Life is so full of interesting and fun things these days I simply can't remember them all, let alone blog them. But here are a few things I do remember...
Lily-ism
Last night at supper, a fly was pestering us. It landed on a jar that was sitting in the middle of the table (not a food jar), so Chase got the fly swatter. He crept back to the table, poised to use the swatter for its designed purpose. Just as he was about to swing, Lily realized what was happening and she shrieked, "Daddy! Don't! He's my friend."
Connor-ness
This handsome guy is officially 7 months old today! (Sorry, ladies, he's all mine!)
I can't imagine life without him, and 7 months seems like such a long time ago... until I think about what it was like 7 months ago, and then I'm just SO glad I'm not there any more! I really try to appreciate each day. Just as you never get day 1 over again, you never get day 49 or 207 or 23,745 over again. Each day is precious, and although many over the past 7 months have been hard as Connor and I have figured each other out, I wouldn't trade a single one. ...But that doesn't mean I can't be thankful that we are where we are today, right?
Speaking of being hard as we're figuring each other out... The last week has been a bit rocky. We're good during the day, but my little man was NOT sleeping well at night. I'm talking up at least every 2 hours. For example, he would go down at 8, up at midnight, 1:30, 3:15, 4:20, 6:15, and then up for the day at 7:45. He's not a bad sleeper in that I'd go in and feed him about every 3 or 4 hours (maybe more often. I'm not really sure. It's hard to remember what you did last and what you should do next when you're operating in the middle of the night on no sleep.). And then he'd go right back to sleep. Or I'd give him his plug (paci) and he'd go right back to sleep. Or I'd roll him from his back onto his tummy and he'd go right back to sleep
Bu here's the thing: he can do all those things on his own (put in his paci! My favorite mile stone! and roll over. He can't feed himself, but he's old enough and certainly eating enough that he shouldn't need to get up at night. That hasn't stopped him, however, from getting me up at least 2 times every night since the day he was born...) So why was I doing all those things for him?
Because. Because he shares a room with his sister, and I didn't want him waking her up. So I'd stumble in there, bleary-eyed and try to decide what to do to make him quit making noise. Well, yesterday was the end. I couldn't do it anymore. My body aches, my mental state can't take it, and for pete's sake, I need a little me time where I'm not simply exhausted! So sleep training started last night. Here's the run down:
After a little research, I decided to let him cry any time he woke up for 10 minutes. At that point, I would go in, make sure he had his plug, start his music mobile, make sure he was on his tummy and covered by his blanket and then walk out of the room. I'd do this every 10 minutes until he fell back asleep. If he woke Lily (who was warned that he might cry in the night), I would scoop her out of her bed (which is next to his), carry her to the rocking chair in the hall, rock her until he fell asleep, then put her back in her bed.
Here's how it went last night:
Night 1 - Connor was bed and asleep at 8pm, no problem (he always goes down easy)
Round 1 - 10:30pm-11:00pm. Crying intensity was a 6. Mommy win. He went back to sleep.
Round 2 - 1:28am-1:43am Crying intensity was a 4. Mommy win. He went back to sleep.
Round 3 - 3:36am-4:28am Crying intensity ranged from 2-9. Mommy win. He went back to sleep.
Woke up for the day at 6:50am
Tonight he went to bed at 7:30. It's now 10:17, so we'll see how it goes. I can say that I'm happier already because I can plan on a full night's sleep sometime in the near future, like a few days from now, or maybe even tonight! It's the light at the end of the tunnel. Also, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I don't have to decide what to do - I already have a plan. It's marvelous!
To top it all off, Lily slept through every bit of it last night. Not a peep from her! Totally awesome! And Chase only woke up for the 15 minute episode, not the 1 hour episode. It sounds cruel, and it probably seems like a lot to lay there and listen to your child cry for an hour in the middle of the night, but we were at the point of him being awake and in bed with me for 2 hours in the middle of the night, so this is really a pleasant change! And I can tell he's going to take to this very well once we get through these first few nights.
I'm not a big fan of the whole cry it out method - I like soothing when I can, but there is a reality to everyone getting good sleep and littles learning to self soothe. We're there. And I'm looking forward to being over the hump!
Pumpkins
I think I said in my last post how much we have loved the pumpkin patch this year. It's been amazing. Here are some pictures from one of our visits:
And with that, I'm going to go to bed and hope/pray for no sleep battles with Connor in the night. But if we end up having a round or two, at least I'll know what to do!
'Night y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment