A bit of sleep training

Call me crazy. Call me mean. Tell me that I am creating a tiny psychopath and am a bad mother, but I will tell you something, I am now a well rested bad mother. Here is what our bedtime ritual used to look like.

5pm Fussing because it is too early for dinner and too late for nap
5:30pm I am about to go crazy waiting for CT to get home so I can make dinner
6pm Rushing through making dinner so we can feed the boy
6:30pm Giving up on making and eating dinner because baby is so fussy
7pm Nursing baby to "sleep"
7:30pm Tries to lay the baby down, he wakes up screaming as I leave the room
7:45pm Walking the baby around the room while he screams
8pm Give the baby to CT who walks the baby around the room while he screams
8:30pm Baby nurses some more
9pm Lays the baby down once more, this time without breathing
10:30pm Baby wakes screaming, sleeps with us nursing all night long

As you can see, this schedule is enough to drive anyone crazy, and without even realizing it, the baby was miserable and crying through most of it. Our need to be the perfect attachment parents drove us to try to put a crying baby to sleep by letting him cry, albeit in our arms.

So, during quite a difficult morning that was preceeded by several difficult days, a very stinky and very tired mommy decided that there are two choices here. Either put the baby down and let him cry while I take a shower (5 minutes TOPS - I shower like a man) or I will break that #1 rule and shake that baby until he stops. The choice was clear.

By the time I finished my sprint shower, there was nothing. No crying, no sobbing, no screaming. The baby was asleep. ASLEEP! 2 hours later when he woke up, I loved him again. Breakthrough! A few days later we decided to try it with night-time. He cried for three minutes, and then, sleep until 2am. Now our routine looks like this:

6pm Dinner is served, baby eats whether it is something we are eating or just cheerios
6:30pm Bathtime followed by nakey time
7pm Nursing to sleep
7:30pm Lay baby down in the crib he fusses
7:31pm I hardly get downstairs by the time he is asleep
1am Baby wakes, nursed to sleep and back in bed
7am Wake up refreshed and happy!!

So what is worse, having a baby scream in your arms for two hours or cry in a crib for 5 minutes?

Impossible!!

Moms aren't supposed to get sick. Mine never did. I always wondered whether mom's had a super duper immune system like doctors cause they never complain or get sick, they just keep going and feeding and cleaning. Well, I must be a bad mom cause I am officially sick. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband, and Oliver has a wonderful father who is staying home to take care of both of us. This is a good thing because every time I move I feel like I am going to hurl.

So, I leave you with a video of Oliver being uncooperative. In this video, he sounds like I feel. I will be back when I can keep something down. Have a good Monday!

Just in time!

CT got home at 9pm last night from his big important business trip. Oliver started puking his guts out at 11pm. Awwww, was waiting for daddy! This is our first bout with sickness, and it SUCKS. The poor little guy wakes up, demands to nurse and then about 5 minutes later is writhing in agony, then he choke/gag/pukes all over the floor. I then rock him in the glider (who has never seen such action before) until he falls back to sleep. This cycle repeats every hour or so. Linda Blair has nothing on this kid. I have never seen him so unhappy.

No fever or diarrhea, so it isn't looking like Rotavirus, and I am nauseous too, so I guess it could have been something we ate and it is just affecting him more. I will be calling the doctor this morning, who will of course suggest the sugar water called, Pedialyte. No thanks, I would rather feed him the medicine my body makes specifically for the sickness he has, but thanks for the suggestion. I have to chart pee diapers like he was a newborn to make sure he isn't getting dehydrated. I just want to hold him. He hasn't slept this late...ever.

Of course, CT's first comment: What did you give him? What did mommy do to you while I was gone? Oh nice, now my heart is broken along with me being worried out of my mind. Yes, he did eat some dish detergent yesterday morning, but I think I got it all out, he puked a few minutes later (apparently didn't like the taste) and has none of the symptoms related to poisoning by detergent. I don't get it...what DID I do??

