Heading into August

August 1st. ..every year these summer months fly by faster and faster, but especially this year. This past week we took Ariana to a GI specialist, and he determined that she has a immature digestive system, and it will resolve itself in a few months time. He tested her for an allergy to my milk and dairy products and it came back negative. He also took an x-ray and it didn't show any blockage or abnormalities. That is all good news, but for this sleep-deprived mom the waiting game feels like a slow, painful process. Lord, grant me strength, endurance and grace for this season.
I feel like she is a happy baby & pretty content when she is awake and comfortable, but our biggest challenge right now is her sleeping and soothing to sleep. I have pumped milk for bottles for a 24 hr period to see how many ounces she is eating, so I know she's getting enough to eat; and we've started her on prevacid for her reflux, but she still is not sleeping like the baby we had for the first 4 weeks, when she would nap for 2-4 hours during the day & could go for 5-7 hour stretches at night...we're going backward. As a woman, I feel the need to "talk" this through - so here is my outlet:
Right now she is going to sleep around 8:30-9pm & sleeping until just before 2am; then I am up with her feeding, burping, soothing until 3am; then she will go back down until around 5-5:30am & sometimes 6 or 6:30am; then she is up to eat, burp & is wide awake for the next 1.5 hours & gets sleepy, so I sooth her again & she falls asleep, only to sleep for about 30 mintues. This is not enough of a nap & she's still sleepy, so I leave her in the crib & offer her the paci & she will close her eyes and sleep a bit more or she just gets irritated again will wake up. Sometimes I try soothing again & some days I just get her up with a toy to play with some more & try to sooth to sleep a bit later. I feel like this is the pattern I deal with all day until evening again when she will readily go to sleep for bed. I have resorted to putting her in the swing to sleep & she does seem to like this & will go for a longer stretch, but I feel like this is somewhat of a crutch when I need more than 30-45 minutes. So - we just take a day at a time & I pray over little Ariana that Jesus would sooth her little tummy & give her comfort for He is the giver of life. I keep reading in my book, "Healthy sleep habits, Happy baby" to try suggestions to make sure she can learn to sooth herself to sleep & develop good habits, but I also feel like she's dealing with the reflux & gassy tummy, and I have a hard time letting her 'cry-it-out' when I know she's uncomfortable. We just take a day at a time & pray for new mercies every morning.

Here are a few snapshots of our smiley, happy baby.