Vacation to the Happiest (Most Crowded) Place on Earth

During the weekend of November 19-21, we traveled by car (only about two hours) to Orlando to visit the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  Mungee was quite a trooper, even though we turned her world upside down by completely disregarding her schedule.  It was the first time she'd slept anywhere other than our house and she didn't take well to that, but she did okay while we were at the parks, dozing off several times in her stroller or while we held her in lines.

Food-wise, Mungee ate a lot of chicken tenders and I ate a lot of "the most delicious slightly-too-sweet butternut squash soup on earth" at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo house where we stayed.  If you and yours ever decide to visit the Animal Kingdom theme park, may I recommend dining at the Yak & Yeti take-out window, where you can score a fairly large portion of honey chicken (basically the same as the kid's chicken tenders, only covered in honey and served with white rice, carrots and broccoli) and a side of chicken-fried rice for just $14-15, a steal in comparison to some of the other park delicacies.

We visited the Magic Kingdom on Friday and I was surprised that we didn't really wait too long for any of the rides.  Our longest wait times were for Dumbo and It's a Small World (which she was quite enthralled by).  We got a Fast-Pass for Peter Pan, one of my favorite rides.  Unfortunately, Mungee was asleep for that one.  She liked the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Railroad (just kidding about that last one).  

We were going to leave the park around 6:45, since it closed at 7, but we noticed that people were hanging out in front of the castle, so we sat down.  Apparently all the people hanging around were there for Mickey's Christmas show, which normally you would pay extra for.  One cast member was walking around asking people to hold up their wristbands.  We just acted cool and didn't draw any attention to ourselves so we got to see the show.  We didn't stay for the parade though.

That night, Mungee refused to sleep in the crib the hotel brought into the room so we just let her sleep in the bed with us.  I slept terribly since I was constantly waking up to check on her.  We told her she wasn't going to get a sibling anytime soon if she kept up that trend.

Saturday we went to the Animal Kingdom.  Mungee had a slight fever, so she was a little cranky.  BIG difference in the crowds between Friday and Saturday, but that was to be expected.  We saw the Finding Nemo show, which was superb, but Mungee was scared for most of it since it was loud and very theatrical.  She was terrified in A Bug's Life and I don't really blame her.  It was dark, loud and the bugs were huge!  DH and I liked it though.  It's shown in 3-D and has some interactive elements.

The Animal Kingdom closed at 5 on Saturday (boo).  As we were leaving, we noticed that there was a Rainforest Cafe just outside the park, so we decided to go in and check it out, since DH had never been to one before.  We sat at the bar while Mungee snoozed in her stroller.  By the time we decided to order some food, the kitchen had already closed (boo again).  So of course we wound up eating in the cafe at the hotel again (yay, butternut squash soup!)

Again, Mungee would not sleep in the crib, so we let her crash with us.  DH and I switched sides of the bed and I was more comfortable, so I slept better, thank goodness.

Sunday I wanted to go back to the Magic Kingdom to get in the ride that we missed on Friday (The Jungle Cruise) and hopefully get in a few repeats.  Biggest, most awful crowds ever.  Wait times were at least an hour.  Around noon, DH got a Fast-Pass to go on Space Mountain and the return time wasn't until 4:30 pm.  On Friday we walked right into the Haunted Mansion; on Sunday the line started a mile away.  By 2 or so, the three of us were over theme parks and we went over to Downtown Disney, so we could eat at Planet Hollywood, only because we had a $15 voucher (which honestly doesn't get you much there).  We also had a voucher for a free gift, which wound up being a keychain.

After we ate, we made our way back to the hotel, gathered our luggage and packed up the car for our trip home.  I decided we needed to make a detour off I-4 in order to find a Starbucks.  Sometimes you just need coffee to make a road trip authentic.

The nice thing about staying at a Disney resort was that we never had to leave the Disney grounds, nor did we get in our car once.  We took the Disney buses to and from the hotel.  Obviously the downside is that it's pricey, but luckily and thankfully this trip was an incentive that DH was awarded through his company, so our only expenses were gas and food.

