Saturday, January 2, 2010

Sleep Campaign Fails, Mom Hangs Head in Shame

Storrs Mansfield, CT- When 28-year-old new mom, Kristen Ricci, took on the challenge of teaching her baby to sleep through the night this past November she never dreamed it would be so hard. After the first week she was feeling great about the progress McKenzie was making. She was falling asleep on her own without being rocked by her mother and each night she cried for a shorter period of time. Unfortunately, just when things were looking up, a couple pearly whites threw a wrench in the works.

Two new teeth, both on the bottom, wreaked havoc on McKenzie's sleep pattern and mom gave up trying to get it back on track until the teeth were completely in. That's when the holidays hit. And this year, they hit hard. Four families, four Christmases and many late nights deemed a sleep routine impossible and, in turn, both mom and baby shared many quiet, late night and early morning moments trying to get baby back to sleep. Just when Ricci thought things couldn't get worse, McKenzie's nose began to run and her usually happy demeanor turned sour. McKenzie wanted to be comforted and only her mama would do.

After a couple of completely sleepless nights and one visit to the pediatrician, Ricci learned that baby Kenzie had an ear infection. Now, with the help of antibiotics, Ricci hopes McKenzie will be able to sleep again. "I know plenty of parents whose kids sleep through the night so there has to be hope for us too," Ricci says, adding, "I haven't had more than three or four consecutive hours of sleep in eight months. I'm tired."

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

This is the face she makes when she first sees Daddy when he comes home from work.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Friday, December 18, 2009

And she's off!

Kenzie's crawling! She's been going backwards pretty efficiently for a few weeks and last Friday night she figured out how to put one hand in front of the other. She really only wants to crawl if she's headed towards something she's not supposed to have like the presents under the tree, the dog's ball, my cell phone, etc (funny how babies know what's off limits). So, at the risk of looking like a bad parent who plays fetch with her baby, I had to tease her with Kona's ball to capture this video. Note Kona watching carefully, not sure how he feels about this whole thing.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Picture This

bedhead + breadsick = adorable.
sister + brother - moderation = two tired puppies