Naps are the enemy

As I write this, Olivia has been swaddled for 35 minutes and is now just starting to drift off. I guarantee she will wake up in less than 35 miutes. As I'm getting ready to go back to work (bleeeeehhhhh) I've been trying to get Olivia into a routine to make it easier for my mom and Vince and the munchkin. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to force a schedule because let's face it, she's going to do what she wants anyway, but I am trying to achieve at least some semblance of predictably throughout the day. However there are so many factors in play that I'm going a little nuts: Eat, play, sleep. Don't let baby get overtired. Put baby down while she's still awake so she doesn't need to be held to go to sleep. Baby shouldn't be awake longer than 2 hours in between naps. Naps should be at least 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. 45 minutes to 1.5 hours are you kidding me??! So for the past 2 weeks we've been working on eat, play, sleep and naps are by far the toughest part. Sometimes she'll fall asleep almost immediately but most of the time, especially with me, she'll wiggle about for ages before finally sleeping. Once she does fall asleep she can either stay sleeping through car alarms and slamming doors or wake up if someone coughs or a mouse farts (I'm kidding...but I wouldn't be surprised). What works to get her to sleep for one nap won't work for the next one, but may work again in a week...it's exhausting! But once she does fall asleep she looks like an angel and I forget my fruatration.

And as promised, 34 minutes in and look who's up!

Naps schmaps! 

Update 3:11pm: as a part of Olivia's ongoing efforts to amaze and confound me, for nap #2 she fell asleep in less than 10 minutes and slept for 1 hour and 35 minutes! Well played little one, well played.