NIGHTY-NIGHT

night-time is going pretty rough around these parts.

since our car accident last week,
little miss has been acting strange.
don't get me wrong,
she still our her sweet curious baby,
but something is bothering her.

i think its molars.






she doesn't want to sleep
or nurse, or eat, or play, or cuddle...

it so pitiful.
she arches her back to get down...
then immediately turns around to be picked back up.

and she is doing this.
all. day. long.
constantly.

she's throwing fits.
temper tantrums...
i never remember any of the children i nannied going through this this early on.

it breaks my heart that she can't come right out and say,
"mama... i feel... [blank]"
"mama... it hurts"
"dada, help me"

now. be aware... i am running on minimal sleep,
and thats probably not always a best idea to start a post.
but its life. [and im praying one day i will look at this, 
read and smile. remembering that it only lasted for a little while]

i know her teeth are bothering her,
but now im starting to wonder...
is it something else?

the past few nights i have gotten her to sleep by
putting her in the boba or ring sling and walking in circles
around the house. the christmas tree. the kitchen.

she knows if i stop walking.
or even if i walk in a straight line down the hall...
smart girl... a genius i tell you!

and even when she does fall asleep
its only for an hour or two.
then she is up again. over and over...

my patience is wearing thin.
i can't see straight anymore.
i keep trying to remind myself,
"she's trying to figure this out too"

tonight, one thought that struck me
in the shower [the best place for revelations]...
is that we don't have a schedule.
we have never really been that family.

im starting to doubt what i am doing.
im starting to worry that im doing a disservice to her
by not having a schedule. a constant pattern.

so tomorrow,
we will start a "routine".
i like the way that sounds much better. ;)

does anyone have any specific routine? schedule?
night time ritual for your littles?

what things work for you?
don't work?

come on mama's... i need all the help i can get!

as much as i love walking her to sleep,
my body can't take much more midnight walking laps.




xoxo
kate

4 comments:

  1. We are trying to start an night time routine. LO sleeps with us so it's so easy for us to just do the things we would normally do before he got here. We don't have a specific bed time or specific things we do. I've been reading a lot on this and some things I've found that I like are to dim the lights and keep things quiet. We keep just the lamp on my husbands side of the bed on and turn everything else off. We also turn on the humidifier for the white noise and since LO has trouble with congestion.


    He usually eats around 630 or 7 and then again around 9ish so we are trying to har dinner done and cleaned up and headed upstairs by 730.

    I also read that it can be relaxing for both mommy and baby to nurse in a warm bath right before bed, but my little doesn't seem to like the bath. I haven't tried this yet, but I want to.


    So far, keeping it quiet seems to help some, but he is still up every couple of hours. He's not teething but we've been battling a severe diaper rash.

    Good luck! I love reading your blog!

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    1. angela- thank you so much! we co-sleep/bed-share as well. which makes me a little confused on how to do day time naps... sad i know!

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  2. Hi there Kate!! We don't cosleep. It never worked for us very well, including Mason. He likes his own space in the bed to waller in. However, he is 17 mos old and still wakes quite a bit in the night, so I understand your lack of sleep. I've learned that if I give him a little time he works it out and goes back to sleep on his own, fairly quickly. We still struggle with naps now and again as well. Sometimes going outside to run around helps make him tired enough to sleep. I think our troubles are teeth as well. I also think that the odd numbers are more difficult that even numbered years. The terrible two's everyone refers to weren't nearly as bad as the ones and threes....at least with my other 2. Mason does the same thing. Not happy one minute and then changes his mind. It's difficult to keep up with what makes them happy. Mason gets up around 6 or 7. We snuggle, have breakfast, and start playing. He starts getting fussy around 11, but sometimes I try to keep him up a bit longer, so he'll nap better. That helped me tremendously with him!! I nurse and rock him for a bit and before he completely goes to sleep I lay him in his crib so he sees I'm in the bed and okay. Sometimes I pat him and kiss his feet and play with his hair a minute. I then leave the room. Sometimes he cries, but only for a few minutes. If he cries really hard I go back in and calm him. Sometimes I rock him on my shoulder and then lay him back down. I keep telling him it's ni-night time. He's tired, so I know he's ready. It's really a hard transition getting them to nap or sleep on their own. At least it has been with Mason. Sometimes I feel like I have cabin fever myself and when I can't seem to get him down to sleep it's worse. Sometimes I have to let him lay there and walk away and let him work it out on his own....for my own sanity. It's okay though. I walk away calmly knowing that this is a hurdle that needs to happen. Mason is not going to be damaged from me having 5 minutes to clear my head from the lack of sleep and struggle with him. It makes me think better and usually he calms down himself or when I return to the room is ready to have me lay him down and pat him to sleep. As moms we want to make everything happen calmly and happy. But sometimes they learn through the struggle themselves and the best thing we can do is to allow them the opportunity to do that. We are right there though....listening and waiting for them to calm down. I think it's harder on us that it is them. This too shall pass Kate. Be kind to yourself and fair to you as well. Good luck!!!

    Paige

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    Replies
    1. Paige,
      thank you so much for sharing! i love that you call it ni-night time! one of the baby girls i used to nanny for said, "ni-night" and its just stuck with both my husband and me, so thats what we call it!! ;)

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