Achieving Sleep Perfection

Superman has never been a bad sleeper...in fact, some may claim that he is a great sleeper.  I have spent enough days and nights near tears when he wouldn't fall asleep to say that he isn't a great sleeper, but I am not really complaining either. 

Lately things have been a bit rough on the sleep front and just like any other time something gets rough in my life, I hit the pause button and evaluate. 

What has been happening: Superman was sleeping 8:20pm-5:30ish, waking for a feeding and going back to sleep till 7:30-8am.  Then he started waking up a for an extra feeding around 2am and waking up for good around 7am.  He has also not been napping as well as he has in the past.  He has been waking up 15-20 minutes into the nap or in some cases, just refusing to fall asleep at all. 

Things that have changed recently: He learned to crawl and is working on pulling himself up to standing.  He just got another tooth and has been teething really hard for the last couple of weeks. I am back at boot camp which means the morning nap is later than it used to be.  He has started eating solids as part of his lunch.  He dropped a feeding after his nap.  He has also started not wanting to go down for a nap if he fell asleep in the car on the way home from an outing whereas he would transition with minimal difficulty before.

As you can see there are a lot of new things or things that have changed recently.  When I was thinking about all of this the first thing I thought was, "Wow, I need to cut this kid some slack! He is growing, changing, developing so much right now.  No wonder he can't sleep!" 

This certainly didn't help him start sleeping better, but I found that I was a lot more understanding of him and therefore a lot more patient (No, I am not a saint. There were still tears on my part on those days when he wouldn't sleep, but they were tears of sympathy and frustration versus just frustration.).  Thinking about all of this also helped me "let go" of any previous schedule we had and really listen to what he needed. 

I thought he might have needed more milk than he was getting so I tried adding back the nursing that he seemingly didn't need anymore and tried that for a few days.  That didn't change anything.  He would only nurse a couple of minutes at the most and he still waking up for the second feeding.   So I let him drop the nursing after the nap and then started offering both breasts every time he nursed.  After about 2 days he slept through the night again (well till 5:30)!  So I have been doing that now for a couple more days and things seem to be improving on the night sleep front.  Could it be a coincidence?  Sure, but it seems to be working so I am not about to change it.

The naps however, have not improved (YET), but that doesn't mean I haven't learned anything. 

One of the things I have realized is that he has settled into the nap after boot camp really well.  He ends up sleeping most days from 11:15ish-1 for his first nap.  If I try to put him down for his first nap earlier on non-boot camp days? He does not want to sleep.  He may be down right exhausted, but he will not nap.  So on non-boot camp days I am adding in an extra feeding where he is doing what I like to call a "NOB" or "nap on boob".  He isn't really nursing a ton, but he is resting and that helps him make it to the actual nap time.  When I first tried the extra feeding, he would fall asleep and I would try and put him into the crib for the nap.  Every single time I tried to do this? He woke up and wouldn't nap.  So I have had to give myself a little reminder when I start to think that he might just actually nap earlier this time, to resist the urge and let him "NOB" for a few more minutes.   If I am successful in resisting this urge? I am rewarded with a good first nap later that morning. 

I have also learned that I need to be back home before he starts getting tired.  This is much easier said than done, thus the reason I am still having some problems.  I have found that if he does fall asleep in the car and he isn't going to transition for his nap, I can play on the floor with him for 15-25 minutes and try again.  It doesn't always work, but it is always worth a shot. 

The final thing I have learned?  Do not let anyone or anything make really loud noises when he is napping.  I really hadn't stopped to think about what could be waking him up until I was upstairs when our dog Lola shook right in front of his bedroom door and Superman woke up.  Darn dogs!  I love them dearly, but I love my well rested baby more.   For whatever reason this does not wake him up when he is asleep at night, just when he is napping.  So, from this day forward dogs are going collarless during nap time.  

We also had a solicitor come to our door today and that got our other dog, Clyde, barking.  I was a total blubbering idiot to him.  I think my comment to him was: "baby.sleeping.dogs.no.stop.barking.pleasedon'twakethebaby.I need to go!"  So now I have hung this sign on my front door:

I was contemplating typing it up really nice and laminating it, but then I found this sign and directions on how to make it here at Samster Mommy.  Only problem is that I don't want them to knock either since my dogs would then bark.  Any ideas for what it should say instead?


TTFN,

Mommy C

I live in the "Land of Schedules"

I bet that most people in this world are capable of going through their life productively without a schedule or a list of to-do items.  I bet there are a whole bunch more people that just need a list of to-do items to be productive.  Sadly, I am not either of these types.  I know that now.  Now, that I know this...I can move forward.  Let me explain...

