sleeping...or lack thereof

In the beginning Ty was not what I would've called a great sleeper.  He religiously woke up every 3 hours to nurse, 4 if we were lucky.  By the time he finished eating and we did diaper changes, I was only sleeping maybe 2-3 hours in between.  By medical definition, sleeping through the night is considered 5 uninterrupted hours.  He did that the day he turned 12 weeks.  I seriously thought I was a new woman. If you would've told me that I'd have to settle for sleeping in 2-3 hour increments, while still taking care of a baby, keeping the house clean, and cooking dinner, for a solid 3 months, I would've thought you were crazy.  Its amazing how the body adjusts.

By about 4 months, Ty was solidly sleeping through the night.  We would even get 6-7 hour stretches, sometimes even 8!  Then we started solids and that  rocked my poor baby's world.  I should've known that an infant with such a sensitive belly would have digestion issues when we introduced food.  Sure enough, he was waking in the night again, this time with dirty diapers.  Eventually that tapered off and I learned what he could and could not eat, and we were back to sleeping a relatively solid amount of time...or so I thought.  Ty had a rather extended stay in our bedroom, until about 6 months.  Neither of us were ready to have him in another room, so he slept peacefully beside me in his rock-n-play.  When he'd wake up I'd easily place the pacifier in his mouth, shush, and rock him back to sleep.  In fact, I had extras on the night stand for back-up.  It wasn't until we bit the bullet and moved him to his own room that I realized he wasn't really sleeping through the night at all!  Once in his own room, I was getting up repeatedly to replace his pacifier.  At first I didn't mind...he always went right back to sleep, as did I.  Over the next few weeks, he was depending on me a little too much, and I was up probably 6-8 times a night.  One exhausting night, I was getting up for the 6th time before 3am and Cooter stopped me.  That's the first time we let him cry it out.  That night spurred a very difficult couple of nights as we let our son learn to self-soothe...a skill that we would praise ourselves for later.  After that, Ty became a super sleeper, sleeping 10-12 hours a night.  Talk about a new woman!  I was even awake before him in the morning, enjoying a few minutes to myself, and loving that I wasn't awakened with a screaming cry.

Fast forward 5 months.  Around his first birthday, sleep began evading my sweet boy.  For my kid, bad sleep equals more bad sleep.  So if he slept poorly one night, he had horrible naps, etc. until he'd eventually have a marathon sleep to catch himself back up.  He's been like that since day 1.  So, people think I'm the nap nazi with my kid, but I kind of have to be, especially since I'm the one waking up with him in the night.  We blamed this lack of sleep on teething, which he finally was.  Tooth #1 cut and made its debut without any warning at all.  Sweet, I got this, I told myself!  A full month later, Ty cut 4 teeth in just a couple of weeks.  He was up every night, mostly wanting to be held.  I complied because I hated to see my baby in pain.  After it seemed that teething was momentarily done, but he continued to wake each night, we let him cry it out again.  It does not get any easier just because he's older.  In fact, he stands up now and whether he's doing it on purpose or not, he cries right into the monitor.  Breaks my heart.  Again, we praised our toughness, as the couple of weeks to follow were full of blissful sleep!

Now here we are again, waiting for Mr. Sandman to lull our baby back into a better sleeping routine.  What's worse this time...sometimes he wakes 2-3 times a night.  The only thing that keeps him asleep is being held.  He's a big baby now, and its very hard to get comfortable with him, and he squirms throughout trying to get comfy himself, so I know he's not getting quality sleep either.  This round of waking started with ear piercing screams in the middle of the night, like terrifying screams that make you jump out of bed.  Thinking that maybe he was having night terrors, we went to him, comforted him, and put him back to bed, where he usually stayed asleep the rest of the night.  Then teething started again.  We can see the tooth, we can feel the tooth, but it will not cut.  He wakes up, we go get him, comfort him, put him back to bed, and an hour later, do it all again.  Last night he was out by 9, up by 11, I laid with him on the couch for an hour, put him to bed at midnight, and he was up again at 2.  I laid with him again, but every time I tried to move him, he woke up.  So that went off and on until 5:30am, when he thought it was time to wake up.  Oh my.  After we are certain that teething takes a pause (if it ever does), we'll have to let him self-soothe once again.  I hate to do it, but none of us are well-rested.  I just remind myself that the next day he's all smiles, and has no recollection of the night before.

Praying for peaceful dreams for my little guy.

little sponge

Our baby boy is 14 months old.  Pushing further into a state of being as toddler and less as a baby (unless of course its anywhere near nap or bedtime, then he's very much still a baby).  Not sure where my last post and/or update left off and frankly I'm not going to go back and reread at the moment.  So, I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that if I repeat myself, I'm very sorry!  Ty is soundly sleeping, I am caught up on what I needed to do during his nap, and this is the last of my quiet time for today...therefore, I blog.

