Returning to Normal Land

With travel and illnesses, it's been slow trying to get back to what we call "normal" in our home. Bear is finally remembering to use her "please" and her "thank you" without our prompting. She's also remembering what it's like to actually take afternoon naps. Chipmunk who has been super-clingy and seems to have developed some kind of super-baby-anxiety is starting to regain his independence. Once his fever broke, he still wasn't acting like his usual happy self, but slowly, day by day, he's starting to regain his appetite for food and for life. And naps? Oh yes, the naps are getting back on track, too.

It's kind of funny though how hard you have to work just to adjust everyone back to a normal schedule, but it's definitely necessary for sanity.

Speaking of normal, here's a funny Bear story...



So she runs up to me like this, hat over one eye and says, "Look, Mommy! I'm a pirate! Arrrrrrrr!" Then she proceeded to "Arrrrr!" all over the livingroom.

Now that's normal for our home.

Foiled Again

I don't sleep well. Never have. There's just something about me and sleep that doesn't mesh well, which is bad because, well...sleep is kind of necessary and good for me and so on and so forth.

So it always amazes me how something that it so necessary and so vital is the hardest thing for me to do sometimes. I lay awake at night listening to the various sounds of our neighborhood and the thoughts swirling in my head, so that come morning I'm super tired and just not the best caregiver to two kids. So I try napping, but those naps seem to just mess up my schedule even further. It's a vicious cycle.

Yet, the internet is plastered with articles about how getting a proper night's sleep is important and could even save us money.

So tonight I had it planned to go to bed earlier (earlier, not early - baby steps, please!). I had a good start. I finished watching Project Runway, managed to get in my bedtime routine, read a little and settle in for the night.

And yet it's 1 am and I'm still up (and writing a blog no less!) and my little Bear is laying on our couch listening to the sound of my typing after shuffling into our bedroom and crying because Chipmunk was whimpering in his crib.

I'll just have to try again tomorrow night. *Sigh*

Last to Bed

It's late. I know. This is just how it always is. I'm always the last to bed.

I just need to decompress after each day, and it seems that the length of decompression increases with each child added to the family. So I end up staying up late even though my body so desperately needs the sleep to function the next day.

That's just how it is with introverts. It's nice to be with other people, but afterwards it's even nicer to just be by yourself.

So I read, or blog, or even sew for an hour or so just to unwind before settling in. Then I go about the house, pick things up, turn off lights and head off to bed. Even before I step into our bedroom I detour into the kids room and watch their sweet little faces as they sleep.

Then once I feel that all is well, I'll climb into bed, tuck myself into the covers, and close my eyes. And it's those moments before I fall asleep where I replay my day, analyze my actions, muse in appreciation and sometimes have creative swirls that develop into ideas and plans.

Then after all is said and done, I finally sleep.

The Early Bird

Or should I say Early Chipmunk?

I'm beginning to settle with the fact that Chipmunk is just an early riser. Because of that, he's also early to bed. I hear that's normal. I just didn't know that.

Bear is apparently a late bird. I thought that was normal. She used to wake up at 9 am in the morning. Before Chipmunk was born, she started waking up around 8 am. I thought that was early.

Then Chipmunk comes along and wakes up at 6 am. Everyday. 6 am. I have to put him to bed around 7:30 at night...and only that late because I want him to at least see his dad for 5 minutes before we put him to bed.

6 am. I can't get over it. I know it's normal for most kids...It's just so weird that I have to entertain him for an hour and put him down for his first nap before Bear even gets up for the first time.

Speaking of which, perhaps I should be going to bed sooner, too. Time to log off.

Two against Two...and then some

It's two against two. Two parents versus two kids. I've heard parents discuss their choice on having only 2 kids with their reason being that once the third comes, the kids outnumber the parents. Right now our family is at a stalemate. If Bear needs something and I've got Chipmunk in hand, she gets directed to her dad, or Chipmunk gets dropped off with dad so I can attend to the Bear. It's a constant dance of "tag, you're it!" with the kids floating between us.

