hush little baby

one night, many weeks ago, i sang percy to sleep.
any of you who know of my singing abilities will realise percy must be the most tolerant baby on earth. in my sleep deprived state i made up words to "hush little baby..." they, fortunately or unfortunately have stuck. i record them here for your edification and amusement:

hush little baby, don't you cry
mumma's gunna buy you a mocking bird
and if that mocking brid don't sing
daddy's gunna buy you a diamond ring

hush little baby, hush little baby, hush little baby, hush

hush little baby, don't you cry
mumma's gunna buy you a rocking horse
and if that rocking horse don't rock
daddy's gunna buy you a bright red frock

hush little baby, hush little baby, hush little baby, hush

hush little baby, don't you cry
mumma's gunna buy you a sailing boat
and if that boat don't float
daddy's gunna buy you a billy goat

hush little baby, hush little baby, hush little baby, hush

hush little baby, don't you cry
mumma's gunna buy you a motor car
and if that car don't race
daddy's gunna buy you chantilly lace

hush little baby, hush little baby, hush little baby, hush

repeat ad nauseum.....
i can be heard to be stumbling thru this mess at least five times a day, often more. if anyone knows the real words or cares to be inventive with new verses i might consider incorporating them into my repetoire.
tho percy seems calmed by these empty promises. there is no way i'm buying her a car. she can take that path to destruction on her own money, i'm definately getting myself a sailing boat before i get her one, and i don't think birds of any sort ought to be caged. as for what daddy's gunna buy her? well, it took her birth to get me a diamond ring! (which was a complete surprise and i adore it) i'm not sure paul wants to buy frocks. he's quite happy for percy to be wearing the blue shirts and pants we have on loan from her cousins. there's very little possibility to fit a goat in either our erko or kiev homes and i don't think paulie knows what chantilly lace is.
empty, empty promises! i'll have to think of new songs before her language memory kicks in.
oh, happy to get her a rocking horse.

how many prospective parents claim the baby is not going to change let alone disruptive their lives? how many achieve this? i will lay money on all and none.
as percy reached the magic milestone of 12 weeks of age yesterday paul and i decided we might try to influence her feeding/waking/playing/sleeping patterns a little. primarily to ensure our sleep and hopefully set some ground work for coming months. i have been recording her sleeps, feeds and length of time awake over the past few days. she generally sleeps a 4-5 hour stretch when she first goes down for the nite and then 3 hours of wake and sleep (sometimes 4) between feeds after that. it would be lovely if we could get two 5 hour stretches thru the nite and make the day time separations always 4 hours. we'll see. as they say; stay tuned!
having made this decision however has given me a renewed energy and commitment to being the best mother i can be for her. while she is obviously still the all-consuming entity in my life i feel a little control has been handed to me too.
credit for this decision and how to carry it out is to be given to the book "the no cry sleep solution." originally loaned to us by our midwife and of which i have now purchased my own copy.

or am i just setting myself up for failure and frustration? i'd like to think i'm too smart for that. i don't expect percy to immediately and successfully fall into a regime that we like. her little belly is still empty in the middle of the nite, of course it needs filling up. and i'm the one to do that. when she decides at 5am rather than 6 or 7am that she has slept enough and would like to get up now, please, paul and i are the only ones that can kiss her good morning and help her welcome a new day. in fact paul has instituted in the last two days what i believe is a lovely way for percy to wake and greet the day. he puts her in the sling and goes for a walk for 30 - 45 minutes. this lets me sleep a little longer which means when they get back i'm all set for the day and paul can get ready to go to work.

speaking of sleep tho, i figure she's got another 40 minutes in this nap so i might lie down too.