Want an explanation of this month's random post title?!?  It describes Ty perfectly right now.  The kid is a sponge.  He takes in anything and everything he sees, hears, feels, and experiences around him.  Its really quite amazing to think of how much he has learned in just the last month.  The biggest news to date is that we are officially WALKING!  As many of you probably saw via facebook, Ty took off over the past couple of weeks and he has been perfecting his wobbly walk ever since.  He has gone from a couple of very slow steps with much coaxing from momma and daddy, to walking completely independently by choice most of the time.  He still crawls a lot, especially if he needs to get from point A to point B very quickly.   He still needs a piece of furniture, the wall, Laila, or a random warm body to pull himself up, but I foresee that skill improving in the next few weeks.  I do realize that running is also in the near future, and my exercise level of keeping up with him around the house is about to increase, but for now, I love watching him find his independence.  Ty is so good at keeping himself busy...most of the time.  It never fails as I'm trying to cook dinner or get some work done in the office, he is in desperate need of my attention.  As most parents would agree, when it gets eerily quiet, you start looking for trouble though...but most of the time I find Ty quietly playing in his room when he sneaks off by himself.  He's playing and manipulating toys differently all the time now.  He loves his Little People farm and airplane.  I find little people all over the house.  He likes his shape sorters, although he'd rather take the lid off and empty and refill the box repeatedly than try to actually get the shape in the right hole.  He has recently taken a liking to cars and has figured out how to "drive" them around.  So cute.  One of his favorite things to get into is the kitchen cabinets.  We have the chemicals baby proofed, but the rest of the kitchen is his domain.  He stacks bowls, plays with tupperware, and oddly enough, he is most intrigued by the grilling spatulas and basting brush.  Whatever makes him happy.  He asks to see the deer and ducks all the time.  As soon as Cooter walks through the door Ty drops whatever he's doing to go meet him and ask to pet the deer, pointing towards the office.  This past weekend he started saying fish as well, asking Cici to take him to see the fish all weekend long.  He has mastered several new body parts, including his belly button, head, eyes, nose, teeth and toes.  He is starting to copy facial expressions and movements.  He knows how to reach up high on command.  He LOVES music and dances like no one is watching.  Like I said...little sponge.

helping me dust

trying to put his shoes on himself

riding the big boy toys

using his spoon

obsessed with deer

Laila is quite possibly one of Ty's favorite people in the world (yes, she is a person in our family).  This boy snuggles, cuddles, plays with and beats up on this dog.  She is such a good sport and loves him all the same.  She is rarely far from him.  I often find him in her bed or laid up next to her.  He's learned to "love her" (our words for be gentle) and pat her softly.  She cracks him up.  He gives her treats when we have to leave somewhere.  In fact, he can walk from the kitchen to her kennel in our bedroom, treats in hand, toss them in the crate and close her door.  As I pick him up he waves bye bye to her.  A boy and his dog...  I fully expect her to move into his room once he's out of his crib.

Raising an almost toddler is such a rewarding experience.  Watching your child learn new things just amazes me every day.  Love this little boy.  Although its not without its challenges though.  With new knowledge and kid-like wisdom comes strong wills and more stubbornness.  The daily battle right now is the fact that Ty props his foot up on his high chair tray.  I honestly could care less, but it bugs the bejesus out of Cooter.  He is so worried that will lead him to put his foot on the table one day.  After LOTS of warnings, foot slaps, and short-lived tears, Ty will now smile and promptly remove his foot when asked.  Communication, or lack thereof, is also a major challenge at this age.  Ty is aware enough to know what he wants, but struggles to tell us.  Lots of screaming is involved.  Sometimes there are tears, fake and real, and sometimes its just an outright scream of frustration.  The pediatrician actually warned me that this would be happening.  If an object is near, he will point, which helps a bit.  We are currently working on simple sign language.  Ty can sign please.  Although we have really only worked on and mastered one sign, its pretty neat to know that you just assimilated the first line of communication with your child.  Its so funny because he brings us toys he needs help with, shoes to put on, etc. and immediately signs please.  I'm pretty sure he recognizes the word and sign for more, but he refuses to use it.  Instead if I ask and he does indeed want more of something, he just says please.  We're working on signs for thank you, more, and milk right now.  Everyday we sing the alphabet song, work on colors, and count to 10.  I can't imagine what all I'm going to be able to brag about next month.  Our little boy just blows me away.

I say this all the time, but I am just SO happy to be his momma.