via tweetie

via tweetie

via tweetie

Every parent of a newborn knows what's going on here.

Sleeping baby.

Happy one week birthday, Lena!

Lighting the “zero years old” candle is a tradition in our family.

Best Friends.

I'll let you guess where baby Lena is in this picture.

Snug as a bug in a rug.

This is pretty much how Lena will spend the first three months of her life.  Molly and I follow the advice of Dr. Karp, who wrote The Happiest Baby on the Block.  He says the first three months of a baby’s life can be thought of as the “fourth trimester.”  Their time is spend adapting from the womb to the world.  So, for those first three months, there are five “S’s” you can use to help aid their transition.  Swaddle, Suck, Side, Shhhh, and Sway.  These five S’s help the baby Sleep, which is the best S of all!

The other pediatrician we try to follow is Dr. Weissbluth, who wrote Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.  One of his underlying beliefs is that kids have to be taught how to sleep, which most parents would probably agree with in theory, but few take the time and energy to actually do it.  If left to their own will, babies won’t sleep as much as they need to.  Weissbluth gives many tips for keeping your child on schedule and helping her sleep as much as possible so that when she is awake, she can be attentive and happy to learn more about life.

While it’s a lot of work to put up front, Molly and I have now celebrated the fact that our firstborn, who’s almost two, loves to sleep.  “Maren, it’s night-night time,” I’ll tell her after dinner.  Her response is to tromp off to her bedroom and pull out her PJs from the dresser.  Granted, we have our moments with Maren and she’s not always thrilled to conclude the day, but for the majority of nights, the evening ritual is happy and without argument.

Maren’s love of sleep was enough motivation for us to simply do a “dito” with Lena Elizabeth.  While it’s just the first week, we hope to instill in her a love for something we Stawarz’s value deeply: sleep!

Mimi and Lena

Compact Baby.

Enjoying the Miracle Blanket.

Born December 28, 2009

7 pounds, 7 ounces

21 inches long