When Plans Don't Work

For me, one of the hardest things when we first brought Elyse home was not having a plan. The more time that passed, the more we started to figure things out and it all got easier. We settled into a routine and structure, which made everything so much better!

We have a night-time routine that is pretty down pat. The ultimate goal is to feed baby and be able to get baby right to sleep and ourselves back to sleep.

For easy night-time diaper changes we do everything we can to not wake her up too much. We have a dimmer on her overhead light to let out just enough light to see what we are doing. We always use a velcro cloth diaper so we don't have to mess with snaps. And speaking of snap avoidance, we dress her in a gown with elastic at the bottom with a cozy fleece zipped sleeper to keep her warm. The really important rule - no eye contact, no talking. Sounds cruel, but hey it works! Sleep is important in this house!

Before we even go in her room, we quickly prepare the bottle. To do this, we keep a night light in the bathroom outside of her bedroom where we always have bottles with pre-measured water and a container with pre-measured formula. Except for the night we forgot and the whole plan was ruined.

I had to go down to the kitchen - at the opposite side of the house. I grabbed the can of formula out of the cupboard and...


Of course I had to take a picture before cleaning it up. What you can't see is what was all over me. Yep, there was no going right back to sleep that night. Good times.