Would we do this again had we known how Mungee would behave?  Yes.  It would have been less of a physical strain if she was walking, but she really adapted well to the crowds, lines, waiting and sleeping in her stroller when she was tired.  I'm normally such a stickler for her schedule, but I felt comfortable changing things up so we could enjoy our first family vacation.  She won't remember her first trip to Disney World, but DH and I will and it will be a joy to tell her about it through the years.

Seriously?

Is the universe conspiring against me?

Tuesday morning, Mungee fell asleep a bit late for her morning nap and was still asleep at 11 am, which is when I normally get her ready to go to MyGym.  She hadn't been sleeping for that long and I really didn't want to wake her up, so I decided we would go to a makeup class next week.  Of course, she winds up waking up at 11:15, after I'd already emailed MyGym to tell them we wouldn't be there.  There just wasn't enough time to get her out of her pajamas, change her diaper, get her dressed, nurse her and get to class by 11:30.

Wednesday morning, Mungee decided to only take an hour-long nap and woke up at 10.  In a sense this was okay with me because it gave us plenty of time to get ready to go to story time at Whole Foods at 11, which we typically miss because naps typically last until that time.  At 10:45, I load Mungee up in the car, drive 10-15 minutes to Whole Foods, walk into story time about 5 minutes late and pretty much as soon as we sit down, I hear the story teller ask the kids if they want to sing one last song before they get their snack and get sent on their way.  Huh?  Story time normally lasts until 11:30 and it was barely 11:15.  As we left, I asked if story time had changed and it had not, but the room was needed that day for a meeting.  Figures, the day we make it up there, this would happen.  Since I was there, I had to get a pumpkin scone.  And a blueberry scone.  And some Larabars.  And Mungee got some cookies.  I digress.  

We left Whole Foods and went over to CVS/pharmacy to fill a new prescription that I received (a prescription to make mommy "happier").  Since it was the first time I was taking this particular medication, the pharmacist needed to counsel me.  He said it would probably take about 3-4 weeks to get into my system and might make me drowsy so I should take it at night.  I remembered to take it around 10:30 or whenever it was that I was going to bed.  I woke up around 2 a.m., completely nauseated.  The first side effect listed on the pamphlet?  Nausea.  Lovely.  I think I fell back asleep after an hour or so, but didn't sleep well.  

Thursday morning I woke up around 7, still feeling awful and the nausea had escalated to dizziness, hot flashes and finally dry heaves.  (Perhaps I should have heeded the warning on the bottle not to drink alcohol when taking the medicine.  In my defense, I didn't even have a full beer and it was at least three hours before I took that pill!)  I'm not sure if I like the idea of mentally feeling better at expense of physically feeling like I got hit by a truck.  Or maybe I'll be happier and won't give a sh*t, who knows?

So Thursday, during Mungee's morning nap, instead of taking a shower, which I didn't do at all Wednesday, by the way, I decided to lay down in hopes that I would start to feel better.  It would have been a good idea to take a nap myself, but instead I opted to catch up with my Google Reader via phone.  (Side note: Some of my favorite blogs aren't offering full RSS feeds and it stinks that I can't read them from my phone.  So if you want to change them to full feeds, that would be cool.  Thank you in advance).  Where was I going with this?

Okay, so again, Mungee decides to take an hour-long nap and wakes up at 10.  Excellent, we can make it to Mother Goose story time at the library at 10:30.  I take a quick shower, dry off, get dressed and make a *mediocre* attempt to look presentable by running a comb through my hair and throwing it in a ponytail.  I get Mungee out of her crib, check her diaper and it's not that wet, so I don't change it and get her dressed.  We're in the car and pulling out of the driveway by 10:25.  We arrive at the library a few minutes after 10:30, hurry inside and go to the community room.  Where the doors are locked.  Story time?  Has moved to Tuesday.

Friday we're supposed to have a play date with Jenn and Turtle from Three Pugs & a Baby and Elizabeth and her daughter from The Writer Revived.  We're meeting at a children's museum at 10:30.  Maybe I should call to make sure they'll be open.

