Diary of a non sleeping baby; part 3

Who said the third night was the easiest?! Totally wasn't last night. He cried all night, and had a really hard time settling down. BUT, I never got out of my bed; again. Whew hew for me! Lots of people told me it only took their babies 3 nights, but I guess that's not the case for us! WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY?!

It's quite possible there were a few factors, that made him really upset during the night. When he awoke this morning, he was completely freezing! With all his moving around he doesnt stay under his blanket, and his poor legs and feet were so cold! I usually put socks on him, but I guess I forgot last night. As if that wasn't enough....

he was full of poop! ahhh! I felt so bad! I mean, how long had he been poopy?! It wasn't crusty or anything so I know he wasn't poopy ALL night, but he could have been for a long time! (gross huh).

So that was our night. Lots of crying, lots of poop, lots of no sleep.

I THINK the husband is taking the monitor tonight, and is going on watch duty; so that should help me get some sleep tonight.

On another note; I understand some people just close the door to their babies room, and ignore them until morning, but I can't do that! One of the reasons I watch him on the monitor when he's awake and crying, is just to reassure myself that he's okay. It's so emotional and I'm dealing with lack of sleep, that I just need that reassurance to help me deal with it. Especially now that he's sitting and standing, I would hate for him to bang into the wood and start bleeding or something. Or what if he throws up, because he's crying so much (which our Dr. said not to be surprised if he does!)?! Watching him on the monitor allows me to watch for these things.

You understand, right?

A part of me can't believe I've been able to make it almost 10 months, with waking every 2-3 hours. Then there's the other part of me, that doesnt know any different! It's just been life, and I've learned to cope. Can you believe I don't take naps either?! I think the last nap I had, was when he was 2 weeks! I actually tried to nap earlier this week (after day one of letting him cry it out), but I just can't ever fall asleep. It is what it is.

So we'll see how tonight goes; hoping for less crying and for Kase to figure this sleeping thing out! Come on Kase; we're all pulling for you!

ps. I got 13 comments on the Part 1 post. Where did all of you go?!

Diary of a non sleeping baby; part 2

(no mama; I did not eat the chocolate)

Part 2

This post isn't going to be nearly as long as the previous one. First of all, I want to thank all of you; friends, family, twitter and blog followers, for your comments and encouragement yesterday. Many of your comments made me laugh (a zillion pacifiers in the crib eh?! The emergency room?!), and many of your comments made me so thankful for support, and the realization that non of us are in this alone! And Katie...I'm SOOOO not trying to scare you! Besides, isn't your baby already a great sleeper?!

Moving on...

Kase was obviously exhausted yesterday from not sleeping the night before, and had some great naps! I think at 5:30 he was still napping, and I went and got him up! Since he took such a late nap, he stayed up until 9 last night. Which honestly, I really like it when he stays up late. Why? Because WHEN he does wake up for the first time, it might be midnight or later, instead of like 10 if he goes to bed at 7? Make sense?!

Kase actually fell asleep while Edwin was holding him watching TV! The little guy just closed his eyes, I put him in his crib, and that was that. Yippie!

After eating some snicker doodle cookies and watching Modern Family (greatest show ever; well, almost) with the husband, I conked out myself. (It just struck me as a little strange, that I"m giving ya'll a play by play of my night. Now you know what a glamorous and exciting life I lead. haha)

I heard Kase cry a few times but he quickly fell back asleep. Or at least I think he did. I remember being so tired, that I could wake up to watch him on the monitor. So maybe he did a lot of crying, and Im just not aware?!

He made it all the way until 3 (whew hew!), which was the "im sitting up and really made at mom" crying time. He cried from 3-4:30 straight (who said they will fall asleep after like 30 minutes?! liars).

Sometimes I turn the monitor up because I want my husband to hear him, and do something about it. Isn't that horrible?! I don't think I REALLY mean to do it, but a very sleepy and emotional night time me, goes AWOL during the night. I almost woke him up, and asked him to pat him a little, but I stood my ground and left him alone.

