Week 10 – Oct 22 – 28
The night after the sleep coach came we had a breakthrough! Alec and I were able to both sleep in bed at the same time for the first time since E came home. She also napped well the next day.
Sadly the next night and day were a disaster. E had a terrible night, didn’t want to sleep, and the next day cried almost all day. Sigh. We still managed to get out to Central Park to see our friends the Sonegos one last time before they head back to Australia, and to have a fun picnic in the sun.
Picnic in Central Park. 9 wks old.
We had a disaster of a week sleep-wise. Eloise started waking up every hour during the night and only napping for 40 minutes tops during the day. I think this is related to the stomach bug I had two weeks ago – I think it lessened my supply. A this same time, Elosie decided she didn’t want formula anymore, so we couldn’t give her tops ups if she looked hungry. Thankfully, after taking herbal teas, my supply seemed to come back on Friday night, and she slept for 3 lots of 3 hour sessions. Praise be!
Eloise seemed to develop a lot socially this week. She started making new sounds, like a cooing noise, and sounds like she was trying to chat to things, like her favourite mobile. She also started to make a new whiney noise when sad instead of the high pitched screaming. With noticing her drowsy signals more and putting her to bed earlier, we’ve stopped a lot of the screaming meltdowns. Not all, but more of them, so we have a much happier little girl now.
She also likes to catch our eyes and look at as more, trying to interact with us, smiling and cooing. It’s just adorable. We also had a really fun mother’s group this week, where the babies all dressed in Halloween outfits.
Week 11 – Oct 29 – Nov 4
Baby’s first snow! It snowed on Saturday the 29th – very unseasonal. With a high of 4 degrees, there was no way we were going to leave the house.
We also had Eloise’s first Halloween this week. I had a variety of fun hats and outfits for her to wear for the numerous events over the week. She had her owl outfit for mother’s group, her bear outfit for the weekend, and her pumpkin hat for wearing on actual Halloween day. On the day there was also a parade in the local park, with lots of local kids and their parents dressed in cool costumes.
Halloween! 10 wks, 2 days old.
We had a sleep breakthrough this week – she slept for 4 hours 15 minutes in one stretch. It might not sound like a big deal, but it made the world of difference to me and my sleep!
Sadly every other night she didn’t sleep longer than 3 hours, but she did get a lot easier to put back down towards the end of the week. Instead of taking an hour to two hours to put bak after she woke up, it was only taking 15 – 20 mins to feed and put her back down. Victory!
We also had a baby sitter for the first time this week, to give me a break to run errands and to give me and Alec a night off to have dinner together. Our sitter is lovely and fantastic with Eloise. Pity Eloise is such a tough baby! She’s decided she hates the bottle and screams when our sitter tries to give it to her. Sigh.
Week 12 – Nov 5 – 11
We had a great meet up with the other mother’s group mums and their partners for a Saturday get together. It was so lovely seeing everyone’s husband, as well as really feeling like we are part of the local community now. The more I’m here, the more I really love living in Brooklyn.
I also made a solo trip with Eloise this week into Manhattan to meet Alec at Twitter HQ, and then to walk to Central Park to see the fall colours. Eloise handled the whole thing like a champion – no crying or fussing. Her eyes were as big as saucers the whole time she was awake, staring in wonder at the subway, the office buildings, and then at the amazing colours in the park.
Central Park fall colours. 11 wks 5 days old.
An even bigger day was Friday, Nov 11, when we took Eloise on her first plane trip to San Francisco. She also surprised us by being a perfect baby the majority of the time. She barely made a noise the entire trip, but started crying when we descended and her ears hurt.
Week 13 – Nov 12 – 18
A great week in San Francisco! The first few nights were rocky, as Eloise had bad jetlag. She did however get in a 5 hour sleep at night during this week, a great first.
Our apartment was near the Bay Bridge, right near the waterfront, allowing us to take great walks every day. Eloise started to bat and grab at her toys this week, mostly with her left hand.
12 wks old in San Francisco.
After our great first night we had a rough week with Eloise regressing. She had a few days of not sleeping much at night, fighting going to sleep during the day, crying more and fussing a lot. It was pretty bad, but also coincided with some new developmental skills. As well as batting at her toys, she started grabbing them, then trying to shove them in her mouth. She also started making some new noises and her head and torso muscles became stronger.