Another post about my kid who doesn't sleep

So, Alden doesn't sleep well. Pretty much ever. Every time we think have him figured out, he sleeps okay (meaning sleeps a 2-3 hour stretch) for a night or two, but then goes back to being up constantly.

Some of the reasons I think this sleep (or lack thereof) routine started are: hunger, itching/rough nails, and discomfort from eczema. At this point, though, I'm certain it's just become a habit for him. His body has become used to getting up often, and it's a habit we're going to have to break or wait for him to grow out of.

Some of the things that have helped a teeny bit: swaddling, white noise, and wearing a onesie instead of pajamas.

I decided over the weekend to keep track of all of his waking and see if I can find a pattern. I wrote the times he slept, and if I nursed him upon waking, I noted that. 

Here's what I have so far.

Friday was bad.

A couple of 2 hour stretches, but still lots of waking. This has been about average for the last few weeks. 

Saturday was AWFUL.

Lots of waking and no decent stretches of sleep. 

You'll notice that when he first goes to sleep at night, he wakes up 30-45 minutes later. That happens every night. We've only had probably 3 nights EVER that he didn't wake that soon after falling asleep. 

Sunday was pretty good (for Alden).

Some better stretches, but he had a hard time falling back to sleep after waking and needed to nurse a lot. And then at 3:00am, he had a hard time staying asleep. 

I didn't keep track of Monday night, but it seemed about the same as Friday, except that he slept in our bed for a bit. He doesn't love co-sleeping anymore, but I couldn't get up three times in a half hour, so I just nursed him in bed and got a decent two hour stretch. 

When I talk about Alden's sleep, I don't feel like I'm complaining. I am exhausted, but I find it somewhat comical. I guess that's because all I can do is laugh. I can't control it, but I can control how I react to it. 

However, to others reading it, it may come off as complaining. Some people have told me (in nicer terms) that I need to suck it up. And I have. I'm dealing with it, but that doesn't mean that I'm okay with it. Someone told me it's normal. Ha! This is not normal for a 6 month old - I know that! 

Let me just say, that I would live with sleep like this for the rest of my life if it was what I needed to do for my child. I'm not looking for sympathy, but I keep thinking that if I share it, maybe someone will have some magical cure. 

We are seeing slight improvements in Alden's sleep. It's taking a very long time, and sometimes we take two steps forward and one step back, but it is getting better. I'm certain he won't do this forever; it's a season that will come to an end, and I just have to wait it out.

Bye Bye, Paci!

This weekend, we said goodbye to Leland's paci. Or "nuh-nuh," as he calls it. At least I think we did.

I actually was hoping that Leland would be done with it before Alden arrived. I had (and still have) a slight fear that he will remain obsessed with it and try to take Alden's all the time. Leland used to only have it for sleeping. He didn't ask for it any other time, and I thought losing it before Alden arrived would be easy.

But about a month before Alden was born, Leland started wanting it more and more. Our daycare provider didn't realize that we only gave it to him at naps/bed times, and she was letting him have it whenever he wanted, which wasn't a big deal really. He sort of got used to that though, and started wanting them more and more at home. He seemed to be going through a difficult time, emotionally, at that time, and so I figured if a pacifier helped him, then it wasn't a big deal. So we started letting him have them more.

Since he's been at Julie's, he usually only has them for sleeping, and he's needed/wanted them less and less at home. He would randomly grab one and stick it in his mouth during the day, but if I asked for it, he would give it to me.

So this weekend, I decided to just try and see if he could go without it. I took them out of his dresser drawer, where they are usually kept, and put them on the kitchen counter. Still easily accessible for us, but Leland couldn't grab them whenever he wanted.

I laid him down for nap and didn't offer it to him.He went to sleep just fine and didn't ask for it. He's been going to bed with a sippy cup of water, so I think that's a bit of a distraction for him.

Then at night, again, I didn't offer it to him. He asked for it, and I just told him to drink some water and that he didn't need his "nuh-nuh." He went to sleep fine, but woke up in the middle of the night and asked for it. I gave it to him, but took it back first thing in the morning.

