Knockin' on Wood Here

I have been hesitant to post this update for fear of jinxing a good thing, pissing off the universe and ruining everything that has been going so well lately.  But, at 9 months old we FINALLY have a sleeper!  YAY, YAY, YAY, a thousand times YAY!

Pretty much up until easter we were fighting hard core with the crying it out, fall asleep, wake up 45 mins later, cry some more, finally sleep.  Easter weekend we went to Ohio and it was a sleep disaster like I expected for her, Friday night she was miserable from teething and ending up sleeping with us cause it was the only way she would sleep.  Top it off we were in a hotel and not in her comfort zone.  Saturday night she stayed the night at Tony's aunts house with her Grandma, I know that didn't equal quality sleep time for the poor girl either.  So maybe coupled with all the weekends exhaustion the next week went amazingly well.  Lie her down around 9pm she would drift off to sleep quickly, still waking up 45 mins later but only for 10 minutes or so and she'd go right back to sleep.  Somewhere in the past week though she finally decided that she doesn't need to wake up at 45 mins, sure she'll still fidget or make a little fuss but nothing that has her fully awake.  YAY!

She's enjoying some nap time right now!  I love babies in bibs!

Along with how amazing she's been doing at night its also helped to improve her nap times, she will either play quietly in her crib until she falls asleep or she just fusses for a few minutes and she's out like a light.  I am sooo glad that she's (and me) finally getting better sleep!

More thoughts on sleep training progress..

We are still having problems with Addison waking up less than an hour after we put her down to sleep.  Some nights I can let her cry and she will fall back to sleep in 15 minutes or so.  Other nights, oh those glorious nights, the child wants NOTHING to do with sleep.  Not so much an issue on the weekend but momma needs her precious sleep to get up at 4:00 during the week.  So we are still working on it, still trying to figure out what it is that keeps her from staying asleep or thinking that she needs to not go back to sleep at all after that first 45 minute spell.  

Other than that it really has been going well.  She generally sleeps from whenever we get her to to fall back asleep, usually around 10:30-11 sometimes way, way later... until sometime around 5-6 am and then she wakes up to take a bottle and goes back down until we wake her or she usually is up by 8:45-9 on her own.  

I think some of our issues with getting her to sleep at night is her lack of a day time nap schedule, as much as I tried when I was on maternity leave to get her on a schedule that all went to crap the minute my feet left the house to go to work.  I can complain about it until I am blue in the face but its hard to have her on a schedule when Tony's work doesn't have him on a set schedule so we never know when she will be at the sitter, when she will be at home, makes timing naps hard when the sitter can't get her to take one most days at her house...So for now we deal I guess with what we can, I try not to let her take her last nap to late in the evening but some days there is no preventing a nap after 5.  

I dream of the day I can say my child goes to sleep at X o'clock...right now its a crap shoot.  Seeing how she's currently bouncing on the couch next to me yelling & screeching like a little banshee, anytime she wants to be tired is good for me!  She's a silly little goof.  

We are visiting Tony's family for the holiday, if this child sleeps this weekend it will be a miracle!  I don't even want to think about the reprocussions of what a spoiled weekend away is going to do to any progress we have made! :)  I'm hoping it wears her out.  

Addison, blogging.

In other news I just ordered http://www.twokissesformaddy.com/ I'm hoping its here Monday like its supposed to be, I have read his blog for a while now, I am interested in reading the book!!!

A Weekend of Sleep Training

So nights three (Friday), four (Saturday) and five (Sunday) were not nearly as wonderful as night two. Friday after we did our grocery shopping & spent some time cleaning the house, I put her to bed at 9:10 she was asleep by 9:23. 13 minutes, not bad at all... Then she woke up at 9:58. She was wide awake, absolute refusal to sleep! I allowed her to have an all out fit for about 35 mins before I gave up. The kid was just not sleepy. I don't know if it was due to a sloppy nap schedule Friday night or what. But she was full on ready to play. I allowed her to play until 11 when I myself was exhausted tried to lie her back down and all kind of hysterical tantrums happened again for 30 mins.  When my husband came home and I asked him to take her so that I could at least get some sleep since he had no plans of going to bed right away anyhow. He says that she was up until almost 1:30 when he finally got her to sleep! GEES! I don't know what her deal was. This kid doesn't believe that she needs to sleep I guess. He brought her into the bed room and put her in the pack and play and she slept until 4:30 when she was hungry, I fed her and put her back in the pack and play.

