Bedtime Routine

For the first month of Hadley's life she had her days and nights mixed up. We would be up until midnight with her and she would sleep in until noon. It was pretty exhausting. I ended up putting her on a bedtime routine in the hopes that she would begin to recognize nighttime. It has really helped out and I feel like she finally has her days and nights in order. She even starts to get fussy around bedtime, which in Hadley language means, "Put me to sleep!!"
Here is our little routine:
Around 7 I give Hadley her bath. Most of the time she seems to enjoy sitting in the warm water. She stares at me as I wash her off and I talk or sing to her. Lately I've been giving her some medicine called Colic Calm during her bath. I give it in the bath because it turns her mouth black. No joke. Black. She looks like a little goth baby. I like to give it to her in the bath so that I can easily wash it off her face. I feel like the meds help calm her gassy tummy and help her have a better nights sleep.
After the bath we go into my bedroom where I have all the things needed for the rest of our routine set up in front of a space heater. She gets pretty fussy from the bath to the space heater because she hates being cold. Her little lip just trembles.
On the floor I have set up the space heater, a blanket for her to lay on, her lotion and comb, her diaper and wipes, the boppy, face wipes, p.j.'s, and swaddle. We even have Pandora Rock-a-bye baby station playing in the background. I lay her on her blanket and finish drying her off. I then put her diaper on and begin giving her her lotion massage. Man, I wish someone would give me a lotion massage every night before bed. Anyway, after the massage I put her in her p.j.'s and let her have some tummy time. I'll talk to her and rub her back or sing to her during this time. Usually while she's occupied with tummy time and less likely to get fussy I'll wipe her face with face wipes.
Around 7:45 I swaddle her and feed her. If that doesn't put her to sleep I'll rock her and sing until she is out. Usually I can get her down by 8.
I love our bedtime routine, not only because she's getting used to it, but also because it's special mommy-Haddie time.