Week 2 - I Love Naps! I Hate Crying!

I think, by far, my favorite thing about this whole parenting thing is naps. Don't get me wrong, to take a proper nap it belies the lack of sleep we are getting -- but thie brightside of the situation is napping. There is nothing like the feeling of Ellie on your chest, rhythmically breathing & lulling you and she into a perfect two hour sleep where you both wake refreshed and a little sad that that moment has passed. I know I only have a few precious naps like the ones I'm getting now, where my hand can literally be her blanket and I wake a few moments before she does and I get to enjoy a perfect moment of peace with her. I think we get moments like that to compensate for the unhappy hour that usually precedes the nap.

Don't know what the unhappy hour is? I get the line from the 'Handbook' aka the Holy Bible of Parenting that talks about the end of day overload. Ellie has seen enough... she has heard enough and now, she must reboot her nervous system so that she does not explode. God, in her infinite wisdom, saw fit to have crying be the mechanism for this restart -- frankly it sucks.

Here's the basic pattern so far in our lives including the unhappy hour... Ellie wakes up - for this week it's been between 5-8 AM (not bad you say). She eats (thank you Momma) and she either hangs out acting awake and cute, or cries. Actually, it's a combination of both but it's not too bad. Then she eats...and takes a nap until the middle of the day. Then the rest of the day is a combination of keeping her happy, watching her sleep, eating, changing diapers, etc. Now round about 8 or 9 PM- Momma feeds the beast... Momma heads off for some MUCH NEEDED SLEEP and the beast sleeps for 15 minutes, then...awakens. The baby is unhappy and there is nothing and I mean NOTHING our favorite Daddy can do. He does bouncy-bouncy, turny-turny, rocky-rocky, swingy-swingy - we take walks, we go outside, we try every position imaginable (including upside down) and the beast continues it's tirade! After an hour and a half, mercifully, she falls asleep. Daddy has no idea why... Daddy is just happy. Then its off to Momma for more milk and bedtime for everyone around 1 or 2. Fear makes us think that unhappy hour will begin again when she eats again... but then miraculously, she sleeps... for like four hours. It's Awesome!

Now starting here in week three - just last night really, she did unhappy hour for about three hours...what's up with that?!? Very uncool Elise. We'll have no more of that... please. I suppose she just could not get enough of Momma's milk. Hopefully, this was a one-time thing.

Okay onto the pics... what you all really came here for anyway.
More soon! The Molloy's