Micronaxx

We’re celebrating John’s birthday today (8-8-8!), which is also our last day in “Big G,” Galena Illinois (John’s hometown). We’ve been in Illinois since Monday, after a long, and to be totally honest, totally brutal journey out here. John and I are convinced that our trip from San Francisco to O’Hare was designed as an experiment in cruelty for new parents. Long story short, after a multitude of delays and several totally understandable meltdowns by a tired Finn, we made it to our hotel at about midnight local time. We made it without baggage or a car seat, but at that point we didn’t even care.

While Monday was mostly a downer, Tuesday was a mix of ups and downs. We got our baggage and cleaned ourselves up. We had two scheduled visits with most of John’s mom’s relatives in Chicago–all of her sisters and many of their children and grandchildren. We had a great time visiting with folks we hadn’t seen since our wedding, and introducing them to Finn. In between outings, we tried to get our sleep-deprived boy down for an afternoon nap, but it ended up just being two hours of crying.

After our second family visit, we returned once again to the hotel. Little did we know that naptime was only a taste of what was to come, and what we later dubbed “The Battle of La Quinta.” Suffice it to say that with only a 1-hour morning nap under his belt, Finn was completely overtired and completely overstimulated. We put Finn down to bed following our usual routine. He slept for 30 minutes then spent the next three hours crying and screaming his brains out. Nothing would calm him down, and we were all crammed into our hotel room, each trying to gut it out in our own way. Finally Finn wore himself out and slept for 10 hours straight.

Once we arrived in Galena, Finn’s schedule has evened out, and we’ve had a couple of more normal days. We’re happily back on the upside. Finn’s been catching up on his sleep and being a *lot* more fun to be around.

Thursday brought many of the Liggett relatives out from Wisconsin and other parts of Illinois, including my aunt, uncle, two cousins, and a few of cousin Brad’s kids. It was great to see them all, and Finn got a beautiful handmade quilt from his aunt. Thursday also brought many Nack relatives as well! John’s cousin Alicia, her husband Fito, and their adorable son Alejandro flew in from Texas and pitstopped in Galena on their way to Iowa for a funeral. The “lawyer Nacks” also came by–Joe, then Tommy and his wife Sarah, and their son Gus (3 months older than Finn).

Another “up”: Last night, John and I got to go on a hot air balloon ride with his brother Ted and girlfriend Stephanie. It was a gorgeous evening and floating over the idyllic rolling countryside was amazing. We wished Finn was old enough to enjoy it, but it’s motivation for us to do it again. Today brings us to John’s birthday party later this afternoon, so Finn is resting up so he can sparkle for the party guests!

Tomorrow we drive back to O’Hare for our flight out. After Monday’s ordeal, we were miraculously able to reschedule our return flight, which had us flying through Dallas and arriving home at midnight, to a much more reasonable nonstop back to SFO. That should cut about 6 hours off our travel day and hopefully keep Finn a little more even-keeled.

Finn was a dream traveler on our journey to and from Colorado, especially on the plane. The secret of his travel skills? He brings a his own travel pillow, built right into his face! Check it out:

Here’s hoping our little friend is such a good sport on Monday when we journey to Illinois, and especially next Saturday when we return late via a connection in Dallas.

My work situation is really ideal when it comes to work/life balance. Right now I get a lot of time with Finn since I don’t have an epic commute to and from work every day. I also get to see Finny at lunch for some cuddle and playtime, which is great.
I think I’ve gotten kind of spoiled, because when I do have to travel for work (which is only 1 day at a time), I’m amazed by how much I miss my squirrel! It really makes my day to see him first thing in the morning, smiling and babbling when he wakes up. After he eats, we play for a little while until I go to work. It’s a fantastic way to start the morning, and Finn is such a happy guy it just lights me (and his dad) up. And at the end of the day, it’s great to hang with Finn and do bathtime, storytime, and bedtime. Lots of goofing around and smiles, and lots of snuggles before we tuck him in.
Yesterday I was out the door by 5 a.m., and back at 10:15 p.m., so my only squirrel time was gazing at my sleeping boy. It made this morning that much sweeter–hearing him wake up and start talking to Leo, his stuffed lion, and then going down to greet him was terrific. There’s nothing like looking into those smiley big blue eyes and giving my boy a squeeze to start the day.

