Cheeks to Cheeks

Today is Aug 31st, Malaysia’s 49th Merdeka (Malay: Freedom) Anniversary. So, I’m a bit late to celebrate it (remember, US is a day behind them); nonetheless, I tried to be a bit patriotic by reading news from home. My heart/hope was like our Jalur Gemilang (Malay: a fancy name given to our national flag, if you really want to know what it means, it is Shining Glorious Stripes) waving  boldly in the air. Then I read this. Damn, it went down so fast like someone who has E.D.

What the @#%^!!!

I try not to post anything unrelated to Belle in this site but this piece of news is too disheartening from the M’sian govt. One word sums it all: DISAPPOINTMENT.

To know what  is Mat Rempit, click here.

This is so cute. Click here to view Braedyn’s site.

For those who are not aware of it, Belle and Braedyn are born a day apart. Come to think of it, both Moms were suffering labour pain on the same day!

This is a tell-tale sign that we have been using the cellphone too much…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4F5Of9-S8Y]

It worked! Yay! It worked!

Hubby told me he put her in her crib at first and she cried immediately. She even climbed out of the crib as the panel was lowered and the crib is next to our bed. She crawled to her daddy, tried to crawl onto of him (he was lying on the bed with arms stretched out), rubbed her face on him, buried her head under his armpit; basically just trying to get him to hold her.

Her daddy ignored her. Less than 20 mins she fell asleep laying on her tummy. He then tried to carry her thinking she was fast asleep. But noooo, this little Missy woke up and cried again. Hubby put her on our bed again. She rolled around and went back to sleep.

We’re so glad that this theory works. Next on the agenda is to figure out a way to make her sleep thru the night.

We went out for dinner with the in-laws today. On the way home, Belle became cranky ‘cos she was sleepy. After we got home, I gave her a bath and nursed her a bit while her daddy went upstairs to take a shower.

I tried to give her 3-oz formula milk but she refused to drink from the bottle. So I resorted to nursing her on the other breast. After a few suck, that girl fell asleep. Alamak! There goes our plan! Nevermind, we will try again tomorrow.

Last night we tried a different approach.

The hubby and Belle spent some quality time and he tucked her in to sleep. He laid Belle on our bed and let her crawl till she became sleepy. He hummed a tune and laid her down next to him. She rolled about a little, rubbed her eyes and off she went to slumberland.

The question is, where was Mommy?

Mommy went into hiding…hehe. My hubby, the rational one, thought it is best that I’m not around Belle during the sleeping ritual. He thinks Belle is not willing to sleep ‘cos she is so zone in to my boobs. Without me around, she will not have the craving to suck and will sleep more willingly when her 2nd favourite person (coined by a Pediatrician, which meant the Daddy) puts her to bed.

Michelle made a great comment about having my scent around her. I guess by having her sleep on our bed first, she got comforted by my scent on the pillow, blanket, bedsheet, etc. Once she fell into deep sleep, we put her into the crib.

Well, what can I say? It worked! Belle was in slumberland within 30-45 mins. Not much crying involved except at the very beginning when she saw me leave the room. We will try this theory tonight just to make sure it is foul-proof. If it works, that only means one thing: more ME time! LOL!

I know I will miss doing the sleep ritual with Belle but I’m not gonna deny the golden opportunity to take a breather.

We went in, her back was facing us, and she was crying.  I laid my hand on her back. She turned her head, surprised to see us. I picked her up from the crib; held on to her and craddled her. She heaved a big sigh. She didn’t retaliate or put up a fight. She usually does when we craddle her to sleep. She closed her eyes. Her body sank into my arms. Her limbs loosened up. She went into slumberland quietly. All that happened within 5 mins.

Poor Belle, she stood on her crib not willing to let go for almost 2 hours. She probably was standing 98% of the entire time. At one point, she got so sleepy, her eyes just could not stay open, and her body slumped onto the bed. You would have thought she would go straight to sleep but this girl had one hand clutching on to the grill of the crib. Just as her head hit the bed, her eyes would pop open and she continued crying.

While I held her on my arms I massaged her little chubby legs and feet. My poor baby, her legs must be sore from all those standing. The under of my heels are aching now from standing at the doorway peeking at her (yea, I stood there for a long time too) but nothing compares to her standing for almost 2 hours!

I was telling my husband a few mins ago that we can tell Belle’s personality from this little ordeal. Some may say she is stubborn but I will say she has determination. If we guide her well enough, I hope she will channel this energy into something positive. As for her “long-winded” crying, I have no idea where she got that from. Maybe I ate too many pau sum (some sorta ginseng that is used to energize stamina) when I was expecting.

OH. MY. GOD! It is 11pm and my girl has been crying since 9pm. Our doc told us Belle needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep. She did say it will be difficult for the first 3 to 4 nights and we have to stick to our guns when we decide to do it.

Tonight is THE NIGHT. I gave Belle a bath around 8pm. Let her crawl/cruise a little, maybe for around 15 mins. Fed her 3-oz of milk as I had nursed her earlier. Both hubby and I put her into her crib. We even pulled the cord on her Bunny that plays the Lullaby Song. She was fine until we greeted her “Nite nite.” She stood up and tried to pull me toward her. She cried. The hubby pulled me away. It’s so heart-wrenching hearing her bawl like there’s no tomorrow.

We peeked from the door jamp gap frequently. I just came down from peeking at her. She is terribly sleepy but refused to lie down. She is still standing, swaying left to right from sleepiness, eyes half closed.  I so wanted to go into the room but the hubby kept barring me from the room.

I’m going upstairs now to soothe my baby. It’s too late at night and that poor girl needs me. We will have to start the entire process tomorrow night. We just have to tough it out for few more nights.

Today Belle went to Toys-R-Us. She test drove some “vehicles”

She has learned the art of “upgrading.”  

This week has been the toughest since parenthood for both hubby and I. Belle had the fever and on top of that she is not willing to sleep (Notice the present tense? She is still not sleeping thru the night). 

She would wake up every hour or two. Usually I would let her suckle and she would fall back to sleep. This week it was different. She would suckle and still be awake. We know she was tired and tried to lull her back to sleep by craddling her. Mind you, this girl is very, very picky. She needs to be in the right comfy spot for her to sleep. So, every night we have been doing 101 ways to cradle her.

We tried the side cradle, she would cry (more like shriek). We tried the upright position and patted her back, she would move her head from side to side. If it was not comfortable for her, she would cry again. We tried craddle her on the other arm, if she didn’t like it, she would arch her back in fit and cry on top of her lungs. There is no pleasing for this girl.

Sometimes her daddy gets fed up with her crying and put her next to me. She will suckle despite no milk. All the thrashing about sometimes tire her out and if we’re lucky or pray hard enough she will fall asleep. When she sleeps, both of us dare not move. Any slight movement will wake her up and we will have to start ALL over again.

Last night Belle cried and cried and cried. We did everything we could possibly do but nothing seemed to soothe her. In the end we found a trick. Hubby turned on the music that was downloaded into his cellphone. Belle always have a liking to one song, ???? by ?????. He played that and she stopped crying right away! We had to replay that song like 20 times till she finally calmed down and felt sleepy. That song was our saviour for the night!

Anyway, enough ranting for the day. I know nights like this is part of the parenthood package. We just need to endure it and count our blessings that our little one is healthy. :)