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I could hardly move. I was so sore that I seriously doubted my ability to care for my children. Squatting down to help Hannah on the potty was agonizing and I felt like I was going to drop Paul all day. A wise and trusted friend suggested I scale back to every other day until I can handle it. And you know what is super weird? I was kinda bummed when that meant I couldn't work out yesterday. Who am I??? Will this last?? Will I ever make it Level 2?? Stay tuned.
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This is the only quick take about sleep this week. I promise. But what good is a blog if you can't ask the advice of hundreds of strangers on the internet? I usually get better advice than when I ask individual friends (even though I have awesome friends) because it's more likely that someone reading this will have gone through a similar situation. All that to say.....help.Hannah is miserable when we put her to bed. For months and months she laid down peacefully in her crib, talked and played for a while, then fell asleep (don't hate us. we endured torture from months 3-13). Now she yells and cries for up to two hours. I'm pretty sure that she just cannot figure out how to calm herself and relax. She's so much like her mama that she gets bored if she lays awake for more than 30 seconds. She climbs all over her crib and swings her legs off the sides because she can't sit still. We've tried music in her room. No good. The light-up sleeping bunny that reminds her it's time to sleep. It helps with middle of the night wakeups, but not at bedtime. We give her books to read and baby dolls to change and she throws them out because "boots no bed" and that's not where books belong in her organized little mind. Earlier bedtime? Even worse. Later bedtime? Nada. What do we do oh vast internet readers?
Is it time to move to the dreaded big girl bed? Will that magically help somehow? We're leaving for a way-too-long trip to Missouri pretty soon and I am dreading every second of trying to put her to bed. Should we try to get into the big bed before we go? Or banish her to the pack-n-play that she's all but outgrown?
If you made it through that entire quick take, I really hope you have the answer I'm looking for.
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Isn't the library amazing? Every time I go I feel like I hit the jackpot. All these books get to come home with me? For months? For free??? I've been using our library website to reserve all the books I want and then all I have to do is pick them up at the desk. But I still love browsing the shelves and finding hidden treasures. These are our favorites right now:
Or "Dumpy Doat". Which is way cuter.
So cute to hear Hannah tell the pigeon "no no no". I just noticed on Amazon that there several other books that forbid the pigeon from doing things. We'll have to check those out next time. For free.
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Still haven't decided on a computer. Because it's a big decision and I'm overwhelmed so I just do nothing. That means no pictures still. And man we got some cute ones of Paul in the tub last night. This is the only cellphone pic from this past week.
Despite the fact that he's the happiest baby ever, he's not a smiler. In fact, he's pretty much scowling for about 95% of the day. It's his game face. He's practicing early.
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I haven't been on Pinterest much since Paul was born. And my life is the better for it! I need to venture back on to look for some good car activities for Hannah. Our Missouri trip will be two days of driving and even she doesn't love Barney that much. Anyone have any great idea for keeping a two year old happy in the car for an eternity? My only idea so far is lots and lots of food handed to her in tiny, tiny increments so it's takes her over an hour to eat a muffin.
We're fully expecting Paul to scream for most of the trip. He doesn't sleep well in the car. We're bringing ear plugs.
We've only driven home once since we moved to Florida a year and a half ago. We're taking a different route this time that will take us through Atlanta and Nashville and along the base of the Smokey Mountains. I'm so excited (except for the fact that I'm dreading it with every fiber of my being) because I've never seen mountains. Ever. They better be worth the hype.
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Apparently the readers of this blog are much deeper than the writer of it. So many commenters managed to turn my dumb thought into a beautiful reflection about Mary praying for Jesus. They're so right, I bet Mary repeated the words of the angel Gabriel over and over in her head for her entire life. If God sent an angel to tell me something that profound, I would certainly replay the scene a time or two to relive it.
-7-
In addition to my parents' 30th anniversary this past week, it was also my sister's and Ted's birthdays! Jackie turned 25 and Ted turned 27 (yes, I married a younger man. 10 months younger to be exact.) Is it just our family or are most people born in early June? It's not like nine months before June is anything special. A quick Google search was inconclusive as to whether August or September are the most popular birth month (I didn't technically click on any of the articles...) but I say it's June.
Happy Father's Day Weekend! I linked up with Jen for my quick takes, as usual. And this post has affiliate links because, hello!, I've made $2.94 so far and can almost buy something. Thanks so much!
