Ellie's Sleep

Another unfinished post from April 2010...


A big difference when you see Ellie now is her face. Besides the fact that I think she's really gotten a lot prettier/cuter, her skin's SO much better than it was just a couple of months ago. Her skin was raw and crusty for months but now that's all gone! It still gets a little bumpy & red from time to time but it doesn't bother her nearly as much. Because she always rubbed and scratched her face, I kept her swaddled literally 90% of the first 4 months of her life. I know, I know. What about her arm development? I didn't know what else to do. Half of each cheek was oozing puss every other day. At her 4 month appointment, her super laid back doctor told me I had to let it go and just let her free. That she should be swaddle free by 5 months. Grrr...

Well, timing sort of worked out. By around 3 1/2 months (100 days), she learned to soothe herself to sleep swaddled with her paci as long as I partially covered her pack n play with a blanket to keep it somewhat dark. So complicated, I know. But there could be 4 toddlers screaming and she's still be able to fall asleep this way. This was HUGE because that was when my mom was in Cali. It was a lifesaver since Maxx wouldn't let me give Ellie more than a minute of attention at a time. So since Ellie could sooth herself to sleep with the whole get up, I figured she was ready to slowly let go of the paci & swaddle. I would've left the paci but she would need it to fall back asleep 2-3 times a night. So around 5 months, I started sleep training her.

It took longer than I expected since she was so good with her paci/swaddle/blanket combo but after 2.5 weeks, she's an even better sleeper! She seemed to know what I was doing just after the first day and was soothing herself to sleep for a couple days pretty well but then she started fighting it like crazy for about a week. I knew I had to hang in there and I'm SO glad I did. At first, it was a TON easier than when I trained Maxx because I knew what I had to do and that it wasn't hurting my kids and it was good for them as well as for each member of the family AND for the family as a unit.

I'm all about kiddies needing their sleep. It's probably because Maxx has a really low tolerance to handle lack of sleep and...

I read the Ferber book with Maxx and this time around I skimmed the Weissbluth one. My sleep philosophy for kiddies is probably a mix of the 2 but Weissbluth's extinction was definitely better for my kiddies than checking on them in intervals. More than anything else, I...

Responsible Kiddos

Not sure if you can make out the picture but the jars are labeled "share", "spend" and "save". Its done so cute with the photos too. When my doolittles are a little older, I definitely want to teach them the importance of being good stewards of their money (in addition to everything else, of course) - generosity, responsibility, planning ahead, etc.

And this is how we'll track their chores! You can find this printable template here. (Not sure if I'll use it though because I want one that has all 3 kids chores on it.) Maybe I'll just design my own. Either way, I can't wait for the day they all have chores to help around the house!