Sleep Crawling

It's amazing what you can find on the internet...and how it helps you to know you're not alone. So Kayla has been waking up a whole lot lately...crawling with her eyes closed. I think I now know why:

Excerpt from: http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

The "8-month sleep regression" (which for some babies is closer to a 9-month sleep regression) is related to the 37-week spurt. For some reason that one just seems to cause more waking, too, than some of the other spurts do. It might also be particularly hard because many babies are smack in the middle of working on crawling or walking, and also teething. (At Casa Moxie we've had probably 8 weeks of crappy sleep between teething, the 37-week spurt, crawling, teething, and now pulling up. Every now and then he'll have an easy night, but boy is it rough being a 9-month-old.)

Bear in mind that individual kids have different reactions to all kind of spurts (physical, developmental, etc.). Some teeth painfully for months, while others just pop a tooth with no symptoms. Some will wake in the night practicing crawling for weeks, while others never do and just take off one day with no warning to you. The developmental spurts are the same, so you might have a kid who has 3-4 nights of wacky sleep and then learns a new skill, or you could have one that spends 3-4 weeks waking up before every spurt.

Key Words: For Weeks

This is only the beginning.

Doc says....

Mikey left for a work trip this evening - his first since I got preggers with Kayla. It's going to be hard taking care of the little one all by myself but thankfully my mother-in-law's coming over to help out the next couple of days. I still haven't figured out how to give her a bath myself!

Anyway, we went to the doctor's this morning and found out, to our horror, that Kayla has dropped to the 25th percentile in weight! I think it means 3 out of 4 babies are heavier than she is. She barely gained a pound since her last trip to the doc's three months ago, but her paediatrician says it's alright, so we'll see. Her height and head circumference, on the other hand, are right on target. She also got her flu shot today and when her leg jerked, I thought the needle broke! Kayla obviously didn't like it and wasted no time in showing her displeasure. I don't think she's looking forward to her second flu shot in October.

As usual, we went to the paed with a long list of questions swimming in our heads, but only remembered to ask a couple:

1. Should we feed her breakfast since she's losing weight?
Ans: No, it's alright. Feed on demand and if she has no appetite for breakfast, you can stick to two meals.
2. Should we be concerned that she tosses and turns and sometimes sits up suddenly in the middle of her sleep?
Ans: No, babies do that.
3. She seems hyperactive. Should we be concerned?
Ans: No, it's a just phase. She'll get over it.

Paed asks:
1. She's still not sleeping through the night?
Ans: No. (I wish!)
2. Have you installed child safety gates?
Ans: Err...no. ( He must think we're the worst parents!)

Questions we forgot to ask:
1. Should we start brushing her two little teeth?
2. When can we start feeding her what we eat?
3. When will I get eight hours of sleep since Mikey gets his today? (Seriously...)

Body Parts

It's a nice, slow, relaxed day! Finally, I got a couple of deadlines out of the way, so I decided to take the day off and work off my mind at the same time. I still have an ed's note to write but I should be able to get that done tonight. I hope.

We spent the entire morning playing. I've just taught her how to raise her hands when I ask "Who's the baby?" and just minutes ago, I put her down for her first nap. I'm hoping she sleeps for at least an hour. I've been reading some parenting forums where moms post their day's schedule with their nine-months old. On average, those babies take at least two two-hour naps. I feel like I've been shortchanged! We're fortuntate if Kayla sleeps for an hour and a half. Her snooze average: 40 minutes.

It's a bummer too that story times at all the libraries have been frozen for the month of August and will resume only in September. It'd have been nice to get out of the house for a little while. There's acutally a bilingual Mandarin/English storytime that I think would be fun.

I've digressed so much from what I'd planned to blog about: body parts. Kayla now knows toes from hair and fingers from nose. Her listening vocabulary has also expanded to include: inch worm, peanut, bear, baby, duck, and good girl!

From Eshton to Darrell

I did a quick internet search and found that Eshton meant effeminate, and promptly warned my sister. And as of today, I think they've decided to name their little precious bundle Darrell. We finally got a sneak peek too and I'm happy to share it here!

