Lesson Learned

Today I thought I'd write down the times that Toni does everything; eat, sleep, play, etc. for the rest of this week so I could give the daycare what an average day is like for her. Everything was going well. Woke up in the morning, played a bit, ate, took her morning nap... then woke up, ate, played, ate a little more, took her lunch nap... woke up again, ate played...should have napped but she didn't seem to want to. She just ate and was ready to get up and go again. So I let her play, eat again and play and by this time she seemed so active, awake and happy while playing in her stationary. I only took her out because she was coughing on her own spit (bothers me sometimes) and I had to pat her on her back. When she got over it, I attempted to put her back but she didn't want it. So I attempted to lay her down... she didn't want it. I attempted to feed her... nope. Changed her diaper... nope. Changed clothes (her onsie at the time seemed a bit thick, maybe she was hot)... nope. Pretty strange because I hadn't come across this before. But hey, there's a first for everything right? Then it hits me, she's freakin tired. I allowed her to stay up longer than she usualy does and she missed her afternoon nap. She didn't sleep until 5:00p when she usually does between 2:30 and 3:00! Bad mommy! Why on earth... duh! So lesson learned... make her take her nap and just ride out the small amount of fussiness because believe you me, the fussiness when she is overtired is insane! So tonight instead of putting her to bed at 8:00p I had to wait until 9:30-10:00p.

It's funny because I read somewhere that around this time you'll learn your child's cues as to them being sleepy. Some rub their eyes, yawn, some even are overactive. Well... I think she does all of the above! But maybe she just yawns and rubs her eyes when it's nap/bed time but when she is overactive like she was in her stationary just before she got real fussy, then i guess that means she's overtired.

For the last few days I've been trying to pump milk to gather up enough to freeze and take to daycare when she starts. I hope and plan to really give her nothing but breastmilk until she's completely weaned on to solids. We'll see how that works out, but it's my goal. The thought of the convenience of formula and having my breasts back (and the allowance to diet and exercise as much as i want!) is very tempting, though. But then I think that 1)breastmilk is way better for your child, 2)it save money! and 3)I heard formula tastes very chemically like. Hmmm... don't like the sound of that. Anyway, so I've been pumping and so far I've only been able to freeze 10 oz. It's kind of hard to pump and freeze milk when you have a baby wanting it. So I've found myself pumping late at night when I know she will sleep for sometime but even then, at best I only pump 3 oz. Then it occured to me, how many ounces and I supposed to give for a day at daycare??? I mean I've been strictly breasfeeding so I can't tell how many ounces she's had! So I did my research and there were a few different ways of telling. One person said their pediatrician said for a 3-4 months old to take your baby's weight and divide it in half and allow to go up to 8. So Toni weighs between 12-13 lbs. Say 12, that means 6-8 oz. a feeding. Holy crap! But then I also read that for many babies, although the amount of ounces taken in increases fast in the first few weeks, that between 1-6 months their intake remains about the same. I also read that every 15 mins you breastfeed is about equivalent to 2.5 oz. So from all that, I think maybe Toni takes in about 4-5 oz a feeding but sometimes as low as 2-2.5oz. But when she does 2-2.5oz she's eat again sooner than usual. I think if I can freeze 20 oz, I'll be good. Although, I may try to do more just in case. Now I wonder how much I'll be pumping at work. I just hope I can keep up with her.

Some people introduce solids at around 4 months. Some say 5 months is safer and 6 months is even better. But really it all depends on the baby. Part of me really thinks Toni may be up to rice cereal at this point. But Junior brought up a good point. He said we shouldn't introduce too much change at once because it may just upset her and make things more difficult. He wants to get her used to taking the bottle. I think we're pretty much there. She doesn't have much problem latching on to it now. I just knows she prefers mommy. hehe... makes me feel needed... and wanted for that matter.

I finished my book exchange today! I agreed to do this thing where I got this letter inviting me to do a book exchange for Toni. It gave me two children's names #1 and #2 and their ages. I had to send one book to child #1 and then send 6 letters like the one I got with child #2's name (now in #1) and Toni's name and age. In return I should get 36 books back for her. Today I finally got all six letters out. I'm excited! I can't wait to start receiving books! It's a pretty cool idea!