Apr 28, 2010

Weigh-in Wednesday

Holy Mac - this is almost over, thank GOD! But I'm sick of writing about weight and crap so I'm totally going off in a different direction this morning... :)

Last night, a 1 am, I was awake (gee, I wonder why? Baby yelling at me through the monitor maybe??), lying here getting grouchy that I was awake and that I knew Jane wasn't hungry but what other of the five hundred things that could have woken her up was bothering her. Anyways... I was very close to dashing downstairs to get my laptop so I could give you a glimpse into the thoughts of a Mom, middle of the night, tired, grouchy, confused, etc. Then, after lying her and thinking about what I would write (which included a lot of "effin's" and so on), I decided it best not to do that. Why? Mostly because of Mommy Guilt (which I talked about on Monday). I feel like if I complained (using a lot of "effin's") about my middle of the night wake-ups, I'd be complaining about Jane and there's way too much guilt in that. Not to mention, you'd probably think I was some anger-issued, grouchy Mother which I am not at all. Even though in my head I'm saying "why the eff are you effin' up again?", externally I'm saying "shhhhhh, it's ok, Mommy's here". :)

When she woke up at 12:30am, I though "here we go" in for another fab night of 5 wake ups and no sleep. She stayed awake for an hour and a half. Can someone explain this to me? She couldn't have been hungry. It could have been teething. It could have been gas. I don't think she was too hot or too cold but I turned up the heat anyways. She's not sick. I didn't respond to her right away... I let her "cry it out" for 30 mins and she was just getting more worked up. So, I went in and gave her the soother. As I was walking out, she was standing back up in her crib starting to yell again. That wasn't going to work. But I gave her another 30 mins. After 30 mins of getting more worked up, I visited again, took her in my arms and rocked her a little thinking if I got her calmed down again, I could put her down and she'd get herself back to sleep. Gave her the soother. Put her in the crib. Stands up and yells. Awesome. Left the room, 5 mins of yelling later I said "eff this", went back gave her the soother again and another one in her hands to play with (I don't know why this works but it does, it's like having it in her hands keeps her from standing up again and she just pops one out and puts the other in over and over again)... and it usually distracts her enough that sometimes she'll fall asleep. Five minutes later, silence. Hallelujah! Back to sleep assuming she'd be up in another hour and HALLELUJAH, she slept until 5:30am. I just "fed" her (i.e. she nibbled for five seconds and then fell asleep again) and now I'm hopeful she'll sleep until 7am. I know she doesn't need to be fed at 5:30 (especially when she's not really eating just wanting the comfort) but it gets me an extra hour and a half and, otherwise, I fear I'd be re-doing the whole 1am experience.

Ok, so that's a lot of detail and, maybe, a lot of "effin's". I realize the "effin's" have to stop too because it's not going to be a heck of a lot better when Jane hits daycare saying "I want some "effin" juice please"... tee hee hee. In my defense, I don't use it a lot... just when I'm super sleep deprived and grouchy. I think my problem may be inconsistency? I don't know. On the nights when I've slept well the previous night,
I am willing to let her "cry it out" more (like last night) but too a limit... in other words, I'm willing to let her go for 30-45 mins before I say "eff this" and go for the soother. But on the nights after a hellish night, I will often respond right away, giving her anything she wants (boob, soother, etc.) so that I can go back to sleep right away. There's no consistency. The other "thing" may be the naps. Jane still has two naps a day... about an hour to an hour and a half each. I definitely think cutting down on the length of the naps by waking her after an hour or whatever would help the nighttime situation... and I will do that - once I'm back to work. Until then baby, I NEED my breaks! It's worth the wake ups to get those few hours during the day when I can do some things for me... especially with all these projects lately. When I go back to work, I can let the daycare deal with the no breaks situations (ha ha suckers) and hopefully I can slide in and take advantage of more sleep throughout the night! :p A girl's gotta dream.

