Seeping....or lack thereof

We. Are. Tired.

If you're a parent, you probably understand the struggle of getting a small child to sleep through the night, or through a nap, or through ten minutes, for that matter. Or perhaps you're one of the few parents blessed with a child that has been sleeping through the night since the day you brought her home. If this is you, please count your blessings and give the rest of us some sympathy!

We've really struggled with Lucy's sleeping. She's an absolutely delightful child when she's awake. She laughs, she plays, she hugs and kisses quicker than you can wipe the slobber off your face. But when it comes time to nap or go to bed for the night, girlfriend wants to SNUGGLE and be HELD. She'll fall asleep just fine but getting her to stay asleep is a completely different ballgame.

I tried the "cry it out" method when she was pretty small- maybe 1 1/2 or 2 months old and I gave it a good 25 minutes. She. Screamed. She was far more stubborn than I and I ended up going in to get her. It was later that week that we took her in and found out she had some pretty severe acid reflux. We put her on baby Prilosec and our pediatrician told us that excessive crying (i.e. letting her "cry it out") could lead to lots of swallowed air and an increase in gas, which in turn would create a more uncomfortable baby than with which we started. No good. So, I decided I didn't want to let her cry herself to sleep, I didn't mind holding her and I would do the best I could.

Fast forward four months and we're still struggling. What's confusing is that some days she'll sleep for 2 hours at nap time, no problems or through the night without a sound. Other times, she'll be sleeping for ten minutes and wake up. I've tried for HOURS to get her to go back to sleep, to no avail. This, my friends, is sooooo frustrating. Especially when mama is running on little sleep herself.

Nate is a wonderful helper at night. He gets up and helps with changing and swaddling while I get ready for a 30-minute rocking/feeding session. At that point, there's not much he can do, so he goes back to sleep. But he has to go to work the next day and be productive so sleep is a must for him. I can wander around the house in my pj's like a zombie all day if need be, but that isn't an option for him. I also hold onto the hope that I'll maybe, just maybe get a small little nap if she decides to sleep. He helps big time on the weekends, letting me sleep in and playing with his sweetie on Saturday mornings.

The inconsistency is getting very old and very exhausting.

We've been calling our friends with small children asking for advice. Here are some things we've already considered:

* teething
* growth spurt
* new foods SHE eats
* foods I eat that don't agree with her
* too much dairy
* too cold/hot in her room
* acid reflux- increasing the dosage (Dr. approved, of course)
* learned behaviors "if I cry, mom and dad come pick me up"
* try sleeping her on her stomach? When she sleeps through the night, we find her on her belly. Hmmm...
* have already read "Babywise". I'm still not sure what I think of it. Clearly we're not using it.

**It's easy to think you've "done something wrong" when your child still won't nap well or sleep through the night at 6 months. I'm learning to give myself some grace. This is a season and it WILL get better.

I'm trying some dietary things first to see if we can make her more comfortable as far as the acid reflux goes. I also started letting her cry herself to sleep today.
*Nap #1 this morning, she cried for one hour. I checked on her every ten minutes, rubbed her back or stomach and whispered quietly that it was time to sleep. She would smile at me and be quiet as a clam. As soon as I left the room, screaming ensued.
* Nap #2 this afternoon, she cried but after 20 minutes, she fell asleep. I'm not sure if she was so worn out from this morning and not sleeping, or if she is already starting to figure out that she needs to sleep. I'll take it. She's been up there for 2 hours sawing logs and I have been INCREDIBLY productive. You wouldn't believe how much sewing I've done. :)

If you have advice, please feel free to chime in. If not, and you're still reading, congratulations.

Parenting is HARD sometimes. But for all the struggles, the only thing you need is one little giggle or smile to make every frustrating thing melt away. This little girl has completely stolen our hearts. It's hard to imagine life without her. We sure do love our little Lucy!

Back to School!

Today is the day when all the teachers go back to school.....but not me!!! I'll admit, I feel a little left out. A little. I will miss my friends at work; the friendly hallway banter, breakfast together on plan days, arguing over where to go for lunch, setting up a classroom and labeling crayon boxes for each student, things like that. But I'm SO EXCITED to be staying home this year with my little Lucy love. I feel really blessed to be staying with her today and not dropping her off at a daycare somewhere. I'm very happy with the decision we've made.

Summer seems to have gone by quickly, but not quite quickly enough for this fall-lover! I CANNOT WAIT for fall weather. I love everything about it: the food, the smells, the candles and lotions, long sleeves, cuddly clothes, more blankets, hot beverages, crisp air, rustling leaves, the colors on the trees, crockpots full of CHILI, baking, open windows, harvest at the farm, FOOTBALL SEASON (!), the excitement of upcoming holidays….everything. I love it all.

But in light of living in the moment, here are some more pictures from this summer:

Discovering flowers (and how to tear them apart).

Learning to eat food!

Curly hair- so cute!

Swinging with Grandpa E on the farm. This made her VERY sleepy!

Wearing mom’s hat

Getting new photos for our new website. (!)

And we can’t forget about Mr. Charlie.

My dear friend, Meg, came up with a dinner night called “We MexiCAN go out for dinner” or something equally cute. Her challenge for the evening was a free margarita to womever wore the "loudest" shirt. These were the top two “tops”:

Meg and Nate

Lucy laughed when she saw what he was wearing. And in July! Dad, how embarrassing!

Here’s part of the crew. Notice James is wearing a "taco" shirt. Very appropriate.

Lucy doesn’t know how gross that ball is….thankfully, it was just out of reach! (but not for long)

Taking a break from playing. These two are best buddies.

Lucy went to her first swimming party Sunday night.

She was pretty impartial to the whole experience. Take it or leave it.