********************

This post is linked to the Nerd Mafia's Word Up, Yo! meme

An Impromptu Lunch

Saturday afternoon, Mungee and I headed to our synagogue for a Kiddush in honor of the Rabbi's new baby girl.  While there, we ran into my best friend who invited us over for lunch.  I was a little hesitant to accept her invitation because it was getting close to Mungee's afternoon nap, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and see what happened.  

I arrived at my friend's house and she offered to let me nurse Mungee and put her down for a nap in the porta-crib in her room.  I nursed, burped and put her in the crib with a random toy and said, "Okay, it's naptime, go to sleep".  I left the room and went back a few times to listen to her through the door.  I didn't hear anything and was excited to sit down for a relaxing meal with friends, but Mungee had other plans.  She couldn't figure out where she was, didn't know what was expected of her and just couldn't get settled.  (I really don't blame her, she was totally out of her element).  

I wound up bringing her to the dining table, where I shoveled food into my mouth with one hand and used the other to prevent Mungee from grabbing aforementioned food off the plate (which I had to push about a foot away from me).  She was pretty wiggly and squirmy, but calmed down a bit once I started giving her sips of my water (forgot her sippy cup), challah and real baked chicken (she probably will never eat the jarred stuff again).

By the time we left, it was past 4 p.m., which is normally when she's getting up from her afternoon nap.  The ride home is only about 10-15 minutes tops, and she was zonked out when I pulled into our driveway.  She must have fallen asleep the moment her head hit the carseat.  I heaved her inside (carseat + Mungee = approximately eventybillion pounds) and took her to her room, shut the door and prayed that she would nap long enough to not be in a completely foul mood when she woke up.  My prayers were answered - she wound up sleeping for about an hour.

She got her dinner, played for a bit, took a bath and went to bed without ANY resistance.  I'm always worried that if the afternoon nap goes awry we are screwed for the rest of the day, but Saturday didn't turn out so bad.

What happens when you deviate from your routine?  

Does all chaos break loose, or have you been pleasantly surprised?

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can only eat whatever you want while breastfeeding for so long before you start gaining weight again?  Now I know.

Did you know that the library, bookstores and even Whole Foods have story time, but they all fall during or at the end of your child's naps?  Now I know.

Did you know that a frozen bagel used as a teether won't stay frozen for long before your child, who has 6 teeth, bites off a chunk the size of a large marble and chokes on it?   
Now I know.

Did you know that when you're bathing your child and they kick and splash with excitement, drenching you in the process, that you'd happily splash along with them?   
Now I know.

Did you know that you'd be discussing the color, size, texture, consistency and odor of poo with your husband, parents, friends and complete strangers?  
Now I know.

Did you know the sink would fill with dishes, the laundry would get ignored and toys would get strewn across the floor, but you wouldn't care because your baby is happy and therefore you're happy?
Now I know.

Did you know that months of holding your sleeping child for hours at a time, several times a day, sacrificing your need to go to the bathroom or merely move, were worth it because you have a child that finally takes naps in their crib and sleeps through the night?   
Now I know.

Did you know that when you're walking through the grocery store with your baby, talking and singing and being goofy in order to keep them entertained, you'll be oblivious to what other people think?  Now I know.

Until you've experienced it, there's no way to know what you will come to know, you know?  I can't wait to know more.

*** What do you know? ***

Crib Nap Progress, Crawling, Eczema Update (and please enter my giveaway)

At the risk of jinxing things, I wanted to mention that Mungee has been napping in her crib over the last several weeks.  It was getting to be way too hindering having her nap on me and she was having more trouble doing so.  I fought her for about a week and then she started settling into it.  I nurse her before her nap and she falls asleep.  If she doesn't fall asleep nursing, I do still have a hard time getting her to nap.  Some days she won't cry when I leave the room, other days she will.  It's hit or miss, but I feel a lot better about it now.  She seems to be a lot happier and a little less whiny and clingy when she's well rested.

No more of this :(        .... but also :)

We officially have a crawler on our floor hands.  Mungee has finally figured out how to propel herself forward and doesn't flip onto her back every time she gets her knees under her.  She lifts herself up on her elbows, then gets her knees under her and uses her arms to scoot.  She's still a lot faster when she rolls around the room, but she's picking up speed.  I'm trying to get it on video, but the camera battery keeps crapping out.

