Double down

She barely tolerates actual "tummy time" so it's surprising (but not really, because I really need to get over being 'surprised' by anything, seeing as how I know nothing) that she loves sleeping on her belly.

Today I took the leap and actually put her in her crib on her belly to try and nap. Up until now, the only time she's slept on her belly is when she's lying down on me, or next to me on the couch. Result? A whopping TWO HOUR NAP in her crib.

When I first put her in there I told myself I would be excited if she made it 10 minutes, ecstatic if she made it 15, and over the moon if it was 30. On our backs our longest period of sleep in the crib has hovered around 20-30 minutes. The only time she has taken a two hour nap previous to this has been when she has either been sleeping on me or in the car on the way to Milwaukee, neither of which count.

Then to my wonder she took a second nap this afternoon. This one was shorter, about 45 minutes, but again, I would have taken 10, so I was excited.



Stealth mom photo of Bug sleeping. The dark spot on the right is the door, which creaks obnoxiously when opened an eighth of an inch further. I've also learned where exactly the floor squeaks, which in our house leaves us with about six inches of normal, full-weight walking space.

I have been told by more than one mother of my own mother's generation that the rule at that time was to always sleep babies on their tummies. I was put to sleep that way, Matt was, etc etc. Now I feel like I'm almost scared to post these lest Child Protective Services comes knocking on my door.

Either way, for the first time I now feel comfortable "putting her down for a nap" the second I see her get tired. Before when we attempted this, putting her on her back would do nothing but get her wound up and cranky. Swaddling her in the swing or bouncy chair only bought us a nap longer than 30 minutes 50% of the time, and left her sweaty 100% of the time. Do I smell the dirty word "schedule" coming soon? Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Missy.

I'm ready to try her sleeping at night like this in the cradle next to our bed, but Matt is not. I'm going to give her another week of belly napping before I just do it anyway. Lately she has been so bound and determined to sit up that she spends half the night in the bouncy chair grunting and doing crunches. Great for her abs, bad for everyone else's mental state, including her own.



Does this look like a face that sleeps through the night any more? If you guessed "no," you win.

Oh and while I'm at it, I'll just throw in that we are now using the diapers that I always turned my nose up at while at the 'R Us. Yes, the Seventh Generation ones. To be honest, the Pampers started making her bottom super super red, no matter how much or what kind of cream I put on, or how long I waited for her bottom to dry before applying the cream. Huggies were too short and Luvs has some creepy blue-colored rectangle that is just not a color found in nature. We finally decided to try the Seventh Generation ones and they fit her perfectly, and her butt has been considerably more calm looking. They are not any more expensive than Pampers, and my Internet-shopper husband even found a deal online where essentially you buy three packages and get one free. So I have to mentally apologize to Matt's friends who have always used the diapers who I mentally always snided at for being "snooty" and "organic."

Pry the Huggies wipes from my cold dead hands, though.





My legs are hilarious. Up-down-up-down. Never gets old.