The sleep lady night #2

Okay here's how last night went!

7:20 asleep after being laid down awake in crib
10:35- I heard him moving around so I went and looked on the video monitor and watched him, since he wasn't crying. He sat up, looked around, grabbed his bear and laid back down!!!
10:57- awake. Sat by his crib and shhed. 5 minutes
2:00- awake. Sat by crib and shhed. 5 minutes
3:50- awake. Sat by crib and shhed. He was crying his mad cry....10 minutes
5:55- awake. Sat by crib and shhed. 5 minutes
6:30- up for good. Happy to nurse!!
I'd say this is an improvement!! Yippie!! His usual time for getting up in the morning is between 7-7:30, so he is getting up a little earlier. I'm assuming it's cause he's hungry. And, believe it or not, he is getting another tooth!! It's one of the front ones and his gums are all purple. Poor baby.
For those of you who are wondering, I did use a lot of tips from " the no cry sleep solution" book before I started the sleep lady stuff, and I think it helped too!
As soon as our computer is working again I will post pictures cause I know they are more fun!! I'll let yall know how tonight goes!

The sleep lady night #1

So, here's what happened last night:

7:20-asleep in crib after being laid down awake
10:25-awake. I sat next to his crib and shhed him. Fell back asleep in 15 minutes
11:00-awake. Repeated. Fell asleep in 10 minutes
11:25-awake. Repeated. Fell asleep in 10 minutes
1:30-awake. Repeated. Fell asleep in 15 minutes
2:15-awake. Repeated. Fell asleep after 1 hour and 15 minutes
6:15-awake for good. Happy to nurse!


He did cry some, but mostly just held his bear ( his lovey) and would stand up, sit down, lie down, talk to me, talk to the bear, and on and on. I just said shhhh time to go night night. It was a long night, but hopefully in the end it's worth it. And for those of you who have read that I am against the cry-it-out method, this was different because I was right there comforting him. I'll let yall know how tonight goes!

The sleep lady

So our computer broke, so I am blogging from my iPhone.
Ok, so my friend, Natalie, let me borrow a sleep book called the sleep lady. I used her "shuffle" about a month ago, and all was going well, but in the middle of the process Connor got sick, then went on a nursing strike, then was cutting molars. I'm pretty sure he is all better now and all of his molars cut through, so I am going to start the sleep lady shuffle tonight. Here is the plan: when he wakes up I will go in his room, lay him back down, tell him that it's time to go night night, and then I will sit by his crib in a chair. I will shhh him and pat him a little. You aren't supposed to pick him up, but you are reassuring them that it's ok to go back to sleep. I'll blog tomorrow with how the night went! The book says to move your chair further away every few days until you aren't in the room anymore. Last time I did this, we had gotten to the point where I just shhhed him from the hallway. I'm thinking the process will go quicker this time since we've done it before!! Wish me luck!!!!

I'm so tired

I don't think yall understand. Connor was literally up ALL night last night. He went to sleep at 7:00 tonight, and has already woken up once crying wanting me to nurse him. What is the solution?? I'm pretty close to throwing the towel in and bringing him to my bed, just so I can get some sleep.

Connor was up so much last night, that he woke Colton up! So, then I was dealing with two babies in the middle of the night! Thankfully, my wonderful husband took care of Colton once he realized that Colton was awake too. Pray that tonight will be a better night!!!!!!!!

Pinocchio

We bought the movie, Pinocchio for Colton for Christmas, and he LOVES it! This movie was made 70 years ago! Did you know that Jiminy Cricket says the word "jackass" a couple of times? Pinocchio's father smokes in bed, and a little boy and Pinocchio smoke cigars together? Man, lots of stuff that are questionable for a Disney movie. Don't worry, I'm still letting Colton watch it. That is, until he says the word "jackass".

Sleeping

Well, I had to take this picture to prove that the child does sleep sometimes. I did take him to the doctor, and he is getting molars on both sides on the top, and that big gum thingy the other day? That was a huge blood blister on top of the molar on the bottom of his mouth. So, if you lost count....the poor baby is getting 3 molars at the same time!!! OUCH!! The doctor gave us some lollipops that numb the mouth. He loves them!

Dinner plans

Tonight, we were out and about, all four of us, and Adam and I were discussing what we should do for dinner, because it was to late to cook. Adam said, well, why don't I drop you and Connor off, and then Colton and I will go get something to eat and bring it home. So, Colton says "okay, daddy, here are your choices; (as he sticks out his fingers to count as he gives the choices) Sonic, or.......chicken nuggets! Adam and I start laughing, and Colton says "mommy, do you want water or....coke to drink?" I said "oh probably water." And Colton says "oh thats a good choice! Bottled water?" Then Adam says "Colton, what about Arbys?" And Colton says "ummmm do they have pizza there?" And Adam says, "No, they dont." And Colton says "how bout hoggies hoggies?" (meaning hobby's hoagies). And Adam said, "thats fine." Then Colton replies, "Oh I like that place!" So, thats what we settled for. At Hobby's Hoagies, the kids meal comes with a cookie, but after they had placed their order and were waiting for it to be ready, Colton marches back up to the register and tells the guy, "um, I don't need a cookie, cause Erin got me one!" (my friend Erin brought Colton a cookie earlier in the day).

