Hoo Baby and Sleep Talk

She loved UVA. Michael took her for a stroll around grounds and then went to Mincers to buy her a little UVA outfit. Daddy said she was so happy. Uncle Preston (my younger brother) just submitted his application to UVA last night so now we're praying that he gets in to the college. Say a prayer for his acceptance too if you think about it. We're a growing Cavalier family!

Carmen is doing so, so well! She is eating perfectly and growing steadily. Each new day she begins to talk to me more and respond with lots of smiles. She did get her first cold last week. Thankfully it wasn't horrible, just a lot of snot stuck in her nose that I had to suction out regularly. It effected her sleep but didn't effect her happiness - she's such a sweet girl. Speaking of sleep, there's a lot of it happening under our roof considering how busy and mobile we've been. I almost feel ashamed for talking about how well she sleeps (similar to talking about how lovely and sickness-free my pregnancy was), like I'm going to offend the mothers who's children don't sleep solidly through the night - but I need to get over it. We've worked hard at teaching our baby good sleep habits and it's quickly paying off. Carmen is transitioning into the 10 hour sleep stretch from 9pm to 7am. Occasionally I'll feed her later in the night, especially with this cold, but for the most part she is passed out and will not wake up - no matter how much I try -after her nighttime feeding.

We've followed the principles of Babywise and it's clear that they have worked for us in this season. Our first 3 nights at home with her were hard - she had her days and nights mixed up. So for about a week we tried to teach her the difference and reverse her sleep patterns. She quickly made the switch and with the combination of feeding her every 2.5-3 hours, she fell into a regular pattern of sleep, eat, wake cycles. She learned not to stay awake after nighttime feedings and after two weeks, I was able to let her sleep for 5 hour stretches at a time during the night. That brings us up to the 7 week mark where she started to sleep longer and longer at night. Like I said, we're almost to sleeping through the night. She always wakes up happy and from her nighttime sleep and her naps. I love going in to get her! She's still in her bassinet in our room at night and during the day she's mostly in her crib. My current goal is getting her used to her crib and laying her down awake in hopes that she falls asleep on her own (Marta, I repeat your words in my head daily) She's doing really well with it. Sometimes her naps are only 25 minutes but she's learning and we're OK with that! Carmen is my joy and I just can't get over how darn precious she is!

Sometimes I catch her staring at the video camera for the monitor, like this:

Snuggle baby.