Pray for us. It is a dark and very moist hour here at the Goss residence.

Update: I knew he was really sick when he laid his head on my chest for 20 minutes while awake. The doctor says it is just a bug and that we should just keep nursing as often as he wants to keep him hydrated. The throwing up is almost over and the diarrhea should start any second and last for days. YAY!

Getting to be fun

Not that he wasn't always fun, but I admit, this parenting thing is getting to be a blast! He responds now, he signs when he wants something (hit or miss - we are still working on it) he is starting to understand his world and I am itching to show him everything. I show him that everything in the world has a name and a sign. We are like the first people on earth, naming everything. Leaf, tree, squirrel, tomato, bug! We play music. Sometimes I am on drums, he is on the xylophone, then we switch. We like to dance, he likes to run in my arms, and he has just learned to climb stairs - up and down.

He is my little man. Every day is an adventure to see what will happen next. He is unlike all other babies. No open handed wave for my guy, nope! He prefers to make a fist and roll it around in the air like he is conducting a band. When he is really excited to see you, he will use BOTH fists. During our walks he cheese grins at neighbors, chats with squirrels and yells at scarecrows. He points out flowers that I may not have seen and gently pats the blooms.

He moves so fast now! He has the crawling thing down - much to our cats chagrin - and will pull up and walk around anything he is given. He is everywhere. He opens doors, he shuts doors, he opens doors, he shuts doors. Very intelligent!

Oh, and did I mention he is walking now!?

New blog to check out!

http://theclothdiaperwhisperer.blogspot.com/

Now, go check it out!!

My kid is boring

We had our 9 month check-up yesterday! At 20lbs, 28 inches he is in the 50th percentile all the way around. His iron levels were perfect, and he didn't even flinch when they stuck him for the blood test! Don't let the pearls fool you, he is pretty much the strongest boy in the world. When the doctor came in to tell us all of his stats it seemed like all she could do just to keep from yawning. Healthy, uninteresting and dare I say...perfect?

Example of how I talk to the doctor (Italics are to myself):
Doctor: Is he still breastfed?
Me: Yes
Doctor: Good for you! How often are you breastfeeding? 3-4 times a day?
Me: Yes. Usually more, sometimes much more
Doctor: Are you still giving him vitamins?
Me: Yes. Through breastmilk and whole foods, not that liquid vitamil crap.
Doctor: Is he switching things from hand to hand? Scooting? Able to bear weight with help?
Me: Yes. And much much MUCH more.

Other than a really embarrassing incident where I yelled at the doctor for forcibly retracting his foreskin. Well, it DID look like that is what she was doing...how was I to know that she was just checking his testicle placement?! I feel any hands on his junk other than his is a threat given our culture. Luckily she totally understood, she has sons herself!

MELTDOWN!!!

We tried to meet-up with some friends today. Key word being TRIED. Apparently, 9 months is the exact age at which they learn the intricacies of a real, honest to god tantrum. We have had crying before, we have even had throwing himself backwards out of our arms before, but never have we had it this bad.

It all started with it being a Monday. You see, Oliver ALWAYS has a case of the Mondays. CT believes it is because Oliver misses him after having him home all weekend, and I believe it is CT's fault for throwing the schedule off all weekend. Tomato, tomahto! Then, after not one, not two but three failed attempts at a nap, I decide that even if he is a bit cranky, we still need to go to the meet-up because I set it up. Well, I set it up a month ago, having no insight as to how he was going to behave this particular day.

We had just sat down, and I was just about to order an iced coffee, when he decided that all he wanted to do was to eat napkins. I, being the great and perfect mother I am, said no. This was NOT acceptable to him. He flew back, tossing his head, kicking his legs and screeching at the top of his lungs. And I was the crazy, stupid lady who brought a baby to a coffee shop. I was also the lady who marched her baby out of the coffee shop. I really thought I was going to have at least another three months before he became a complete brat. Oh well...