At his nap on Sunday, Dave laid him down, and he said Leland asked for it, and Dave said he didn't need it. Again, he slept fine. And then at bed time Sunday night, I laid him down and he didn't even ask for it.

He didn't use it at Julie's today, but at bed time tonight, he did ask for it. I distracted him with his sippy cup and he was okay.

I won't say we're completely out of the woods with the paci, only because Alden still uses one, and he just switched to the bigger size paci (the same ones that Leland used). I made sure to buy different looking ones for Alden - different colors and a little different design - so that Leland would know they aren't his.

But they are the same brand, so Leland may try to take them at some point. Tonight he put one in his mouth for a second, and I said "Oh, yucky. That's for the baby." He took it right out and said, "Yucky." So...maybe we are officially done. But I'm not counting my chickens yet, you know?

Quite honestly, I'm a little sad to see the paci go. I don't really know why though, since I didn't want him to be a pacifier baby to begin with. Maybe it's that he's growing up. Maybe it's that I will miss his sweet little voice calling it "nuh-nuh." Maybe it's just the guilt I feel every time we make him go through one of these little transitions. It's a weird feeling. I'm definitely happy that we're (hopefully) done with it, but there are other emotions mixed in as well. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: motherhood makes you crazy.

Big Kid

Leland is growing up so fast. A little faster than I'd like sometimes, but I am still enjoying the process. He's constantly doing things or learning things that remind me that he's becoming a big kid.

The last few times that we've gone out to eat, Leland has insisted on sitting in a booster instead of a high chair. We were very cautious about it the first time. I mean, this kid is ALWAYS moving. He's always getting into things, and constantly on the go. So we weren't too excited about not having him strapped into his seat at dinner. But we let him try it and it went fine. 

This weekend we went to Pizza Hut (we so fancy) and it was the same thing; he wanted a booster. 

So we went with it and he did fine. He sat down and colored with Daddy. 

They may look serious, but they were having fun.

He was a tad squirmy, but listened when we asked him to sit, and he ate his food. Oh, and another example of being a big kid: he will not eat his pizza cut up anymore - he has to have the whole slice.

And then this. 

Feet on the table as if he didn't have a care in the world. At one point, he had both feet on the table, but I didn't get a picture. 

By all means, Leland, make yourself at home. Goofball. 

I guess even though he's getting to be a big kid, he still has a lot of growing up to do. 

The Memory of a Toddler

Sometimes Leland's memory astounds me. The kid remembers things we say or things we do after just one time (yet he can't remember that where he leaves his sippy cups).

For example, we have these pictures up in our living room. Leland loves to look at any pictures and name the people in them, and these are no different. 

Sorry for the poor quality phone pic

Well, one day about a month ago, Dave pointed to the tiny bit of cleavage that is visible in the top picture and said, "Boob." (I think Dave misses the days when he could admire them without a baby always being attached.) He didn't think Leland was even paying attention and they both went on to name everyone in the photos.

The next day, Dave was asking Leland who everyone was in the pictures again. He pointed to everyone in the bottom picture and Leland named everyone correctly. He then named Daddy in the top picture. But when Dave pointed to me, Leland said, "Boob." 

We laughed because...well...it was funny. But now, a month later, Leland still calls me Boob in that picture. He will call every other photo of me Mama or Mommy, but that one is always Boob. Even when we correct him and say it's Mama, he looks all confused and says, "No, Boob!"

Always Boob. So now Dave just calls me Boob all the time (when Leland isn't around, of course...we'd hate for him to start calling me that in public).

Oh, the joys of having a husband without a verbal filter.

Glimmer of Hope

As I've mentioned before, Alden is basically the worst sleeper ever. Well, maybe not ever, but he's right up there with the worst of them, I'm sure. He's a lot of wonderful things: adorable, sweet, happy, precious. He's even a decent napper. But I guess everyone has to have a weak area, and his is sleeping at night.

Over spring break, we started trying some new things to help him sleep longer stretches. They worked for a few nights, and then we were plagued with an ear infection and allergic reaction to his antibiotic, which set us back. Since then, he's pretty unpredictable. Some nights, he will sleep 2-3 hour stretches, which is EXCELLENT for him. And some nights, he's up for what feels like half the night.

