#52weeksofRoarke

Read More..

I dont know how some pregnant women deal with being pregnant plus a highly demanding job. Im sure that my job is not nearly as tough as most and I have been struggling so much lately just making it through my days. There have been nights when I got home from work and either crashed on the couch or cried...

At the beginning of the month we ended up losing several of the employees in our department for various reasons. What this meant is that because Im one of the managers in our department Im expected to pick up some of the hours and responsibilities that those employees had. So for the past several weeks I have not only been working my job, but I am also working evenings/weekends/13 hour days/and Im back to driving the bus for doctors visits and outings. This wouldnt normally be a problem, but being in my 3rd trimester now you can imagine the toll it takes on me. Plus, keep in mind I dont really have a sit down job and am usually walking up to 4-6 miles per day. Im almost at the point where I question how much longer I can keep this up and I still have three months left for this baby to cook. Whats a girl to do? To top it all off... the state board of health made their appearance in our building at the beginning of the week which adds that much more stress to the mix. PHEW!

Anyways... the reason for the back story is to let you know Im still alive and kicking and to apologize once again for my lack of post these past few weeks. I have not felt well or had the energy to do any posts and they are backing up in my brain. Hoping to play some catch up over the weekend to fill you in on some recipes and other developments taking place in the Rhoton household...

Right now Im off to start my last 13 hour day this week... Thank you Lord!   

Read More..

Sleep is an important commodity in our household. I have always had a hard time functioning without getting at least 6 hours of decent shut eye everyday. For Dan it is even more important that he gets good sleep because I want him to be alert and have a clear mind while he is at his job. And Remington... well he is use to sleeping at least 16 hours a day... usually 8 hours at night with me and 8 hours during the day with Dan. I know... he leads the toughest life of us all!

Anyways, before I had Roarke I had started researching the best techniques on how to get your baby to sleep well at night almost right away. The one I continued to run across was the Baby Wise Sleep Schedule. Several moms online seemed to swear by it when "sleep training" your baby. Since Im brand new to this whole baby thing I decided that I might as well give it a try. What did I really have to lose beside more sleep :)

So, after we brought Roarke home and had our first few bad nights of a baby crying ALL night long we decided to put the sleep schedule into action. And guess what! Almost immediately we had a baby that was sleeping 3-4 hour long stretches throughout the night and probably would sleep longer if I didnt I have to wake him up to eat every 3 hours. Ive read that this type of "sleep training" is looked down on by some because you are physically waking your baby up for periods of time throughout the day and most people say if your baby is sleeping let them sleep... but if you think about it, if you have a baby that is sleeping all day why will he/she sleep well at night? So, here is what an example sleep schedule would look like. For different ages the sleep and awake times would look a little different, but this helps you get the picture.

Doesnt he look teeny tiny in his crib!!!

BABY WISE SLEEP SCHEDULE 

----------------

Daytime

7:00 - 8:30 AM : wake baby, change diaper, feed (remember the goal is to keep baby awake for entire wake time)

8:30 - 10:00 AM : nap

10:00 - 11:30 AM : wake baby, change diaper, feed

11:30 - 1:00 PM : nap

1:00 - 2:30 PM : wake baby, change diaper, feed

2:30 - 4:00 PM : nap

4:00 - 6:00 PM : wake baby, change diaper, feed (these two hours are the most important time to keep your baby awake... you might cheat on any of the other times, but dont on this one if you want baby to sleep well at night.

------------------

Nighttime (during nighttime hours once your diaper change and feeding is done you put baby directly back to bed... no awake time is needed)

6:00 - 9:00 PM : bed

9:00 - 9:30 PM : wake baby, change diaper, feed

9:30 - 12:30 AM : bed

12:30 -1:00 AM : wake baby, change diaper, feed

1:00 - 4:00 AM : bed

4:00 - 4:30 AM : wake baby, change diaper, feed

4:30 - 7:00 AM : bed

A lot of what I have read say that by 8 - 12 weeks old babies will be sleeping clear through the night. Lord knows that is an exciting thought! After doing our own version of this schedule we have had good nights and some really bad ones. That is to be expected of course as you establish your sleep schedule. Everything takes time and right now I have all the time in the world to work on it.

Read More..