Sleep Workshop - Achieve with Carolina, the Pediatric Sleep Consultant

Last week I got a chance to attend a sleep workshop held by Carolina Kolik-Romanyuk, a certified pediatric sleep consultant at Achieve with  Carolina and author of Goodnight Melanie! Good Morning Cory!, a kids' book about sleep. Carolina shared with her audience the science behind making a full night of sleep a reality. Turns out using a specific method is only a small part of it. Sleep training is mainly about syncing the body's internal sleeping clock (circadian rhythm) with an age-appropriate schedule. Figuring out how to tweak the child's routine during the day is what actually helps form a healthy sleep behavior at night. After the workshop I got to chat with our host and find out a few things about her.

Carolina is a mom of two beautiful boys who left a career in finance to pursue her passion in helping parents. She shared with me that whenever she had company over, she would put her children down at bedtime and return to the living room after just a few minutes to amazed glances of her friends. "Why are you here?" - they would ask, expecting her to stay in the kids' bedrooms for hours to get them down, a scene so familiar to many moms at bedtime. Carolina began by sharing her techniques with friends, then quickly realized her expertise was needed in many households, as her friends began to refer her to other sleep-deprived parents. That's how her corporation was born.

Favorite Toys 12-18 Months

When Nicky was a newborn, I couldn't wait till he gets older and learns to hold thing in his hands so that we can play with the myriad of toys I began to accumulate for him since I found out I was pregnant. It took a long time coming, but after he turned one the real fun started. Here are some of our current favorite toys at 16 months:

The Imperfect Mom

Wearing:

Me: Old Navy Sweater (similar here and here), Jeans,

Adidas sneakers, INC bag (similar here and here)

Nicky: Sweater, Jeans, Nike Sneakers, Hat 

I'm not the perfect mom I always though I'd be.

My house is very often a mess. 

My kid doesn't always have a freshly made soup for dinner. 

My nails aren't polished. My hair is in a bun. And, in this moment, as I am writing this, I am wearing the dreaded sweatpants.  

I haven't lost the pregnancy weight (oh my god, still!!!!) 

But I did write a post about all the ways not to loose those pounds.

Earlier today I caught Nicky running around the house with four baby carrots and a screw driver.

I've confessed to my cat that actually, she's my favorite child (this was after Nicky threw my phone into the bath tub)

How to Get Daddy to Watch the Baby

Sometimes mommy needs some time off. Spending an entire day catering to other people's needs (in particularly short, whiny people known as children) can blow the circuits of the most sane and patient one of us. Just like overtired children, overtired mommies can have tamper tantrums and it can be a terrifying sight. So, for the sake of everyone's well-being, it is important for mommy to have some time to herself once in a while.

Enters Daddy. He is seen as the light in the end of the tunnel, the knight in shining armor meant to save the damsel in distress from the little three foot tall monsters (aka children) and set her free. She rushes to him when he opens the door with the baby in her arms and panic and relieve in her eyes.

And what does the knight do?
He retires to the bathroom for 45 minutes and the damsel is left to save herself...

You may think it's dad's responsibility to be their for his kids and all duties at home should be shared 50/50. But let's be honest, that's not always the case, especially when it comes to smaller children. It is harder for men to connect with a baby because they simply don't have the same chemistry we do.

So how do you get Daddy to take the baby off your hands? Let's try to figure it out: