I remember what sleep is!

I am on top of the world. Like I suddenly feel like I just might be a good thing for my daughter. Just kidding... kind of... not really. But my sweet, horrible sleeper, adorable child slept through the night. I think I hear angels singing. I finally have a glint of hope that maybe I will see sleep again. (45 Minute Intruder, don't you dare read this and ruin this for me.)

The last few days have gone something like this:
-Thursday I have an epiphane. Maybe, just maybe, my child needs consistency. (Durrrr) Maybe she needs a schedule. Not just a pattern, but a schedule. (If that word could show up on this page in gold and flash and twinkle, I would totally do it. But alas it will not, so red lettering will have to do.) Anycrap, back to my life-changing epiphane. Maybe Shane and I need to stop being selfish and adjust our lives to our daughter's needs rather than our own. That would just be craaaaazy as parents, right? Well.... I ran with this. I said Ok Shane, here's the deal (No I am not bossy. Ok maybe a lot- But my husband just happens to be very go-with-the-flow and he totally trusts my mothering and is just as red-eyed and sleep-deprived as I am):
She gets up at 7. She nurses at 7, then eats her fruit & oatmeal at 8. She goes down for a nap at 8:30. She is up at 9:30 (yes I believe in waking a sleeping baby). She nurses at 11 and is down for her second nap at 11:30. She is up at 1:30. She nurses at 3. She goes down for her last nap at 3:30. She is up at 5. She eats her veggies & rice at 5. She nurses at 7. She goes to bed at 8 and gets a dream feed at 11 before I go to bed. And that sounds complicated but it's actually pretty simple. She nurses every 4 hours and goes down for each nap 2 hours after waking from the previous one. NO exceptions.

You read right. That has meant: When our friends ask us to hang out at 7pm, we are home by 7:45 to put Makynzie down for bed.  When our friends ask us to go to lunch at 11am, we regretfully decline because Kynzie takes her nap at 11:30. If she is to be in the car for more than 20 minutes, it has to be after 3:30. When she goes down for sleep, we do the same thing each time. I change her diaper, close the curtains, put her in her sleep sack, give her a paci, turn on the fan, read her 2 books, lay her on her tummy in the crib, kiss her eye lids (she loves that), and walk out. That seems like a lot but it's only like a 7 minute process. I read in several moms' blogs that it's important to help the baby relax before going down. So true. I can't put her down to sleep after doing the most exciting thing ever with her. Also, I keep her brain busy between each nap. I read to her a lot, I give her a commentary on everything we do AND why we do it, we go for walks, we go to the pool, we sit at the window and talk about everything going on outside, she "helps" me clean, she has tummy time, she works on sitting by herself, she has time to play independently while I do something else, etc.

I know what you're thinking- "You need to be flexible, babies need to also adjust to your schedule." and "Wow Katy, you're like a drill sargeant." Yes and no. See, Shane and I used to say those things. While I was pregnant we said we would bring the portable crib wherever we went and put Kynz down when she got tired, and she would adjust to our plans, etc. In a perfect world, yea that would be great. But that crap just doesn't work. It just doesn't. It has taken me this long to get over the fact that we had Kynzie unplanned. So inevitably, she is going to change our lives whether we were ready for a kid or not. And I have to be careful not to resent her for that.

I also gave her 4 oz of formula last night at 7pm and 11pm and she slept from 8pm til 6am. What the what? Yea it was amazing. When I woke up at 5am and frantically checked the monitor, only to see her sleeping- I felt so overwhelmed with how proud I was of her that I couldn't go back to sleep for like 30 minutes. Shane even said, "Is she still asleep???!" and I said, "Yes!! She is!!" So to recap, with our new-found schedule, her naps have been longer and less dramatic, her mood has improved while she is awake, and she is eating better. Granted we have had to turn down some plans with friends, but they totally understand and it's so worth it. We are well-rested today and better parents because of it.

SUCCESS. (Here's to hoping this sticks....)