So, a while back, I had stated that we were excited that Ben had slept thru the night with the aid of "Marliene's Miracle Blanket" and a nice cold. Since those heavenly 3 nights, it's been a mixture of semi-long stretches of sleep, with a typical feeding the middle of the night around 1 or 2AM. He is really good at falling asleep, just not so good at staying asleep. Lately, Ben has also been waking up at night and fussing until we go into the nursery and stick the pacifier back in his mouth. We put him to sleep with the binkie in his mouth, but he can't keep it in for very long. It has turned into about an hourly waking pattern with us up to put the pacifier in and walk away. Almost always, he would fall right back asleep, but we were ending up exhausted because we were only getting very short periods of sleep. It is such an easy "fix" to help him go back to sleep, that it sure seemed like the right thing to do at the time...
Now, are to the point of frustration, and have started Ben on the Ferber method of putting kids down to sleep. The idea is that the baby will eventually learn to self sooth, and put themselves to sleep (or back to sleep in Ben's case). This usually entails several nights of "tough love" from the parents. We have been letting him cry himself back to sleep - It is agonizing! My entire body tenses up during his crying fits, and it's all we can do to not rush into the nursery and calm him down. In the long run, this will be better for all of us, but it is SO hard! We started on Friday night - with 3 15-20 minute bouts of crying spread out thru the night. Saturday night he had just 3 10 minute bouts, so here's hoping that on the right path... We'll see what tonight brings.
We had a nice weekend at home catching up on errands and raking leaves. Today at 3 different stores, Ben started in with his "talking" (aka loud baby babble). It was so cute to see peoples' reactions - all of them just started talking back to Ben - trying to hold a conversation - "Oh, really, tell me more little cutie pie" etc. He was called the Gerber baby and someone else told us to send in a picture of him to Regis and Kelly - I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like a compliment. Of course we think he's the greatest baby ever, but it's so fun to see other people's reaction to him, too!
I built a small paper mache volcano tonight as a model that I may have my kids make at school - kinda fun, seeing as I never actually made one in school before. I felt like a little kid myself. I also made some great pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Gems:
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1/2 c vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
2 tsp cinnamon (I used pumpkin pie spice)
Mix and bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes in 2/3 full muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.
frost the cooled cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Betty Crocker
1 pkg of cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter, softened
2 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
Makes a ton - use the rest to frost graham crackers, etc.
Grandpa and Grandma Stokes are heading out this week to come visit Ben (and us). We can't wait to see them! I'm sure I'll have some good pics during their stay.
3 comments:
It's tough going at first, but stick with it- the ability to go to sleep on his own is a gift you are giving to Ben (I hear Danielle saying this in my head as I write it).
Thanks for sharing the recipe- I'm excited to try it!
It is hard to listen to them cry, but he'll be so much happier, and you too, when he get's more continuous sleep. You are just doing what is best for him and your family, try not to feel too bad.
Last night (Sunday) Day 3 - just one waking for a 10 minute half-hearted crying spell. (seems like great progress!) He had a slight fever of 99.3 degrees this afternoon, but appears to be better tonight. Hopefully he won't get totally sick and throw a wrench into our little sleep plan...
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