Oh the sleep. Believe me, I will be back to see what other wise ones have to say. Good luck on the trip. A travel aqua doodle is a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteDoodle board is a good idea, also printing out (if you can) a sheet with cows, windmills, big truck and other things you will see on your trip and have her watch for them.
ReplyDeleteI'm no sleep expert, but I'd check 3 things: 1) when does she nap (if she does)? When my 3yo turned 3, any sleep time after noon was forbidden. 2) how long is the nap? 3) how much outside time?
ReplyDeleteGENERALLY (but I have friends for whom this is not accurate) the nighttime squirms are a circadian thing (I've been told and so I throw big words out there) and the daytime nap may need to be tinkered with and some good outside time to help run off the energy that they are able to store up now. Oh, and Epsom salts in the bath. The magnesium seems to help my kids sleep better. Now I also put an audiobook on at night (a long one) that my kids can listen to quietly until they fall asleep (the library should have great kid classics).
I feel like I know nothing, but I just pull out my arsenal of tricks every time we hit a new development stage that messes with sleep patterns.
Maia: I hadn't even thought about naptime! Duh! I recently pushed it back to match up with Paul's. She's tired around 11:30 every day but I've been keeping her up until 12:30. I'm going to try moving it earlier again and hope that helps!
DeleteIt's too hot to do any outside time in the afternoon, almost 100 here every day this week! Maybe daddy will run her outside when he gets home in the evenings. How much Epsom salt do you use?
I hear ya on the heat! It's so hot and humid here with minimal shade (and an infant) that my boys get way less outside time...and are more restless at night! I use about a cup of Epsom salts and make sure that they aren't swallowing or gargling. Their poops are plenty plentiful without a laxative!
DeleteMight be time to cut, shorten or move nap to earlier. My oldest stopped napping at 2, because I needed an easier and more successful bedtime for her when #2 came along. As much as I didn't like the fact that I lost that "break" during nap time, the long, full, restful night was worth it. That's just my $0.02
ReplyDeleteYou're an awesome mom, and one of my favorite bloggers.
Anon: nooooooooo! I can't live without a nap! But I do think it might need to be earlier. Thanks for the advice and the compliment!
DeleteNo sleep advice, but I did want to say if you are planning on driving through Atlanta, to plan that you are not going through during morning or evening rush hour and whatever you do, do not follow any gps that tells you to get on 85, just stay on 75 your whole way through. Atlanta traffic is a beast, but on our trips through, we've not been delayed long on 75.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get north of Atlanta, the scenery is beautiful! 75-24-65 is the way we take to visit my DH's family.
Also, when you are driving through lovely South Georgia, wave around exit 18, that's near us.
Thanks Beth! We haven't mapped out our route yet but we will definitely avoid 85 thanks to your advice! Blogging, it's just the best. If you're only on exit 18, you're not too far from us! We're only a few minutes from the Georgia border!
DeleteI'd love to hear more of your fav. children's book titles. Every time I got to our library, I'm reminded why I go there so rarely. The selection of children's books is vast and awful. After an hour of browsing through titles like "Max and the Black Magic Hex Monster" (ok, I made that up, but seriously awful books). I felt like I hit the jackpot with The Ugly Duckling b/c it was finally a book I felt I could touch, let alone read to my kids. If I have title recommendations, I could put them on hold like you do which would be so much better!
ReplyDeleteHud takes one nap (2-4pm) and we put down late at 9. He sleeps from 930-730 or 8. At 22 mths we switched from crib to big boy bed. Best thing we ever did. He was also a horrible sleeper as a baby until right before 2. Every kid is different but he has only got down out of his big bed once. We have a gate at his door since we have a tri level and bedrooms are upstairs. We have ocean sounds on, fan on, door open, no books or toys in bed, he has a few stuffed animals, and the cloud b turtle that puts stars and moon on ceiling. He can choose from 3 colors and it goes off automatically so you dont have to go back in and turn off after they call asleep. It has a simple button to push so they can turn on anytime in night if scared. Just some ideas....good luck. We are going to alabama in 3 wks. My pinterest has vacation ideas for traveling with young kids. We Just purchased car dvd players that go on back of seats. prob leaving at 10 at night so praying kids sleep majority of 13 hr drive
ReplyDeleteHmmmm maybe the big girl bed will be worth a try.