Then again during the day when Matt is at work, it's a whole different scenario. I have no one to pass off a kid to, so I'm juggling both of them at the same time. Of course trying to put 100% focus on two places is impossible so sometimes you miss things.

I just keeping thinking about how in the world I'll be able to keep tabs on both kids when Chipmunk becomes mobile.

Speaking of mobile, I loved how Bear pretty much stayed in the same place until she was 7 months old. Chipmunk gave Matt and I a scare one day when we found him napping like this:



He was two feet from where he started! I guess I really better start putting him down for his naps in his crib from now on.

No More Expectations

Bear has been sleeping in her new bed these past couple of days. So far it's been a relatively easy transition. I was surprised. We put her down for her nap yesterday for the first time in her bed...she seemed hesitant, but I offered to lay down next to her and she agreed. That night, she whined a little bit, but lay down in the bed as long as Matt stayed there for a little bit. Today for her nap she lay down without a fuss and kicked me out of the room so she could get some shut-eye. I see.

The funny thing is she still acts like she's sleeping in the crib. She won't get out of the bed herself although it's only a half a foot off the ground. It's fine with us that she won't leave her bed until we come get her, but I thought that she'd love the instant freedom and hightail it out of her bed the moment she awoke. Not the case. I realize that one of these days she'll figure it out, but for now Matt and I realize that we have a good kid who is a good sleeper.

On the other hand, we have our 3 month old who we find has been "different" from Bear. Bear started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks. Chipmunk is 12 weeks and refuses to sleep through the night. He likes to wake up after 5 hours, eat, sleep for another 2 hours, eat, sleep for another 2 hours, eat and then sleep until the late morning. Bear would cry for about 10 minutes when we put her down and would fall asleep sucking on her fist. Chipmunk cries loudly for 30-45 minutes and then stops suddenly to fall asleep. During the day, he will not cry himself to sleep...he will cry until I finally soothe him to sleep. They're so different.

Bear was very scheduled. I didn't have to set her schedule, she basically set it herself. Chipmunk has no schedule whatsoever and all attempts at putting him on a schedule have failed miserably. Then again, Bear's naps were only 30 minutes at a time sometimes...Chipmunk naps for hours and hours, that is once he finally falls asleep. It's just too weird. I can't get over how opposite things have been so far.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it seems that whatever I expect is just wrong. I expected Bear to have a horrible time transitioning to a new bed and she's fine. I expected Chipmunk to have similar sleep patterns as Bear and he's completely the opposite. I expected Bear to have a hard time adjusting to Chipmunk's arrival, but she was completely okay. I expected to have an easier time feeding Chipmunk, but he's really difficult sometimes. He won't take all his milk at one time, likes to let go and make a mess, and he bites! Perhaps I should just stop having expectations.

Readjusting

This past weekend we took a mini-trip. The main purpose was to attend the wedding of a good friend of ours, but we also managed to visit with the grandparents and great-grandparents and let them spend time with their grandchildren.

Bear spent some time in my grandmother's garden picking callalilies with my mom. She was fascinated with the insides of the flower.



Chipmunk spent his time lounging in my grandfather's favorite chair.



After a jam-packed weekend of visiting friends, attending a wedding, hanging out with grandparents on both sides of the family, we managed to get home.

It's always hard readjusting to being at home again. Nap times and feeding times are all out of synch and the kids are little bit more rebellious. Bear spent her time fighting nap time, so much so that she didn't nap at all, fell asleep early, woke up in the middle of the night from having a nightmare and then slept till 10 am the next morning. Chipmunk would sleep during wake time and was awake during sleep time and fed at odd times.



We also had to take him for his 2 month appointment the next morning (first set of shots!) so he spent the day fighting off his innoculations with a slight fever.

You see, there's always this time of readjustment after each trip we take. The longer we're on a trip, the longer it takes to readjust. I figure it takes about 2-3 days to readjust back to our home routine.

It's slowly getting there, but we're starting to slowly readjust...until we take another trip, that is.

