Mommy and me - my first time to wear a barrett... Have to control the hair somehow! :)
Yesterday morning... happy little baby at 6 AM. We ate at 5, played from 5:45 to about 7 ish... She loved her little bug...her little eyes just followed it everywhere.
The struggle and the blessing:
I thought that listening to my child crying at night would get easier...it's not. I'm trying a whole new strategy with Sadie this week. The "Baby Wise" book is GREAT!!! But just when I feel so proud of Sadie and myself for making through a couple of great nights... she pulls another all nighter. We are on such a crazy rigid schedule...I'm trying to get her on it before I go back to school and before she goes to daycare... She's eating every 3 hours. She wakes at exactly the same time every morning...whether she's sound asleep or not, I wake her.
Just when I think she's quieted down, I lay down, and 3 minutes later... the screaming starts back up. As I write at this very moment, she's next door, just screaming her little lungs out... b/c she can't pooh, or she has gas and can't get it out. She ate at 9, here we are at 11... We will have to feed again at 12 b/c she's still up.
2 nights ago, we had a perfect night. Her first crib experience was just perfect. She went down when she was supposed to go down, she woke up when she was supposed to wake up... We had one feeding at 3 AM and back to sleep she went.
Last night...we fed her at 9, she cried literally to 12. I fed her again, she kept crying. I finally got her out of her crib at 12:30, brought her into the guest bedroom with me, layed her on her tummy...and off she went to sleep...she hates sleeping on her back.
Tonight, I'm fighting that urge with all of the power I have in me... It's killing me to not go in there right now. I know, victory doesn't come without a price or a fight... but come on. I've just learned not to go to bed so soon after she goes to bed... I get so disappointed that I have to get back up like 5 times or more. So now, I just stay up and endure it. And tomorrow, I won't get a nap, like any other day, b/c I'm too concerned with making sure she stays awake as much as possible in between feedings. She's getting an adequate amount of rest during the day, but she stays awake for over an hour and moves and wiggles and shakes all over the place, then takes a short 30 minutes to an hour of a nap... while mommy picks up things, gets on the computer, does whatever to keep sane... talk to as many adults as possible.
I love this child with every fiber of my being...and I'm so blessed to have a healthy and beautiful little girl...and I'm very aware that I'm not the only mom that's fighting this fight. It just feels good to vent sometimes. Again, I'm blessed just to have her...so I'll turn this from a WHINE session to a THANKFUL session... She's breathing. She's beautiful. She's amazing. God gave her to me and Craig with such a confidence...why can't I find that confidence in myself as a mom, though... Prayer is the only thing getting me through the sad times of having a baby.
2 comments:
Sleep is always the hardest part! Gabby's first 8-10 weeks were a nightmare for us because of sleep issues...it has only gotten easier since then. We found Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child (Mark Weissbluth) to be the BEST book to help us with sleep, and we still refer to it now. It is pretty much based on research and not a parenting philosophy, which I like.
It DOES get better...I remember at the time being in the middle of that phase and it felt ENDLESS...but by 3 months Gabby was settled into a nice routine where both baby and parents were getting good sleep. And now that whole rough part is just a tiny blip on the radar!
Girl...I hear your pain! Luke hates sleeping on his back! After finally talking to many friends with young babies, who all sleep on their tummies, Luke now sleeps on his tummy. He is so relaxed and only wakes once to eat! I put him on his back in my bed the other night after feeding him...he was so restless and couldn't go to sleep. As soon as I moved him to his bed...he was out!! He loves sleeping on his tummy. We just have to all vent/talk/pray together to make it through the next few months (well, next 18 years....and beyond!!). We need to get all the babies together soon!
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