Am I Back?

I'm sitting at the computer while Alex sleeps thinking I have a bit of free time. Yes, there is clean laundry waiting to be folded but maybe this is the perfect opportunity to make my blogging comeback.

I write that with a bit of fear as I don't know how often my posts will be. But if I never try...I'll never know, right?

So, the past month has been a a great one settling into our new home. Everything is pretty much set up, although the list of projects seems to just get bigger and bigger, along with our realization that we may need to win the lottery to get it all done :)

Alex is an absolute sweetheart. He's a great tempered baby who loves to smile. And knowing all of the mistakes that we made with Hannah has also made it easier. From day one we put him down to fall asleep on his own, scared that the sucking to soothe problem would have a new addition in our bed for 8 months, like it did with Hannah.

Our plan worked well for about 2 months and then all of a sudden our sweet little boy turned into a bit of a cranky pants. We even resorted to strapping him into the car seat and going for a drive one night, since all else failed.

So, we've reached a compromise point where we let him drink to get sleepy and then pull him off in time for him to fall asleep in our arms or in his crib. Not ideal but baby steps in the right direction.

The other challenge, also sleep related, is trying to avoid movement induced dozing. With Hannah's drop off and pick up at prime napping times and a dog walk plunk in the middle, if I let him, Alex would sleep exclusively in a stroller or car seat all day. So I've been trying to make a point of transferring him into his crib. Even if the nap gets shortened and my to-do list gets longer.

All that to say, I'm definitely no longer a midnight mom! Chris is now a midnight dad as I've smartened up and pump before bedtime so he can do the last feeding of the day and I get 2 more hours of sleep.

Here's a picture of the little guy. I'm sure he'll be the subject of discussion for many more posts to come :)

4 in the Bed...

Two nights ago there were four of us in bed.

Me, the husband, Hannah and the dog.

By the end of the night, I ended up sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed, freezing cold.

I think we have finally discovered the solution to our bedtime woes though. Yes, the door lock is one of them but the other seems to be for mommy to get out of the house.

Last night I went to see Water for Elephants with two friends (both who had also read the book) and Hannah went to bed with little complaint and ended up staying there the whole night. Daddy seems to have the magic touch. That, or the bad behaviour just comes out for mom.

I think its a bit of column A and a bit of column B.

Hannah had no school yesterday so my mom babysat. She had a big day planned of buying the dog a birthday gift at Safari (while looking at the animals), lunch at the Rockland food court and a nap in the car. Well, I advised her not to bring along the stroller since it would just be dead weight when chasing after Hannah.

But the report at the end of the day? Hannah was an angel.

Had mom been the activity planner I'm sure it wouldn't have been so easy.

So I'm starting to think that with the warm weather finally upon us maybe I'll make it a nightly habit to go for a nice walk around bedtime. I'll get my exercise and Hannah will actually sleep.

Wonder what dad will think about that. If it means not waking up to 2 little feet in his face I think it just might go for it...

Eight Hours

8 hours, 480 minutes.

That is how much sleep I got last night. Hurray! And Hannah got closer to 11 hours!

My plan worked, now let's just hope I'm not jinxing it and it will repeat tonight.

So, the minute we got home from school we went into her room and starting re-organizing furniture. I wanted to move the crib temporarily into the office but it wouldn't fit through the door so we pushed it aside, out of the way.

Then I let her pick out her own sheets and blankets and told her how exciting it was to sleep in a big girl bed.

I also showed her the huge calendar we bought and the accompanying happy face stickers that would be placed on it for every night that she spent in her room.

Major hyping up happened until 7pm when we started to get ready for bed. We read stories as usual and I got her lying in bed, under the covers for the last one. And then I left.

And she cried.

And cried.

For 30 minutes.

That was it.

We looked at each over at 6:45am when the alarm went off, in shock. Nothing all night. Not even a peep.

I had to wake her up at 7:30am. We made a huge deal of her accomplishment, with lots of hugs, kisses and smiles. Then she chose a yellow and purple happy face to put on her calendar.

Success!

Hopefully tonight 30 minutes will shrink down (or cease to exist completely).

So while I seem to have my problem under control, please continue to post your comments for the CSN giveaway. There are plenty of other moms who could use your advice!

For the Utterly Exhausted

Waking up every two hours? Got into a habit of co-sleeping? Want to reclaim your bedtime rituals?

That was me just over a year ago. But with enough work and perseverance I have been enjoying 8 hours of sleep (plus 4 of relaxation or work) for quite some time.

How’d I get here? Lots of reading. Lots of trying. Lots of tears.

Maybe you’ve read every book and it's not working. Maybe you can’t stand to let your little one cry it out.

Maybe this will help.

FREE PARENTING SEMINAR FROM SMOOTH PARENTING

- Baby & Toddler Sleep Consultations and Parenting Coaching -

Smooth Parenting, which offers ‘Baby and Toddler Sleep Consultations’ designed to help parents who are struggling trying to get their babies and toddlers to sleep for naps and nighttime, today announced a free teleclass for parents everywhere.

"Baby Sleep Basics Teleclass: Top 7 Strategies to Help Your Baby Become a Great Sleeper”

Are you struggling with your baby’s sleep? Did you read all the books and nothing works with your baby? Is your baby’s sleep (or lack of thereof) affecting your family life? If your answer is ‘YES’, you can’t miss this complimentary teleclass!

Smooth Parenting's founder will share with you the top 7 strategies to help your baby become a great sleeper without leaving him/her to cry it out.