Mungee's eczema has all but cleared.  I can't believe how quickly her cheeks went from dry, red, oozy and crusty to the almost smooth-as-butter cheeks that they are now.   I didn't make many changes other than eliminating peanuts from my diet and stopped giving Mungee jarred mango puree.  We're also using a steroid foam on her face and other really dry spots.  However, her face started to clear up so quickly upon beginning the foam that I think the slight dietary changes were the main catalyst.

This is how Mungee feels about the weekend coming to a close:

One more thing ...

Please stop by this post and enter my giveaway for 5 sets of address labels from Pear Tree Greetings.  Thanks!

An Anomoly or a Break for Mommy?

I'm hesitant to say anything for fear that it may have been a fluke, but yesterday, Mungee took two 1.5+ hour naps in her crib and slept through the night.  DH put her to bed (which is spectacular since I've been nursing her to sleep for months) so I could go to the 2nd Annual National Mom's Nite Out at my local mall.

I met up with my mom and we sampled some items from the few vendors who were set up in the center court of the mall.  It was hardly transformed into "mom central" as the event listing had put it.  I had planned on going by myself, which would have wound up being pretty boring, so I'm lucky my mom decided to meet me there.

What trip to the mall would be complete without some retail therapy?  We headed to NY&Company, which is having a 50% off the entire store sale through this weekend.  I tried on several pairs of shorts and some camisoles (mine are all way too short and ride up over my post-baby blump  - bump, lump, whatever you want to call it).  After picking out what I wanted, my mom suggested we ask the cashiers to hold it so I could go check on another size.  She took the clothes to the checkout counter and I went to the front of the store to look for another pair of shorts.  When I came back up to the counter, she was buying my clothes!  "Surprise!  Happy 1st Mother's Day!"  "Thanks Mom!"  To which she replied, "Now let's go get my gift :)"

Mom wanted a new bundt cake pan (boooondt cake - quick, name the movie!), so we went to Williams-Sonoma, where we sampled virgin (boo) sangria and lemon cupcakes.  They had a pretty nice bundt pan, but my mom felt bad about asking for it since it was a little pricey.  I said we'd go look somewhere else and if we didn't find another one she liked we'd come back for that one.  We did wind up finding another one for much less, but it looked and felt like it should cost much less.  Back to Williams-Sonoma for the pricier, yet much better quality pan.

Mom's night out turned out to be a nice night hanging out and bonding with my mom.  It wasn't what I envisioned when I initially asked DH for a break ... it was better. 

On an unrelated note, I found a booger in Mungee's belly button when I was changing her diaper before her morning nap.  I am not even going to try and figure out how that got there.

I Have an Olympian

If pooing was (were?) an Olympic sport, Mungee would have won the Gold Medal several times over today.

This afternoon I met up with some girlfriends from my local Nest Board.  It's the second time I've been out socially without Mungee in 8 months (the first time was yesterday).  Mungee's Pa took care of her while I was gone.  I called on my way home and DH said "I was just about to call you.  Our child has made an Olympic sport out of pooing this afternoon".  Now, I must admit, when I heard the first part of that sentence, I thought he was going to say army crawling or some new feat.  I suppose, after being constipated, that pooing as much as she has today is a feat of sorts.  She's taken on two outfits, the Exersaucer and a couple brand new diapers.

The unfortunate side effect of this is that she has a pretty bad diaper rash now.

On another note, I am happy to report that Mungee took a 25 minute nap in her crib this afternoon.  She screamed and cried at first, but I went back in her room and rubbed her back for a few minutes.  She fell asleep for about a minute and then woke back up and screamed and cried again.  I rubbed her back again and she fell asleep!  I know that napping for that short amount of time isn't ideal, but it was in the crib, so I consider it a small victory.  

Maybe one of these days Mungee will be a champion crib nap sleeper.  We already know she's number one in number two.

Dear Dr. Ferber

Dear Dr. Ferber,

Your advice for teaching my baby how to fall asleep comes highly recommended.  I'm sure you're qualified.  After all, an actual VERB has been created out of your name.