She slept until 8:45 Saturday morning when I had to wake her so that we could meet up with my best friend and her kids to go see the Easter Bunny. I was quite impressed with her, she had no fear of that bunny in fact she kept trying to go back to the bunny after I had taken her picture and gotten her back! Too funny! 

After the visit with the bunny Nikki and I decided to go to a mom to mom sale that they were having in town so I dropped Addison back off at home with Daddy. I found way to many cute outfits, pj's (with zippers cause this kid kicks her legs out of the button up ones. every.single.time.) and of course shoes (Baby Nike's for a buck? What?!?!) After the sale we went and got lunch at Finley's for her birthday. I was in love because not only do they have bread there but they have Michigan Cherry Walnut Salad. My favorite, and I devoured ALL of it! 

We went back to my house to hang out for the rest of the night and watch movies since the weather was crap and we had nothing better planned. (I did paint the frame for Addison's hair bow holder, more to come on that when its completed) About the time that we wanted to watch the movie (How Do You Know? was the movie of choice, and cute if you haven't seen it yet) Addison was acting incredibly tired and having been fussy all night from teething I decided to put her down early after a fresh dose of pain medicine.  In to bed she went at 8:10, she slept her normal 40 ish minutes and woke up at 8:50. I said the kid has to sleep! She was so incredibly tired when I put her down, so I let her fuss, and fuss, tried to let her have a bottle which she had no interest in. And fuss some more finally exactly an hour later she passed back out, head on her seahorse. She made a little cry at 10:02 but remained asleep. The movie lasted until close to 11 then Nikki left and I hit the sheets myself, she slept from her little bit of fussing at 10:02 until 5:30 am when she woke up crying, I fed her and put her back in the crib and she slept until almost 9:00am on Sunday. 

using her seahorse as a pillow.

Sunday was Easter Egg decorating day at my house. For the past 6 or so years my family has decorated Easter Eggs together at my house, I took over from my mom who used to have it at our house when we were kids every year. A few of my cousins came over, my aunt Sandy, my mom, my brother, his girlfriend Joey & Joey's little sister. While we have a large house but the arrangement makes the living areas rather small and there for a crowded house. But we decorated eggs and had a good time, Addison mostly wanted to gnaw on her eggs and make loud noises to get attention from everyone.

 After everyone left Addison and Daddy took a nap together and I spend some Sunday lazy time on the couch. The nap was late and there for bed time got pushed back, the first signs she showed of being tired I made sure to get her right into bed and this was at 9:55pm, she was asleep by 10:13. This is where it got interesting, for the first time she didn't wake up at the 45 minute mark! Instead she woke up at 12:50 ish, and preceded to cry and whimper and wail for around an hour, I kept falling asleep and waking up so it wasn't consistent at all but she really wasn't sleeping at all for that hour. I finally got her up, let her nurse, fixed her pj's, which of course had buttons so her legs were out through the holes, and put her back down, she was back asleep in less than 15 minutes and still sleeping this morning when I left for work at 5:00. Tony says she slept till 6:30.  I feel like little progress is being made at night but am thrilled with how well she is sleeping after the second time she gives in to sleep.  I don't understand what is up with the constant waking after less than an hour of sleep, I sure hope she gives it up!

napping with Daddy

Wonderful, Fantastic, Amazing Night Two Of Sleep Training

I didn't think I was a fan of the whole CIO (Cry It Out) method, I actually thought it was cruel.  But I was at a loss for what else to do to get her to sleep on her own and after the 2nd night of this sleep training, OMG amazing!  I would never have done it when she was younger but I can see now that she is working the system with her cries.  Crying louder when she can hear us, and then listening for a response to come save her, she has us figured out for sure. 

