Still not sleeping through the night

OK, I heard from an online friend of mine that her daughter is sleeping from 9 pm to 7 am every night without waking up. She is almost exactly the same age as Melina. What's up with that? Melina still wakes up about twice during the night to feed. The friend's baby is eating solids and formula, and sleeps in a crib; this may be the difference. Melina is breastfeeding and sleeping in our bed, and has just begun eating solids. Apparently, babies who sleep in cribs sleep longer. I'm thinking it's about time to make that transition, because I need more sleep. I've been continuously sleep deprived for about 2 weeks; before that I got a few good nights of sleep, and before that I've been sleep deprived for five and a half months. Actually, no, longer than that, because I couldn't sleep when I was pregnant, either. Anyway, I like having M. in the bed with us - it's nice to wake up to a little baby. When I wake up in the middle of the night I just look at her sleeping peacefully, and that's usually relaxing enough to get me back to sleep. I think it's good for her, too, to be next to us as much as possible for these first few months. However, this sleep deprivation has got to stop. We haven't bought a crib yet, but perhaps we should start looking for one.

First Halloween

Last night was Melina's first Halloween. She dressed as a pirate with a black and white bandana, a puffy white shirt, jeans, and little black satin shoes. Needless to say, she was exquisitely cute. We had a very busy day, starting with a trip to Pix Patisserie at 2:30 to meet with someone in my mom's group (whose daughter, 5 months, was dressed as a pumpkin); then we went to the Kennedy School to meet with another mom, whose son was dressed as a bumblebee. The Kennedy School was crawling with toddlers in cute little costumes - bees and princesses seemed to be the most popular. Unfortunately, all this activity meant that Melina missed her nap, so she got grumpy just as we were sitting down for a well-deserved pint of ale. I brought her home and she got a quick nap in as the trick-or-treaters began showing up. Later, when Jeff was home, we went for a walk around the neighborhood while Melina looked around or slept in her stroller. I don't think six months is really the optimum age for enjoying Halloween. I'm looking forward to next year, when she should be able to toddle around on her own.

A half birthday

I hosted a party for Melina's half birthday (Jeff was in Minneapolis for work). It was also my friend Sue's half-birthday, so with two half-birthdays we had a full cake, along with pumpkin carving. Melina slept through much of the first half of the party, but woke up in time to mash some cake into bits and make the rounds of admiring friends. She was decked out in several layers of pink (photo to be posted soon). A good time was had by all.

Melina's first shots

Melina's first vaccinations went off without a hitch. She was real trooper. She didn't cry or really even bat an eyelash, and she had no delayed reactions to the shots. As for her stats, she has shrunk a bit since her last visit to the doctor: she is now at the 50th percentile for length and the 25th for weight (14.6 pounds). Her head remains large at 70%!