Quick brain dump

Do not fear, things are not as dire as they sounded when I abruptly disappeared from the blogging world. I've had two *really* low-mood days in the last few weeks, both of which lasted less than 24 hours. Getting out with for a nice long walk with the baby in a sling helps a bunch.

Therapist wisely reminded me that when I feel regret and wish to go back in time, it's nothing against Mini-Me in particular, just missing aspects of my old life. I've started feeling less guilty. Also have started requesting time off while my husband is home, not just for sleeping and housework but for fun things like making stained glass and goofing off on the internet.

Mini-Me and I have gotten into a pretty good groove with sleeping and eating and our general routine. She sleeps in threeish hour shifts at night, with about an hour of feeding in between, and snacks and naps intermittently for most of the daytime. We started having her sleep in her own room, until the early morning (5 AM or so) feeding shift when I pull her into bed with me because I'm too sleepy to sit up and feed her in any other position. (She breastfeeds at the intermediate-advanced level, having mastered the side-lying nursing position at just two weeks.) Her afternoon crankiness is usually related to gas or being overtired.

Even though I'm not getting much more sleep than before, my mood has been much better, partly because the weather has gotten sunny and warm again, and partly because I have gained confidence that I will eventually get the baby back to sleep. It rarely takes me more than two hours, so I can count on getting back to bed by a certain time.

Tricks to get the baby to sleep:

• swaddling - absolutely necessary for sound sleep almost all the time
• swing - works well with baby is already sleepy
• sling + walking - evening walks around the neighborhood have been nice, treadmill and TV in the basement is a last resort
• mummy wrap + piano - just discovered this one a few days ago when I sat down to play a bit of music to soothe my own nerves. Mini-Me fussed for a few minutes then conked out.
• sucking - pacifier or pinkie finger save my nipples from getting chomped to death
• wait it out - I'm not an advocate of the "let them cry it out" theory, but Mini-Me is learning to soothe herself, and sometimes if I give her an extra minute before I rush in to soothe her, she manages just fine herself.

Now that she's asleep, I'm off to do the zillion things that are zooming around my brain.