Uggh - sleep

Very tired today. B had a rough night. No afternoon nap, which meant bed time happened around 6:30pm very easily, but sleeping lots - not so much. Yeah, I am not so empowered as I was a week ago when I thought I had a plan. I told my husband this weekend, crying in the middle of the night, at least without me, is just not an option (last night I could not calm him down for anything!) and won't be. I am all for encouraging him to sleep longer in his crib, but not tied to the fact that he has to be there depending on the night and situation. I am also wanting to continue early morning nursing sessions, which means in bed next to me. Needless to say, I am just going with it...no plan in place anymore. I think. Headed out of town for three nights soon (not by choice) and dreading the use of the pump.......yuck, but I must, and I will.

Vote

Make sure you visit my baby blog to vote on if we are having a boy or girl! www.mccoolbaby.blogspot.com

:)

Funny comic

Not sure how many of you look at the Cow Goddess blog - but recently she posted a comic about sleep (if you don't, keep up with this blog and her Mama Is blog - both are hilarious! and topical without being too heated!) and referenced the book, Babywise. As you know, I think that book is like the Devil and I try to keep very openminded to all the different ways out there! http://www.thecowgoddess.com/2009/01/30/back-away-2/#comments - read the comments too - interesting!

Sleep

Have you been wondering how sleep has been going in my house? Well me too. And the answer is much better. I made the decision that I needed B to be sleeping in his crib for a majority of the night by the time the baby was born. I knew it was going to be a rough transition, and started mentally preparing myself for it. Then I started reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child which was interesting to say the least. I enjoyed many parts of it, disagreed with some things stated, and took a lot from it as well. That, paired with our style of parenting, nursing, and other things I have read, urged me to proceed. So about 10 days ago we started - I put B to bed and told him that tonight he needed to stay in his bed all night and that momma would be near and that I loved him. I also reminded him that when he awoke at 4-5am for his early morning nursing, that he could come to bed with me until it was time to get up.

That first night was the roughest - he woke up at 11pm and was easy to put back to sleep. But from 1-3am we spent some time together in his room. I really wanted him to STAY in his crib and not get used to me walking him back to sleep and that really took the longest. After that, things have been much easier, with a few set backs here and there. My next hurdle is to get him to not wake up or at least put himself back to sleep.

Perhaps this sounds selfish - but I just know that with two under two and me working full time, I have to get enough sleep to be a good mom. That may mean more crying than we are used to. The thing I have noticed is that if B cries in his crib now, it is not as painful - especially when it is the "I'm mad" cry or the fake cry. In fact, sometimes wen trying to get him to sleep he laughs when I look at him and cries when I look away - hmmmm.....attention?! LOL. Needless to say, I am empowered to continue our journey toward better sleeping for everyone in the house.

Oh - and i didn't mention this before. I knew that what we were doing wasn't working before - B was waking up so tired and crabby in the morning. As a result, I have made his naptimes and bedtime earlier each day to encourage more sleep. That paired with sleeping in his crib has really made a world of difference. I never thought it would - but sleep begets sleep. The book, as I stated before, had some good points. The best thing about it was that it supports extended nursing, nursing to sleep (which we still do), co-sleeping, and everything from this end of the spectrum to the other. He did mention the Sears and Ferber Methods and seems to be somewhere in the middle.