2008-04-03 - 5:30 p.m.

...the beauty of sleep...

I'm probably going to regret expressing my elation over this too soon...but.. my daughter is a KICKASS sleeper.

K and I are thrilled. Although I've managed to arrange her feedings at the same time every day, and she's been sleeping 6-7 hours at night, Susi's napping patterns have been all over the place. This makes it quite difficult for us to get anything done because we never know when we will get time to ourselves, and then how long that time will be.

Yesterday I decided it was time that WE took charge, and that Susi was old enough to have some designated nap times. Poor Susi was NOT amused. There were a lot of tears shed. Poor baby just did NOT know how to fall asleep on her own. It was a very tough day for the whole family..

And then today she woke up and fell right into the routine that we had tried to set up yesterday. She took all naps exactly when we wanted them, and without our even prompting them; she fell asleep mostly on her own; she put herself back to sleep when she woke up before the nap was over; and she woke up smiling and cooing. Yesterday might have been sauerkraut baby, but today we have chocolate baby. Thanking the gods that she just seems to GET it. Praying to the gods that this is not just some FLUKE. Guess we will see tomorrow.

Just booked a ticket to visit my family in StL the first week of June. I will be flying alone with Susi and changing planes in ohare. yo. This is an adventure I'm not looking forward to. But I do want the family to meet her, and I'll have more freedom to travel this year than next. Life with baby feels a little bit like planning a laboratory experiment - I start by outlining all of the equipment that I will need, and then I map out the procedure - all well in advance of the actual experiment. Yes, I'm a bit of a geek, I know. But it's not a bad idea to minimize surprises.