-hog. Don't beat around the bush. What is difficult in the short term is better for everyone in the long term (just wait until we have to potty train...She has great advice for that! LOL.) I took a crash course in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child," and took some tips from What to Expect the First Year. Dan and I created a "routine" to lead up to bedtime, and put our plan into action last Friday night. The strategy is to do the same routine every night so Raine can take comfort and pleasure in knowing what is expected as we lead to sleep time. After he has dinner, he either gets a bath or we go for short a family walk. Then he gets a clean diaper and pajamas. We all read a book together (it has been "Bright and Beautiful," a recorded book that Dan's parents made for Raine). I then nurse Raine in his room in the rocking chair. Finally, Dan holds him, sings to him, and lays his in his crib. We try to do this in the 7:30-8:30 time period but it is actually more about finding that window of time where we can tell Raine is sleepy and not overtired. Sort of tricky I guess because he doesn't have a regular nap routine throughout the day. Anyway, after Dan lays him down, we let him cry. Because he will cry. Dude wants to be with us! :) He doesn't like the separation! As long as he cries, we check on him every five minutes or so. We make sure he is clean, dry, safe, and either talk to him and pat him or sing. We keep it brief and do not pick him up. We do this until he stops crying and falls asleep. It can take anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes. The night that it took 45 minutes I actually nursed him halfway through to give an extra dose of soothing. (I don't know how I will sooth him when the day comes to wean him from breastfeeding! Yikes!)

Anyway, that is the "strategy" and we are only 5 days in so who knows if it will work. "Work" in the sense that he will be able to fall asleep without crying eventually. And the same goes for when he wakes in the night. Sometimes he cries but falls back asleep within minutes. Other times I nurse him. We are figuring it out. And I am wishing it didn't have to be hard. I know it will be worth it in the end, though.

 

My sweet little guy getting bathed before bedtime!

THAT WAS "CURRENTLY." Copied from a blog I read, Sometimes Sweet. ;) How about you? What are some of your "current" thoughts or experiences? Does anyone else LUV We Are Young? Any tips for getting a baby to sleep? ;)