It's like he knows we're watching. |
The low point of my week was when I found myself half-awake, desperately hunched over the rails of Nathan's crib, rhythmically patting his back and praying to God that he would put this child to sleep. That night was not fun. Nathan seriously woke up every hour and a half. I had done everything right that day. He had his naps, but didn't nap too long. He had plenty of solids on top of his normal nursing feeds. The temperature in his room was perfect. We waited until he showed his tired signs and then quickly put him to bed, after going through the bedtime routine, of course. Around 10, he wakes up again. I quickly feed him, and put him back down. This time, it takes some patting, but I think nothing of it. He's done this before (expecting a dream feed). I get myself ready for bed and I turn in for the night, looking forward to at least 3 hours of sleep. The next time I wake, it should be later than 1:30. Awesome.
Waaa! I wake up, look at the clock beside our bed. 11:30. Seriously? I wait a few minutes to see if he calms himself down, but the crying just escalates. Not wanting to wake up Steve, who would have to go to work the next day, I go upstairs, pat the boy a bit and go back to sleep in the next room.
Waa! I awake, but I'm not sure where I am. I think to myself, where's the baby? Shouldn't he be on my lap, nursing? A few seconds later, I realize where I am, I get up and go check up on the baby. This time patting does not help him settle. I pat and pat and pat. Silence. Scream. Silence. Whimper. Silence. I watch his chest rise and fall rhythmically. Awesome. He has fallen asleep.
Waaa! Nope. I decide to nurse him. Finally he falls asleep. This pretty much continues until 6:15 in the morning. I nurse him and play with him a bit until 7:00. We then go downstairs, I pass Nathan to Steve and I tell him, "Wake me up when you absolutely have to leave for work." I pass out.
This was probably a low in motherhood for me. After that night, I seriously considered NOT having anymore children. Of course, after I got over the moment, I still want at least one.
Why did were babies designed to sleep so weirdly? Or are these sleep issues a product of our independence oriented society? Sigh. Who knows.
Well, the good that came out of all of this was a tooth. His first tooth now has a next door neighbor.
On the upside, last night he slept perfectly. I only had to get up once, at 4:30 to nurse him. He even slept until 6:45. I was a happy mommy this morning.
Teddy got tired and hot on our walk. Nathan was nice enough to share his seat. |
This week, Nathan went to his first birthday party. We were also able to have him try out a swing. He loved it! I'm looking forward to parks and playgrounds.
This week, I've tried broccoli, curried carrots, and spinach. By themselves, he didn't like them very much, but combined with yogurt, he will gobble them up quickly. New research now shows that you don't have to wait to give your baby "allergic" foods such as eggs and fish until they are older. I think I will have him try different things, but I will hold off on peanuts, shellfish, and milk until he is older due to a history of allergies to those foods in the family.
Well, it's off to clean the house for now. Hopefully we'll have some pool pictures to post next week.