Deprivation and Reward

When you lack something, it helps you appreciate it all the more when it comes.

Last night I got to sleep for 3 and a half hours straight. Wow, it felt great. Yup. Chipmunk slept for a 4 and a half hour stretch.

More of a schedule is finally settling in. Chipmunk actually gave us 2 colic free nights.

And the snot? Well, that's starting to lessen as well.

Aaaah.

Then again, we won't know what will happen tomorrow.

(Sorry, haven't posted any pictures...well, because my children were snotty)

Surviving

It's been rough. I won't lie. Having 2 sick kids takes a lot out of you. Bear wakes constantly at night and is super tired and cranky during the day. She also has these nice canker sores which she complains about constantly and keeps her from eating. Chipmunk has trouble staying asleep and has trouble eating with his stuffy nose (along with his bouts of crying for hours). Both of them have had fits of coughing and our humidifier has been on constantly. Gratefully there are no fevers...just a lot of snot.

But we're surviving...snot and all.

On the other hand, I've been super industrious. Well, some women shop when they're having a rough time. I clean. I don't just vacuum and wash dishes. I rearrange furniture and scrub grout between tiles with old toothbrushes.

I should be sleeping though...and perhaps I shouldn't be moving furniture either.

Whoa Mama!

I've read that newborns are supposed to gain on average an ounce a day. Sixteen days ago Chipmunk was 8 pounds which was 13 ounces less than his birth weight. Today he weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces! That's 24 ounces in 16 days! The doctor took a look at the chart and said "Whoa Mama, what have you been feeding this boy?"

Suffice it to say I'm not too worried about his weight anymore...however I am concerned about his feeding habits. When you're feeding a child every two hours it wears you down after a while. I hope he grows out of this growth spurt soon and slows down the frequency of his feedings. I really do need longer intervals of sleep. I think 20 minutes at a time just isn't healthy.

Falling Asleep Standing

I took a Humanities class during my freshman year of college where the most interesting part of the class was seeing how many people were sleeping through the lecture the morning after a paper was due. One time, there was this poor soul who obviously ran to class to turn the paper in time, was too late to get an actual seat, ended up having to sit on the steps of the lecture hall, where he promptly fell asleep and snored loudly (to the amusement of those sitting around him) throughout the hour and a half of lecture.

Ah, sleep...so very necessary...yet so fleeting when you've got a newborn.

This time around I've been trying harder to get rest when I can...especially with our little Chipmunk who has daytime and nightime reversed...so he's up all night, and come morning, up rises Bear who needs my attention as well. So my sleep has been short and sporadic. I think if I had to sit through a Humanities lecture right now, I'd be the one snoring.

Granted, Chipmunk is more predictable since he's our second kid...we're able to read him better than we could as new parents with Bear...so it's not as frustrating...just more sleep depriving. I'm amazed that Matt can get up to go to work at 6:30 in the morning after a night of sleeping in a chair with Chipmunk in his lap.

So, I'm afraid that one of these days I'll catch myself falling asleep while standing. Now that would be something to see.

For Some Reason...

It's 11 pm and for some reason Bear is still up and running around.

She was fast asleep and then the neighbors upstairs made a horrific noise (sounded like a bookshelf fell over). Ever since then we've been wondering when she'll go back to sleep. She is currently running around the livingroom with a flashlight saying, "Yight Aw (Light On)."

Fun.

Not Sleeping Well...

From the title, you're probably guessing that I'm going to write about how Baby Bear isn't sleeping...well, no. She's been doing great. It's her mom that isn't sleeping well.

Apparently, I'm not alone. Check out this Newsweek article.

Padawanlee doesn't really understand why I can't sleep. I explained to him that my head is so full of mental checklists, to-do lists, and what-ifs that I can't sleep. He told me, "Well, can't you just stop thinking?" Ha! If I could, I'm sure I'd be sleeping. Then again, the moment he hits his head to the pillow he is snoring away(How does he do that?!?!). Meanwhile a couple of hours rolls by while I listen to his rhythmic snoring.

