Good News on the Sleep Front

For the first time in several months C slept through the night last night. I, on the other hand, did not. I kept waking up in anticipation of her waking up. Because I don't know how to sleep if I get to sleep in a stretch that lasts longer than 4 hours!

She is napping right now. Her one and only nap of the day. And it is going on 2 1/2 hours!

She is healthy and happy these days too. She made it through being sick and getting a few teeth at the same time. She is pulling up a lot lately. And I swear she has grown an inch or two over night. Really she looks taller. And today she came up to me in the middle of playing for a quick cuddle.

Happy Pride

We made it to the parade. C has a viral infection (explains the fever in the week and subsequent rash). She is very sleepy. We weren't going to go - but she woke up from one of her many naps and her timing was perfect. She enjoyed the parade. We are home now and she is asleep. So I am going to get into bed myself and see if I can catch up on my sleep.

My Sleepy Sick Baby

It is strange too when your kid is sick and sleeping most of the day away. I miss her. And I worry that she will get night and day confused and be up all night.

What a Week.

Now she has a rash. We are going to a walk-in tomorrow. Tomorrow happens to be the Pride parade. Complete with a kids' picnic... we may have to miss that depending on what this rash is.

Thank You Everyone

Jude: I like the quiet time idea.

Jen: We tried the teething tablets you suggested (prior to you suggesting them) and within 6 hours of taking them she had a fever. We are wondering if there is a link - like maybe she is allergic to something in the tablet. We are hesitant to give them to her again. Though we liked the natural-ness of them.

Bleu: Thank you for the supportive "mama instinct" comment. Nursing through a fever is amazing. I felt like I was doing something to help her feel better.

* * * * *

Ever have those days where your little one is cranky and it doesn't make sense until a day or so later - and when it does finally make sense, you feel relieved. ?

Her first fever

Last night. 101. Taken in her armpit. Nursed all night. Clingy. We are all very tired here. She's much better. Had no idea, though, what to do.

Naptime Sucks

The whole nap thing has me boggled and feeling like a failure...

C seems to be down to one nap per day. It's somewhere in the middle of the day. And it isn't for long. She spends much of the morning whining and crabbing and getting mad at her toys. So I swoop in and try to help her get to sleep. She thrashes and kicks and cries and sleep never happens - until sometime in the middle of the day.

She is not on a schedule. I used to think I can't schedule my response to her needs. Meaning she breastfeeds on demand and she sleeps when she needs to. This worked when she was 0-6months. Doesn't work - and hasn't for awhile - now that she is almost 10 1/2 months.

Somebody on my livejournal made some comment recently about how you have to schedule naps no matter what and if they cry they cry. I don't agree with the if they cry they cry part. I can't do CIO and I know my kid, if I put her in her crib at the scheduled nap time she would freak.

So what am I supposed to do?

Toothy Grin

Tooth #3 (top left) has finally cut through. She is still behaving like a babe who is teething so I think tooth #4 is not far behind. She has been working on these teeth for so long. Especially when you consider that tooth #1 and tooth #2 popped through around 6-7 months.

Overtired, Then Sleep

Major sleep issues. Holy cow. C has always been one to wake up in the night and she has always been relatively easy to put back down. For the past two nights (this, by the way comes after several nights of solid sleeping through the night) she has been waking up every 1-2 hours until about 4am at which time she sleeps to about 7am. The wake ups would be manageable if she were easy to put down. She's not. She clings. She falls asleep in my arms and then wakes up the moment her bum touches her crib. [She has always slept best in her crib]. Last night we were up from 12:15 to 2:30 straight. During the day her napping has been getting progessively worse. Short naps. Single naps. Fighting naps. I have a feeling she is overtired at night. Overtired is a concept I can't get my head around. I mean, if you are tired you should sleep. But I guess in baby-land it doesn't work that way. At least, this is my theory. Crappy naps during the day are leading to several clingy wake-ups in the night. So today I am trying to get her to nap. And she is fighting it. I feel awful because I am feeling the effects of being up for 2+ hours in the night. She was crying in my arms at one point and I couldn't help but start crying too. There could be other issues here too. She is learning a lot during the day and this could be affecting her at night. She still only has 2 bottom teeth but very swollen upper gums (so, teething is a serious possibility). I don't know. But it sucks to cry.

Life is Good

I am enjoying my time off. Trying hard not to think about being back at work in September. I got a promotion (I am now the head of my department). So every now and then work thoughts creep in... usually about the things I need to do to get my department in order for the new schoolyear. But honestly, mostly, it is me and baby C... or me, baby C, and partner A. And I like it that way.

The three of us have been to a summer music festival our little city is so famous for. And C and I have been to the library several times. This morning C and I had breakfast in the little trendy area of our city and then went for a scenic stroller walk.

Life is good right now.

It's teh Magic Number

I got some unsolicited advice from my mom (I love my mom) about spacing kids 3 years apart.

Apparently 3 is the magic number. We weren't even talking about ttc. I don't know how we got onto the topic. Oh yeah I do know. She was talking about how good I was as a kid and how C is a lot like me in temperment [sp?]. And my mom believes we all got along (and by we I mean her 3 kids) because we were spaced apart by 3s. Brother #1, three years later Brother #2, six years later me. And apparently this contributed to my easygoing nature.

Unsolicited advice.

More TTC Timing Talk

Things get put on hold whilst one is ttc. We are talking about when we'd like to start ttc for #2. And we are going for sooner rather than later. But we have a trip planned for England for next July. 7-8 hour flight. Plus 3 or so hour car journey. Can one fly whilst pregnant? You can, but not after 36 weeks. You can, if your pregnancy is a healthy one. You should invest in some support tights because there is a risk of blood clots. I've been doing my research, hahaha. But this is what ttc is like - you imagine yourself already pregnant and consider putting various things on hold. Sometimes it isn't even considering putting things on hold; things get put on hold, period. I remember. I remember ttc.

We could wait until we are back from England. But August 2009 seems so late.

Thanks for the comments on the previous post. I am going for sooner rather than later.

My Head is Already Swimming

We had the ttc baby#2 talk last night. I want to start trying sooner rather than later. We'd been thinking August 2009 when we return from our little July trip to England. Part of the reason why we were waiting 'til mid 2009 is to give 2 years between pregnancies so that I can try for a vbac. But what if it takes another 3 years like it did to conceive C? I'll be 36 in November. A will be 40 in January. What if we tried before England? I am going to stop posting now. My head is already swimming. More to come, I'm sure.