A Couple Gems

I have been really tired this week and haven't taken the camera out much, but wanted to share a couple of recent gems.  Love this guy!

Night Weaning ~ Forget The Baby, Sleep Train Me!

Night three of weaning proved to be, well, pretty damn incredible.  I left my house at 445pm yesterday to visit with friends and felt that it was too early to nurse the baby.  It was still light out and I didn't want to confuse him given that he is completely day weaned.  I arrived home between 1030 and 11pm and I fully expected the little guy to either be awake or in his swing.  What I found when I walked in was a quiet home with the baby sound asleep in his bed.  My husband was watching television and apparently everything went well when I was out.  Wow!  He said the baby had a little trouble going to sleep and around nine he went into his swing.  From there, he successfully transferred the baby to his crib.  That was pretty amazing in itself, but the incredible part came when the baby slept all night until 530am!  I could not believe it.  That meant he went 30 hours without the boob.  I pumped before bed.  I didn't want to be in extreme pain.

So, I picked the baby up and we went to the fridge to get some milk.  At first he didn't want any, so I changed his diaper.  I tried to give him some milk again and he drank a few ounces and fell asleep in my arms.  I tried three times to put him back in his crib and finally just placed him in my bed.  He was back to sleep within 15 minutes!

There was only one problem.  I woke around 145am when my husband finally wandered into the bedroom (yes, he fell asleep with the TV on as per the usual) and I couldn't fall back asleep.  I was up for two and a half hours.  Are you kidding me? What is my problem?  Here I was so worried about the baby and for three nights in a row now I have been up for 2+ hours in the middle of the night while everyone else sleeps.  I am really hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight as it is seriously effecting my physical being.

I nursed the baby before bed tonight.  He woke a half hour later and I decided I was not going to nurse him but start the same routine that we do when he wakes in the middle of the night.  It worked....  It took a half hour, but it worked....  He cried a little more than he does at 3am, but it worked.  So that's the new plan for the next week or more until I decide to cut out the before bed feeding.  Wish me luck.  Tonight I am feeling like I am going to need it.

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Night Weaning ~ Night Two

I think I walked three miles.  Ok, so that's an exaggeration but it had to have been close to a mile.

Last night we had further success with the night weaning.   As I planned, I nursed the baby as many times as he wanted to prior to me going to bed.  The first session was at 745pm.  The baby was in his crib by eight and slept for about and hour.  At nine my husband went in the bedroom and tried to comfort him, but the little guy got progressively more escalated, so I nursed him again and when he was almost sleeping we put him in his swing.  He stayed there for about a half hour then I transferred him to his crib. No issues.  I went to bed around 1045pm and at 1130 the baby woke.  My husband was still awake and the living room was still loud and light so I nursed the baby one last time for the night.  I then told my husband that he needed to get on board blah, blah, blah, (so maybe I was a little bitchy.... whatever) and come to bed so when the baby wakes again I can keep with the plan.  My husband has a tendency to fall asleep while watching television and then the TV stays on until all hours of the night while he snores away in the chair or on the couch.  Not the calm, quiet, dark ambiance I look for when trying to get the baby to sleep - although I think the snoring may work like white noise, not sure.

So the baby went back to sleep and woke again at 330am.  "Like clockwork" I thought to myself as I picked him up.  I know he stirred several times before that and whimpered but was able to go back to sleep on his own.   Mama was proud of him! This time however, he was standing up and crying so I went to him.  We went to the living room and I tried to rock him.  This upset him further.  I offered him water.  No dice.  He was not interested.  He cried for about ten minutes which was not pleasant but I just held him and walked around.  It was not consistent crying.  It happened in spurts where he would wail and then rest, then cry some more and then rest.  In fact, the longest amount of time he cried was while I was changing his diaper, but I figured while we are up might as well get some freshies on! After a few minutes he yawned and rested his head on my shoulder.  I walked around with him for a bit longer and once I knew he was asleep I placed him in his crib.  He went down without issue.  It only took a half hour this time.  Progress!

I went back to bed and like the night before, could not get back to sleep.  How frustrating!  I have the opportunity for sleep and my mind wont stop working long enough for me to catch some zzz's.  I didn't look at my phone because I didn't want to become engaged in surfing the web etc. so I just tossed and turned and tossed and turned.  The baby woke again at 530am.  I had not fallen back to sleep and was a little bitter about it but was happy that the baby got sleep! I again, picked him up and he had no interest in rocking.  He cried again for about ten minutes off and on and then I took him to the refrigerator and took out his milk.  This kind of woke him up a little and he immediately stopped crying.  Gosh, perhaps I will try it sooner tonight.  He drank a few ounces of his milk and went right to sleep in my arms.  He was willing to rock, walk around, sit in my bed with me.  He was out!  So I placed him in his crib and as soon as I got in bed he cried.  I picked him up, cradled him in my arms for a few minutes and was successful at putting him back in his crib. This time it had been 25 minutes.  I could have said a half hour again, but when you are looking for shortened periods of time every minute counts!