But she loved snuggling with Dad in a nice warm towel.

We didn’t even make it three houses down before she fell asleep in the car on the way home. Swimming is EXHAUSTING! Especially for little first-timers.

I’m running in my first ever 5k race this Saturday. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m really excited! Pictures to come!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Fat Quarters Giveaway

Here's a sweet little blog I follow. She's doing a fat quarter giveaway. Every Thursday she does a giveaway. How fun is that?!

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Lucy’s been enjoying summer- as you can see here:

We’ve had about a week of fusser-than-normal moments, restless nights, crying for no apparent reason….and I kept feeling her gums wondering if she was teething. After all, I’ve never had a teething baby before, I only know so many things to look for before I write it off. Well, yesterday she was chewing on my knuckle, one of her favorite things to do, when I felt a sharp little poke. And sure enough- THESE were popping through!

One of them is farther than the other, but they’re both definitely through!! I swear I check every day to see if there’s anything there. And yesterday, all of a sudden! People told me she’d grow up fast, but this is ridiculous!

 

Other fun things:

playing with the mirror before bath time every night.

Chewing on fingers.

Playing with mom and Charlie.

Kicking Charlie’s face. (He’s a VERY good sport).

Cooking with Grandma Tutu

Visits to Norfolk to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

My mom came to visit and stayed for a few days. We made some gifts for friends’ birthdays. They’re my newest homemade gift idea- coasters! They’re very cute and practical!

Here’s the design we have at our house.

These were for a friend (clearly). The pattern was foreign currency. He loves games like “Settlers of Catan” and “Ticket to Ride”. It was perfect for him.

I also whipped up this banner for a baby shower we had here for my good friend, Maggi. I used mostly vintage fabrics from Nate’s Grandma and mom. I loved the colors and I love that they have a history! Now they’ll help us celebrate birthdays and other fun events in our home.

Here’s the girls, minus Shari. We had a great time! And little E is going to be SO CUTE!!! We just can’t wait to meet her!

Also my brother James, who is a stellar graphic design artist, created some “bag tags” for my business. They’re so cute- I LOVE the logo he’s designed for us. Check out his other work- he’s good. Very good. And he’s nice too, so you can’t beat that!

If you’re in the market for a new logo or other graphic work, look him up. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

 

Well….that’s about it. We’re staying inside where it’s nice and cool. Temps have been crazy high here. It’s too hot to even run outside at night. I’m bummed about that. I was really getting into a good groove. I might have to look into a gym membership for a few months if it stays this hot. I have a race coming up in the next month and I need to be ready! It’ll be my very first 5k and I’m really excited. And to be honest, I’m proud of myself. I’ve never stuck with it for this long before. Hooray for new hobbies!!!

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Ooh la la!

Look what came in the mail today! This makes me VERY happy!

Photos

These should have gone in the last post. Alas.

A quick visit to see Martha & kids. Syd loved baby Lucy. :)Dead bug. Ha. Baby Finlee and beautiful mom, Molly. Looking pretty great after giving birth! And Finlee's hair is AMAZING!!!Family reunion. Grandma and "Mike's". She's just adorable. This is the only photo I have of Lucy on her first 4th of July. She was cooling off after our hot walk home from Mike's. What a cutie. :)

Big sigh

Holy moly. What a weekend we've had....and it's already Wednesday now. Sheish! We've been uber busy...(story of our lives) with company, "traveling", and different places to be around town.

My cousin, his wife, and their 14-month old, Logan, stayed with us off and on since Thursday night. It was so fun to see them and it was the first time we've met their little guy since they live in Texas. They had two weddings here and family and friends to visit, so we mostly saw them in the mornings or evenings when we were balancing baths and bedtimes for both Logan and Lucy. Life with two under two was interesting, but fun. They left Sunday afternoon and we jetted over to Mike's for his annual 4th celebration, which ended VERY early for us since we had to get little Lucy to bed. It wasn't even dark when we found ourselves walking back home. We laughed at the life we now live and how different it is from what we previously knew as a couple without children. Different...but still wonderful. We ended up grabbing the monitor and sitting outside with some of the neighbors to watch the sky light up on the 4th. Very nice.

Friday night(back up) we saw another Logan, my good buddy from college. He was in town with his lady friend from North Carolina. It was SO. GOOD. to see him. And really nice to meet her...what a sweetie. Again, turned in early. :)

Saturday was catch up, house projects, grocery store, etc. day. You know how those are. We also were able to stop and see Lucy's new BFF, Finlee Ebbers, at the hospital. She was born Friday and we just couldn't wait to give her a squeeze. She's beautiful and Chris & Molly are elated. What a blessing to share the joyous moments with them. We love them.

We also realized that Saturday night church services may be a no-go for us from now on. Lucy gets way too cranky by the end as it pushes into her bath/bedtime. Noted.

Sunday we were on the road to Omaha for one day of a 3-day family reunion. We were sad to miss out on so much of the festivities, but the weekend was just too busy. We were also supposed to be up in Norfolk Saturday for their annual 4th of July fireworks celebration. My parents always open up their home to friends and family and we watch the fireworks at the lake from the front yard.

Monday was full of yard work, house work and recovering from having company- laundry, cooking, etc.

I'm not even sure why I'm giving you a detailed report on our weekend. I could have just written "we were busy"....but maybe it wouldn't have had the same effect. If you're still reading, you are loyal.

Today I'm trying to figure out if Lucy is cutting teeth, sick, or just really crabby. Or maybe her acid reflux creeping in again? We tried switching her meds to a lighter version....but I don't think that was a good idea. Target better have her Rx ready today or else...... :)

Sorry this is so painfully boring. I'm considering deleting this post...but this is real life, so I won't.

Happy Wednesday, friends.