Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sleep training - one month later

Say cheese!

I have a confession to make. Up until one month ago when we began our 'sleep training', I was still nursing Caleb to sleep. Nursing or sometimes bouncing, but either Alan or I stayed with him until he was sound asleep. This doesn't sound like the worst thing a parent could do but stopping this habit was essential to the progress we've made on the sleep front. The great news is, we have made progress and A LOT of it! I've achieved and surpassed my dream of sleeping for a 3 hour stretch and I consistently get 5,6, 7 hour stretches so I truly feel like I'm over the hump of the exhaustion that comes with a newborn (or a one year old in my case).

I now put Caleb in his crib drowsy, but still awake, after going through our night routine and he is able to sleep from 7-5 without waking. If he does wake, he can put himself back to sleep like a pro. He will sometimes wake and fuss for a few minutes, but it rarely amounts to anything more than some moaning. If he does really start to cry, we go in for a quick back rub and then let him cry for a few minutes until he is back to sleep.

We have yet to get the full 12 hour sleep, and I admit that when he wakes up at 5, I have been bringing him into bed with me to sleep until 7. This isn't ideal and I know I'll need to deal with this another way soon, but it seems to make the most sense at 5 am when I'm desperate for a couple more hours of sleep. For the first few weeks, this didn't lead to him waking up earlier each night, but this weekend he woke up at 3 then 2, so I feel like it is time to deal with this so we don't slip back too much. I should really start either nursing him in his room, letting him cry for a few days until he sleeps longer or just getting up with him at 5. None of these options sound overly appealing, but I will have to try something soon. I don't mind feeding him once at 5, but he seems to feed for at least half an hour in the morning and I'm reluctant to give up sleep at that hour of the day....which is why he ends up in back in bed with us. I feel like I was misled into thinking that once your baby began sleeping well, they would just continue to sleep well, but in actuality it is something you always need to keep on top of. Alan and I can't let our guards down yet!

All in all, I would say we've made amazing progress on the sleep front. We actually have evenings to ourselves, and I feel much more rested. Things are not 100% where I want them to be yet, but I still feel like we are doing great, especially compared to where we were a month ago.

My parents were in town this weekend and we went to see Tyvonn play hockey. Cale, of course, found a broom at the rink and my dad took this great shot (the other photos are from him, too)

Although brooms are still unquestionably his favorite thing, Cale has found a new household item to play with and he even developed a new party trick we like to call 'vacuum lips'.


Friday, February 18, 2011

Fancy footwear

My feet are warm, dry and stylish!

I finally found a pair of boots that actually stay on Caleb's feet! After months of unsuccessfully experiementing with babylegs/socks/shoe/boot combinations, I saw a kid in the library wearing a pair of Stonz, and I chased down her parents to find out wear they bought them and immediately went to pick up a pair. They are amazing. They fit over his slippers, have drawstrings to keep them over his pantlegs, are warm, waterproof and made in Canada! I'm in love...and if you are also on the never-ending search for decent winter footwear they are 50% off on the Stonz website right now (click here to check out their selection).

You may not believe this, but my other footwear fantasy came true last weekend. While at Frenchy's, Lydia found something that until now only existed in my dreams...

The complete matching family set!!!!
In other non-footwear related news, Alan is off to Memphis with David, so Cale and I are on our own for a few days. We spent a bit of time at our local garage while we were getting an oil change and within the first minute of being there Cale saw and ran to get a broom that was hiding in the corner (yes, brooms are still his favorite toy, although he gets pretty excited by the vacuum now, as well). The mechanics thought is was hilarious and were so impressed with his skills that they even offered him a job!! We also went to watch Tyvonn play hockey a couple of days ago and Caleb managed to find brooms stashed in 3 different locations around the rink...it's like his got a sixth sense! Such a talented boy we have!
Stay tuned for an exciting sleep undate coming next week and have a great weekend, everyone.

Monday, February 14, 2011

What a difference one year makes

Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day 2011

Friday, February 11, 2011

Dancing King

Here's a video of Caleb showing off his hilarious dance moves to his favorite song. He also does the 'more' sign to get us to sing it again. I've got a feeling we have a youtube hit on our hands with this one!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

First protest!