Taking a Break

Not from this blog, but from work. How could I ever stop raving about baby, right? Well, actually I don't have much to say today. She hasn't done anything phenomenal to warrant mention, nor has been she exceedingly kind to her extremely tired Mommy. It's a good thing Mikey worked from home this afternoon so I could get more done before the packed weekend steamrolls me. Still, there's a pile of stuff to be done - laundry included. Which reminds me, I really shouldn't be typing away here when I've lots of typing to do elsewhere.

Oh but wait! I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't make the grand announcement. My sister has just given birth to a healthy, lanky baby boy whom she plans to name Eshton. His Chinese name literally translates to mean "Champion of the Universe", so take that Superman. He's 57cm in length, 3.1kg, has a head circumference of 33cm, and is, I believe, way cute though we haven't officially met. My parents are obviously thrilled since now they get to be "real" grandparents, not virtual ones who try every week to get a clueless 9-month-old to stay focused on the webcam. Kayla hasn't said it but I know she's excited - when I told her about her newborn cousin, Eshton, she smiled.

So congrats and send me the pictures, someone!

Ball!

I'll keep this short because I'm super sleepy. Kayla now knows how to say "Ball" and she does it in the cutest fashion ever. With her right (usually) hand, she holds the ball up high, cocks her head to look at it and goes "Baal." Never fails to make me smile.

Drained!

I think I should have given myself a small break before taking on the job - too many transitions at one time equals recipe for disaster. Barely into my second week and I'm drained... poor planning on my part, but I'll just have to deal with it. As always, the eternal optimist in me is saying things are going to get better and I'm hanging on to it.

Keeping up with a super active baby, I guess, sucks life out of you faster than a vampire in serious need of a drink. Kayla moves around practically every second that she's awake. She's always trying to reach for something, ripping pages off her books, and yes, still learning desperately to crawl. When you pick her up, she tries to climb on you, pull your hair, and play with your lip before smacking your nose with her fat (and wet with saliva) fingers. Even when we try to put her to sleep now, she flips and turns and ends up on her belly - like a tortoise. I don't even know what I'm writing now...my thoughts are a jumbled mess and that means I should head to bed. But before I do, I want Kayla to know that despite all that, I'm not sending her back to daycare. Not yet.

Spotlight: Mikey

I realized I've been blogging way too much about Miki and way too little about Mikey. Daddy deserves a shoutout for his outstanding performance and Kayla needs to know and remember that:
1. Daddy changes most of her middle-of-the-night diapers.
2. Daddy's the only one with enough muscle power to carry and calm her when she wakes up screaming and wants to be held.
3. Daddy does her laundry. (I think I should be taking over soon.)
4. Daddy cooks dinner sometimes when Mommy is too tired.
5. Daddy eats whatever Mommy dishes up without complaint.
6. Daddy lets her pull on his hair cos it's so short and she can't grab any.
7. Daddy used to let her listen to Radiohead on the way back home from the babysitter.
8. Daddy reads to her when Mommy makes him.
9. Daddy sings to Kayla - which is a near miracle cos Mommy has never heard Daddy sing this much before!
10. Daddy loves Kayla very very very much.

There's so so so much more that Mikey does... but let's just leave it at this for now: He's a definite A+ Dad!

One Week Later

Kayla survived a week of Mommy being home with her and I hope she's loving every minute of it because I am. Awww...ain't that sweet? I promise I won't turn Hallmark-card mushy, but I do feel like I've gotten to know her a whole lot better and vice versa. She knows I won't tolerate any secret munching of tags on toys, but she still does it (and gets away with it sometimes). She knows I'd really like to see her crawl and obliges by staying on her tummy for a good half hour every day before letting loose the floodgates. And she knows that there are times I've to type away on the computer and quietly plays on her own by my side.

