Some of you may not believe this, having seen the lengths we sometimes go to, to get Heather to sleep...but last night was the fourth time that she was left in the crib awake and fell asleep on her own! (The first time it happened was during the fall, at 11pm, when I was out of town for business. She quickly proved that that occurrence was a fluke.) I knew this day would come eventually, I just didn't dare to dream that it would happen before she turned 1... To be fair, it isn't totally consistent yet and I'm not sure what the best timing is (especially since her naps have been good but inconsistent lately), so we're just taking it one day at a time.
Here are my parameters:
- When I was home for a week at Thanksgiving I tried to focus on improving Heather's sleep schedule and routines. I got a pretty good idea of where here naps should ideally fall and I figured out that holding/rocking/nursing her in her room had a better affect than doing so in the living room. (We had tried this before, but when she was younger it didn't seem to make any difference where we were, so R and I stayed downstairs to watch TV).
- For the first week after Thanksgiving, I could usually get her to sleep within 30-45 minutes of going up to her room, but after we traveled to Ohio she was more resistant.
- I decided that I was willing to stay in the glider for 30-45 minutes trying. She could nurse, I could read, we could rock, but she needed to stay on my lap and try to relax. If she spends too much time trying to get off my lap or if she's just hanging out and having fun, into the crib she goes. I kiss her goodnight, turn off the light, turn on the bunny that plays music and leave.
- After 3 consecutive minutes of crying, I'll check on her again. If it stops and starts, I'll let her go longer. A few nights when I've gone back in she is much more conducive to nursing or rocking to sleep. And three nights I haven't had to go back in at all!
I'm sure that things will change again at some point, but I like that our evenings are a little more predictable and I feel like we're giving her the right amount of structure without trying to be the kind of strict bedtime parents that isn't in our nature.
On the venting/pain/whining side of things, I am better now. I ended up going home half an hour early Monday because my clogged duct turned into my third bout of mastitis. :-( Not pleasant. I was already on Motrin, so all I could do was rest, nurse and wait for the chills and fever to pass. I was pretty miserable all evening, but the fever finally broke while I was nursing Heather to sleep. I took Tuesday off to fully recover and after sleeping in I dropped Heather off at daycare so I could take a nice, long, hot, relaxing shower and rest and pump and do things that I can't do at work (like massage the remaining lump in my breast :-). All I'm left with today is the leg pain and a little nipple soreness. Neither is great, but they are better than they were and having felt so miserable so recently, they are much more tolerable than they were. It's amazing how that works, isn't it?
And lastly, the holidays. Let me just say how thankful I am that I chose not to knit for anyone this year. I feel a slight twinge of guilt that I didn't knit a little something for Heather's teachers (and I still might as a New Year's Gift), but otherwise it is a great feeling of freedom. We've been plenty busy, and I know that holiday knitting would have just pushed me over the edge...and I have been pretty close to the edge a few times already.
I still have some photo printing to do, all of the wrapping to do (some online shopping hasn't arrived yet, though) and Christmas cards to finish. But with the timing of the holiday this year, there is still the weekend. And personally I've never felt bad about holiday cards arriving late. It is the holiday *season* after all. :-) My parents arrive on Saturday afternoon bringing two extra pairs of hands to contain the little crawler, so I think everything will get accomplished and maybe I can even finish Heather's winter hat and bake a batch of cookies, too!
p.s. Anna and Cara - no, "it" hasn't returned yet. ;-)
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2 comments:
That is SOOO wonderful about Heather's sleeping!! Such a great feeling of accomplishment, isn't it?
I came here to commiserate, so this would probably go best under the Vent post, but here it is...I haven't nursed at all in nearly two weeks and I'm still so engorged that I lactated through my shirt at work yesterday. Awesome. Had to hand express in the bathroom because the pain was so excruciating I couldn't concentrate on anything!!
Also, on the way home from daycare yesterday Lainey threw up in the car. And then threw up a whole bunch more last night and today, causing me to have to cancel my facial today (I'd planned to take a "me" day off today) and try to figure out how the heck I'm going to finish up my shopping. Plus, we're waiting for the other shoe to drop and the rest of us get sick just in time to head out of town. Merry freaking Christmas!!
So there's my vent. :) I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better!
Geez Louise, you can't win with the mastitis, huh? But it sounds like things are getting a lot more peaceful and restful at your house, so I'll wish you a merry Christmas as I frantically try to finish up this *%_#_(&%_ Clapotis!
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