She's still only 12 lbs. 5 oz. She's gained less than four pounds since her birth! But, she's growing taller, I guess. She's just under the 3rd percentile for weight, and the 10th for height. But, the doctor isn't worried yet. She's healthy, and I promise I'm feeding her. Jake and I just have small jeans in our family. (I know what you're thinking. And I agree. I wish THOSE kind of jeans were small too. But unfortunately, mine are huge, thanks to my hips and backside).
On another note, we had a breakthrough last week. We had three nights in a ROW that Alexia only woke up once. She went to bed at 10, and didn't wake up until after 5. It was amazing! Up until last week, she's been waking up faithfully in the 1:00 hour, in the 3:00 hour, the 6:00 hour, and up around 8:30. It was just getting to the point where I wasn't gonna be able to handle it anymore. I'm always sick, thanks to the lack of REM cycles in my sleep. And I've been praying that I'd find a way to get her to sleep longer. We had tried EVERYTHING! But, one thing I read last Monday suggested that in the nighttime routine, to feed the baby first, THEN do the bath, story, songs, whatever. The article said that if the baby gets used to having food right before nighttime sleep, she'll associate sleep with food, and when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she won't be able to put herself BACK to sleep without more food, creating a viciuos night waking habit. So, I tried changing the order of night stuff. I fed her around 9:20 instead of 9:30, and then had Jacob put her jammies on, sing a song to her, and pray with her and put her down. She went down without a tear, and didn't wake until 5:15 that first night. I told Jacob he's officially hired as the putter-Alexia-down-to-bedder-...whatever...person. Same thing on Wednesday night. Same thing Thursday night, except that night, she didn't wake up until 5:50. It was HEAVEN! Three nights of REM cycles in a row! So, I was a happy camper.
I was hoping that was the magical fix, and she was cured of her awful night waking habit. But, no such luck. The next three nights, the night waking came back with a vengeance. Friday and Saturday nights, she was up at 2 or 3, and I let her cry herself back to sleep, and fed her when she woke up again. But last night, she woke up at 2, then 3, then 4 (I fed her at 4), then she woke again at 5:45, then 6:45 (I fed her at the 6:45 waking), and again at 8, then 9. No idea where that came from. I'm guessing it'll just take a while for her body to learn how to fall asleep on her own. Naps are still a nightmare. So, I'm trying to be patient. Wondering what I did wrong from the beginning. Six month old babies are supposed to be sleeping through the night, right? And I'm pretty good about having naptime routines set. Once she's down for a nap, I rarely go back in her room while she's crying. So, I don't get why she hasn't learned yet to go to sleep quickly.
Oh well...I guess this will be one thing I'll be able to be grateful for once she gets older. I'll miss all the baby stuff, but I'll be SO grateful for a good night's sleep!!!
