Well, it's official.....I am now a stay at home mommy!!!! I am so excited. The last seven weeks have flown by and I could only imagine how fast things and Madi would change if I were working full time and only getting to spend several hours with her in the evening. It would be dreadful.

First of all, I had these thoughts when I was pregnant of what life would be these eight weeks while being on maternity leave. I thought I would get so much done around the house that I have been neglecting. Let me tell you, I have accomplished one thing on my to do list. And that came with the help of Chris and my mom and it took a whole weekend. But we did manage to finally get our storage room downstairs organized and the garage cleaned out.

I tell you what, my images of having Madi around the house and real life are totally different. Nothing bad or anything I can't handle, but it is tough work sometimes. I don't think any amount of babysitting or watching friends and family raise their kids can prepare you for raising your own. At first all she did was sleep and wake enough to tell me she was hungry and then fall back to sleep. Which was itself a learning experience. I had to learn to sleep for only two hours at a time and not fall asleep while feeding her. I also had to learn to sleep during the day when she slept or I was not a very happy person by 7:00 pm. Sorry Chris! And with her eating every three hours I was not getting much done during the day.

But now...she has started to sleep all night which is wonderful!! Two weeks ago we finally got it figured out. She eats at 8:30 pm, I change her and get her ready for bed, I rock her to sleep, put her down at 10:00 and she would wake up once around 3:00 am. Give her another bottle and she would sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 am. That was nice, I could get used to only getting up once a night, I was thrilled. But then this last week we changed again. I can now give her a bottle around 9:00 pm, rock her to sleep, put her down around 10:30 and she sleeps until 6:30 am!!! The first night this happened and I woke up and looked at the clock I thought she had died. Something terrible was wrong, why hasn't she woke up yet. I went in to check on her and all was well. So far the all night sleeping is working. She then takes a nap in the morning for awhile and then takes a nap in the afternoon.

The new hurdle to get over is to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep with out me holding her. I know, I did this to myself. I have spoiled her already and now I have to figure out how to reverse it. So, I am now still holding her until she falls asleep during the day but I am laying her down after she has been asleep for 20 minutes and seeing how she does. Yesterday she did really good. She stayed asleep after laying her down and slept for a good hour and a half. Now today, within 10-15 minutes she is waking up. But I am waiting until she really starts crying before going in and getting her. Hoping she will fall back to sleep on her own. It's a work in progress but I have already learned with a newborn baby, every week and sometimes everyday things change. She is constantly changing her routine and the way she does things. And that was the biggest motivator for me to want to stay home. I can now experience it and share it with her everyday and it is going to be alot of fun, I'll keep you posted.

Love, Amy and Madi


My Sleeping Beauty