A boost of Mom Confidence

What a great day today has been! Owen slept 7 straight hours last night. Yes 7! I couldn't believe it and I was tempted to not blog about it in case it was just a lucky night. We've been working on a routine and I think he's slept so well because of it. He really slept more than 7 hours. I put him to bed at 8, gave him a dream feed at 10:45pm and then he slept until about 5:50. (Dream feed is when I feed him while he's asleep. It's easier than it sounds.)I'm sure there will be nights where he will wake up twice but I just want to take a moment and celebrate this little victory. It's been 10 weeks since I've slept 6 hours straight. This is a picture of our tentative routine. The times are flexible but I try to stick to bed time. The main thing we try to achieve is to keep the "eating, activity, sleeping" in that order. My dad commented on how quickly his wake time changes into sleepy time. Most of us don't realize how quickly babies become tired and how they're basically begging for sleep. It seemed as if Owen went from smiling to crying in a matter of minutes. At 10 weeks he's maxed out when he's up for an hour and a half (if not earlier). When we follow this routine he is SUCH a happy baby. He used to not give me many tired cues but now he looks like this when he's tired. The research says that around 6 months he should be able to stay awake 2 hours straight. We'll see.

Today Owen and I went to a La Leche League meeting here in town. I loved it. We even talked about the new Luvs commercial and how it brought attention to being a new mommy and the pressure of trying to nurse discreetly in public. There are mommies of all ages at the meetings and it was the first group I went to when Owen was 1 week old. I don't know why but I feel so at home there, and it's not that I agree with everything that we talk about but I feel like there's that healthy space to share opinions. I got so many helpful tips to ease Owen's gas pain. I explained that I had felt like I wasn't reading his cues very well. One of the group leaders really affirmed me as his mommy and how well we both are doing. I almost started crying, which hasn't really happened for awhile. I came home feeling so refreshed and so confident. At the meeting I even scored a black moby wrap for free since they have a box of clothing and supplies that moms can pick through and also leave their own used materials behind.

This is Owen laying on our bed. He had been cooing at the ceiling fan. He absolutely loves that stimulation. He even laughs when he sees the fan in our living room. It's pretty cute. He's also been pushing and scooting himself on his back so I already have to keep an eye on him at all times on his tummy mat. He gets so excited when he's batting at his toys that he "kick kick kicks!" himself right off of his mat. It's like he doesn't know how he got there and he's like, "where did my swinging toys go?!". My silly little man. I love watching him discover things and play. So crazy how fast he's growing.