So that was his crying time and he fell back asleep, and woke up again at 7:15. Im sure he would have slept later, but our alarms go off at 6:45 and there are 3 kids banging around getting ready for school! It doesnt matter how many times I say to get ready quietly; I know they try. Or maybe they don't. Our oldest is by FAR the loudest. He does everything by banging around. Seriously. I guess it is, what it is.

I feel good this morning. Even though he had that long spat of crying, I never got out of my bed. That's the first time in 9 1/2 months, that I haven't moved! I feel proud of myself. It seems to be getting better (yay!); although, I fully expect another few hours of crying tonight. We shall see!

You know what scares me?! That we FINALLY might have all this sleeping stuff figured out, and we're going to Florida next weekend. I'm pretty sure Kase will either be in a pack and play, or in our bed at the Hotel, and that may throw all this out the window?! I dont want to think about that. Hopefully not.

Ready for night 3...

Diary of a non sleeping baby

I realize I haven't blogged in a really long time. I've attempted to keep up with my cooking blog, so if you don't already follow, go check it out and give me some food love.

I decided to begin blogging about our journey to get our 9 1/2 month old to sleep through the night. Yes, because he still doesnt. If you have the time, come and read my posts. Laugh with me, cry with me, support me, love me!

Kase has never been a good sleeper. From day 1, he woke up all night and would not sleep anywhere but my arms. With this being my first baby and all, I did what I knew to do and have just tried to survive. My husband has supported me and my decisions, since Kase is my first and last bambino. Now, that doesnt mean he's agreed with my decisions! But I'm the mom, AKA; boss,right?!

Kase still wakes up every 2-3 hours. Occasionally he'll sleep 4, but that is super rare. Some nights, when he's sick or teething, he'll literally cry every hour and just not sleep. What do I do? I usually nurse him.

Disclaimer- I am not asking for your advice or your opinions, that everything I've done is wrong, and thats why he still wont sleep. :) I obivously realize some of my actions have led to this point.

I've received lots of advice; "ignore him all night, pat him back to sleep, let him sleep with you, do what you have to do". Everybody has a different opinion, and I think in the end, you do what you think is best for you and your family. Well, I think I'm to the point that dealing with him every 2 hours is NOT best for our family anymore.

Like I said, I've tried to just survive. It's very emotional and obviously tiring, to deal with waking up every 2 hours. I know that if I just nurse him, he'll go back to sleep; so thats what I've done. A few months ago we, I, wanted to try the "pat back to sleep method", so I did. It seemed to go pretty well, and for a few days straight, I didnt pick him up at all. Then he got sick, and all that went out the window.

That brings me to my next point. My excuses. Apparently I have tons of them. I've said Im going to let him cry it out, as soon as he's not sick. He seems to get sick like every other week, so I always feel like its a bad time to ignore him during the night. Then there's the whole issue that I just get so tired and emotional at night, I just can't handle it. Now that he's older, we've run into the issues of him sitting up and standing up in his crib. Would have been much easier to deal with, when he just laid there, right?!

I don't mean to make excuses, but I know thats what they are. Now Im in this situation of having an almost 10 month old, that wants to nurse all night and be comforted by his mama. Comforted by mama; I love that he needs and wants me. Maybe thats a whole seperate blog post?! There's nothing like the bond between a mama and baby. Can I get an Amen? I am so thankful that I had the chance to have a baby, and a husband that was willing to go down that road again for me. My other 3 kids, are my kids. But I didnt birth them, and I so longed to have a biological child. Maybe even another; I kid, I kid. I think my husband and I would both die or go insane if that happened.

All that leads up to last night. Last night Kase woke up 1 1/2 hours after falling asleep. Why can't he just stay asleep?! I just think to myself; what the heck are you waking up for?! So, Husband took the baby monitor and went in the family room. He said we're going to let him cry, and you can go to sleep so you wont hear him, and know whats going on.

