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Originally Posted by
MarineWife 
JJ ~ Could you set something up so you could put her down to play while you rest/sleep? Or does she fuss the whole time if you try that?
I do usually in the morning, I can put her in her pack and play, and put baby einstein on and she'll watch for 45 minutes or so. But I hate doing that, you know? And she won't play for longer than 15 minutes if I'm dozing, so it has to be the movie. So anyways, I try not to use it, but yes, morning when I -need- that extra 45 minutes, I'll do it. I usually don't fall back asleep, because I'm keeping an ear out for her, but I can doze.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MarineWife
JJ ~ It occurred to me, I know you are extremely sleep-deprived but could you also being having issued with PPD? It can show up slowly or later. That might be something to look into if it might help you deal with the situation with less stress.
I've thought of that a bit lately, but if it makes sense, it doesn't really -feel- like it. Like days when I actually do get more sleep, it's totally easier to deal with, and we have great days. I think it's just a combination of being exhausted-- and then being bitter at her because I'm exhausted.
Sounds horrible, but she's sick right now, and that's my saving grace. 
Night before last she was having a horrible horrible night- like waking every 45 minutes, but then taking 5-6 tries to get her back down. Finally at 330, when I had only slept about 45 minutes total that night, I put her in bed with DH and went and slept on the couch. She slept until 630!! It was THE BEST SLEEP I've gotten in months. I'll sleep on the couch every night if that happens. Of course, then DH called in sick to work, and so I actually slept for the 3 hours, and then I nursed her from 630-7, and then slept again until almost 8, and then he came and took her, and I slept on and off until 10. I think it's the most sleep I've gotten in weeks. And I got up, and we had a fantastic day yesterday. But within an hour of waking up, it was pretty evident that she was sick. And then last night, because she was quite stuffed up, I brought her into bed with us again, and she had two spurts that were almost 2 hours long. She woke up slightly during the spurts, but if I reached over and put a hand on her and rubbed her back for a few seconds, she'd go back to sleep. Good enough for me. And then when she woke around 3, I noticed she was burning up-- fever of 102.9, so I gave her a dose of tylenol, and then she did her second 2 hour spurt, then went back to waking every hour.
Anyways... so I'm hoping for a decent fever-induced nap today, and I'm starting to feel human. Her two incoming teeth are soooooo close to being through as well, so maybe after this is done, we'll be over a hump. She has so many great tools for sleeping now, just hasn't had a chance to use them. She's putting herself to sleep in her crib, in general, a lot faster now. We do our bedtime routine of nursing and cuddles and all that, and then she goes down into her crib, I wait a bit, and then I leave the room. If I'm feeling good and calm, then I come back in a minute after I've grabbed a drink or a book or something. If I'm stressed, then I'll stay out. I've given myself a limit of 10 minutes-- that no matter how stressed I am, I won't leave her longer than 10 minutes. She hasn't made it to that yet. The last three times I've left her alone in her room, she's been asleep within 4, 8 and 3 minutes of fussing. Often now, I'll stand up during our cuddles, and have her reach out for the crib and push me away. I'll put her down, pat her back 10 times or so, and she'll be out. It's huge. And at night too, I can sometimes go in and give her a hug while she's still sitting down, and she'll actually lay herself back down and go back to sleep without me even picking her up. It's steps, and tools. So, we'll see where we're at after this cold passes and go from there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MarineWife
Migraine sucks! I hope it gets better.
Yes, we should try to make this an annual event. I was already thinking on the drive home about planning the next vacation for us. Maybe the next one should be in Canada. I've never been. If JJ's dh won't come to us, we'll go to him. hehe
Home, sweet home. There is a ton of cleaning to do. I don't know where to start. I probably won't.
Yes! Although I'm so jealous of you guys right now, seeing all the pictures and the status updates, that I might just come wherever. lol.
Starting to think of Tenley's birthday and christmas lists. I really really really want to accentuate non-plastic toys, but it's hard, without offending everybody. We were supposed to be getting an Ikea opening in Oct/Nov, which would have been fantastic-- but now it's not going to open until mid december or even later :S Sigh. I told DH I want to make her a kitchen and accessories from us. It seems early for 1 year old, but with the bday/xmas only a month apart, we kind of have to do everything then, or wait another whole year.
Anyways- we bought a used Ikea barn and animal set yesterday-- and I love it. And Tenley is hilarious to watch with it. Almost like she thinks they're real or something! I want more of this stuff so badly!
Back for more later!
JJ. I'd be so mad at my dh if he said something like that to me. I don't know what to say that might help you other then to stop trying to shard to get her to sleep and find a way to get yourself some rest instead. I have found that once I stop fighting a situation I'm not happy with and just accept it for what it is, things almost immediately get better. I wish I was there to help you.
At work, Ava is at the babysitter waiting to be picked up by DH and my house is destroyed. But vacation was awesome and totally worth it. It was so great to be able to just relax with everyone. I loved how the babies and the big kids would just wander back and forth between the units. Sometimes I would look around and Ava was gone. I'd find her over in the other unit watching TV with Sean and Ethan.
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