The secret life of naps

Naps seem to have made a triumphant return to our household, and this mommy could not be happier. For the last 2 1/2 weeks, ever since our return from our New York trip, Dorothy was taking naps for no more than 45 minutes at a time. This went on for so long that I feared she would never go back to napping normally. But, yesterday she took morning and afternoon naps of 2 hours each, just like the good ol' days. Both times I had to wake her up to keep her from sleeping even longer. Today, she is following the same trend. I must constantly remind myself that she will be ever-evolving, which is a good thing. I can't go down that road of "what if she never takes good naps ever again!?" because God has not given me grace for the "what if's". He has, thankfully, given me grace for today, and how kind of him to do that!

As for the reason for the prolonged season of short naps, I suppose it will be forever a mystery (like so many things our babies do). But I suspect perhaps it was a prolonged growth spurt!

In any case, here's to naptime. It is a beautiful thing.

It would seem she's trying to tell me something

As in, Hey Mommy! Swaddling is a moot point!

Swaddling, for the uninitiated, is a way of wrapping a baby tightly in a blanket. In the early months, it is reputed to recreate the close quarters of the womb; hence, it helps soothe them and pave the way for them to fall asleep at naptime and bedtime. Rob and I became early believers in swaddling almost from day one, and at some point I became quite good at it. It could be said that I could create the indestructible swaddle. And yet, at some point Dorothy became quite good at working her hands free from the swaddle. She is getting so strong! About 2-3 weeks ago, she was able to consistently get her hands free (and during that same time, she has developed a voracious appetite to have her hands in her mouth at all times. Coincidence? Probably not!)

Anyway, getting her hands free was one thing...but Exhibit A (above) shows how I found her this morning when I came to her crib. Once again, for the uninitiated, the swaddle usually wraps around the baby's legs and feet (which in this case are completely free), but does not typically incorporate the baby's head (and yet in this case she has shifted downward so much that it appears that the swaddle includes a hood!)

Welcome to our new home on the web

We've moved! We are trying out a new site to host Dorothy's blog, in the hopes that this will make it easier for us to update more frequently. Bear with us as we get used to the different features of Blogger and decide if it is the place for us!