Friday, October 26, 2007

Mean Ole Mommy

Poor Alexander Jay has been subjected to a very mean mommy the past five nights. I decided that it was time that he be weaned from the rocking, nursing and paci all in one shot. I figured that it would be easier than doing one at a time and that he would be so upset about being put to bed awake that he would not even notice the paci being gone. It all started when my friend called to tell me she was going to get rid of her sons nuk that night and she wanted some moral support. We went back and forth for awhile talking about the pros of doing it and so forth. I talked about how I wanted to get rid of Zander's soon and how I should start placing him down awake and she encouraged me that now was a good time. So on Sunday night we went through our regular routine and I nursed him and started to rock him, but he was fighting me. He did not want to go to sleep, so I gave him some extra snuggles and kisses then I placed him in his crib. I did however nurse him beforehand. (I have yet to decide if we are ready for a complete wean, he does not seem ready and I'm not sure if I am either.) He cried his little eyes out for maybe fifteen minutes. It was not that bad.....the bad part came at around 1:30 am when he woke up for his midnight snack. He screamed and screamed. It broke my heart to hear him cry like that but I knew that if I went in it would only get worse. So, husband went in and it got worse. We knew at that point the best thing to do would be to let him cry. Thankfully, after that he slept until 7:30. By then I was so engorged I caved and brought him to bed with me. Monday for nap, he barely cried five minutes. Monday night, same thing maybe five minutes. By now I think he is getting used to being put to bed awake, but he still makes noise about it. He also still wakes up around 1:00 every night, but sleeps until 8:30-9:00 which is much better than before. He is also taking better naps now as well. So I know that he is getting better quality of sleep, but it is still hard to hear him cry and know that I need to let him cry. I do not remember it being this hard with Tater. She basically weaned herself, so that was not a problem, and she was already sleeping through the night when we started putting her to bed awake, so maybe that makes the difference. We tried to skip the nursing part tonight, actually hubby tried and it.did.not.work. Mr. Zander was very upset, worse than usual and I could not stand it, so I rescued him. At least we are down to only nursing at night, for awhile it seemed like we would never get there. Before Sunday we were down to before bed, then usually 1, 3ish, 5ish and 8ish. Which is a lot, but he did not nurse during the day. It is sort of funny because when he was nursing all the time I remember thinking that I could not wait to be done with this and now that he only nurses once I don't know that I am ready. Like I figured he has not missed the paci at all. Maybe he does and he just cannot vocalize it, but he does not act like he misses it. He is more of a blankie guy anyway and I figured it would be easier to do it now then wait until he is older and more attached to it.

My girlie-girl has been really into lip gloss, purses and anything girlie right now. So when we are at the store she always asks to pick something out and depending on the day we let her. (I am trying to teach her that she does not always get something every time we go to the store but that is an entirely different post.) Lately she has been choosing these little make-up bags only they are full of the plastic make-up. Which is actually good, only I wanted her to be able to play with the real stuff as well, so I pointed out that she could get a little box full of make-up. It had lip gloss, lipstick, eyeshadow, rings, earrings, brushes and nail polish...everything a little girl could want. When we got home that night she put some on and was so happy to have her own make-up. Shortly after it was bath time so we cleaned her up and put her to bed. I meant to move the make-up somewhere high so she would not see it in the morning, but I forgot. So of course first thing in the morning she wanted to put her make-up on. I obliged and she put her eyeshadow on and some lip gloss. She was gorgeous. Then we spend all day working around the house and I forgot all about the make-up. Until bath time when I went to wash her up and noticed that her eyes were all red and a little swollen. I do not know if it was from wearing the make-up all day, or if it was from being outside around the mulch, but her little eyes were red. She looked pretty awful, I almost wish I would have taken a picture just to post it here, but I did not. We gave her some benadryl, but they were still a little red this morning. Needless to say the make-up went in the trash just to be safe....plus now I do not have to worry about her getting into it when I am not around...BONUS!

2 comments:

Renee said...

I totally understand about the crying...its really hard! I also do not remember having that hard of a time with Julia. You are right though, his quality of sleep will be much better, and sleeping all night is a very important developmental milestone...or at least that is what the dr. told me to make me feel less guilty:)

Anonymous said...

hey catie! haven't talked to you in a long time, i saw your mom and cara at walmart, and always see your mom at the office for dominic's appointments. alex adorable, looks just like tony! and tater has grown up so much its scary! hope your family is doing great!
-amanda