Girls solo

What a week - and praise the Lord that it's over because it was a lot tougher than I had thought it would be.

The first 5 weeks of Emma's little life were not too shabby.

• 2 weeks in the NICU's where they kindly put her on a schedule, taught her to just lay there, pacify herself and be a good little baby. Of course, she was sleeping a bit more those weeks...
• 3 weeks of tag-teaming the precious little thing. we shared feedings, cry spells, random screams...and the not so big items as well: diapers, clothing, and playing.

THEN REALITY. I gotta do this all on my own. I spent lots of time talking to God and Emma this week because it was overwhelming. I asked them both to help me figure out what to do. She had cry/scream spells that no matter what I did would not take them away. ...blah, blah, blah (sparing you of details). Thursday I cried with her throughout the day and felt like I had broken her of all that had been instilled in her up to this point. I felt like we (I) was doomed to have a baby that cries all the time, whether or not you're holding her and that doesn't want to sleep.

I was trying to introduce 'wake' time to her, and not let her fall fast asleep as soon as she was done feeding. By the time Friday came around, I said "Forget it, if she wants to sleep and not interact till she's able to stay awake longer, I'll deal with the lack of development that is supposed to occur during these early wake times."

In 'breaking' her, however, at this point we can't get her to go to sleep after a feeding anymore. :( Not so good for dad who does the 9 and midnight feedings).

I know there's a learning curve with babies, and I know everything's going to be OK.

...on a better note...

We also started to let her sleep through the night the last 2 nights, and that was great! Thursday night she skipped over her midnight feeding and woke up at 2 ish. Last night she ate at 10 and didn't wake back up till 5:45ish this morning.

She was still wide awake when she was done eating, so we chatted a bit. We had a successful 'morning' time with some play time on the swing. SHE DIDN'T CRY AT ALL...we just talked and observed and learned some body parts. YAY!

The week wasn't all bad, so please forgive my venting :) She also started to roll over a lot more (on to her side not all the way over) and started to like trying to nap on her side too!!

And for the sake of not being a total Debbie Downer, here's a super cute picture of her to end on a happy baby note :)

OH and for anyone that would be interested in attending - we will be dedicating Emma 9/19 during the 10 AM service at River Oak Grace in Oakdale.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!