I can't believe my baby is already one month old!!! Since I count my blog as my journal, I want to take a moment to reflect on my thoughts on my first month with precious Ashilene. I've already detailed our first couple weeks together and some other highlights in previous posts, so this will mostly be random ramblings on some of our day to day activities.
Ashilene is a total night owl. She gets this from her Grandma Lynda and Great Grandma Alice. She loves to keep Mommy awake from midnight to 6am almost every morning. Usually Mom gets to sneak in a couple 10 minute naps somewhere in there (after putting her down in the crib and before she starts crying again -- It breaks Mommy's heart to see the sad look on Ashilene's face when she cries.) and occasionally she'll go down for a 3-4 hour nap as early as 4 or 5 am, but Mommy tends to get most of her sleep somewhere between 6am and noon with a feeding or two in between. This, of course, makes 9-12 church extremely difficult on Sundays, but we're surviving. Mommy's day usually begins after noon, when she gains some level of consciousness, after a mostly sleepless night.
She tries very hard to read scriptures, do her exercise routine, some housework, other to do list items and take 10 minute naps whenever Ashilene is napping during the day. Ashilene actually does pretty well at keeping about a 3 hour schedule during the day, it's just after midnight that she has problems. Mommy loves listening to the cute baby noises Ashilene makes when she nurses. It is so precious hearing her contented gulps. It's also funny hearing her loud, lip smacking fake suck sounds before she really latches on. Mommy loves to talk and/or sing and/or read to Ashilene while she nurses. She will tell Ashilene how beautiful, precious, special, etc., she is and how much she is loved. She will say, "Heavenly Father loves Ashilene. Jesus loves Ashilene. Mommy loves Ashilene.
Daddy loves Ashilene. Grandpa Darryl loves Ashilene. Grandma Lynda loves Ashilene. Lolo loves Ashilene. Lola loves Ashilene." And so on, listing all the great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that also love Ashilene. Mommy loves to sing Primary songs to Ashilene, especially "I Love to See the Temple", "I Am a Child of God" and "Families Can Be Together Forever." Mommy also reads to Ashilene while she's nursing. The books she's read so far are
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms and
The Parent Trip. She's also read a lot from
What to Expect the First Year and is looking forward to starting
Christlike Parenting soon. After feeding Ashilene, Mommy tries to do some Awake Time with her before she goes back to sleep during the day. Some of the Awake Time activities Mommy tries are Baby Aerobics, dancing with her, reading
What Makes a Rainbow? or
Read Aloud Rhymes to her or putting her in her bouncer.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard Mommy tries, Ashilene usually doesn't manage to stay awake for Awake Time during the day very long at all.
I love the completely chilled out position Ashilene often gets into (with her arms extended above her head) when she's really out. It's also fun watching her stretch and stretch when she tries to wake up from her naps. I remember her doing a ton of stretching in the womb too.;) I was also very relieved when my sister, GayLynn, taught me how to use my breat pump and Ashilene actually took to the bottle.
It will be so nice having the flexibility for someone else to feed her my breast milk, when neccesary. I've been doing my best to take the advice of so many to "Enjoy every moment" and look forward to enjoying many more moments in the days, months and years ahead. I love you Ashilene!
I can't believe my baby is already one month old!!! Since I count my blog as my journal, I want to take a moment to reflect on my thoughts on my first month with precious Ashilene. I've already detailed our first couple weeks together and some other highlights in previous posts, so this will mostly be random ramblings on some of our day to day activities. 
Ashilene is a total night owl. She gets this from her Grandma Lynda and Great Grandma Alice. She loves to keep Mommy awake from midnight to 6am almost every morning. Usually Mom gets to sneak in a couple 10 minute naps somewhere in there (after putting her down in the crib and before she starts crying again -- It breaks Mommy's heart to see the sad look on Ashilene's face when she cries.) and occasionally she'll go down for a 3-4 hour nap as early as 4 or 5 am, but Mommy tends to get most of her sleep somewhere between 6am and noon with a feeding or two in between. This, of course, makes 9-12 church extremely difficult on Sundays, but we're surviving. Mommy's day usually begins after noon, when she gains some level of consciousness, after a mostly sleepless night. 
She tries very hard to read scriptures, do her exercise routine, some housework, other to do list items and take 10 minute naps whenever Ashilene is napping during the day. Ashilene actually does pretty well at keeping about a 3 hour schedule during the day, it's just after midnight that she has problems. Mommy loves listening to the cute baby noises Ashilene makes when she nurses. It is so precious hearing her contented gulps. It's also funny hearing her loud, lip smacking fake suck sounds before she really latches on. Mommy loves to talk and/or sing and/or read to Ashilene while she nurses. She will tell Ashilene how beautiful, precious, special, etc., she is and how much she is loved. She will say, "Heavenly Father loves Ashilene. Jesus loves Ashilene. Mommy loves Ashilene. 
Daddy loves Ashilene. Grandpa Darryl loves Ashilene. Grandma Lynda loves Ashilene. Lolo loves Ashilene. Lola loves Ashilene." And so on, listing all the great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that also love Ashilene. Mommy loves to sing Primary songs to Ashilene, especially "I Love to See the Temple", "I Am a Child of God" and "Families Can Be Together Forever." Mommy also reads to Ashilene while she's nursing. The books she's read so far are Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms and The Parent Trip. She's also read a lot from What to Expect the First Year and is looking forward to starting Christlike Parenting soon. After feeding Ashilene, Mommy tries to do some Awake Time with her before she goes back to sleep during the day. Some of the Awake Time activities Mommy tries are Baby Aerobics, dancing with her, reading What Makes a Rainbow? or Read Aloud Rhymes to her or putting her in her bouncer.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard Mommy tries, Ashilene usually doesn't manage to stay awake for Awake Time during the day very long at all. 
I love the completely chilled out position Ashilene often gets into (with her arms extended above her head) when she's really out. It's also fun watching her stretch and stretch when she tries to wake up from her naps. I remember her doing a ton of stretching in the womb too.;) I was also very relieved when my sister, GayLynn, taught me how to use my breat pump and Ashilene actually took to the bottle.
It will be so nice having the flexibility for someone else to feed her my breast milk, when neccesary. I've been doing my best to take the advice of so many to "Enjoy every moment" and look forward to enjoying many more moments in the days, months and years ahead. I love you Ashilene!
2 comments:
Oh Merilee, I remember that (though Annabelle didn't have her days/nights mixed up as much as Ashilene seems to). At 4 weeks Annabelle was only sleeping 3 hours at a time during the night, and I said "There's NO way she's just going to start sleeping 8 hours!" Then, a week later, she DID! Hang in there, you're doing great. =)
Awww sweet post. You're such a great Mommy like I knew you would be! Ashilene is such a cutie and she's so blessed to have you and Ro as parents. Love you guys! And see you soon!
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