First off, I see I wrote in Cale's birthday post that Mama was his favorite word and Dada was only used once in a while...well that has completely changed. It is all Dada, all the time here now! I think I've been bumped out of the top spot, but it is so ridiculously cute that they are best buddies that I don't mind a bit! In other news, we still have some snow on the ground!! This is our 3rd winter in Duncans Cove and we've never had snow last for more than a day. Even if there is snow in Halifax, it is usually green out here. I had to take the opportunity to use the little snow we have to finally build a snowman with Caleb.

Coasty the Snowman

Caleb had his first chance to let his inner activist shine today! I attended a World Wetlands Day function put on by the Province with some of my colleagues from the Ecology Action Centre. Although it was great to hold an event in appreciation wetlands, we thought it would have been an amazing opportunity to release the long-overdue Provincial Wetland Policy, which the government made no mention of. We decided to attend the event wearing thought bubbles over our heads reading 'I wonder where the wetland policy is' and just casually mingling with everyone there without saying a thing about it. Quite an effective strategy to draw some attention to the issue, I thought...but the real kicker was Caleb and another baby wearing signs on their back saying 'This policy was due before I was born'!! It was a hit. Caleb was running around the event (mostly running toward the cheese tray), tugging on the pant legs of Ministers and making sure everyone noticed him and read his sign. Perfect!

Watch out, David Suzuki, there's a new environmental activist in town!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Sleep training

My little guy on his birthday

To cry or not to cry...that is the question that plagues all new parents during the first year of a babies life. We have been determined not to let Caleb cry it out at night and have instead spent many hours by his bedside patting and bouncing him to sleep. We usually see some progress using this method, but ultimately within a week or so, he is back to waking up every 1-2 hours which means I end up bringing him back into bed with me and we find ourselves right back at square one. Now that Caleb is one and I'm back to work part time, the exhaustion has once again caught up with me and we have decided to try the 'cry it out sleep training method'. I've been against this in the past because it just seems like a really harsh way for a baby to learn to sleep - crying until he is exhausted enough to finally pass out...it just didn't seem like a good way to form positive sleep habits. But, after a year of co-sleeping and frequent waking, we were ready to try anything. My goal is to get a 3 hour stretch of sleep. 4, 5 or 6 hours seems like asking too much at this point...so 3 is what I'm really, really hoping to achieve. I know that sounds crazy, but a mom is allowed to dream!
Birthday suit

So, we tried sleep training. Tuesday was our first night (3 nights ago). Here's how it went.

Night 1 - Cale wakes crying after 1 hour. We went in so he would know he was not alone, and then we let him cry. In the kitchen, Alan and I sat looking at each other with pained faces...we agreed to let him cry for 20 minutes then reassess the situation. After 18 grueling minutes Caleb was asleep and slept until 5:30 when I went in and fed him and he fell back asleep until 7:30. Not nearly as bad as we had thought!! Maybe we can do this, after all.

Night 2 - similar story. Awake after 1 hour, cried for 20 minutes, back to sleep until 3...cried for 20 minutes then slept until 6. Quick feed, sleep until 7:30. Ok...we are really making progress.

Night 3 (last night) - not so good. We had been told by friends that the first 2 nights are the worst..but not in our case. We had a similar start to the night, but at 1:30 he cried and cried and cried. We went in to reassure him we were still here every 20 minutes, but after an hour I'd reached my absolute maximum time and went in to feed him at 2:30. I honestly felt like I had failed...like I was doing something really wrong by breaking down and feeding him, but this morning I see things a bit differently. I think that parents need to remember that there is no Right way to do things, and that you have to trust your own intuition. You can't really fail as long as you are trying to do what feels best for you and your baby. Yes, after 3 nights he still isn't sleeping through the night, and I am still longing for my golden '3 hour straight sleep'...but leaving him to cry for longer last night really felt wrong, so feeding him was the best thing at that time.

I think we just need to keep taking it night by night, trying to give him lots of chances to fall asleep on his own, and when it just isn't working, going to him and helping him however we can. Maybe tonight will be great, maybe it won't. I really don't believe there is a magic '3 night solution'. I think going gradually works best for Caleb, Alan and I and I know that one of these days we'll have a baby (and a mama) who sleeps through the night.

Alan playing to a packed house at the 'Bluegrass Brunch' last weekend