Yawn

You would be tired too, if you, for some inexplicable reason, woke up at 5 a.m. But only when it's Mommy's turn to get up with you. Because apparently you have some sort of deal with Daddy she doesn't know about.

Sometimes...

when your child wakes up out of a sound sleep at 4 am saying "Mommy!" and then "Elmo!" and refuses to go back to sleep, and oh, by the way, you didn't fall asleep until after midnight, as you were working on a file and then selfishly showering your filthy body, then sometimes, you should just not blog. It's not fair to anyone really, the things that you'll say. It will mostly just be a lot of complaining and whining about how tired you are. No one really wants to hear that.

So that's all you'll get today. Night-night!

Wednesday Wonder

As you may recall, I haven't really been out of the house much after the sun sets lately. Eliot's reaction after our last night out brought our attempts at adult fun to a standstill. Last night, I had the much anticipated meeting to jury the applications for the Rock N Roll Craft Show and I was a little worried about how he was going to react to me being gone for the evening, especially at bedtime.

I think Justin was a little worried too, as he was going to be the owner of the ears on the receiving end of Eliot's screams. I tried to stay positive. Justin was a little harder to convince. Around 6:00, I grabbed my purse and gave them both kisses, telling Justin to call if E flipped his wig (though I'm quite sure he didn't need that advice).

My phone rang a little bit after I arrived at the meeting. I didn't hear any screaming, and Justin just asked where we were keeping the rice cereal these days. Another hour passed, it was a bit past Eliot's bedtime when he called again. Still no screaming. "He's still awake," Justin said. "Is he crying?" No. Justin still didn't seem convinced that this was going to work. He tried to put Eliot in his bed twice and was met with maximum resistance. "Just keep doing what you're doing," I said, "and call me if he starts losing it".

Fifteen minutes later, my phone rang again. It was Justin. This is it, I thought, he's finally off his rocker. But he wasn't. "He's asleep," Justin said, beaming. This was a proud moment for both of us. He of himself and me of him.

I feel like this is a major milestone in Eliot's sleep development. Not only did he go to sleep without nursing, or without Mommy for that matter, he slept until well after I got home, and then slept fairly well all night. He even woke up crying for about 2 seconds and then settled himself back to sleep. And tonight he was awake when I put him in his crib and he babbled himself to sleep in about 10 minutes. No crying. Ferber method eat your heart out!

The only drawbacks were that I totally missed him, as bedtime is one of my favorite times of the whole day, and that my boobs were busting with unexpressed milk. When I got home I pumped nearly 4 ounces, which is a Wednesday Wonder in and of itself.

This picture has nothing to do with this post. Who cares? He's cute!

No rest for the weary.

Eliot is nearly 8 months old. He has had quite a seventh month. His Grandpa (Pap-Pap) came for a visit as did his Aunt Danielle and cousin Ava (the star of Beantastic). In the course of these visits, a miracle happened. Eliot started sleeping. Not only was he putting in eight straight in some instances, he was going to bed without assistance. As in boob-sistance. I could lay him down in his crib, actually say, "Night, night Eliot" leave the room, and then within 20 minutes he was sound asleep. For hours. It was bliss.

And it was, of course, short lived. While Danielle was here, we secured babysitters (thank you to Laura and Karissa) to look after the kids and we were going to make a night of it at an art auction fundraiser that Justin donated a photograph to. I bought a new shirt, and I planned on wearing it with a bra that was not of the nursing variety. I was wearing shoes with a heel. I had on eyeliner. This was going to be awesome. The freezer was stocked with milk and I was going to drink wine. To tipsiness. We put the babies to bed and crept out, anticipating a midnight return.

Within an hour, Laura was calling. She didn't have to say a word as all I could hear was my child screaming his lungs out. "He's been at it for about a half an hour," was all I could make out over his wails. No tipsiness for this mommy.

I could hear him when we got out of the car in front of our house. He sounded terrified, as if I had actually run away to join some band of child leaving ne'er do wells and left him behind. As soon as he saw me he stopped, and then nursed as though he had been fasting for weeks. He slept great that night, but that was the end of that. No more him drifting off on his own, no more eight straights. It was back to the nurse-down and the up and down, sometimes 3 or 4 times a night.

We're getting there. The past couple of nights have been promising. Last night he only woke up once at midnight, was back to sleep in no time, and he slept until almost 7 a.m. I'll take it. For now.

Thursday Miracle.

I hope I am not completely damning us to an all nighter by telling you all this, but Eliot slept 'through the night'. What that means in babyese is that he slept for 5 consecutive hours in a row (I know, that is a little repetitive, but this is big news). What that means for me is that I slept 3 in a row. I will take it. I can only hope that this was not a complete fluke. Please send sleeping baby vibes our way!

This Butter is Tired.

I know, it is a horrible cliche, but this mommy is tired.

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, her name starts with Cara, and she has a very sweet and chubby little daughter who is one month older than Eliot. She sleeps. All night. Like 12 hours. And this is how they get her to sleep:
Step One: Put her in bed.
Step Two: Say "Night, night Lila"
Step Three: Leave the room for a night of crafting, movie watching, laundry doing, or even adult conversation.

What?

Here are our steps:
Step One: Nurse Eliot until he passes out.
Step Two: Leave the room and start an activity, such as eating dinner, reading a book about how to get your baby to sleep, and/or have an adult conversation.
Step Three: Eliot wakes up. Nurse him to sleep again.
Repeat. All night. After 11:00 pm, replace Step Two with sleeping until you start to dream, and then wake up to repeat Step One. Step Two will almost never last more than 2 hours.

For those of you who knew me pre-baby, you know how much I loved my sleep. It was listed as one of my hobbies: knitting, cooking, reading, crafting, napping, etc. I knew that I would get less sleep as a mother. I have, after all, participated in the culture for the past 31 years. I even commented that it 'wasn't as bad as I thought it would be' when E. was just a couple of months old. I now take that back. It's worse.

Okay, that may be a little dramatic.

Eliot is most definitely the happiest baby on the block, albeit the most awake one. We have tried many things: swaddling, shushing, baths, swinging, bouncing, singing, mixed tapes, blanket on, blanket off, etc. We even tried formula. Yes, this die-hard breastfeeding mom tried formula in a sleep-deprived stupor, maybe one bottle, just one drop of this man-made nectar, will make my baby sleep. I was very pleasantly surprised when he flatly refused to drink it. I was glad he was strong when I was weak.

When we are up at night, there's usually no crying or screaming (well, at least not on Eliot's part) just quiet nursing or a state of awakeness. I forget to remember sometimes that he is only going to be a baby for such a short amount of time, and I should just buck up and start enjoying this before it's over, and I'm up all night worrying about how we are going to pay for Harvard or the stress he's going to feel as President.