The Art of Sleeping

Grace is two months old today, and I feel like, although she isn't a great daytime sleeper, I have at least learned a few tricks in the sleep department. So, even though the following step-by-step process may sound a little ridiculous and even slightly sarcastic to some of you, it may actually come in handy should you happen to need to put little Gracie to sleep yourself!

How to get Miss Grace to sleep...

Step 1: Swaddle - and I mean seriously swaddle - arms straight down, blanket as tight as possible.

Step 2: Turn fan on - level three - the more white noise the better.

Step 3: Sit in rocker with Gracie in upright position - for some reason she prefers to have her head on your left shoulder with her face tucked under your chin.

Step 4: Insert pacifier if necessary. This step may be necessary many times over.

Step 5: Pat Gracie on the back gently while rocking. Ideally, after a couple of peaceful minutes, her eyes will close.

Step 6 (Necessary if fussing or crying): Try holding her on opposite shoulder or on rare occasion in a more upright than normal cradle - again try both sides. Also, pat back slightly harder, while also at the same time rocking and shushing.... You can see that this is getting rather complicated and that a third arm may be necessary. Also if shushing for a long time - keep some chapstick handy as your lips with definitely get dry. Deep breathing (although hard to do while shushing) may also come in handy here as step 4 will become frustratingly necessary to repeat as Gracie likes to thrash her head from side to side. Also, side note, don't stress if she buries her face in your armpit or against your chest - this seems to calm her - just make sure she can breathe!

Step 7: Slow down and eventually stop shushing (if step 6 was needed), slow down patting, slow down rocking, stop patting, stop rocking.

Step 8: Sit quietly for at least 3-5 minutes.

Step 9: Stand up as slowly and as carefully as possible (wincing when the chair cushions squeak) then walk to the crib.

Step 10: Lay Gracie down and cover her up with additional blanket. Then, breathe.

End result: Well, if it's the daytime - you're only looking at 45 minutes, but, if it's nighttime, hopefully about 6 hours - pretty good for a two month old in that department if you ask me!

Added bonus: Gracie looks quite peaceful and very beautiful when she sleeps, don't you think?