DeleteCan you teach her to eat everything reeeeally slowly and give her a whole lot of stuff she'll want to pick apart meticulously? John Paul and Cecilia are obsessed with picking every. single. piece. of salt off of pretzels, or seeds off of bagels, etc. I gave them each a granola bar to eat on a 45-minute drive the other day and it took Cecilia the entire ride to finish it because she was picking every single individual grain off of it!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have any sleep advice - we've gone through stages like that and as long as we stick to the same routine, it ends within a few weeks. But it sure is obnoxious!
I'm so excited for your trip! I live about two hours north of Nashville, so I'm familiar with the area. The mountains truly are beautiful, I hope you won't be disappointed! :)
ReplyDeleteWe gave my two year old a couple of My Little Pony dolls that she was only allowed to play with on long car rides. She would comb their hair and have them talk to each other for hours at a time. Might be worth a try.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about bedtime. Could it be that it's summer and still light outside? We've found that room darkening shades have helped with early rising in the summer. Maybe it would help bedtime as well.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't let my kids nap past 4 o'clock so that they will be ready to be tucked in at 8:30; I read somewhere that 4 hours of wake time is the magic number but I'm sure it varies a bit. I've found for my kids, if they aren't sleepy when they are tucked in, it takes fooooreeeveeer for them to get to sleep. If they have a late nap, pushing bedtime back to 9 pm may mean they are asleep by 9:15, whereas trying to put them to bed at the same time might mean they are still awake past 10. Does that make sense? It's like they gain a second wind if you rush things.
Other then that all I've got is offering it up and 'this too shall pass.' But it sounds like you're doing that already.
You are going to LOVE that drive!! So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat picture of Paul frowning is too cute! :)
Hi, Kaitlin. Lacy Rabideau of Catholic Icing just pinned a ton of "busy bag" activities for kids. Maybe some of those would be fairly easy and inexpensive to put together before your road trip: http://pinterest.com/catholicicing/pins/
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you see those beautiful mountains, keep in mind they are but babies compared to the mountains out West. If you ever get out there, you will really be wowed!
I am pretty sure Nov is one of the most popular birth months (February 14th is 9 months before :)). June, hmmm, I DO know a lot of June babies. Maybe it's all the teachers timing their families for summer break! (In the land of people who can actually time pregnancies to fit their schedules, haha!).
ReplyDeleteWe've done the car trip thing SOOOOO much. Here is my best piece of advice:
ReplyDeletebuy a cookie sheet. Like a cheap, $1 one. Paint one side of it with chalkboard paint.
It's magnetic. Now you have a magnetic lap desk. The possibilities are fantastic - desk, tray for food, get cheap sets of magnets for her to play with. As long as the kids aren't close enough for her to turn into a weapon....you're golden!
We went to and from AZ twice over the past year and a half (from Maine). I raided the dollar section at Target and had a special toy for each new day of the trip - a book, magnets, puzzles, something cheap and honestly, not that exciting but I wrapped them up to make them more fun for the kids to receive in the morning.
Oh, and one of the days was always a present of fresh chalk for the cookie sheet. Forgot that piece.
DeleteWhat exactly do you man that you've never seen mountains???! Like really big ones? Or any? Wow!
ReplyDeleteWell, there is a giant hill in Missouri that I've climbed up. It's technically a mountain because of its height, but it looks like a big hill. I've never seen any other mountains!
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI went through a couple of sleep trials with my son, one around his second birthday and one around his third. We tried everything! We even got serious and started sprinkling him with holy water (and the bed, and the floor, we were desperate). The problems seem to pass as strangely as they come. I really think it's just a growth spurt period and their bodies are changing so much they don't know what to do. But anyway, for some real advice, there's a "No Cry Sleep Solution" book for toddlers. Good luck!
My mom used to wrap little trinkets/coloring books/simple, easy crafts and put them in a "special bucket" in the car. At regular intervals during the trip we'd get to open presents (they were always wrapped in newspaper, or something). The dollar store was her main source, and we loved it. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso a friend recently told me about the same sleeping problem with her two little girls; I wish I could help. The best thing I can offer is that it always takes us a week or so to get into a new routine...so try not to change things up too frequently? Again, not a lot of experience on this end. My little guy is only 8 months and his MO lately has been completely random, even though I do the same thing every night.
Okay, you've totally sold me on Jillian. I'm buying it. I want to that kind of sore too!
ReplyDelete