Wednesday, August 23

Sleeping baby: goal seems attainable

Edited to add update below "in other sleep news"!
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This sleep update is brought to you by the creators of "Motherbumper's sanity" and Duff beer. Please tune in tomorrow for regular scheduled posting.

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In sleep news tonight:
I've noticed that Bumper has developed two of my weird (and frankly creepy) idiosyncrasies:
  1. sleeping with her eyes partially or fully open
  2. performs calisthenics in her sleep (kicking, turning, flipping, punching, etc.)
When I was a small kid and we went on family vacations we always drove EVERYWHERE. Dad was a bit of a cheap ass frugal man and air travel was considered too rich for our blood. The majority of our trips were road trips and this meant staying in some really flea bag motels because once again, my dad was a cheap ass penny pincher. It didn't matter if we were driving 700 miles to Boston, or over 1200 miles to Toronto, we did it all in that freakin' blue Chevy Malibu. Three kids crammed in the back (me always in the middle because I was the baby - no rights what-so-ever but that's another post) and my parents up front. When evening would approach our entire clan would stay in one hotel room (with a cot! We weren't complete savages) and since we were two girls and one boy, my sister and I always had to share a bed. I had no problem with this but my poor sister would whine about how much she hated sleeping with me. Not only did I look like a zombie with my eyes open, I would occasionally punch her, inevitably kick her, and my feet were always ice cold. As I got older, she really helped nurture a paranoia that no man would ever want to be my husband because I was too darn creepy and weird to be a sleep partner. She was wrong. I'm sure that these traits will cause no problems for Bumper. I hope.

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In other sleep news:
For the third night, husband has taken over the entire "getting Bumper to sleep" routine and I shouldn't be typing this, but it's working! (I just cursed myself. That's it. It's over). It's so exciting that I'm weeping just typing these words. I know many of you had already reached that milestone long before me, but up until now, no one, I mean NO ONE, has been able to get Bumper to sleep but me and that was really beginning to wear me down (amongst other things). I'm so happy and it's just in the nick of time. It's Ladies Night Saturday, whoo to the freakin' hoo! I don't care if alcohol is involved, I'm just getting out of the house!

EDITED TO ADD:
It is Thursday now and I brought home one screaming, unnapped*, cranky devilchild baby after getting stuck on the subway due to something happening somewhere during my journey home from downtown. I literally walked in the door, flipping off the BabyBjorn buttons and handed the baby to husband while mumbling something about having to use the bathroom. I stayed in there for 5 minutes reading Flare. Once I regained my hearing (lost from having hysterical baby on lap in tunnel) I ventured out to find husband feeding baby (sigh). And get this: he got her to sleep in 20 minutes. I love him so much.

* if unnapped isn't a word, it is now. It's when you get backhanded by Weissbluth karma for not adhering to the all important respect for your childs nap time, instead making the baby portable for your leisure. Results in one cranky baby who can be hard to get to sleep.

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Sleep round-up and recap:
Bumper is getting to sleep closer and closer to our goal time and her naps are going very well. I still do something at least once a week that screws up at least one nap but it doesn't seem to have the same impact as before when I was messing it up more often. I haven't really missed the outings because the napping is making her a much happier and fun baby to be around.

So consistency is the key (you guys are so smart. I heart you, blogsphere). Here's to consistency! I'll be drinking to that on Saturday.

I'm so glad I found you, blogsphere. You've kept me sane.


Only you can prevent inconsistency in bed time routines

16 comments:

Canadian Mommy said...

yay! We had mega issues with Claire's sleep habits at first, but now she rocks! I hope I can be 'consistant' with Clark now too. So far so good!
Keep it up!

Debbie said...

god bless sleeping babies. they are the future. the future of my personal sanity.

sleep. I miss it so.

(I'm talking, of course, about the kind where you get it for beyond 6 or 7 measly hours per night.)

karengreeners said...

hooray for sleeping babes!

amazing how there are such different 'rules' for mom and for dad, huh?

although i can get bee to sleep, it takes at least half an hour. but if her dad is doing it, or comes up to offer relief? he pretty much picks her up and - conk! out she goes, head down, eyes shut.

fine, dude. you can have bedtimes. i'll be downstairs doing something really fun, like the dishes.

Sandra said...

Yay for sleep! I'll be drinking to that on your behalf on Saturday too. And anything else you want me to drink to really :)

Her Bad Mother said...

WonderBaby (SHOCKER) performs floor routines in her sleep, too.

And, husband taking on beddy-bye? GOLDEN.

And, and. We heart you, too.

moplans said...

Good Work! Especially the part where husband takes over the bedtime routine.
I am so happy for you. I know what it is like to have been tortured with no sleep for so long.

kittenpie said...

OMG that is the best pic of Bumper! I love it! And good for you on the sleeping - such a huge relief, isn't it? I remember times I just wanted to give up, and then when it started working, it seemed so fragile and tenuous, and when I found I was starting to trust it and let myself really sleep again, it was the best feeling.

Laural Dawn said...

You're so right about the consistency! Matt does so well at daycare - naps every day because they are so freaking consistent.
But, I'm so not consistent that I screw up the sleep thing every single weekend. what can you do?
And, dads helping at bedtime ... it is great.

Baby in the City said...

That sucks that today messed up Bumper. I did that last week with The Boy. I scheduled a meeting right when he usuually has his morning nap and then just continued out in the city afterward. He tends to be able to 'go with the flow' a lot, but not having at least one chance at a rest in his own bed was too much. Major meltdown. Lesson learned.
Awesome that the husband has his own bag of tricks for getting Bumper to sleep. Every parent should have one.

See you Saturday!

mod*mom said...

night night bumper + motherbumper

Unknown said...

Who would think that something as wonderful as sleep could be so hard?! And the sad thing is? Good sleeps generate more good sleeps, so it's just vicious. No wonder they use sleep deprivation as a torture device.

Warm wishes for all the best,

metro mama said...

Consistency is key for us. Life gets so much better when they start to sleep properly.

Gabriella said...

I hate blogging about sleep, no matter if I write that Samantha had a good nap or even a bad one, somehow writing about it jinxes everything!!!
Hang in there with the naps, I think one day they will sleep!

crazymumma said...

I love my children and I love them even more when they FINALLY sleep. We are a sleep diorder clinic in our house because we never had your backbone....look forward to meeting you tomorrow.

Major Bedhead said...

I find it frustrating beyond belief that I would give my right arm and my eye teeth for a nap, but The Boo? No. Freakin'. Way. Mama.

But, baby, it's sleep! Sleep is good.

Alas, she treats it like I'm trying to give her cyanide.

ms blue said...

Seeing anyone sleep with their eyes partially open freaks me out.

I'm glad Bumper is getting a sleep routine. Sleep is good.