In the meantime, all these projects are making me skinny. I'm too busy for after dinner snacks! Another pound gone which means only one left to go, which basically means if I have another pee this morning before I eat breakfast, I could possibly be at goal! ha ha ha, I'm sick! I haven't got the b*** to try on my old work clothes again yet in fear that the disappointment that I'm basically there and those pretty clothes still do not fit will send me into a chocolate eating spiral, but I may give it a shot later today (during one of my breaks). I'll keep ya posted.

Expect next week to be your last WIW post... yipee! God, I never expected it to take so long. I wanted to be one of the girls who, 2 months post baby, everyone was saying how incredible it was how quickly I lost the weight! :p ha ha ha. Hilarious how much your priorities change once the baby actually arrives... caring about that kind of crap goes out the window.

Here are my stats:
Starting WIW weight: 157lbs
Current weight: 138 lbs
Pounds lost: 19lbs (which coincidentally is how much Jane weighs and seems insane that I lost that much weight)
Pounds to lose: 1lb (a good pee) :p

The latest pics are from my photoshoot with Jane on the weekend. I'm definitely learning from my photo course and also self-teaching some things in photo editing that I'm enjoying. Quickly becoming an addict! :) This last picture is of Jane doing her new favourite thing - hugs. She's so sweet - she'll hug everything, get right down and snuggle with it, even me! I love it... too cute!

Two more days for "ask me anything" and one more for our $50 Moody Mamas Maternity Gift Card giveaway! :) I haven't gotten tons of questions yet which is kind of funny as it suggests that I'm so open on this blog that y'all feel that you know everything about me! That kind of makes me happy! :)

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4 comments:

Margaret said...

Those wake-ups when it feels like they wake up just to wake up and then they want attention or to play are the worse!! Have you tried something that will kind of soothe her back to sleep with the paci? We have a fisher price aquarium that attaches to the side of the crib that plays soft music and makes water sounds and we also have the oh-so-popular Fisher Price soothe and glow sea horse http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-M5664-Soothe-Glow-Seahorse/dp/B000W3XEQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1272463360&sr=8-1-spell) that actually work. I pop the paci in and turn on one of them and he will stare at it until he drifts off to sleep (well most of the time). Oh and the sea horse comes in blue or pink and really it's the cutest thing!

Amanda said...

Hey there, just thought I'd add my two cents about baby sleep. My daughter is almost ten months, and we have dealt with a whole host of sleep issues too. I've spent a lot of time on sleep consultant websites and bought a couple of their manuals. Everything I have read says that babies between 9 and 12 months need. 13.5 to 14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Generally 11 hours at night and 2.5-3 hours during the day. So I wouldn't shorten the naps. In fact, I find that better naps lead to better nights. (And you're right, mommy needs BREAKS during the day!!!) Our baby generally sleeps from 7:15pm to 6:30 am with two naps for a total of about 14 hours.
I know it's tough, but I HIGHLY recommend getting rid of the soother! The big change in night sleeps comes when they can put themselves to sleep 100% - no soother, no boob, no sleep crutches whatsoever! It makes for about 3 or 4 rough nights and then you will get a baby who sleeps through the night very consistently. Getting rid of the sleep crutches was a major turning point for us, and I have heard the same from lots of other parents.
Whatever way you decide to go with this, I hope your nights get better soon!

Jen said...

Ladies - both of your tips are super promising... I'm willing to give anything a try and both of you have offered up tips I hadn't really thought of yet!

Re: the aquarium thing - I'm on it. Walmart here I come.

Re: the soother thing - I totally get that. Jane usually falls asleep in the car without her "nummy", I'm sure she could do it at night. Like you said, might be a few rough nights but may be worth it in the end... I just have to commit to it and find a "good time" (e.g. a night after a good night's sleep).

Thanks gals!

Michelle Robitaille said...

I have no advice to give at this point, as my 4 month old guy is basically sleepig through the night now. Please don't hate me. I've been warned that the whole sleeping through the night thing can change at any time. So, I won't get too used to it. I'm sure I'll be in your position down the road....once the teething starts.

I just wanted to comment on your photography. Your photos are absolutely gorgeous. The lighting is beauttiful and I'm sure having the cutest little girl doesn't hurt. Amazing work Jen! I'm definitely a fan