Bits and pieces of my life

Sleep - I barely get any of it. My nights are spent nursing, changing diapers, trying to get Cole back to sleep and snoozing in between. That's about it

Babywearing - I barely (probably an exaggeration, but you get the idea) get to do it since it seems like Cole is not that into it 75% of the time. Sometimes if he's not feeling particularly feisty he doesn't put up a fight, and I can wear him. Then he he falls asleep. Most other times, he fights me and screams and cries. It's horrific to listen to, and I am forced to abandon my plan and hold him with my two hands. But then holding him does a number on my already problematic back and it leaves me totally handsless. So I cannot get anything done. I keep searching for the perfect carrier that he will magically like and will be semi-comfortable. The Hotsling is not that comfortable and actually hurts my back after 20 minutes of wearing it. It can only be worn for about an hour to an hour and a half and then only once a day. That's fine, because Cole would probably not want to be worn in it more than once a day anyway. I suspect that Cole fought me tonight with the Sleepy Wrap (very similar to the Moby Wrap) because of his diaper rash. I had him in a hold where his legs were out, but that also probably meant more rubbing near the groin area, which is where Cole's diaper rash is located.

Speaking of diaper rashes. We're still trying to cure Cole's. We have what seems like nearly every diaper rash ointment/cream on the market, and still a diaper rash. We actually already owned four diaper rash ointments because they were purchased pre-baby for other reasons or given to us by our childbirth teacher. Our first purchase of diaper rash ointment was today. I went to the Co-op and got Burt's Bees diaper rash ointment at the recommendation of a friend. I put it on Cole and found that a little of the ointment goes a long way. The smell is pleasant, but I'm not sure Cole dug it. He was actually blinking lots as if it burned his eyes or something. It was certainly not something he'd ever smelled before. It turns out that he had a reaction to it, so I am currently in the midst of trying to get a refund for it.

Day care - We settled on a day care center for Cole. It's a place called Kid's Klub in New Paltz. What's great about him joining in September is that he will be with a whole new "class" of kids. Right now there are no infants because the previous class just moved up to their Toddler room. So Cole will be with 5 other infants his own age. There will also be two teachers working with Cole and the director said the teachers are not opposed to wearing the infants in a carrier (supplied by us of course), but then, I still need to get Cole on board with being worn by me before he will even consider being worn by someone he doesn't know. Either way, we're happy to be sending him there. The director is really flexible with hours and she's got a really good disposition. We like her a lot.

Bedtime routines - So I'm reading a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Children and the author recommends creating a bedtime routine so the baby gets used to doing stuff that lead to sleep. Most of you are probably saying, "Well duh, you didn't know that, Bianca?" And the answer is that vaguely, yes I had an idea that's what we should be doing, but I didn't know exactly what routines to do and I didn't have the energy or focus to start those routines and be consistent about them. However, lack of sleep is motivating me. So tonight, Keith and I bathed Cole, fed him, Keith rocked him while I did dishes, and Cole fell asleep. Cole usually associates feeding with sleep so we thought it made sense to feed after the bath. In the future, I'd like to incorporate massage before the bath but for now, we'll keep it as simple as possible. Sunday night (when I started writing this post) he went to sleep at 8:30 and woke up about 2 hours later and for every 2 hours after until morning.

Bottlefeeding - Keith had a successful bottle feed Saturday night. After the garage sale, we called Johanna, our post-partum doula, and she came over to assist Keith in the art of feeding Cole from a bottle.  His three previous tries was a mixed bag of success and failure. This feeding went really well and for that I am grateful.  I'm going to start pumping a bottle a day so Keith can do one feeding in the evening or at night, so I can get a break.