"I am a pushover"

I don't think you'll hear us say "Audrey is a great sleeper" for a while. I think we've jinxed ourselves. Seriously, what happened to our good little sleeper? Let me clarify. She still loves her naps. goes down without a fuss, sometimes even runs to her room and waits for me to put her in her crib. it's amazing!

Bedtime is a whole other thing these days. I think somewhere along the timeline within these last few months, we've become pushovers about bedtime. there. I admitted it. I am a pushover. (the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one, right?!?) Audrey, the poor little thing, has been teething hard core (the upper incisors, all four molars and the bottom cuspids. and yes, I had to look up those names in her baby book) since her birthday, so for the last three months I've taken pity on her and if she cried at bedtime, I would go in and try to soothe her, or hold her until she fell asleep, or even take her on car rides to get her to fall asleep at night. All the while, thinking I was helping her, because we thought she was in pain. (which she was...by the obvious hands/fingers constantly in her mouth, her chewing on my shoulder, etc.) I would give her tylenol or use baby orajel, but she would still cry and cry. I thought I was doing the right thing...and maybe I was, but it seems we've created a monster.

It's been very frustrating lately because she still takes naps like a champ but when it's bedtime, she acts tired, and will lay in her crib quietly for (sometimes) 30 minutes and then just start screaming in pain (or so it seems.) So I thought to myself..."maybe she's sleeping too much during the day!" She's at the age where most kids go down to one nap, so maybe she's ready for it! Yesterday we tried it and she made it until 11:30 and then slept 2 1/2 hours! I was really excited about it! She started acting really sleepy a little before 7, so I gave her her milk and put her in her crib and she was silent until 7:30...then the screaming started. I let her cry for a little bit so I could decipher what kind of cry it was and it sounded like the "I'm hurting" cry, so I held her for a little bit, gave her some tylenol, got her calmed down and then laid her back in her crib...just to have her scream as soon as I was gone. and this went on until 8:15. She wasn't going to give in. My mom just happened to be coming over so I could go to worship team practice, so I told her to just entertain her until she seemed tired. My mom told me she finally laid her down at 9 and she cried (really hard) for about 7 minutes but then fell asleep. It's so frustrating to me because I know all the signs she was giving me, telling me how tired she was. I think she got over-tired and fought through the sleepiness until she was wide awake again. This has happened a couple of times during the last few weeks and it's wearing us out.

so...where do we go from here?

I think we're going to probably stick with a morning and afternoon nap for a while. There are some days that 2 naps are not possible and we'll get through those days as they come. but for the most part, it seems like she still really wants and needs that morning nap for some reason. I'm going to start limiting her morning nap to an hour and her afternoon nap to 1 1/2 hours, just to make sure she's not sleeping too much during the day, so she's tired at night. I'm also going to re-cement our bedtime routine so she really knows that it's time to go to bed, which means I'll have to stop being a pushover and let her just cry it out. We'll still go in and check on her at certain intervals, but I won't try to assist her in falling asleep (like car rides) anymore.

*sigh...*

does anyone else have any great advice? I've heard that going to one nap can be traumatic and is quite a process...so I'd love to hear how others got through it and what helped them. if you read my blog but don't like to leave comments, just email me...that would be great!

thanks for reading and thanks for the advice... :)

just a little eye candy

my excuse

so, I decide to make my blog private and then I hardly write. You'll have to forgive me. Things are still great here in our household. We've all been busy. Tyson is working and taking classes for grad school. Audrey is busy climbing on everything and pushing more teeth through and I have picked up a very time-consuming hobby this summer. I'm addicted to reading! I decided it was time to really utilize my local library card and I have taken it seriously. This summer I've already read 8 books (200+ pages each) and I just started a 3 book series (The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers) a few days ago.

So, like most libraries in the world, you can check a book out for 2 weeks. I've read most of the books in just a couple of days so I've never come close to turning them in late or having to deal with late fees.

Until today.

The book I'm reading is due today.

so, I thought to myself, "No big deal, I'll just renew it!"

Nope, I can't. Because someone else is waiting to read it. Apparently, 5 other people are waiting to read it!

As I was talking to the nice worker at the library, I told her about my situation and how I was not done with the first book, but the second book was now available for me to pick up (I had to request them from other libraries in the area) so there was no point in getting the second book because I hadn't finished the first. I was about to turn in my copy of the book I wasn't done reading, when the library worker's face lit up.

She proceeded to tell me, in kind of a quiet voice, "You could just not turn it in on time. It's only a 5 cent late fee per day, up to a dollar. That way you don't have to be put on the waiting lists for both of the books again."

WHAT?!? was she giving me permission to cheat the system? ...or is the library desperately in need of a few extra nickels? either way, I decided to keep the book and also pick up the second book.

all that to say...I've got my nose stuck in a book during the times I would normally be writing blog posts. so that's my excuse. :)

and now the couch and A Voice in the Wind are calling my name!

I'm glad I gave in

This afternoon Audrey decided that she didn't want to take a nap. I tried (unsuccessfully) for about an hour to convince her that it was, in fact, nap time, so she should be tired. Once she convinced me that she wasn't tired and I gave in, we had SO much fun just playing and giggling. She was in such a great mood! so I captured some of it with the camera. enjoy!

(this is her new look: "I'm checking you out," and then she starts giggling)

and after all that she's now taking a nap at 5...we'll see how bedtime goes tonight!

going private

After much thought, consideration, and conversations with many friends/new mothers, I have decided to make my blog private. I know most of the people that read this are family or friends anyway, but I no longer want it all out there for just anyone to read.

So...if you would like to continue reading our blog, please send me your email address and I'll add you to my "ok" list. thanks!