I had this thought - a dream if you will - that things would get better when he turned six months old. Because when Leland was a baby, he wasn't the best sleeper either (much, much better than Alden, but still not great). But right at six months, he started sleeping better. Instead of being up 2-3 times a night, he was up once a night to nurse, and about once for a pacifier. It was a huge change, right at six months.

Well, Alden turned six months last week and nothing has really changed. But then I remembered that when Leland turned six months, it was right when school got out. When we didn't have a schedule or routine that we had to keep. So, I'm hoping (hoping really, really hard) that once school gets out in 7.5 weeks, Alden will start sleeping better.

If he doesn't, well, at least it will be summer so I won't have to get up at 5:00am. It seems Alden's best stretch of sleep is between 3:00 and 6:00, so that would give me an extra hour of sleep in the mornings.

Exciting news (I hope): I wrote this a few days ago, and last night I put Alden to bed in a onesie and his swaddle wrap instead of pajamas and a swaddle wrap, and he slept a bit better. A couple longer stretches - still some rough patches, but a bit better. Perhaps this will be the start of a trend. Time will tell, I suppose.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail {part 2}

Easter morning, we got up and got ready so that we could make it to the 9:00 service at church. We usually do 11:00, but we knew it would be packed even more than usual, so we went earlier.

We were going to save the baskets for after church to insure that we would be ready on time. But after we were all ready, we figured we had enough time for the kids to check out their baskets and get a few pictures.

Leland was excited for everything in his basket, but he was OVER THE MOON for his Puffer Pete Chuggington toy.

My sweet boys. My whole heart is right here in this picture.

Leland playing with his "coo-why-wuh" (screwdriver) paintbrush

"Tools like Daddy"

Then we went to church. Leland went to the daycare and Alden stayed with us. Both did great and it was a wonderful service, as usual. We love West Side Community Church!

After church, we went home and had an Easter egg hunt in the yard. 

Leland found treats in one. Most of the eggs had fruit snacks, but this one happened to have a couple of m&m's. He was way excited!

Then we had lunch, took a nap, and headed to my mom's house for a bit. The Easter Bunny made a stop there, and Leland got this tractor flashlight. Can you guess how much he loved it? Good gracious, this boy and tractors!

My mom and Alden

Grandma Josie and Alden

It had been a while since we had a picture of the four of us, so I asked my mom to try to get a quick photo of us. Leland was incredibly uncooperative. Crying, whining, trying to run away. So we scrapped the idea, but then Leland suddenly stopped freaking out for half a second and we got one shot.

Is he smiling? No. Can we see Dave's face? Eh...most of it. And, for some reason, the shadows make it look like Leland has chocolate on his face (he didn't). Hey, we're all in it, and we're all looking. I'll take it!

All four of us were exhausted by the time we got home (which was only 6:30, so not even late!). We quickly got the boys ready for bed and said goodnight. It was a fun weekend, but very tiring. We're all ready for a few "normal" days with routines and bed times!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter weekend as well!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Hopping down the bunny trail!

We had a very busy, but very fun, Easter weekend! It was so busy, in fact, that it will take me two posts to share it. Actually, that's mostly because I took a bajillion pictures.

It started with lunch with my mom and grandma on Friday. Dave was working, so it was just us girls with my boys. We went to the Platte River Inn, which is owned by John and Sue, Dave's and my former bosses from the Dairy Ville.

Our lunches were delicious. The company was amazing. And Leland was satisfied to eat an entire meal of french fries and sharing my chocolate shake. 

Then Saturday morning, we went to an Easter egg hunt at our church. We invited my brother and his family as well as Dave's sister and her family. 

The egg hunt is open to the public and there are something like 10,000 or more eggs from what I've heard. I heard last week that there would be 30,000 this year, but in my head that just seems crazy. I can't attest to that being accurate, but there are LOTS of eggs and LOTS of people. 

They separate it by age groups. Ages 0-3 go first in one section, and as soon as that's over, the 4-7 year olds go in another section, followed by the 8-12 year olds in a different area. 

