Bathtime for Katie

I read in "What to Expect in the First Years" that creating a bed time routine is not only important for the parents, it's important for the baby as well. So as soon as Katie's belly button stump fell off, we implemented a routine that includes a bath. Not because she needs one every day, but it really does help her calm down and get ready to sleep. It's only happened a few times, but we can tell when she doesn't get one because she is more restless and wakes up a lot more. And she LOVES her bath. I let Kevin be the one to do it, because this is when she is the most fun. She grins and splashes and is so darn cute. It really helps them bond. Here are some pics from last night.



This bath chair was probably one of our best investments. It keeps her feeling safe and she's able to be in the water without one of us having to worry about dropping the slippery baby.






Then Daddy lotions her up. She likes this part too and she really gets slathered since we have hard water and we're battling cradle cap. Then we get her in her jammies, she gets fed and we put her down, drowsy but awake. This routine works for us wonderfully! Since she was a month old, she has been sleeping for a good 6 hour block, wakes up to eat and then falls asleep for another 3 hours. And now that her tummy is getting bigger, sometimes we go 7 or 8 hours for the long sleeping block and about 4 for the short one. We're so grateful to have such a good, sweet baby girl.