Unfortunately, you make me feel like a jerk.  A jerk for letting my baby fall asleep nuzzled against the warmth of my bosom, then transferring her to the cold, stark loneliness of her crib, only to have her wake up immediately and look at me like I have just killed a kitten.

How can I not pick her up when she looks at me like she has lost all hope and that the world is ending, while screaming hysterically?  

Typing on the MyTouch with one hand while I hold my sleeping baby so she'll take a nap,

Mungee's Ma

Today I tried to get Mungee to take her afternoon nap in her crib.  She was exhibiting the signs of being tired and it was close to naptime.  I made sure she was fed, burped, had a clean diaper, etc., yada and so forth.  I stayed with her for a while soothing her, telling her I loved her and that it was naptime and to go to sleep.  She kept rolling around in her crib and trying to climb out (a skill which I think she is going to accomplish any day now, even though she just discovered how to push down the bumpers yesterday - note to self: lower crib mattress).   I left her in her room for a while so I could take a few minutes to eat lunch ... selfish, I know.  The screaming never subsided so I resorted to getting her out of the crib and bringing her to my room and laying down with her.  Propped her up to nurse her and she was asleep in less than 5 minutes and slept for an hour an a half while I held her.

While I do enjoy this cuddle time with Mungee, I feel like I spend the majority of my day trying to keep her happy and not crying.  I feel guilty about eating, going to the bathroom and doing chores (okay, not that last one really), because it's time I'm not 100% focused on Mungee.  For my sanity however, I need to teach her how to take a nap in her crib.  Any suggestions?

Setting Off the Sprinklers

A while back, Mungee set off the sprinkler system at JCPenney's. 

Well, sort of.

Before I figured out when Mungee needed to take a nap in the morning, Mondays were our "mall day".  She typically would fall asleep in the stroller after we walked around for a while.  Since we would spend several hours at the mall, I needed to nurse her at some point.  I found a large dressing room at JCPenney and the feeding commenced.  

This particular dressing room had a loud chime to alert the salespeople whenever a customer entered or exited.  Just as I felt my milk let down, the chime went off and Mungee quickly detached from my breast to check out the noise.  I looked down and saw what appeared to be a thin white hair on my nipple.  I proceeded to pick it off, then realized that it was actually milk spraying out!  I couldn't help but laugh.  I had been nursing her for at least 6 months at this point and this had never happened before.

As Mungee becomes increasingly curious about the world and is easily distracted when she's nursing, this has happened several more times.  It's usually when I'm trying to watch TV or when her Pa enters the room.

Nursing moms, tell me about your breastfeeding snafus.  We've all had at least one.

Routine - Part One, The Morning

Okay, where was I?

After banging my head against the wall (or sometimes the floor, while curled in the fetal position) for seven months, I think we've got some semblance of a routine that keeps me from cutting myself going insane calling an adoption agency crying a lot.

Mungee wakes up between 7 and 8 a.m.  Toward the earlier end of that range if she didn't wake up somewhere between 3 and 5 a.m. and toward the latter end of that range if she did.  I should be getting up prior to her waking so I can shower, but I take advantage of every moment of shut eye I can get, even if it means I stink for a good portion of the day.

Once Mungee is starting to get frustrated that we haven't come to rescue her yet, I go in, greet her, change her diaper and then we go in the den and I nurse her, while watching a snippet of the news or one of the elevently-billion shows I DVR because I rarely watch anything at the time it actually airs.  Then Mungee gets to play while I have coffee and snarf* down breakfast (*do my best vacuum cleaner impression).

After I selfishly feed myself, I plop* Mungee into the highchair and prepare her delicious multigrain cereal spiked with bananas (*buckle her in while being ever so careful as not to pinch her fingers as she is grabbing for the straps to gnaw).  Mungee eats breakfast and then I read her a book (usually Mr. Brown Can Moo) and sing a few songs.  At this point it's about 9 a.m. and a couple different things could happen:

*I could plop* (*see above) her into the bouncy seat in the bathroom while I take a "quick" shower and then the morning nap commences (more on this in a moment).

