Ugh.. the last two nights have been terrible.

Wednesday night, I had been laying in bed, and started thinking about the whole Michael Jackson incident- I started panicking. What if someone was dangling my child over a balcony like that? What if they were a nut job, and my options were to grab for Lauren and risk the maniac dropping her, or just peacefully talk him into giving her back to me? I couldn't sleep because my heart was in my throat. I got up to check Lauren, and whispered to her how much I love her (as I find myself doing nightly- sneaking in, that is, to tell her). Problem is that she must have sensed I was there, because as soon a I left the room, she woke up. I'd put her down to bed about 2 hours before, so I figured she was hungry anyway. She was practically knocked out when I put her back in the crib, but the second I left the room she started crying. I let it go a couple of minutes to see if she would fall back to sleep, but no such luck. I came into the room to see her wide awake, standing in her crib. Sigh.. I tried to get her to sleep for an hour. I resorted to putting her into her swing. This was the only thing that knocked her out. :(

Then last night, similar problem. I put her to bed at 8 pm. She woke up at 10:30. I fed her, she fell back to sleep, but didn't want to be in her crib. D thought maybe some storage boxes stacked in her room were blocking the night light, so I moved those. Didn't seem to help. I had to put her in the swing to get her back to sleep. After putting her back in her crib, she woke up. Ugh.. At one point, I got her to sleep in the crib, but she woke up an hour later- standing up, waiting for me. I tried to feed her, but the second I put her in my arms, she passed out. LOL Of course putting her back in the crib woke her up! I must admit that her day time naps are really bad lately- not for lack of trying to help her. Yesterday she took a total of 2 naps. Both an hour each (which isn't bad, but they were over 6 hours apart! She runs better off of napping every 3 hours or so, even if only for 20 minutes at a time. Usually she takes 3-4 naps a day, most for 20 minutes, with a 1-2 hour nap in between).

D thinks she's going thru a growth spurt. Might be, cuz I weighed her yesterday and she's around 20-21 lbs (not exactly sure, since I had to weigh myself, then weigh myself holding her. It said 21 lbs, but that could be off). Anyways, She just got weighed a month ago, and wasn't quite 17 lbs. I think this would be the biggest amount of weight gain she's had in a month.. much less in two. And I think it's way too hot and dry here in Los Angeles right now. We have to have the windows open at night, and I have a humidifier running in Lauren's room. Her legs and arms are kinda scaly (sp?). Poor thing. I never had to put lotion on her until now. :( Oh.. and I also think she's having problems with constipation. I need to get her some juice (I think Pear is good for this?) She's having bowl movements much less frequently than she was before we started introducing veggies & fruits. Maybe every 2-3 days now. Despite the lack of humidity in the air, you'd think she'd be well hydrated considering how often she nurses during the day (every 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Suggestions for the consipation?