Before I knew it, I heard my husband talking on the phone and knew it was time to get up.  I opened my eyes to find the baby standing in his crib sorting laundry from the hamper that is placed next to his crib.  What a good boy!  I guess this means it's time to do laundry if the hamper is full enough to where he can reach the clothes!  Honestly, he is such a sweet boy!  No crying in the morning.  No nursing in the morning.  Just got up, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed out to stroller strides!

So how are my boobs you ask?  Well, a little heavy.  A little sore.  Not too bad.  I didn't have much pain when I completed the day weaning because I did it gradually.  Night weaning might prove to cause a little more discomfort.  I will keep you posted!

Tonight I will be going out to visit with some friends and the baby will be home with Papa.  I am curious to see if he is in his crib when I get home.  I am hoping he is at least asleep in his swing.  I am not sure if I will nurse him before I go out, but I am certain the baby will wake shortly after I return home at which point we will do our nursing session and then continue with our routine for the rest of the night.

Night Weaning ~ The Beginning

My son has recently developed a new habit.  You see, he starts out sleeping in his crib, but most every night, at some point, he ends up in bed with Mama and Papa. I don't mind him sleeping with us because I know it is temporary.  I didn't even mind nursing him when he woke.  Recently though he has begun climbing up on top of me in the middle of the night and latching on to my boobs.  I usually face away from him and he will climb up my back, attempting to get on the other side of my body and will then pull my top away from my breast for access.  That itself isn't as bad as the baby wanting to stay on top of me, not next to me, on top of me while he sucks on my boob and sleeps.  He often times will pull my hair in a way that I think he finds soothing (I find it anything but soothing).   Oh, and he practically chokes me by placing his arm on my throat.  When I try to place him next to me, ever so gently, he wakes and starts crying.  

I have made the decision that it is time for change.  I don't like who I have become with regard to night nursing.  While I am very accommodating to my son and treat him with nothing but affection, I quietly am resentful of the fact that I am up all night.  I want so badly to get more that three hours of sleep at a time and every time it seems like things are getting better, they just as quickly move back to the all night waking.  I have decided that since we have successfully day weaned, it is time to begin night weaning.  My all night boob diner is closing up shop.  I have truly enjoyed nursing my son, but he does not need to nurse all night long.  Last night the baby woke at 3am.  This was the third time he woke (I think. It may have been the fourth, but at some point you just stop counting).  I nursed him and he quickly went back to sleep.  

I couldn't fall back to sleep.  So I pulled my phone out from under my pillow - isn't it sad that I feel the need to sleep with my phone under my pillow?  I don't have a night stand or else the phone would rest there.  Anyway, I began reading a piece that someone had written about their tragic loss of a friend. It was extremely touching - and sad - and beautiful - and I found myself so deep in thought that I didn't think I would ever get back to sleep.  Suddenly it was 350am and the baby again woke and again, wanted to nurse.  I decided that I was going to try to put him back to sleep without nursing.  

We got out of the bed and headed into the living room where I offered the baby some water from his sippy cup.  He drank some and rested his head on my shoulder.  I sat in the rocker with him and he was calm for a minute and then fussed when he realized my boobs weren't coming out.  I stood up and walked around with him at which point he calmed and then sat down to rock again.  He fell asleep in my arms.  "Fantastic!" I thought as I went to put him in his crib, only to find that he cried when I put him down.  I picked him up again and repeated the same activities and finally was able to get the baby cradled in my arms and just swayed back and forth over his crib for what seemed like forever.  He was not sleeping but he was calm and very sleepy.  I gently placed him in his crib once he got to that point where I thought he would fall asleep.  He didn't, but he didn't cry.  I kept my hand on his chest and stayed with him for a few minutes until I thought he was sleeping.  I quietly walked away from the crib and just as I got in bed he started crying again.  "Oh man" I thought, "how do people do this all night?"  It had been almost two hours at this point.  I picked him up again and held him, rocked him for a minute and when he was once again heavy in my arms, I placed him in my bed at which point he went to sleep and slept for three hours until my husband got up.  Whenever my husband gets up the baby wakes and wants to get up.  

