Monday, October 5, 2009

Another red letter day for miss carolina

Yesterday we rode in a car to Bay Ridge and spent about 4 hours there. At Paul and Maura's apartment quickly, then walking around a park by the river front, then Kimesha and Ben's (where Carolina took a quick 45 minute nap), and then out for a walk through the town's street party day thing -- and then to a restaurant.

This was the 3rd time Carolina has been to a restaurant. It is the first 'fancy' restaurant and the longest she's been in one.

She was already overtired (more on that later) so Ismael and I took turns leaving the table and walking outside with her. It was very loud outside with all the music and people mulling about, so at one time I took her into the bathroom where it was actually quiet. I fed her, even though she really didn't NEED it. And that bought us another half hour or so.

She then fell asleep in the car on the way home. Woke up shortly after we got into the apartment. Quick bath, PJs, then off to bed.

Overall, as much of a handful that she is, it went relatively well. It could have gone a LOT worse. Thank you, Bay Ridge Lobbyists for the lovely day.

About the being overtired... This kid has reverted into earlier months sleeping pattern of being up every 2-3 hours and nursing almost hourly during the day. So mommy is exhausted, to say the least. And I did what I do when I need to figure something out, I start reading. I read the baby sleep book that we have and it has a lot of great information but really it has too much. I spend a lot of time reading through it to find an example that best matches Carolina and then see what the 'solutions' are that I can use.

While reading, she wakes herself up at about 8.30pm. A mere 2 hours after initially going to sleep. She sounds like she's either terrified or hungry or something. She wasn't warming up to our friends as quickly as I thought, and we were in all new places that day -- so maybe it was a nightmare about stranger anxiety or who knows what.

But Ismael went in to calm her down, and then I went in to feed her. That did the trick. And I continued to worry that I've encouraged a bad trend. Booby time = feel better time, and not encouraging more self-soothing time.

She then wakes up at 11.21pm. I know it was 11.21pm because of the following... Ismael stops me from getting out of bed and says 'Let's try to see if she'll fall back to sleep on her own. Like the book says.'

I agree but I'm also completely stressed out. I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, desperate to calm her down and also desperate for her to just fall asleep. I'm tired. She's tired. He's tired. There's a lot of tired in our house. My anxiety swells and I start to get mad at Ismael for even suggesting such a thing and then angry at myself for allowing her to sound so sad.

It took about 45 minutes of crying with some stopping cycle, that eventually was more stop than cry. She fell asleep at 12.05am. She didn't wake up until just before 3am, and then at 6am. Fell asleep for another 45 minutes when I woke her up at 7am (like the book said). Gave her a bath, dressed her, played for a bit. She was very tired, and went back to sleep at 8.30am for another TWO HOURS.

I actually had to wake her so that we could go to a mommy's group by 10.30am. She's been napping like usual (30-45 minutes) every other hour since then.

We're going to try it again tonight. The first time she cries after we put her down to sleep, we're going to leave her there and let her cry for up to an hour. See how it goes.

If she gets the idea that we're not going to get her, she might start to sleep for longer. That's the plan. Lord knows if that's what is going to be reality...

What's more, she's rolling over. I put her to sleep on her side, when she wakes up she's usually on her belly. This afternoon, twice, I put her on her belly and she wakes up on her back. We almost have a complete roll!

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