Last Tuesday and Wednesday night Monkey surprised me and slept straight through the night with only a minor half awakening when I dream fed her before going to bed myself. Not only did she do that but she didn't make a peep until Chris brought her to our bed so I could fed her and that was shortly after 8am! Thursday night unfortunately she woke up at 3:45 am. I hate getting up anymore to fed her because it's so exhausting. I shouldn't complain though at least at the most it only takes 20mins as apposed to 45 - 60 mins that it took before! Friday night it was back to sleeping straight through the night, this time with no dream feeding. All three times though I bolted awake at 6am and basically had to go check to make sure she was okay. I used to be bad for checking on her constantly but I have gotten better at it. This was so unexpected that it happened three times in one week. It's so nice to get 6 hours of sleep in a row. She did it again last night. I hope that this is a new trend!
Her naps all last week have been crappy. The only time she seemed to sleep longer or I should say stay asleep was when I fell asleep with her. Nursing her to sleep is easy when I get her at the right time. If I don't it gets pretty frustrated because she wants to nurse but she wants to look around at the same time. I have tried to darken our room as much as I can but I don't think it's dark enough still. I have been nursing her to sleep for naps in our bed the last few weeks since once she is out it is so much easier to just slink away once she is asleep. I don't have to shift her a bunch of times and then have to set her in her crib without waking her up since she ALWAYS wakes up when I do this. Some days I just need that 20-30 mins to myself and when she wakes up and cries it was really starting to take a toll on my sanity. She is such a nap resistor! The last few weeks however have been less stressful since I made the switch to our bed for naps. It's also so much easier to go back in there and nurse her to back to sleep to try and prolong her naps a bit, which results in one happier baby which makes for a much happier mommy.
I would be fine with short naps if she was okay with that amount of time but she is not. She wakes up clearly still tired, is cranky and just a terror to be around. I only was able to get her to fall back asleep without nursing a few times and sometimes that only lasted for 10 mins. I plan on staying in the room with her this week, so that when she starts to awaken after her 20 mins snooze I can lull her back to sleep right away. According to the no cry nap solution book if I do that after a week or so I won't have to help lull her back to sleep. Hopefully that is true because it would be nice to be able to get some things done around the house while she sleeps.
I think this week I am going to have to start trying to wean her off of nursing to sleep, at least for the first nap. I have to go back to work by the end of January so she needs to be fully weaned before then. There is no way that I can even nurse part time while being back to work, nor do I have time to pump. I honestly just can't take nursing any longer anyways. I have had so much trouble right from the start that I am ready to be done. I nursed longer then I thought I was going to. I remember when I was just trying to make it to the end of the 3rd month and here we are almost the 7 month mark. Currently I have replaced two nursing sessions which had made me less stressed out and much more happier. I was always constantly worried that she wasn't getting enough and quite frankly I don't think she was because after getting those two bottles a day she is a completely different baby. We also started feeding her solids at about 5.5 months old which I think also made a difference.
So for now if I can wean her of the nursing sessions for naps I can keep the before bed, in the middle of the night if needed and the morning nursing session until December then slowly wean them out then. I know she can fall asleep without nursing since she has done it before. It is just going to be testing my patience a lot because like I said she is a nap resistor and is afraid to miss anything. Hopefully I will have some success! I'm sure after she gets used to not nursing to sleep for the first nap the transition with the second nap will be easy. Only time will tell, but really I have no choice. January is coming so quickly!
Do you have a nap resistor? What did you do to get your little one to sleep?
Monday, October 10, 2011
8/30 - My earliest memories...
Day 08: My earliest Memory
Most of my most earliest memories are of my father. A few of them are at my families old house. One I remember is that I was out in the backyard playing in my sandbox. It was a nice warm sunny day. I remember looking up towards the left back side of the house where my parents were talking. My dad was making me what we called my mouse house (a playhouse). It wasn't really that big but it was awesome and I loved it. I just remember that he was pointed at the wall probably telling mom what he was going to do next. There wasn't a roof on it yet and I am not sure if there were windows or if all of the walls were up yet.
Funnily enough I don't remember actually playing in that house until we had moved to the farm, but that couldn't have been too long after that. We moved out to the farm when I was about 3 or 4. The floor was wood and had a yellow carpet on it. The walls were some sort of chipboard like sheets and it was painted white. It had these old windows that actually opened and closed. The roof was yellow plastic sheet with ripples and it was on an angle so the water wouldn't pool on top. It even had a door that Dad made especially for it. I remember as the years went by I would repaint it white with mom to make it look fresh again.
Another memory from the old house took place in our front room. Dad was sitting on the couch and I was either sitting beside him or standing in front of the couch. I remember that I had a band-aid on my arm and was trying to get it off. But it hurt every time I tried to. Dad told me the best way to do that was to just rip it off really fast because that way it only hurt for a moment. I went to try this but of course it hurt a lot when I started. I obviously was going way too slow because I was afraid of the pain. Dad told me to come closer and that he would do it for me. He was right because after the initial shock of pain it was done and over with and then the pain was pretty much gone.
These early memories are special to me because my father passed away from cancer soon after we moved to the farm. I was about 4 or 5 at the time. I really don't remember him all that much nor what he looked like save from the few pictures mom has of him. It sucks that I didn't get to know him better and every year that passes it's hard to believe it has been so long ago. I only have a few random other memories of him beside these two and I really wish that I had more. I guess I am glad that I was able to spend what time I had with him while he was here with us and have those few memories, then nothing at all.
Most of my most earliest memories are of my father. A few of them are at my families old house. One I remember is that I was out in the backyard playing in my sandbox. It was a nice warm sunny day. I remember looking up towards the left back side of the house where my parents were talking. My dad was making me what we called my mouse house (a playhouse). It wasn't really that big but it was awesome and I loved it. I just remember that he was pointed at the wall probably telling mom what he was going to do next. There wasn't a roof on it yet and I am not sure if there were windows or if all of the walls were up yet.
Funnily enough I don't remember actually playing in that house until we had moved to the farm, but that couldn't have been too long after that. We moved out to the farm when I was about 3 or 4. The floor was wood and had a yellow carpet on it. The walls were some sort of chipboard like sheets and it was painted white. It had these old windows that actually opened and closed. The roof was yellow plastic sheet with ripples and it was on an angle so the water wouldn't pool on top. It even had a door that Dad made especially for it. I remember as the years went by I would repaint it white with mom to make it look fresh again.
Another memory from the old house took place in our front room. Dad was sitting on the couch and I was either sitting beside him or standing in front of the couch. I remember that I had a band-aid on my arm and was trying to get it off. But it hurt every time I tried to. Dad told me the best way to do that was to just rip it off really fast because that way it only hurt for a moment. I went to try this but of course it hurt a lot when I started. I obviously was going way too slow because I was afraid of the pain. Dad told me to come closer and that he would do it for me. He was right because after the initial shock of pain it was done and over with and then the pain was pretty much gone.
These early memories are special to me because my father passed away from cancer soon after we moved to the farm. I was about 4 or 5 at the time. I really don't remember him all that much nor what he looked like save from the few pictures mom has of him. It sucks that I didn't get to know him better and every year that passes it's hard to believe it has been so long ago. I only have a few random other memories of him beside these two and I really wish that I had more. I guess I am glad that I was able to spend what time I had with him while he was here with us and have those few memories, then nothing at all.
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