I finally found some time to take her to the park today and even though we did little but sit on the bench and stared at trees, there wasn't nothing I could have wanted more (okay, maybe some chocolate ice cream). She laughed as the wind breathed life into limp leaves, softly running its fingers through whatever little hair she has. And she waved as a fat bulldog chased after a candy wrapper the size of her little toenail. I wished there was a way to capture all these tiny moments - because I know I'll need them when she hits the Terrible Twos, Threes, and Teenagehood.

I got the job!

Okay, it's not that I'm itching to get back to work, but in the back of my mind, the ideal situation has always been for me to be able to work from home part-time so I can enjoy the proverbial best of both worlds. And I'm glad everything has worked out. I've just gotten a permanent part-time gig with another Silicon Valley magazine - the hours are perfect (a total of 35 to 40 hours per month) and the extra money, though not much, always helps. I'm grateful to God and all those who've kept us in their prayers that everything has come together, although there were moments when I had my doubts.

It's a fresh challenge, which means added stress until I get a good grasp of my responsbilities and figure out how to fit some work into an already packed day with Kayla. Even if it means staying up an extra hour or two while everyone else buttons up for the night, I think it'll be worth it.

My first day as a stay-at-home mom

I had grand plans - plans to head to the park, thumb through "touch and feel" books at the library, and maybe if time allowed, some simple grocery shopping. None of that happened. Instead we spent most of the day just playing - on the bed, in her playroom, and what used to be our couch. I'm amazed at how I spent an entire hour watching her amuse herself, wave "Hi" to herself in the mirror, and go from her well-practiced crawling stance (still no crawling) to sitting position. It was fun.

And I still harbour great hopes for accomplishing some of the stuff on my stay-at-home mom to-do list: we're hitting the park on Wednesday; there's story time at the Cambrian library on Thursday, and if I wanted to, there's a mommy's group that meets for stroller walks on Friday. My schedule could be more packed than ever.

I know it's just been 24 hours but if this is how it's going to be (minus the bedtime drama!), this could be the best decision I've ever made in my life. I'm loving watching my precious one grow up and rediscovering every minute why she's so special.

Bedtime Drama Update: It's getting worse every day. She's protesting a lot louder and harder. She wails, flails her arms and legs, and won't go to bed without putting up a good fight. Pray for lots of patience, wisdom, and for Kayla to learn to speak real fast so we know what's bugging her! :)

Sorry Baby

This must be the worst I've felt in a long time. Kayla fell off the bed this morning, just as I was getting ready for work. I'd placed on the bed, turned around for what must have been five seconds when I heard a loud thud, followed by loud wailing. I picked her up right away, checked her all over for bruises, broken whatever...and I cannot describe the relief I felt when she started laughing. Then the guilt kicked in.

I'm hoping she's okay - she seems perfectly fine for now. And I don't think I could forgive myself if anything bad had happened. From now on, I'm gonna watch her with eagle eyes.

Bad mommy. I'm sorry.

My two-year anniversary

So this is it - my last day of work at the magazine that I've really enjoyed working at, at least most of the time. Coincidentally, today also happens to be my second anniversary at this job, and I was pleasantly greeted with a pretty pot of lilies on my desk when I got in to work today. I know there WILL be days and moments I'll miss typing furiously away at my desk (even if it's just with two fingers), shooting Nerf darts at my co-workers, and the feeling of accomplishment every two weeks when the publication goes to print. So I'm kinda glad that I'll still be involved with the magazine as its editor-at-large, contributing articles and helping out with editing a couple of days during print week. The money's not much but I think it'll make the transition less painful and at the same time, provide some respite from 24/7 baby talk.

Back to baby, Kayla now understands "Bounce" and "Peekaboo". She starts bobbing up n down on her butt when you say "Kayla, bounce?" and she loves pulling shirts, blankies, and pretty much any material she can get her hands on over her eyes the minute you say "peekaboo?" I've to say she's a big bundle of joy.

She's still not crawling (reverse mode doesn't count) but she's trying really hard. But I see it happening soon.... something tells me she's gonna do it sometime next week when I'm home with her. And I can't wait.