So somehow, I have to learn not to think.

No More Worry...

I guess I caused a little worry because my baby sleeps on her face (see March 16), but for all of you who commented, I just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions and thoughts. I worry some, but perhaps more that she'll end up with a flat nose rather than the possibility of SIDS. I used to worry more when she was a couple weeks old, especially because she would not sleep on her back, and with so much hype to put babies to sleep on their backs (even the diapers have it printed on them!) I felt so guilty letting Baby Bear sleep on her tummy. It seemed to be the only way she would sleep, especially with her bit of colic and her strong Moro reflex (Sorry, I was a Human Development/Biology major - so therefore, I often reference random things like Piaget, Erikson or Maslow).

In the end to help ease my worry and so I wouldn't, as kliao commented, stand by her crib all night, we ended up buying a baby monitor that senses movement when she was a couple weeks old. It works well...perhaps too well. When I take Baby Bear out of her crib, I often forget to turn it off. 10 seconds later I remember as I hear the "weeoo weeoo weeoo" of the alarm.

Honestly, I really don't need the monitor anymore, and I often forget to turn it on. I think I just needed it for peace of mind the first few weeks of being a worried parent. I realize that many of us were raised sleeping on our tummies and SIDS is just another one of those things that they don't know for sure what causes it.

So, no more worries. Well, at least about her sleep. We'll move on to worrying about things like what Padawanlee will do when she starts dating boys.

Baby Bear and Padawanlee watching "The Apprentice" together

(Well Baby Bear wasn't really watching tv, but it just looks like it)

My Baby Sleeps on Her Face...

Does this worry anyone else besides me? :)

Sleep is Relative...

As I've been watching our baby bear, I've been amazed at how she has similar sleeping habits to her mom and dad, and yet, she's been doing this from the start, so I'm thinking it must be "nature" not "nurture."

(1) When she wakes up, she makes a big stretch and makes this long yawning type of noise. Whenever padawanlee wakes up, he does the same thing.

(2) She has to sleep with her arms and hands near her face. Both of us have this habit, although maybe not like this:

(3) When she's tired, she rubs her face into the nearest object (usually mom or dad's shoulder). This is just like her mom, songwriterlee. Her uncle, dylpyl, does the same thing. Padawanlee finds it weird when songwriterlee rubs her face in his shoulder, but when she's tired, that's what happens.

I just thought that was so odd. Then again, she is genetically half me and half padawanlee. So therefore, chances are good that she would have similar habits. Therefore, sleep is relative.

The Long Endless Nights...

Help! I'm so tired, but I can't go to sleep. Baby Bear gets these spells (mostly in the middle of the night) where she just won't go to sleep. They kind of go like this: (1) She wakes up from a 4-5 hour slumber (2) I feed her, but she falls asleep after 10 minutes (3) I try to wake her and she just grunts at me (4) I change her diaper, her clothes and set her down somewhere to get her to wake up (5) She ends up sleeping for about 10 to 20 minutes (6) I get settled thinking she'll continue sleeping and (7) she wakes up asking to be fed more.

This usually goes on for about 4 or 5 hours. By the time the end of it comes, she's tired and I'm tired, but she still won't go to sleep. I've tried letting her cry (which some books say should put her to sleep eventually), but she will cry persistently for 30 minutes to an hour. I've tried a pacifier because other books say that some babies just have a need to suck. She spits it out because it doesn't provide her the milk she so desires. I make sure to wake her every 2 and a half to 3 hours to make sure that she gets in all her feedings during the day, but she still has this battle with me every night.

Now, I guess I can't really complain. After all, I hear that some babies are just fussy or they have colic so they end up like this all day. Perhaps Baby Bear is just a slow eater and needs to take her time...If this is so, she takes after her dad, padawanlee.

As one of the nurses told me in the hospital, "there's a reason why God made babies so cute...that way, you just look at their tiny features, their little smiles, and you forget what it was that you were so frustrated about a few minutes ago."

Daddy says this is how Mommy sleeps, too.