How much fun is it to reset your baby's sleep schedule?

Not much.

After much fussing and crabbiness, I convinced Patrick to go to bed at 8pm, instead of 6pm. He responded by waking up at 9pm, 11:45pm, 3am, and 5am. At 5am, after a quick morning feed in bed, I managed to convince Kevin that HE should get up with Patrick, as I had gotten up with him a million times that night. Amazingly, he agreed.

So Mommy got to sleep in til 7:15am!

For a long time, I felt that the sleeping issue was rather inequitable. Partially because I'm breastfeeding, but also because Kevin just didn't wake up. (He had no idea I'd gotten up so many times last night). Plus, I'd get up at 5am when Patrick was ready to start the day. But Kevin's been taking more of the early morning shifts, leaving me with the energy to do other things that Kevin would like me to have the energy for.... hee hee.

a math lesson

The baby falls asleep at 6pm.

The baby sleeps 10 hours (give or take a night time feeding).

What time does the baby wake up?

4am.

I've suggested to the Husband that Patrick naps a little later after coming home from daycare, or he can take the 4am wake up call.

But he earned major points this morning. After Patrick was all smiles at 4am! I took a shower, did my morning routine. By 5:30am, I laid down with him to nurse and doze. One hour later, I crawled out of bed with our freshly fed and napped baby. Kevin (this is at 6:30am mind you) has straightened up the entire house. Even swept the floor. It looks wonderful. All between 5:30 and 6:30am.

Quick notes

Oh! Busy leading up to Thanksgiving. Here are some highlights until I can give a 'real' entry.

Thanksgiving was AWESOME! Missed my Mom (hi Mom!) but got to see the rest, including ALL the brothers! We had a perfect day.

Kevin is back at work, with all monies in the appropriate spot (our bank account). But he was very productive during his time off, and not just around the house, if you get what I'm sayin' ....

On Saturday, we received a delightful missive that throws us back into the depths of Drama Drama. And that's about as on-line safe as I can be.

Now that Thanksgiving has occured, it's time for CHRISTMAS decorations! And music! And lights! And dishes! And movies!

Patrick is awake from his 2 hour morning nap. More later!

My baby slept through the night

I, however, did not.

Bummer. And I am virtuously planning to offer my services extra at work tomorrow. As I like our savings account and would rather see it stay in one piece.

Not Fine

We are not having a good time today.

I've got a slight bug, but still feel guilty about calling in sick to work. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep while Patrick is at daycare.

Patrick is incredibly punky. Nothing is making him happy. Kevin is quite calm about it. I'm not.

Kevin is currently on unpaid leave from work.

The right decision is not always the easiest one. In fact, it rarely is.

New Links!

Yeah! Patrick finally fell asleep!

So I updated my links. Look how fancy I got. Not bad for cut and pasting as I have NO IDEA how to do any of this stuff. Like changing the colors of my blog? Too much. But now, now I can link!

My Day So Far

A baby up at 4:50am

A baby with a fever of 102.4 (better now after Tylenol, no fears Grandmas)

A baby who keeps spitting up with coughing.

A baby who is NOT NAPPING, even after swing time and a stroller ride.

Doggies who had an "accident" after diarrhea-inducing treats (now in the trash).

Don't be jealous!

Hiding

Kevin's home for another 45 minutes. I'm hiding out upstairs, so grateful for a break. I took the puppies for a walk, and Kevin hit the grocery store for pizza with Patrick.

My little guy wasn't sounding too good this morning: raspy breath, occasional cough. Not wanting to be surprised by something ugly, I called for an appointment with our lovely pediatricians. Right now, he's OK, but I'm supposed to be on the lookout for croup-like symptoms. I guess he'll start barking like a seal. Not much to do but provide comfort care and let it ride it's course. So I have a humidifier for his room, I canceled playdates, and I hope he'll be good for Kevin on Saturday when I work.

Silly of me to call in sick when a parent is available, but I'll still want to.

Tired.

Kevin's show opens tomorrow. Thank God.

I work this weekend.

Patrick has been taking 2+ hours naps in the morning. Hallelujah. It's something, anyway. But rather than taking a nap, I've cleaned my house and goofed off on line.

MOPS

It's Mothers of Preschoolers, but really it's pregnancy through 5 years old. It's a Christian faith-based group, more of the non-denominational type. Lots of different churches host groups. I found one on line after being introduced to it by Jenny-from-work. She enticed me with "And we're giving away our old baby clothes" while I was pregnant and disparate for ANYTHING that wouldn't cost money. After Patrick was born, I just wanted something to do. I found a group that met my requirements: close to home and on my day off. The group I found is fantastic. I like that it's a bigger group. It's very well organized with great speakers. I've met some fun women, and I'm enjoying myself an awful lot.

Bounderies

We talked about boundaries at MOPS last Thursday. Just in time for the holidays. But the Life Coach, Judy Barnhart, had a real interesting perspective on this topic.

But what really hit home for me was when she discussed the hurt feelings and arguments that occur when you set new boundaries with the people in your life. How do you treat people with kindness, respect, and honesty while maintaining boundaries? How do you deal with the "But this hurts my feelings!" argument?

Judy's response:

A person bumping into my boundary may feel pain. I am not hurting them. It is their resisting or not accepting my boundary that is causing pain.

A nice turn of phrase, I think.

Quickies

One show down, one to go. Then I get my husband back full time (in order to pick up extra days at work to cover the situation that Shall Not Be Named On-Line, but you all know what I'm talking about).

Kevin's folks were in town to see the opera, then they came with us to the after-party. Fun Grandparent time for them, time to drink and socialize for me. Everybody's a winner!

Patrick nursed/napped in our bed until 7am this morning! Mommy got to sleep in!

I had the shopping coup of the year. Old Navy. Halloween clearance shirts. 75% off. $1.25 each. Two for me, two for Patrick. One to wear now, one for next year. Nobody will see the pumpkins under sweaters and overalls. Awesome.

Break

I'm sitting upstairs with a glass of wine. Halloween Jazz music from NPR is playing on the computer. Kevin has the kid. The opera opens tomorrow, with tech week for Sleeping Beauty following on Saturday. Overall, it's a month of husband-gone-all-day. I'm rather worn out, to say the least.

But tonight, he's home. I fixed myself a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. In about 30 minutes, I'll work on putting Patrick to bed. He's been doing great in the crib at night, waking up about once to eat. This morning, he woke up at 4:50am, all smiles. Wanting to steal a few more minutes sleep, I brought him to bed to nurse. Next I knew, it's 7:15! Normally, this would be cool. But I had pumpkin bread that needed to be all baked by 9am for MOPS. Yikes! But we made it. He doesn't really sleep in there for daytime naps. During the day, it's the swing, stroller, or car seat. It's working pretty good, and he slept for 2.5 hours in the swing yesterday. Awesome.

We spent Halloween visiting with Kevin's sister, husband, and young daughter. I had a great visit, they sweetly feed me dinner, and we took pictures of the kids in their costumes. They gave me Patrick's present a little early, so I could use it for Christmas pictures. It's the most gorgeous overalls from Hanna Andersson. I have an unrequited love affair with HA, and I'm so touched by this perfect present. He'll be wearing them everyday this December. Now does anybody have ideas for a great gift for a three year old girl?

I might be calling you tomorrow. Kevin is gone all day (again.) I need something to do and I'm terribly broke. Anybody want to have me over for dinner? If you live out of state (Carrie) you don't count. :)