Something was different this morning though.  The baby woke and rather than wanting to climb on my and nurse, he simply sat up and played with the dog.  He didn't even try to wake me up.  Wow.  I wonder if I can do the same thing tonight?  I decided that I will nurse him as many times as I need to before I go to bed, but after I go to bed, the boobs are off limits until the morning (if the baby even wants them in the morning).  Today he went sixteen hours without nursing.  Sixteen effing hours!  I can't believe it!  That is two thirds of the day!  I am not sure if I will make through the night without giving in, but I am willing to give it a shot.  After all, I thought it was going to be hell trying to get the baby back to sleep without nursing.  I thought he would wail all night.  That is why I have not tried night weaning previously but he surprised me.  It wasn't bad.  It took forever, but I didn't give in and it was a peaceful awake time.  I have a renewed sense of confidence that I can do this.  I got this.


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Family Togetherness

What better way to start the new year than to spend time together as a family?  We opted to visit the park since we are having warm, sunny weather.  In addition to strolling about, Logan got to play on the playground equipment, rustle leaves and enjoy running his fingers through the sand.  I love my family.

Monday Fun Day ~ A Parade Float

Ever since I was a little girl I have enjoyed watching the Rose Parade on television.  As we were watching the parade this morning, I noticed that Logan was really enjoying it.  He started dancing as each band marched by.  To keep with the theme, I decided that our Monday Fun Day activity would be to build our own float.

I really wanted the little guy to participate in the activity, so I didn't put to much emphasis on the design and focused more on the decoration of the float.  If he was a bit older, I could explain that we were trying to make a dragon, for example, but he is too young to get this concept.  We had a lot of fun with it.

To begin I took a small box and covered it with brown paper so that we had a blank slate.  We cut a hole in the bottom of the box so that we could place it on top of one of Logan's trucks to wheel around.  We went outside and collected some supplies to decorate our float, such as flowers that had fallen off some plants, sticks, pine needles and leaves.  I also grabbed some cheerios and flakes of the outer layer of garlic and we went to town.  Logan basically ate the cheerios, so they didn't end up on our float.

I wouldn't say that our float is parade ready, but we had fun making it!

The hole for the truck wasn't quite big enough so it looks like our float sags in the back!

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Letting My Creativity Soar in 2012

It's that time of year again.  You know, the time when everyone says what they are going to change about their life and declare that this it the year. While I am not one to make new year resolutions, I do feel it is important every now and then to sit back, look at where you are and set some goals for the future.  As I reflect on what I have accomplished and struggled with over the past year, I have a rough idea of what I would like to work toward in the coming months. I plan to push myself,  yet I commit to participate in activities that are comfortable, come naturally and allow me to be creative.

*First and foremost, it is time to move into a bigger home.  Moving has transfered from the want to need category as we simply do not fit in this one bedroom apartment any longer.  Along with this, I would like to work on sleep training the baby and have him sleep in his own room (but honestly I would be happy with sleep no matter where it occurs).  I am hoping that with sleep training will come complete weaning from the breast, which in turn will assist in attempts to conceive a second baby.  There, I said it, therefore it shall be.  Right?

*Then there are the goals associated with my health.  I will continue to attend stroller strides and strive to attend an additional day a week.  I will schedule myself a dentist appointment.  I used to be really good at going to the dentist every six months.  As I grew older I found it less and less appealing to go (as if it ever was fun).  So when I got pregnant I used this as an excuse not to go.  Then I had the baby and used needing to watch the baby as an excuse not to go.  Now, I cannot think of any excuses and therefore I will make myself an appointment.  After all, I need to be a role model for my son, right?  Luckily, I have kept up with eye appointments and doctors visits, so I need not set goals for these activities.  I would love to say that I would work on my diet.  Not go on a diet (I don't believe in those), but eat in a more healthy manner.  Yes, I would love to say I would do this, but I have little faith that I would actually follow through.  I will try to cut back on my sugar intake.  Its getting out of control.  I used to drink hot cocoa- which contains a lot of sugar - on the weekends only.  Currently I drink one everyday.  This needs to stop.  I indulged in sweets over the holidays (cookies, candy, soda etc.) and it is time to start cutting back.  I won't / can't completely cut these items out of my diet, but I can vow to cut back!  Once I get the sugar intake under control we will start thinking about other unhealthy delights such as bacon (I have a problem!) and french fries.  I love me some In-n-Out!

*I also have goals related to this blog.  I recently created a twitter account for The Play Mat.  I now need to tweet.  I was never into tweeting and still find it difficult to blurt out little tidbits for people to read or care about, but I would like to try it.  Who knows, it could become an addiction!  I would like to add additional content (video etc.) to the blog.  Now that I have been posting for several months it is time to play around with the site a bit more.  I am excited to expand as this is where I can let my creative spirit soar! I am setting no timelines for this, rather letting it happen naturally.  

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