*I can tell that she is already too tired to patiently wait out me taking a shower without quickly going into meltdown mode and so I skip the shower and therefore the morning nap commences.

Morning Nap Ritual:

1. Go to my bedroom
2. Change back into sleep-type clothes (if I was actually already dressed for human-other-than-Mungee's Pa interactions)
   
3. Hide Google phone from Mungee under covers so I can chat on The Nest, read Facebook status updates and play Solitaire once Mungee has fallen asleep
   
4. Nurse Mungee
5. Burp Mungee
6. Settle Mungee onto me laying down chest to chest
7. Endure Mungee finding and eating my bra strap
8. Endure Mungee trying to give me a hickey on my chin
9. Endure Mungee pulling on her ears and ripping at her dry skin in some weird and twisted self-soothing mechanism
10. Feel Mungee's stomach contracting just as she is about to fall asleep
    
11. Hear farts
12. Hear poo
13. Hope the poo was just a little squirt that can be changed later
14. Hear more poo
15. Proceed to get up and change diaper (and outfit if poo has leaked)
    
16. Come back to bedroom to get settled again
17. Repeat 10-16
18. Endure Mungee twisting her body around so her face lands in the crook of my elbow
19. Reposition Mungee so we are both more comfortable
    
20. Hear Mungee's breathing change from that of awake baby to that of asleep baby
21. Suppress urgent need to go to the bathroom
22. Pull out phone and commence time-wasting living vicariously through others aforementioned activities
    

Obviously this is not ideal.  Ideally, Mungee would nap in her crib, allowing me to incessantly read other mommy blogs that are way cooler than mine clean the house and prepare dinner.  But it's what works for now.

Sound crazy?  Have a baby around Mungee's age?  What's your morning routine?

Please stay tuned for Routine, Part Two - The Late Morning/Early Afternoon Depending on When the Morning Nap Started/How Late it Went

Implementing a Schedule and Nap Training

I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with Mungee.  Our days are unpredictable however.  I am not sure when she's going to nurse.  It could be every two hours, it could be three.  It's a good day if she takes a nap.  We often find ourselves going out to dinner because I don't have anything planned.  For my sanity and what I perceived to be Mungee's daytime sleep deprivation, this had to change.

I nurse Mungee to sleep.  She tends to sleep well at night, although I'm never sure exactly when she's going to fall asleep and if she will stay asleep once I put her down.  For a while now, she's been going to bed between 9 and 10 and will often sleep until 7, sometimes waking once.  She's been getting sleepy earlier however, so I've been able to put her down around 8:30-9.  Even by this time, I'm so exhausted, I am ready for bed myself.

I received a copy of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child shortly after Mungee was born.  Once I realized that while nursing, I could pick up a book and read a few pages here and there instead of clicking on the TV, I started to get into HSHHC.  Reading about cumulative sleep deprivation and the ill-effects it might cause down the road, such as behavioral problems, hyperactivity, etc. made me completely paranoid.  Paranoid enough to tell Mungee's Pa I was a failure as a mother, that I should have started sleep training a long time ago, that she wasn't just going to say to herself one day "Oh, I'm 6 months old, I should take naps regularly now".

At the beginning of this week, I decided that it was time to implement a schedule.  I would FORCE myself to get up at 6:30 am (ish) and take a shower, get dressed and eat breakfast before Mungee got up.  This way I would know WHEN I was actually going to do these things, rather than trying to fit them in between nursing, diaper changes, playtime and fighting Mungee to take a nap because I missed her tired cues.  I built in a morning and afternoon nap, time for nursing, play, going for a walk, even making dinner at home!  In my sample schedule, I didn't see much room for us to get out of the house for long stretches of time, and I noted that Mungee's Pa and I would probably have to give up late night going out to dinner and that I may only get to go to the gym on weekends, but I was willing to make these sacrifices to prevent the future sleep problems that had already manifested in my mind.

I found a sample schedule in HSHHC that I thought might work for us.  We would attempt two naps and an earlier bedtime.  For naps, I would look for the tired cues and start a soothing ritual, then put Mungee in her crib and leave her there for at least an hour, regardless of whether or not she cried.  This hurt my heart, but I wanted to see how things would go.

