We're Not Sleeping

Actually, I take that back, Patrick is sleeping just fine (thank God!). Operation Get Molly Sleeping has been a horrible failure. For some reason when she breaks her mama's heart cries herself to sleep, it just doesn't stick. She's awake again in as little as 30 minutes. Cry, sleep, and repeat over and over again. No one is getting much sleep. We may give up on this. Everyone swears it works but it just isn't making much sense right now, we're all up more than we would be if she just stuck to her 11pm, 3am and 6am wakings. This sucks. In related news, I saw something on the news last night about sleep deprivation and how horrible it can be. They interviewed researchers at the Stanford Sleep Clinic and I was surprised to hear it takes 3-4 hours of additional sleep to make up for every hour of lost sleep. Wake me up in 2009, I may be ready to tackle the world then.

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

A little update to my post from last night. Like clockwork, Molly was up at 11. We were not able to get her to go back to sleep on her own. And not at 3 am either. She was grumpy most of the day. Tonight she cried a little less and went to sleep on her own, that lasted exactly 30 minutes. Where is the good sleeper I earned?

Time Keeps Slipping Away

My little miss is now 9 months old. It hardly seems possible she's been in this world as long as it took for her to prepare to enter it. Molly had her 9 month well baby visit with the pediatrician today. She's measuring in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile) and 28.5 inches (90th percentile). Her height has stayed consistent since birth which continues to blow me away. Her weight dropped a bit int he last 6 months but the doctor didn't seem too concerned since Molly really only started eating solids a month ago. She's not too keen on pureed baby food but she loves self feeding and is a much better eater than her brother. Tonight for dinner she ate a half of a zucchini followed by a chaser of pureed peaches. She loves Cheerios and gets bouncy and excited when she sees that familiar yellow box. It took a lot of practice but she's crawling with determination (and speed!) which has freaked Patrick out just a bit. And she's far more interested in things like cords and plugs than her brother was (or maybe just more than I remember). I definitely need to keep my eye on her. She has 6 teeth now, and seems ready to pop 2 more through int he next week or so. Her hair is getting long enough to get in her eyes so I need to keep it clipped back (with a bow of course!). She continues to be an absolute joy for all of us.

BUT, and this is a big one, she has become a terrible sleeper. We thought we hit the jackpot when she slept around the clock as a newborn. She never had that night and day confusion. From day 1 she gave us great stretches at night. At only a few months old she started sleeping through the night occasionally. And then the teething started. One tooth was ready to pop through, and then another, and another, and before we knew it she was regularly getting up to nurse 3 times a night. You could set a watch by it, she was up at 11, 3 and 6. Mommy and Daddy started to get exhausted, naps were getting wonky, no one was happy and we decided we needed to get hard core. So tonight we tried the Ferber sleep method, which is a gentle method of crying it out but it break my heart nonetheless. The pediatrician was the one who suggested it today, so I know it is considered "ok" to do but I still feel like a crappy mom. I feel like we've broken her little spirit, like she's now learned that no one is going to really respond to her so don't even bother. It makes my heart hurt. I never could do it with Patrick, left on his own in the crib he would hysterically cry until he vomited. Every...single...time. After reading several sleep books that didn't work we ended up rocking him to sleep for naps and bedtime until he turned 1 and finally started sleeping through the night. He sleeps fine now, so no harm, no foul, right? So here I sit, typing away, as my (broken spirited?) little baby sleeps in her crib and I pray that this works because I don't think I have the heart to repeat this scene every night. This too shall pass. Until then I may just move to Australia.

Goodnight Sweetheart

We've hit a HUGE sleep milestone. Patrick was never a good sleeper, he didn't start sleeping through the night until he was a year old. He doesn't sleep a whole lot (maybe a total of 12 hours per day including a nap). Lately he's been waking up before 6 am. So what is this big milestone? Patrick can finally put himself to sleep. We used to (mostly Tom used to) walk him or rock him to sleep every night and it sometimes took an hour. Now we can lay him down in his crib and he is out within 2 minutes. He fusses a little but doesn't really cry. I guess it helps to have Elmo with you.



Last Thursday Patrick and I met Monica, Malia and Makaio at Oakridge Mall for a playdate and lunch. Monica is one of my very bestest friends in the whole world and she is moving next weekend to San Luis Obispo. I am very sad for me, but happy for Monica and Matt cause they will be so close to their parents and building the house of their dreams. Monica and I have been friends since college and I am going to miss her very, very much. So Thursday was bittersweet. I cried on the drive home from the mall. We had a great day though, and Patrick even took his first carousel ride.





This weekend was fairly relaxed. Even Patrick had time to kick back.