From the time I found out we are expecting a third child, I knew that we were going to have to give Hadley some opportunities to stay away from home so she'd have some practice before my hospital stay. Caleb was about three months older than her the first time I let him stay at NaNa's without me, but I wasn't in quite such a big hurry at that point to get him comfortable doing so. He had stayed there often with Dave or I when we'd come up to visit from Maryland and even some after we moved back to Virginia. With Hadley, on the other hand, we've only stayed at my parents' house maybe three or so times, all of which were when she was very small.
In order to consider letting her stay the night though, the first requirement was to start weaning. While Hadley is still nursing two or three times during the day, she definitely is consuming a lot less than she was a few months ago. We've also worked to finally get her to the point where she is no longer nursing at night. The pediatrician told me awhile back that nursing her at night wasn't necessary any longer. She also commented though that it was perfectly fine to continue doing so if I wanted to keep up my milk supply. The problem was that Momma wasn't getting enough sleep and, once the first trimester tiredness hit me, I was hurting for some quality Zzzz's. Nudged into weaning, especially at nights, we finally took that leap. Our pediatrician suggested Dave get up with Hadley instead of me at night to let her cry it out until she gave up seeking milk. After just one night of about two hours of crying, the habit was pretty much kicked. When she's been sick or tired there have been a few set backs, but overall it was much easier than I imagined. A lot of mornings she still wakes up around 5 a.m. for some milk and then goes back to sleep for a little while, but I don't mind too much since she usually gives me at least another hour and a half of sleep before getting up for the day. Other mornings she just sleeps on until about 6 and then is up and ready for the day. My mom wanted her to be sleeping through the night before coming for a sleepover, so the weaning definitely helped us reach that goal.
My mom and I talked about Hadley spending the night for weeks but finally she volunteered to keep the little booger this past Friday. Hadley didn't have any idea she was about to spend her first night away from Mommy and Daddy; she was just having fun unpacking her bag and dragging it around the house.
Though I explained to Caleb earlier in the day that it would be Hadley's turn to spend the night this time and that he'd be having a fun evening with us, he still wanted to visit Pop and NaNa for a little while. We packed up the supper I'd made and headed to my parents to enjoy the evening together before it was time to leave our girl behind for her grandparent slumber party. Courtney was there when we first arrived for a bit with her two dogs, which excited the kids. We took a few rides on the golf cart (aka "the chicken wagon"), checked out the chickens that were finally big enough to put in the hen house this past week, and watched Caleb run around the yard with a pinwheel spinning and a smile on his face.
Since Caleb is used to being the one who gets to stay with NaNa and Pop, I thought it would be best to let him choose a few special things he wanted to do with Dave and I that evening when we got home to help make going home with his parents less disappointing. Earlier in the day he decided making brownies and finger painting would be fun, but on the drive home he decided he wanted to make a white cake instead. After seeing some Play Doh on the counter near where we keep the paints, he changed his mind on that creative activity too and opted to mold a few creations while we were waiting for the cake to bake. Even though he spent the evening with us instead of his fun and silly grandparents, I think he still had a good time and we definitely made memories.
 |
| Caleb's comment on this half iced cake was that it was the "best cake ever!" |
Meanwhile, back at my parents, Hadley was doing wonderfully. We left not too long before it was time for bed, so after getting washed up and playing some, it was time to hit the sack. Mom wanted it noted on the blog that Hadley is the easiest baby that she has ever had to put to sleep. While she doesn't always go down immediately for us at home, she is pretty easy to get to bed at night with just a little bit of rocking. Thankfully, not only did she go to sleep well for my mom, she also slept well through the night, waking up only once when the door to the bedroom creaked and then went back to sleep quickly with a tiny bit of soothing from NaNa. She did get up on the early side (5:45 or so), but she did really well waking up for the first time ever not getting Mommy milk early in the morning. When I showed up a little before nine though, she came right over and was ready for some milk bonding time.
Dave and I hope to take a weekend Babymoon trip to the beach in July or August similiar to the time we went to Chincoteague before Hadley was born and Mackinac Island and Alaska the summer before Caleb's arrival. Knowing that we'd like to make such a trip in the near future, I'm so thankful Hadley did well. There is a big part of me that dreads leaving my kids behind for a couple days while we vacation and feels heavy with guilt - first of all because we aren't taking them and secondly because not everyone has the opportunity for such a weekend getaway. On the other hand, who knows when we'll have another chance once the third child arrives, and having a couple days to retreat and focus on each other is definitely something that I think is very healthy for our marriage, which so often revolves around the immediate needs of little ones on a constant basis. So I guess I'll just count my blessings and hope all goes well when NaNa and Pop host both little ones for a weekend in a couple months!
No comments:
Post a Comment