Ferber Method

It sounds easy on paper...put baby to bed while still awake so they learn to fall asleep on their own (rather than being rocked, sung to, etc). If baby wakes up, wait 5 minutes, go in to reassure them that you are there but do not pick them up. Leave the room. If the crying resumes wait 10 mins, then go in. Then wait 15 mins. Last night I lasted to a 7 minute interval (as opposed to 10) then I had to intervene and pick her up. Alyssa has been a little fussy with the sleeping lately, could be based on busy days and not napping properly, could be teething, who knows. The last week or so she would get up in the night and I'd only have to go in once, so I wasn't really putting the Ferber method to the test. Last night she woke up at least EVERY HOUR, sometimes staying awake for more than an hour. Needless to say I caved and couldn't quite follow the Ferber method. I only know a little about it based on what I've read on the internet. Our local library doesn't have his revised book (revised meaning a bit nicer method than the "cry it out" method he wrote about in the 80s) so I have asked my mom to get it for me when it becomes available at the Newmarket Library. So far the falling asleep on her own at night has worked well, so I'm hoping last night was just a hiccup and perhaps something else was bothering her.

We had our first date since Alyssa was born on Friday night. One of the guys Ryan plays hockey with in town has a daughter who was dying to babysit Alyssa. She came over just before bed to meet Alyssa and then we put Alyssa down and off to the Keg we went. It was a nice night out - and empty, I counted just 6 tables of people in the restaurant, I guess due to the long weekend. It was great to have a baby free evening. On Fathers Day weekend we went to Boston Pizza to celebrate Fathers Day with my parents and Alyssa screamed the entire dinner. She was fine on the patio so I think the restaurant was just too stimulating for her. We vowed never to take her out to dinner with us again. We broke that vow a week later by taking her to our local pub and she was fine the whole dinner (happy to sit on our lap as we ate in shifts). Our pub is much quieter than Boston Pizza and plays more soothing Blues music.

A few weeks ago I did the stereotypical post-baby hair chop. This is the picture I used to show my hairdresser of the style I wanted, she did mine a bit longer because it was such a dramatic change from what I had. I was sick of living in a ponytail, and really what is the point in having hair if it is always pulled back. Alyssa enjoys screaming while I shower so I needed something low maintenance and quick to style. I LOVE my new hair. It is really easy to style, taking only 3 minutes if I blow it dry. If I let it air dry it doesn't turn out quite a smooth but still looks decent. Really the only downfall is I'll have to trim it more often but that isn't a problem, it is nice to get out of the house and get pampered with a hair cut.

Speaking of pampering I also got my first post-baby pedicure about a week ago. I am very lucky that Sean and Rosemary are retired and that they are able to watch Alyssa during the day so I can have some baby free time. They were nice enough to watch her so I could go get a pedi. They have also watched her for me during the day so I could join my coworkers for lunch to celebrate their birthdays recently. Alyssa is starting to warm up to them and not cry as much. Worse comes to worse they go for stroller walks with her as she quite enjoys being outside and on the go.

Solid introduction is still going well. We have a few foods she didn't do well on, including butternut squash and peaches. I thought she may have been allergic to bananas (in dried form, with rice cereal) but I tried them again and she seems to be ok. We will try the butternut squash and peaches at a later time as well. I will be making my own baby food soon, I've decided on advice of a friend to try the jarred food first to see what she likes and doesn't like. I got a great blender baby food cookbook that has recipes right up to when they are a bit older that we will try.