test run

Last night was what I like to call our baby test run. We've never had any of the nieces actually stay all night with us and last night our 8 month old niece did.

We picked her up sometime between 5:00-6:00pm. When we got her home she was in a fantastic mood. After feeding her some dinner - which was an adventure considering we don't really have a baby-friendly environment or equipment at the moment - I put her in her playpen while we fixed ourselves food. We bought a playpen for the occasion, because I think there'll start being more occasions where she sleeps over and because we'll need one someday anyway ;)

She hung out in the floor with me while I ate and we watched some tv.

Around 8:00 o'clock she started getting really fussy. However, I really wanted her to stay awake a little longer! So that maybe she'd sleep a little later. But, by 8:30 she was pretty pitiful and I decided it was very silly. So, I gave her a bath, which was so much fun! She loved it and it woke her up a bit. Now, getting her out and drying her off... she did not like. She got super ticked off at me. 

When she was all dry and in her jammies I gave her a bottle and her favorite blanket. She fell asleep sometime around 9:15-9:30. Once she was conked out, I did some cleaning, showered myself, then screwed around on my computer and finally settled into bed a little after 10:30.

She did very well, she didn't wake back up till 3:30am, and I thought 6 hours was pretty good considering. I changed her and she seemed pretty hungry so I gave her another bottle and she went right back to sleep afterwards. Then she started waking up frequently around 6:00am. Finally, at 7:00 I did the terrible act of putting her in bed with us. I'll never do it with my own kids. Mark my words - I will not. That is a terrible habit for many reasons. However, I know that this niece does frequently get to sleep with an adult and I had a terrible sore throat and headache and really just wanted to sleep a little bit longer! Besides, I'm just the aunt to this child, so I get to do all of the bad habit things and then send her back... riiight? ;)'

I got another hour and half of sleep in there before she was ready to really wake up.

Then today went really smooth. We all had some breakfast together and then I played with her most of the day. She's such a happy, cuddly little baby! Her uncle played some music for her and she loved it! He also changed one diaper - one! - and it was pretty comical. I don't know why, he's changed diapers before. I guess it'd just been a while.

And then, back off to mama she went :)

Of course, it was different. Having her for a full day and night. It made me know that my priorities and 'free time' will definitely change. But, then again, that's the point of becoming a parent when you're ready to right? Good parents change their priorities when they have kids, instead of just trying to keep the same ones and work around their kids.