Man, Colton is a handful!!! But, very funny.

Teething

So, I'm glad I don't listen to Ferber. Last night, Connor was up more than usual. And "more than usual" for Connor means he was up practically all night. So, today I was watching him, trying to figure out what could have been keeping him awake all night, and I happened to notice that he was chewing on his fingers alot. So, I took a look in his mouth, and sure enough there is a HUGE piece of his gums just hanging off. I'm actually a little worried about it...it looks terrible! I would have never noticed, since its in the back (he's getting his molars). I think I will call the pediatrican tomorrow to see if his gums should look like that or not! What if I had listened to Ferber, and let him cry all night instead of holding him and comforting him? I honestly believe that babies cry for a reason. You may never know why they are crying, but there is always a reason, even if he's just crying to be held. Thats my job. To comfort and hold him. I can't imagine not being able to say "hey give me some motrin! My gums are killing me!"

Connor's First Haircut

Do you see that big tear rolling down his cheek?? He was soooooo sad.... Poor baby. He looks like a big boy now. He has a big boy hair cut and he can walk! I don't have a baby anymore, I have a toddler! :( I'm so sad.

Boys will be boys

It starts so young! Connor can hardly walk, and he'll toddle over and wrestle Colton to the ground! They LOVE to wrestle! haha.

Frustrating

Colton is starting to have some jealousy issues with Connor. I'm assuming its because Connor can now say a few words and can now walk. So, the other day in the car, Connor was singing "lalala" "lalala", and Colton says, "Connor, you can't say lalala"! And I said, "Colton, yes he can. Connor can sing if he wants." Then, Colton muttered under his breath, "Well, that's frustrating!"

Seriously, does anyone else know of a two-year old that knows the word frustrating?

Sleep Baby Sleep!

Connor has to be the worlds worst sleeper. Seriously. He was pretty much exclusively breastfed until he was 10 months old. Now he eats some solid food, but not anywhere near what Colton was eating at 11 months! Because of this, he continues to nurse frequently at night. Around Christmas, he started having seperation anxiety, and so was waking up every hour wanting to see me and wanting to nurse. When we got home from Mexico, after Christmas, I decided I needed to figure out how to get my little man to sleep!!! So I started reading....and reading....I read "The No-Cry Sleep Solution", I also read "The Sleep Lady", and I also read "Helping Baby Sleep", and I started to use tips from each of the books. He did start to sleep better, but then went on a nursing strike for 4 days, and the ONLY time he would nurse was in his sleep! Then, he started teething, and got a molar....now that all of that is over, I feel like I am at square one again! So, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I asked my pediatrician, and she is pro-let your child cry it out for 6 hours. UM.....not doing that. I would like to see some research on how that affects a child emotionally and psycologically. (spell check?). Yes, letting your child cry for hours on end may work....but is it in the best interest of your child? I'm guessing that if I left Connor to "cry it out" for hours, he would eventually give up, and pass out. He would probably wonder where I am, and why I am not responding to his ONLY way of communicating, crying. I'm guessing if research was done on this very topic, then it would show that a child left to cry alone in their crib at night for hours ends up with trust issues and feeling abandoned. So....needless to say, my pediatrican was of no help.

Any advice on sleep issues?

Smartipants

So, about a month ago, I began my switch to cloth diapers. I've become obsessed! haha. I know, I know, I'm wierd!!! I am not at all a "go green" type of person. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. Originally, I just thought the cloth diapers would be cute. And they ARE so cute. But, I am also saving money! I am buying a few cloth diapers every few weeks, and buying less disposables. Eventually, I'll have all cloth, and no disposables. 3 cloth diapers is $39.95. They are one size fits all, so I'll never have to buy diapers again!!! And Colton and Connor both wear the same ones! I change Connor's diaper probably 5-6 times a day. So, I'm thinking that once I have 9-12 cloth diapers, I'll be good to go. They are super easy too! They have a little insert, that is the absorbant part. You put the insert into the diaper, and then when you change the baby's diaper, you just throw the entire diaper into the washing machine, and the insert comes out by itself! When the baby goes #2 (for those of you who are interested), you can buy a sprayer thing to spray the diaper before putting it in the washing machine. I've heard that its easier to potty train a child who has used cloth diapers too. I've also heard that disposables have tons of chemicals in them, which is what causes diaper rashes, and since disposables are more absorbant, you tend to change them less often, which also causes diaper rashes. Yesterday, I was changing Connor's diaper, and all of the cloth diapers were in the wash, so I started to put a disposable on him, and he started crying! I'm pretty sure he LOVES the cloth as much as I do!!

Oh and one more thing I love about them is that they are not velcro or "pins". They have snaps, which makes them super easy!