Sleep…

So I've mentioned before that B, here, is one of the happiest and easiest babies out of the three we've been blessed with…until the sun sets and its time for bed.  Just before Christmas we had reached our wits end…after 2-3 consecutive weeks, WEEKS, of not getting more than 2 consecutive hours of sleep a night unless he was in bed WITH me, TOUCHING me.  Not to mention the 2-3 hour scream fests he'd throw for no reason…except that I had gotten out of bed for work.  So, having reached our wits end, and after lots of lengthy conversations and hemming and hawing, we decided to enlist the assistance of a sleep consultant/expert.

Now, to be honest, she didn't tell us a whole lot that we didn't already know or already had done (either with J, A, or B), but she did help us to identify his problem sleep areas, how to work to "gently" coach him to sleep without "abandoning" him with cry-it-out, and manipulate our routine to better suite him and his needs.  The first week was ROUGH, especially with Christmas and all the extra activities and out of the norm type of days, but Justin was home from work for the week so we jumped at the opportunity to start while he was home at night to help with J and A.

After a week or so with no apparent forward progress (sure we'd have a few great nights mixed in with some really brutal ones), we tapped the consultant to see what we were doing wrong, and she (again) urged us to drop the paci at bedtime.  I say again, because she told us to do that in the first place if possible.  But after an hour of screaming, the paci was the only thing calming him down on the first night.  So you better believe I laid in his room, on his floor, and blindly re-binked him over and over again.  So, this time we ditched the paci cold turkey for bedtime (he still gets it on occasion to help calm him down for naps…but never for bed anymore).  So we had what felt like a brand new first day…and again, it was ROUGH.  

Last week mom came over to watch the kids on Monday and stayed to help with bedtime since Justin got called in for OT….and lets just say it wasn't pretty, but I"m so grateful for her (and Chris and Nat's) help that night.  And this, too, is why she took the kids overnight on Wednesday.

So now this week…we are starting to see the light again.  I had a, much needed, follow up conversation with our consultant (she had been out of town on vacation the week of New Years), we tweaked the routine once again, and we seem to slowly be gaining ground.  Now, don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of ground to cover before this sleep issue is resolved….BUT, it now takes 10-30 min to get him to fall asleep after putting him down to bed….when it used to take 1-2 HOURS.  And, for the most part, he is sleeping through the night.  I do give him a few "dream feeds" (he gets fed while sleeping…so kind of a top off) to help prevent any wakings due to low blood sugar or hunger, and this week we are working to drop one of them…so YAY!  Here's to taking two steps forward and only a half step back…now! (so much better than one step forward and three steps back).

I will say, amazingly this kid is the HAPPIEST little boy during the day….in spite of the crappy sleep he has/was getting.

This week we brought out the exersaucer for B.  It has since been returned to "storage" since I can't ever seem to get J or A out of it to put B in.  And the ONE time I did get B in, J and A "showed" B how to play in it, and he ended up freaked out and over stimulated.

We ordered take-out Chinese food over the weekend, and J and A were so enthralled with my chopsticks that they stole them.  So while we were out shopping one day, we stopped in at World Market and picked up some trainer chop sticks for the kids.  We have all been entertained by them trying to eat (everything) with their chopsticks.

 Wednesday night I was solo with the kids, and B was being more difficult that I had expected him to be…so bedtime was less than pretty, and sure as hell wasn't easy, but I did manage to get all kids in bed and asleep…it only took three hours and countless tears.

Saturday morning after J and A woke up (totally slept in which was awesome….gave me and B some quality time together) we had some family cuddles in bed while J serenaded us with his version of Feliz Navidad (E's Mommy Dot).  After lunch we headed to Gymboree for a birthday party…and man did the kids have fun…BOTH passed out on the way home….and we only live 10 min from where the party was held.

Today Justin took off work early to take J and A to the National Championship Fan Festival.  J had a blast running around pretending to be a football player.

Till next week friends…wishing you all many silent and peaceful nights!