Hubby and I were going over all the Fly Lady stuff and I was feeling really overwhelmed with all that I was "supposed" to accomplish (Note: I realize now that more people than not have their husbands help with the big cleanings.  I was hoping to have his time at home to be free so we could go on adventures with our son instead of spending it cleaning.).  The first thing we decided was that maybe we did need to spend one nap time on the weekend working on the house.  It would still be less time than we used to spend on the house on the weekends pre-kid and it would lift some of the stress off of my shoulders. 

I still didn't know how much I was going to be able to accomplish each day and the three different pages of different lists were all too overwhelming for me.  So Hubby then had made a suggestion that I attach time values to each task so that we could see how much time is needed to get all the things done.  You should have seen me squirm at this idea.  I am sure that I could do hours of therapy on this topic, but for whatever reason assigning times to tasks sounded like the most constricting, controlling, awful thing to do.  But, I took a second and realized that he was probably on the right track so I got to thinking about how I function when I am teaching. 

When I am teaching I use a schedule.  I block out parts of the day for specific subjects and then break down those chunks of time with specific tasks that will help us reach certain objectives.  Sure I wrote down times for the chunks and thought about time for the tasks, but I never wrote down times for the specific tasks (I remember hating the fact that I had to write down those times when I first started teaching.).

So I thought maybe I could create a "lesson plan" for my week?  I could block out the times of day that I would be able to clean and fill in those blocks with specific tasks each day of the week.  That way I would know that everything would get done by the end of the week as long as I got things done each day. 

So I sat down and created my "lesson plan" and it felt great.  Not only did I feel like it was in a format that I understood, but I also was able to see that I could actually get everything done by the end of the week.  I was also able to go through the cleaning lists that Fly Lady has and get rid of a bunch of things that aren't applicable. 

I showed the schedule to Hubby and I could tell it wasn't his thing, that he would have done it differently, but it didn't matter.  He saw that things were going to get done and he was pleased. 

Hallelujah! We had a plan!  We are on the same page!  We are happy! 

I am sure that it is going to need some tweeking as we get started and maybe even more tweeking as Superman's needs change.  But for now, it is fabulous!!  I even have time blocked off so that I can work on my blog.

So what I want to know today is: what do you do to keep organized?  Do you have a to-do list? A routine that you follow?  Please leave me a comment and tell me, I would love to hear it!

TTFN,

Mommy C

Wordless Wednesday: Every Puppy Should Have A Boy

Erma Bombeck said that "every puppy should have a boy" and I can't agree more!

Fly away home...

I am a disorganized person.  I try really hard to be organized and clutter free, but sadly I fail miserably.  It doesn't help that I have ADD and am normally medicated.   Despite the fact that I have actually been off medication most of my life, I don't do well that way.  I went off the medication when we started trying to get pregnant and continue to be off them so I can nurse Superman.  That means I have been off for a whopping 2 whole years (but who is counting?).

I don't know why I think that now that I am a mother I should be able to be more organized and less cluttered.  Maybe because I believe in the 1950s house wife and want to be the 2010 version??  Okay, I know that sounds looney, but there is something perfect about having a clean home, the meals cooked from scratch, and the laundry done 100% wrinkle free.  I mean I am home now, shouldn't I be the one responsible for all of this?  Isn't it my duty to take care of Superman AND the house?

Well it turns out that you really have to find a happy medium somewhere (why does everything have to be a happy medium?).  After talking to several people I have learned that those 1950s house wives? Yeah, they ignored their kids for the most part.  One person told me that her mom sanitized her and her brother's nursery every single day and what did she do with her kids during this time? Stuck them in the play pen and ignored them.  She looks back and remembers her mom cleaning, not playing with her, reading books with her, or singing songs with her.  So how do I want Superman to remember me?  I want him to have memories of singing, and dancing, and playing with me. So the balance....I still need to do some cleaning, but not when Superman is awake.  So if I am going to accomplish all that I need to accomplish during his nap times and have some downtime for me, I need a system. 

I think I once wrote that I was joining Fly Lady and she was going to solve all my problems.  Well, she has this Fly Baby intro program thing where you add one thing everyday, but some days were lame and I just didn't get into it.  However, I still thinks she has the answers for me.  So, I am going to spend a couple of days reading through all the intro days, figure out all that I need to know, and jump in with two feet.  I feel like I can do it better when I know the whole scope of the program and can get started from day 1. 

If you don't know Fly Lady, I highly recommend checking her out.  She will teach you how to shine your sink and let me tell you...it is oddly satisfying.  Seriously.  The intro on her welcome page starts like this:

Are YOU living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) like Franny in the pink sweats? Do you feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn? Hopeless and you don't know where to start? Don't worry friend, we've been there, too.

 How can I not feel like she can solve all my problems when she describes me to a T?? So stay tuned folks, I will give you updates ever so often about my progress.  In the meantime, if you are living in CHAOS? Go check her out and learn to shine your sink.  It will make you smile.  Promise.


TTFN,

Mommy C