Of course I couldn't sleep. Even with the door closed I could hear him cry. I sat there in bed, half tramatized, but trusted my husband in dealing with it. He cried for 1 1/2 straight hours and fell asleep. So I finally went to sleep, but he woke up again 2 hours later. He put himself back to sleep, but woke up again and literally cried til morning.

So we didnt sleep last night. BUT, I'm proud of us! It wasn't nearly as emotional, as the nights I"ve held him crying, and tried to get him to sleep.

Here were the problems with last night:

We don't have a bumper around the crib anymore, because months ago he began pulling it down and on top of himself. So last night his legs kept sticking out of the slats, and getting stuck! I went up to his room a few times to get his legs unstuck, because I felt it was dangerous. That just really pissed him off, to have me in the room and then leave. So we're going to figure something out about that. His crib is solid wood in the back so the bumper wont tie back there. Im thinking I'll probably cut the bumper, and have it just tie around the sides and the front.

Other than that, he just sat and cried. I couldnt beleive he didnt wear himself out, and sleep more. Maybe tonight he'll figure it out, or maybe he'll just cry all night again....

Stay tuned.

Touches of Fall

Who says you can't decorate for fall with a Christmas tree?! Get some orange lights, and its just fine for fall!

I LOVE going to Hobby Lobby the day after Halloween, and picking up more pumpkins on sale. I have my eye on more white ones. :)

Family Pictures/Kids

In no way shape or form, do I apologize for the mass amount of images! Thanks to Tasha Pool for our family pictures!

These pictures were taken by Tasha Pool at Homeshade Photography

Funny 1 liners from my labor with Kase

My mom wrote down all the funny stuff I said, while in labor and delivery with Kase. She just found the piece of paper and shared them with me! Im a pretty funny girl. I was drugged up pretty good (had preclampsia and was on all sorts of stuff for it, that made me pretty loopy and feel really groggy!) I dont remember saying half of this stuff!

Enjoy!

* Nurse- "Michelle, whats your highest level of education, and your job?"
Me- "Masters, and homemaker. I make smart cookies!"

* Foreign anesthesiologist- He asked me three questions with his BACK to me.
Me to Nurse- "What is he saying?!"(I couldnt understand him!)
Me to Anesthesiologist- I'm putting my life in your hands; can you please look at me?!"

*Me- "I haven't eaten in over 24 hours. I would like to be eating a Cinnabon during my last push, followed by french toast, and a Citrus Squeeze from Jamba Juice"

*Nurse to me- "the contractions are getting stronger now, so this will really test your pain tolerance."
Me- "I have IBS, it can't be worse than that!"
Nurse- "Oh, you'll be fine then!"

*My Dad was standing behind a curtain during delivery, auto taping the delivery
Me- "That has to be illegal!"

*We had not made up our minds on Kase's middle name; Holden or Michael. The lady to complete the birth certificate walked in and asked, so we told her to come back in 5 minutes!
Me- "What's his middle name?!"
Edwin- "Let's play rock, paper, scissors for it!"
My Dad- "Since Edwin likes poker, I think it should be Kase Holdem"

Hope that gave you a good laugh!

Kase eats like a champ

These are a few weeks old, but I've been meaning to post these pictures! We've also given him some applesauce, peaches, and green beans and he eats like a champ! Edwin, hubby, says he's never had a baby (or known of a baby)that has done as well! I dont give it to him everynight, since he doesn't "need" it quite yet. It certainly doesn't make him go longer in between nursing, because he still nurses to go to sleep, than wakes up 2 hours later (then 2 hours later, then 2 hours later; you get the point! I've been meaning to sleep train him, but he's been sick this week so i've been waiting!) I'm under the impression that some babies naturally sleep through the night really young, and others just don't. Kase definately doesn't. With a family of 6, he's in our room and its difficult to let him cry it out, when my husband needs sleep! We're doing what we can, and will figure it out :)

My first cereal

Both our older boys are playing football, and I'll have to post some of those pictures soon. They're both having a blast and are studs.