It was a very chilly morning, so Leland was bundled up in a sweatshirt, fleece, mittens, and hat. Mittens aren't the best for collecting eggs, but he did okay.

Leland and his cousins, Isaac and Madeline, are all two years old so they went together. Leland had a really hard time waiting until they said go, but he did. They all had tons of fun. Isaac and Madeline tended to hang close by where they started, but Leland wandered all over out section, making sure no eggs were left behind. Since I was chasing him, I only got a few pics of the cousins. 

I wanted to get a picture of Dave to prove that my children DO have a father and he DOES attend events with us. But he hates having his picture taken, and refused to give me anything other than a scowl. However, if you look a few pics up, to the one of Madeline egg hunting, you'll catch a candid moment of Dave with Alden that I thought was pretty sweet. In yo face, Dave!

I couldn't find Caleb and Ella when it was their turn to hunt, so I didn't get any pictures of them. Bummer. Maybe next year.

After the hunt, we went out for lunch with Laura, Jabin, Caleb, and Isaac. They had hot dogs and such at the church, but Laura wanted Chinese and well...the pregnant lady gets what the pregnant lady wants. It was yummy, and fun to spend some time with them. 

And that wraps up Friday and Saturday. Stay tuned for Sunday's adventures.

Six Months

Dear Alden,

You are six months old. I know I say this all the time, but I cannot believe how fast you are growing! How are you already a half of a year old?! Crazy.

This month you had your first ear infection. And subsequently had your first allergic reaction to medicine. No more cillins for you, sir, since the Amoxicillin made you break out in a terrible rash. It took about two weeks for your rash to totally clear up, but it seems to be gone now.

We discovered that your dry skin patches, and the reason for all your head scratching, is that you have eczema. We were given some good suggestions for shampoos, soaps, and lotions from your doctor and some friends. So far, they seem to be helping. Thank goodness. It was so sad seeing you so itchy and blotchy. You still scratch your head, but it's much less than you used to. Somehow, I always get lucky that you have very few scratches when I take your monthly pictures - good thing since I don't know how to edit those out.

This month, you started sleeping in your own room. You did pretty great the first few nights, and then came the ear infection which set us back. For about a week, you were up almost all night every night, so you slept with us, which was fine because it helped you sleep. You're getting back to sleeping a little better. The last couple of nights, you've only woken up twice each night. This is pretty amazing for you, since you have been getting up every two hours for quite a while. It's nice to be getting 3-4 hours. You now start the night in your own room, and end up with us around 1:00am. You still have a weird habit of going to sleep around 6:30pm and waking an hour later - every night. Sometimes it's only a half an hour later. Then you go back to sleep for about 3-4 hours.

You don't have your six month appointment for a couple of weeks, but when we had your ears checked a couple of weeks ago, we got a weight and measurement for you. At that appointment, you weighed 17 pounds, 6 ounces (54th percentile), and you measured 26.5 inches long (55th percentile). You are wearing mostly 9 month clothes, and size 3 diapers. At night, I put you in size 4 diapers because they tend to last all night.

Last month, you rolled over both ways for the first time. This month, you haven't been rolling much from back to belly, but you have been rolling quite a bit from belly to back. You love to sit up and can almost do it by yourself. When you lay on your back, you often do little "crunches" to try and sit up.

This month, you started eating food! We started you on oatmeal first for a couple of weeks. You liked it okay, but you weren't all that excited about it. We started you on foods last week. You have had sweet potatoes, avocado, and carrots, and you like them more and more each time you eat them. You're getting better at getting the food down instead of spitting it out.

You love to watch your brother and anything else that is going on around you. You play with toys more and more, and you like to watch yourself in the mirror. I can't say I blame you; you're pretty easy on the eyes.

You are always happy and smiling, and your smile lights up the room. You, sir, are a joy-spreader. In the last six months, you have brought such incredible joy to our family. I can't remember what life was like before you were born, and simply can't imagine what life would be like without you. You are an amazing blessing to our family.

I love you more and more each day, sweet baby. I hope you always know just how much we all adore you.

Happy six months, Alden!

Love,
Mama