hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

Ever since our youngest was born, sleep has been one of our biggest challenges. After months and months of two steps forward one step back, and trial and error (oy, lots of error!), we can finally say we are making some progress. Baby and Daddy still sleep on the couch. Every night though, for about a month, Daddy gets her corner ready just how she likes it. Then she cries because she doesn't want to be apart from Mommy. But then he says its time for a story... She quiets down, settles in and waits. Then, every night, Daddy tells her a story using signs. They are usually about a baby, and a daddy, and going outside. And when Daddy forgets a sign or doesn't know one, he asks her...and she always knows, and shows him. She listens, she smiles, and she signs along. When they finish, Daddy says a prayer with her, lays her down, and covers her with her weighted blanket. And for the first time in her life, she falls asleep by herself, without nursing, being held...

Look who fell asleep on her own!   In her own bed     As most of you know we have been working on getting Kit to sleep in her own bed. To catch up if you missed, you can do it here .   It only took lots and lots of reading/snuggling/wrestling with Daddy. And several twisty nursing sessions where she was sideways, or nearly upside down, and her leg constantly flipping back and forth!   I finally couldn't take it any more. I put her on her bed and told her she could go ni-night there or with Daddy. She settled into her bed. Pulled her pillow up over her, and fell asleep reading her book.   Hip. Hip. Hooray!      

 If you're just joining us and you are wondering why I need to figure out how to transition my baby from the couch into the toddler bed we just bought (fantastic flea market find!), you can get all caught up here , here , here , and the first few paragraphs here .   Our mission :   Get this baby -     To sleep in this bed -       In our room. Someday. This year?     Step one: get baby onto bed.         Almost...     Check!     Step two: get baby to understand that it is not just a trampoline.     Ummmm...maybe later.   Step three: introduce pillow.         Okay...abort further pillow attempts.   Step four: associate bed with a plesant experience.     Check!   Step five: explain concept of "ni-night" on new bed....

Well, maybe not as exciting as the title led you to believe, but we kept busy yesterday anyway. Here is the surprise I walked in on. Kit was sitting right in the middle of it when I found her. Feeding herself fistfuls of course. Half of a giant bag of Rice Krispies dumped out on the bench. Miraculously, there was relatively little on the floor. Grace's animals seem happy to have a snack! To put in perspective how much cereal this is, here it is in my 13x9 inch baking dish. This was what we were able to salvage for future consumption. Hope your Sunday afternoon was far more relaxing!  Here's what else she's been up to. She has a new sleep oddity to add to her ever growing list. In the past we've occasionally laid a pillow over her legs and hips to provide pressure when she sleeps. Sometimes it works and others not so much. Lately though, as in for the last five days, she has been wanting a pillow on her. She has actually pulled one on to...

Kit's sleep issues have morphed. Now she can only fall asleep if someone else, specifically, Daddy, holds her. This is a wonderful blessing in many ways! I have a reliable way now for her to get a nap and I can (usually) work on some chores. This backfires on Victor's workdays though. Some days, her nap can wait until he gets home if he's done early enough. On Tuesday he stayed an extra 15 or 20 minutes when he came home for lunch to put her to sleep. After she conked out, I moved her to the couch and Daddy went back to work. Thursday and Friday were not so lovely and peaceful around here at naptime. There was no Daddy, but there was certainly one sleepy little girl. Boy can she put up a fight when she's determined, which is, well - always.   Thursday was bad, but pretty short. Only 30 minutes or so before she caved. Yesterday, it was war! I read her stories. I had the fan on. I tried her noise machine. I put on music. We rocked. We didn't rock. So...

We received our weighted blankets a little over a week ago. Kits weighs 4 pounds. Zak's weighs 11. Wow! This thing is heavy. Resting Easier! Kit still won't sleep at night with it covering her, but sometimes she'll nap with it, so progress! What she will let me do at night is roll it up and squish it up next to her. She then has pressure from both sides, one side from the couch cushion, the other from the blanket. Also she has a cushion up top, so she can push against it if she wants. We have seen much improvement at night. She let's me put her down easily into her little cubbyhole after she's asleep. That alone is huge! A few times she has even stopped nursing and gone to curl up there and go to sleep on her own!!! Beyond HUGE!! Not enough exclamation points ever to convey my excitement! Next, all week long she has woken up just once, a few nights twice! AND...She's not crying when she wakes up! YAY! YAY! And double YAY!! I'm not eve...

I'm trapped in the bathroom. Trapped because if I open the door and go out, then Kit will start wailing all over again. I now have to wait until I get the all clear from Victor. That means she's asleep and I am permitted to move about my own home freely. It's 1:30 am and I'm stuck in our freezing bathroom with no heat because the only way for my baby to fall asleep with someone else is for me to be completely out of sight and hearing range. Interference I've been trying to put Kit to sleep for over an hour now. She's completely exhausted, her eyes red rimed and heavy. But something is keeping her awake. She has some kind of unfulfilled need that we haven't met that is not allowing her brain to shut down and let sleep take over. She kept nursing then popping up like her body had a spring in it. When I'd try to talk to her calmly or help her lay down she would throw her head and body back. Right into the back of the couch which is squared of...

Yay! My baby slept in her own crib for three and a half hours last night! That is the longest the she has stayed there in a very long time. AND... she wore her footed pajamas! Without yelling, or any excessive tugging , clawing  and crying .     The Who and What Kit hasn't slept on her own in her bed all night since the minute she was born. Yes, even in the hospital, when it was time to settle down for the night, she would cry. We would check her diaper. We would swaddle her. Very tightly, just the way she liked it .We would lay her in that plastic bassinet thingy just like the nurses did. We would try giving her a pacifier, she would just spit it out. Then cry, and cry and cry and cry. Daddy would try and hold her, rock her, sing to her. More crying. Finally I would get ready to nurse her and as soon as Daddy would put her in my arms she would stop! Instant sleep. And I wouldn't even have to nurse her every time.  ...