Today marks the second installment of “Finn n’ Dad Batchin’ It”–flying bachelor-style while Margot flies north for the day to school bank nerds on… well, whatever it is she schools bank nerds on ;-). Just now the wee man went to bed, hopefully down for the evening. (This follows much outstanding cooing, mutual face petting, and general good times.)
This morning I took the squirrel to the doc for a pair of vaccinations. I know it’s insanely cliched & every parent thinks his child is a genius, but Finny seemed to know just where he was, to the point of derailing completely into nuclear-grade histrionics when I laid him on the table. After maybe 60 seconds, however (up to and including the shot), he clammed right up and remained as cool as a cucumber. The doc remarked that most kids keep screaming their heads off all the way out of the office, but Finn was a portrait in cool. I dub him The Iceman. 🙂

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
{scary-guy voice} GET IN MY MOUTH!!
😉
Follow up:
Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Get in my hands…
good, good…
{scary-guy voice} now GET IN MY MOUTH!!!
In short, getting stuff into his mouth is pretty much the singular punchline in the Finnster’s life these days. He reminds me of the goat speaking in an article on The Onion: “I bet you got a nice pant leg. Lemme chew a hole in it. I could chew it until you yanked it out of my mouth. If you don’t mind. I’m telling you, I could use a little something to chomp on…”

Finn has recently become a huge fan of being on his tummy. We always put him down to sleep on his back, and within seconds, he has rolled over onto his tummy. There he remains for his entire nap or night’s sleep. Initially, we’d go in and flip him back over, but inevitably he’d roll over again within minutes, so we stopped intervening. He seems to be sleeping better, and we’re all for that. Between tummy sleeping and sleep training, we have been catching a lot more zzz’s as a family than we were a couple weeks ago.
Finn hasn’t yet worked out how to roll himself back over to his side or his back, so it’s a good thing he doesn’t complain about spending all that time on his belly! We’re trying to give him plenty of opportunities during playtime to figure out how to get off his stomach. He’s *thisclose* and we think he’ll get it figured out in a few more days.

As a new mother, I am spending a lot of time learning about babies and sleep. Sleep is critical to a baby’s health and development, and I want to help Finn develop good sleep habits. When he was 2-3 months old, he spoiled us by sleeping for seven- or nine-hour stretches without a peep. As he got older and his sleep cycles changed, he started waking up more often and seemed to need our help to get back to sleep. Recently, we have found that our “help” ends up aggravating him and making it even more difficult for him to settle. After doing a lot of reading, working to set up good habits and sleep rituals over the past couple of months, and consulting with our pediatrician, John and I have agreed to try the “progressive waiting” technique developed by Dr. Richard Ferber, to help Finn learn to go to sleep and fall back asleep on his own.
We know that everyone will not agree with this approach. Sleep training techniques are very polarizing, and Ferber’s technique is often referred to as “crying it out”, making it sound like heartless, cruel, and unusual punishment. Now, having read his book and talked to our doc, and taking into account Finn’s personality and tendencies, we feel that this method will work well, and is the most efficient way for Finn to learn to settle himself. In a nutshell, you want your baby to learn to put himself to sleep without relying on sleep crutches like rocking, patting, shooshing, etc., which we think are helpful things, but actually aren’t (as evidenced by Finn ratcheting up the crying and wakefulness when we show up).
Ferber’s technique is a structured way to let your baby learn how to do this on his own with a minimum of interference from us. We go in and briefly check on/reassure him at prescribed intervals until he falls asleep on his own. And according to our doc, the earlier you can teach your baby how to take care of himself, the less likely it is they will have sleep problems as they get older (and which are harder to resolve as they age).
We’re on night #2, and so far, Finn is doing really well. Last night we checked on him twice, and right after that, he fell asleep. A grand total of about 40 minutes spent on “Ferberizing.” He awoke at 11:30pm and we did the intervals again, and he only needed one check. Tonight, we put him to bed and only checked on him once after 12 minutes, then he put himself to sleep. We’re also doing this at naptime and he’s making progress there, too. We were already 75% of the way there since we’d already set up a predictable bedtime routine, and had started putting Finn in the crib while he was awake, and then sticking around and soothing him to sleep.
We love our little guy, and we know he’s smart enough and capable enough to learn to soothe himself, and so far he’s proving us right on all counts. Good sleep habits are good for the whole family, and a well-rested Finn makes everyone happy.