We got started on Wednesday.  Mungee woke up about 7:15 and we got the day started.  At 9:10, I put her down for a nap with her kitty lovey.  She flipped herself onto her stomach and screamed for a while.  I went in and flipped her back over.  I then left the room.  She flipped herself back onto her tummy and continued to scream and cry.  I went back into her room and gently rubbed and patted her back.  Then an amazing thing happened - she fell asleep (with the kitty lovey smooshed up against her face - don't worry, I moved it).  She slept for one hour!  Around 12:45, I noticed some tired cues, so I put Mungee in her crib for the afternoon nap.  I gave her the kitty lovey and the My Pal Violet (set to play "soothing" music for 10 minutes).  She cried for about an hour, but it wasn't like the screaming she did during the first nap attempt.  She fell asleep on her tummy again with the encouragement of some back rubbing.  She only slept for 35 minutes that time.

We introduced rice cereal on Wednesday night.  She seemed sleepy when we gave it to her at 7 pm.  She got a bath, then I nursed her, which usually results in her falling asleep.  She was not asleep when I finished nursing her, so I was worried about how we were going to get her to go to sleep.  At 8:30, I put her in her crib, drowsy, but awake.  She fussed for about 20 minutes - Mungee's Pa said "Are we going to go and try to soothe her?"  I said that we would wait a few more moments.  Soon after that, she fell asleep and slept through the night until 7:30!

On Thursday, she woke up at 7:30, got her diaper changed and then I nursed her.  She played on her playmat for about 35 minutes and then I noticed tired cues.  I put her down at 8:50 am and she fussed but did not scream, for about 30 minutes and then napped for two hours (on her belly).  Yes, TWO.  

We went out to meet Mungee's Pa for lunch a little later than the time of the Wednesday afternoon nap.  I knew she was tired, so we kept her in the carseat and she napped for about 30 minutes.  I tried for a 3rd nap around 3:20 but she never settled down for it.  She had rice cereal again that evening. She seems to really like it.  She kept opening her mouth and kicking her feet and if I was not getting the spoon to her mouth fast enough, she became demanding.  I think it was still a little too runny so I will attempt to make it thicker tonight.

She was in bed at 8:30 or so.  I put her in awake but drowsy and she did not fuss.  She went to sleep, but woke up at midnight.  I nursed her for 15 minutes or so and then put her back in her crib.  Again, she did not fuss and slept until about 7:30.

Today around 8:45 she showed signs of being tired so I rocked her for a few minutes, sang her three songs and then put her in the crib with her kitty lovey and said, "I love you, it's naptime".  She pounded her legs for about 5 minutes and then went to sleep - never cried.  She slept for an hour and a half.  She may have even slept longer, except the cat started meowing and startled her.

At 11:45, I took her to the doctor because she had some smelly earwax - I wanted to make sure she did not have an ear infection.  (Which she does not, thank goodness!)  After the doctor's office, we went by the grocery store, then stopped by a friend's house to drop off some food for the dinner we were going to attend later this evening.  By the time we got home, she had fallen asleep in her carseat - at 1:00, the time I was aiming for nap #2.  She slept in her carseat for about 35 minutes.  I tried for a third nap at 2:40.  She banged her legs and was quiet for a little while, but I'm not sure she ever fell asleep.

I am very proud of her for beginning to learn how to nap better, be it in her crib or carseat. I am sure we will continue to struggle but it is amazing how recognizing the tired cues and getting Mungee in her crib sooner can minimize the nap struggle.  I was just waiting and hoping she would fall asleep at random times before.  I think this will give her some sense of predictability and routine so she doesn't always have to wonder what's next.  That was probably stressful for her.

Tonight we will be out a bit later than Mungee's new bedtime of 8:30, so I hope it won't mess her up too much.  I wonder how things will go this weekend.  I certainly don't want to get up at 6:30 on Saturday and Sunday, especially when Mungee's Pa doesn't have to work, but I don't want to fall out of "routine" already.  I have to stick with this ... just like I've stuck with flossing, even though I'm no longer at risk for pregnancy gingivitis :)