Things Owen thinks are funny.

--Daddy sneaking up on Mommy and him after Owen is out of the tub--for some reason DAddy stalking Owen In A Towel is hilarious.

--Things falling off people's heads. Pa started this one.

--When he shakes his own head to the music.

--When Mommy rolls two balls from Guatemala down the back of the chair so they hit the back cushion and makes a silly noise while doing so. Why is this funny? ????

--The Owen Parade.

--Kitty. Always, kitty!

Why no pictures, Becca?

Um, because I haven't even turned our computer at home on in three weeks or so. So no uploading pictures anywhere. Sigh. I'm sorry--but BOY, motherhood is SUCH A JOY and VERY BUSY! :)

I'll put some up soon, promise.

Thoughts on cosleeping and biology

Shannon and I are both biology majors by training (and teachers); my Master's is in bio. We were discussing how Owen seems to freak out lately in his own bed (we think we know why but that's another story). We're not knocking ANYONE's choices. This is just our perspective (which doesn't mean we're going to cosleep from here on out....).

Here's what we came up with:

-Humans are apes, like chimps, bonobos, and gorillas.

-Those other apes do not leave their babies alone in a separate nest at night--ever. They sleep together, secure.

-Only lately have humans begun to think that babies need to sleep alone, in another room. Before that, whole families slept in rooms together, sometimes in beds together; babies always slept w/their mommies.

-Other apes carry their babies around all day; we don't get to do that, usually. So sleeping in the same place makes for extra bonding that otherwise isn't available most days for working mommies.

-And for babies, bonding = survival.

-Biologcially speaking, cosleeping makes perfect sense. The baby feels secure; the mommy knows the baby is secure and right there; if the baby has any distress, mommy is right there to determine what's wrong; feeding can occur whenever needed...etc.

I am just writing about this because I worried about cosleeping for so long, and didn't want to do it when Owen was younger because I didn't want to roll on him. But he's bigger now, so it's not as much of an issue. And I miss him all day. And he clings to me this week when it's bedtime. And he grins and giggles into my face and his daddy's face when we come to bed and he half-wakes up.


And biologically, it really makes sense. As a biologist, I tend to view many things on that level.

Not for everyone, but slowly becoming maybe for us.

Report on last night's sleep

He fell asleep in my arms watching that old old old "Rudolph" Christmas TV special. I put him in bed where he stayed asleep till midnight then got up and howled. I was not awake enough to try the Ferber plan, so he ended up in bed w/us--where we all slept great! Sigh! :) :) :)

Mommy Caved.

Well, last night I rocked him to sleep--he was out like a light. WITH his arms clenched around my shoulders every time I so much as shifted. I tried to put him in his crib 3x, and no dice--woke up and cried/screamed.

So I laid down on the floor w/him, on some blankets. He snuggled up to me and was out. Then I was out (thus foiling my own plan to try to pick him up and put him in bed)

At 1am, I woke up, and tried to move him to his bed. Didn't work. We went back to sleep.

I have 3 sleeping books ordered. I hope they come soon! I slept fine but missed my bed and my husband!

Help with sleeping issues, please...

To my fellow mommies who perhaps have been there:

We were doing just fine w/sleeping before last week. Before then, Owen would fall asleep w/one of us in our bed, and we'd move him to his bed w/o incident when we went to bed. Well, early last week he stopped that nonsense--his little head would pop up and he'd sit and try to crawl around. This would go on for as long as we let it.

So, then I started putting him in his bed first. He absolutely screams. Cries. Kicks. Tears and everything. The first night it took nearly an hour to get him to sleep. After that it was like 20 minutes each time. Not bad but exhausting for all of us. And at the same time, he's started waking up in the night howling. If I go in there, I find him sitting up or on his knees with his hands on the railing, just wailing. Last night was the worst (hence my plea for help)--he howled for 45 min. and I finally went in there. I took him out and rocked him to sleep--three times. Every time I got up he'd wake up, till the last time. (I think that was from sheer exhaustion.)

He's never let me rock him since about a month after we can home (he came home 1 Aug.). He'd sit up and twist and at that time, wanted to just be in our bed lying down to fall asleep. So rocking seems to work. But I do not want to do this at 2am. I'll do it when he goes to bed, if that works!

Has anyone else come up against this issue? Any input? If so, email me or post a comment here!

Two things we think it could be:
-teething--he has 4 coming in altho he doesn't act like they bother him AT ALL during the day

-separation anxiety

But we're just not sure. Any thoughts? Thanks!