So as I said last night, she was asleep before 10pm, she remained asleep until 10:45 when she started fussing.  I (in the same room as her, in my bed) stayed quiet and didn't respond to her whimpers, I could see her sit up and paw at the sides of the pack and play looking for someone to come pick her up.  I refrained, she got louder for a couple of minutes then she sat back and kind of whimpered quietly for five or so minutes before she eventually laid back down and went to sleep!  The whole little awake time last from 10:45 to 11:05 and she was back to being OUT like a light.

I woke up to my alarm clock, not a baby this morning, she was still sleeping feet tucked under her, butt up in the air, when I left the house at 5!  I texted Tony and he reports that she slept solid until 6:30 when she cried for two minutes and went back to sleep until 8:45!  That is some kind of Addison sleeping record!  The girl never sleeps that long!  I am absolutely amazed with how quickly she is responding to this!  Not to mention the overwhelming happiness that by body is feeling after 5 hours of restful sleep!  Hoping that the 3rd time is a charm and we continue to have success with the new sleep schedule.  This just reinforces that it was high time for her to start sleeping on her own!  

One happy momma. 

Sleep Training an Eight Month Old

Oh my!  When I returned to work from maternity leave and had to go back to waking up before the crack of dawn, AKA: 4:00 am, and had a baby who refused to go to bed before 11pm it became easier to just let her co-sleep in bed with me.  Breastfeeding, it was easier than getting out of bed at night to get her when I was not getting anywhere near enough sleep as it was.  Having her next to me was just convenient.   Fast forward seven long sleepless months and I have a almost nine month old who still wakes up multiple times a night wanting to nurse.  I know that its more for comfort and knowing that I am right there but this momma is ready for some sleep. My mind and body can't handle much more sleep deprivation.  Also sooner or later (so much for that Easter deadline I envisioned) she WILL have her own finished bedroom and her crib to sleep in, which I am NOT going to be curling up inside of with her! :)

I figured it was high time to let her figure out this self comforting, fall asleep on my own.  I randomly decided to  start this adventure last night.  We put her in the pack and play in the bedroom around 8:30 because she was acting sleepy, rubbing her eyes and being a little fussy.  She quickly fell asleep with less than 10 minutes of fussing.  This did not last long as she woke up 45 minutes later and SCREAMED and fussed and quieted down and then screamed some more for roughly 45 minutes before giving in and falling back asleep.  Not giving in to her screams is the hardest cause shes got a huge set of lungs on her when she wants to use them. I feel bad that all she really wants is to cuddle but as much as I can appreciate cuddling with my baby, I don't want to have to cuddle an 8 year old to sleep every night!  After she finally went back to sleep around 11pm she remained asleep until just after 3am when she woke up this time I got her out of the pack and play and let her eat which she seemed to truly be hungry not just trying to seek comfort.  I didn't return her to the pack and play as I get up at 4am for work and wanted to be able to sleep for the extra hour I had rather than hearing screams.  (Yeah, yeah so much for sleep training...)

Tonight starts night two, she's been bathed, cuddled, fed and is now working on minute 10 of fussing in her pack and play, but *knock on wood* so far tonight its just fussing, no blood curdling screams, no serious tears, just whiny noises.  Whiny noises which are much easier to ignore.  Hopefully she drifts off to sleepy land soon cause this momma is tired!!!!  

 How's that for a little photo trip down first month of life memory lane?  I don't think I fully appreciated all the sleeping that she did in the first month, I still don't think she slept a lot for a new born but I miss the days when I could wrap her in a fuzzy blanket and she'd just pass right out.

Tonight official 9:35 in bed, 9:51 passed out.  I'll update the rest of the adventure when it happens.  Hopefully soon we have a better sleeper on our hands.