Date: Thursday, September 16th, 2010 - 7:30PM EST

If this date/time doesn’t work for you, sign up and you will have access to the recording of the teleclass to listen at the best time for you.

Sign Up Link: http://www.smoothparenting.com/Welcome_Teleclass.html

Please let me stress that I have never tried this company before. I know nothing about them.

But if you are in any way the person I described above you are probably willing to try anything. So let me know how it goes!

Adorably Adaptable

Sleep. It occupied all of my waking thoughts for the first 8 months of Hannah's life. And there were definitely many waking hours...

Numerous Ferber attempts, lots of crying, a sleep sheep, a sleep sack...we tried it all and it eventually worked. I admit, I was partly to blame for the problem with nursing to sleep and co-sleeping but we made it through and now get a good 12 hours of a sleep night.

So why am I always so scared that we will have sleep problems when not in our usual setting? I think those 8 months tainted me to think that Hannah is a bad sleeper, when she really is not. Maybe its maturity, maybe its routine, but I think most of all, it is adaptability.

Yes, I can finally say it. My daughter is highly adaptable to different situations. In the past 2 months she has encountered a number of irregular events but her sleeping has continued to be constant and she, a happy little girl.

1. Our vacation- yes, it wasn't the most relaxing of getaways but Hannah slept well in the hotel, even for naps.

2. Moving into my parents' house. Hannah has never spent a night there but she slept so well. Even better than at home. Why did we wait so long for a sleepover at grandma and grandpas? Time to start!

3. Driving to Stowe at 7:30 on Friday night. Yes, every animal was named in a drawn-out version of Old McDonald but she eventually fell asleep and stayed asleep through the border until we arrived. A quick change into PJs and she was back asleep until 8am.

Impressive, don't you think? I do.

Time to start making those travel plans...especially before we hit the 2 year mark and flying is no longer free...

Hello Sleep Problems my Old Friend

For my birthday, my husband gave me, among other things, a collection of all of my blog posts from the past year. After reading the first few entries, I realized that I have strayed a bit in my blogging. I said that I would be writing about my first hand experiences in mommyhood. And while I do share stories and tips, my more recent posts have been a bit rushed, non-mommy exclusive updates.

I guess that was because things were going relatively smoothly. We had the nights' to ourselves, teething was behind us, we hit all of the major milestones...or at least that's what I thought...

After a 4-day weekend in the country, Hannah refused to nap in her pack and play. In the past, we had gotten used to going for walks or drives at nap time but after a 4-day stretch, seems like we may have messed up her schedule. I attempted a 10:45am nap this morning, after a visit to the grocery store and a 15 minute first attempt delay during which she didn't seem too tired.

She went along with the regular routine but the minute I put her down into her crib, it was mass hysteria...for 40 minutes. Usually, I would just wait until her next nap to try again. But her grandparents were coming to babysit for a 4 hour stretch while I worked (we are between babysitters) and the last thing that I wanted was for her to be crabby.

So we went for a 30 minute walk. No luck. Into the car. 3 minutes till she dozed off.

She got a 35 minute nap and then was happy until I got home at 5pm. Good for the grandparents. Bad for me.

Clingy. Biting. Whining. Yes, she was overtired.

A quick dinner and a hysterical crying session while she got ready for bed, followed by a ton of tears in her crib for the first 5 minutes.

Yes, the vicious cycle of exhaustion.

I know it well.

Will we get back on track tomorrow? Or maybe it's time to cut it down to one nap at 16 months?

Yes, I think I am back on track again. No, not with sleep. This is definitely one of the trials and tribulation of mommyhood.

Pass the wine if you please...

If I could turn back time

If I could turn back time I'd start it all over again.

Not because the last 7 months have been anything less than spectacular but because I have learned so much.

Everywhere I go - pregnant women abound - I try to provide them with guidance based on my mistakes. I wish I knew back then what I know now. Hopefully these lessons will stick for the second one, not that that is happening anytime soon :).

Lesson 1:

Schedule, schedule, schedule

If you don't keep a consistent routine for naps, eating and bedtime then your little one will think its a free for all.

Lesson 2: Get rid of all sleep associations

Say bye bye to the boob, pacifier, bottle or loving hands by the fourth month and teach your baby how to fall asleep on his/her own.

Lesson 3: Keep travel to a minimum until you have solidified lessons two and three.

May be the toughest, seeing as you have more than two weeks vacation but in my case, every time we hit the road, Hannah decided not to hit the sack.

When you're running on just hours of sleep it seems difficult to keep these lessons in mind but in the long round things will get smoother a whole lot faster.

I look at where we stand today and feel like Hannah has been pinged and ponged back and forth between different techniques. Falling asleep at the boob, napping in the car, resting our heads on her chest as she dozed off...it changes every month so its no wonder she's still no sleeping restlessly.

Seeing as time is not on my side (unless someone out there has invented a time machine), going forward it will be all about consistency. I have another week long trip planned at the end of the month but feel that it might be best for the four of us (especially Winston who starts panting heavily when the crying begins) to stay put until sleep gets sorted out. Not ideal but maybe the right decision for now. We'll see what the coming week brings.

Two weeks ago (prior a trip to the country) we were happily getting sleep from 7pm to 5am, with just a loving hand on her cheek and a tip toe out of the room. If we can be there again by the end of the week, with a nap or two (in the crib) thrown in, I will definite re-consider our travel plans.