Sus - Do Not Read

Instead, I suggest you read this post:

http://newmother-michelle.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-so-happy-post.html

Seriously, Sus, stop reading. Just read the post above.

Are you gone?

Okay.


We had a really great nap day today with Eleanor. She's currently on nap #5 in her crib (it's 7:30, so this will be her last). She woke up this morning around 7 and then went down for a nap at 8:30. A few times, I thought she was awake, but when I would go to get her, she was still asleep. When did she finally wake up? 10:30. Nice. Of course, I couldn't get much done around the house since Ethan was destroying everything, but it's nice to have some one on one time with him. Once she was up and fed, we went to Trader Joe's together. I put Eleanor in the Ergo carrier while Ethan pushed his own cart. Eleanor dosed a bit in the carrier but very little. I put her back down in her crib at 12:30, and she went right to sleep until 1:30. Then, she was back down around 3:15 for about a half hour. Her naps get shorter as the day goes on. At 5, she took another short nap and then she's down again now. For each of these naps, I've simply laid her down in her crib, given her her pacifier, and left the room. And then she just goes to sleep with very little fuss. This post is not meant to brag, but more just to remember and cherish because I know, all too well, how bad things can get later. I'm hoping that Eleanor will continue to be an angel baby, but I just don't know. Right now, it's pretty darn nice since her brother can be a bit, er, we'll say...challenging. But he's an angel, too, to me!

And both my babies were good travelers this past weekend when we went to Indy for Will's cousin's wedding reception. (They were married in FL with a small ceremony in October.) We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon, so it was a quick trip. We stayed at The Stratford, which is a retirement community Will's Grandbob lives in. It's a beautiful place, and Ethan loves it there. He gets to run up and down the numerous hallways, go up and down the elevators, and swim in the pool. He slept in a pullout bed that was a tiny twin size and perfect for him. Will slept in the daybed in the room with him. Will says Ethan fell out of bed a couple of times (!) but didn't wake up. Even though he just had a car nap in the afternoon and another one after 9 pm, he went to sleep easily and slept all night. Those of you who know the kind of out of town sleeper Ethan can be know this to be a major accomplishment. (When we stayed at the Stratford in December, Ethan stayed up virtually all night long and we left a day early.) It gave us the confidence to look into a summer trip. On Sunday, when I tranformed Ethan's bed back to a chair, he said, "Where did you put my cozy bed?" He wanted to say there another night for sure. He kept saying, "I like this place." Eleanor wasn't thrown off from traveling at all, it seems and still slept from 10 - 7. She's a stud. But she did have a rough time on Sunday, having the worst gas she's ever had. She would not nurse before we wanted to leave. After an hour of trying, we finally left, only to stop about 15 minutes into our trip to try again. She would be fine, but every time I tried to get her to nurse, she would get all rigid and cry. We finally gave up and she fell asleep, as did Ethan. They both slept for almost 2 hours and then we made another stop. I finally got her to nurse after almost 7 hours since her last feeding. I was a bit worried she'd be up in the middle of the night, having skipped a feeding, but she must have been pretty tired from all of her crying that day because she still slept well at night.

I'll post some pictures of our trip soon. We didn't take many, but I know that Will's Aunt Marge took a ton of great ones, so I'll post them when I can. Hint hint, Marge. ;)