Helping my son fall asleep on his own

So lately I’ve been trying to train my boy to fall asleep on his own. He is almost 9 months old, and until now, I’ve bounced him to sleep (on an exercise ball) while singing songs. It worked in the past, but now he cries and tries to get away from me. I needed to try something new.

But training him to fall asleep definitely has its obstacles:

• I’m not comfortable letting him cry alone in his crib. I know some people do it, but it’s not cool for me. My son knows I am here for him, and when he cries, there is always a reason.
• When I put him into his crib awake (or even partially awake), he laughs and starts playing. What does he play with? The crib bars, the sheets, his hands, his clothing. In other words, anything.
• He doesn’t use a pacifier, which is generally good, but using one would probably help him soothe himself to sleep.
• He doesn’t use a “lovey” (a special sleeping toy). He really hasn’t taken to anything. And even if he did, he’d just play with it.

So this task is definitely not easy. How am I doing it? I’m very loosely following The No-Cry Sleep Solution, which is a great book for anyone who wants their baby to sleep more without forcing them to cry it out.

Last night was day one. I changed him and fed him for the night. He was nearly asleep but woke right up when I put him in his crib. So I took him out and sang a couple of songs. His current favorites are “This Old Man” and “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” Oh, and he also enjoys “Rainbow Connection” and “What I’ve Been Looking For.”

I put him back into his crib, patted his back as he thrashed around and even started crawling. I had to keep telling him to lie down and go to sleep. He didn’t, of course. So I picked him up again and rocked him for a minute, then back into the crib for more pats on the back, which led to more thrashing.

I could tell he was tired and trying to go to sleep, but it took probably 1/2 hour of me patting him and taking him in and out of the crib. I left him in there as long as he wasn’t crying or trying to stand up. Thankfully, he didn’t cry. But he did try to stand a few times, which is when I would take him out and start the cycle over again. Eventually, he found a comfortable position and went to sleep. Oi.

Let’s hope he gets the drift soon. I feel confident that he will.

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Out of Control

It is entirely strange to have a body that does its own thing without any input from me at all. Pregnancy is strange. My abdomen moves around several times a day. My stomach continues to grow larger. There’s nothing I can do about it.

And most importantly, in roughly four weeks, my body will open up and birth a baby. I can’t stop it from happening any more than I can make it start. In all honesty, it’s a bit unsettling and somewhat frightening.

I know about biology. I know I did something to set this whole thing in motion. But after that one moment, I had no control over it anymore.

I don’t like the feeling of it being out of my control. I want to be ready to give birth before it happens. I’m just in a reflective mood tonight, I guess. I guess I need to accept the fact that most things in life are outside of my control. But really, it would be nice to at least have control of my own body. Right?

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time flies when you’re preparing for a baby

Where does the time go? I think of blog posts in my head all the time, but I hardly ever write them out. Lately I’ve been stressing out with work, church calling, and trying to get ready for our baby boy. Since multi-tasking is not my specialty, I am fairly disappointed in the results of most of the areas of my life.

But I am working on that. I have a friend who is a life coach, and she needs practice, so she is coaching me for free. I have wanted a life coach for a while now, but couldn’t actually afford to hire one. I’m hoping she will help me find my motivation and find a way to organize and balance all the areas of my life.

And preparing for the baby has really become a huge part of my life. (Maybe it will prepare me for when the actual baby is the huge part of my life…) I am doing a program called Hypnobabies, which helps you have a natural childbirth experience. However, this program requires an hour commitment from me every day. I basically have to listen to their hypnosis sessions, learning how to put myself in a hypnotic state, and learning how to create an anesthesia effect on my body. It’s exciting, but difficult to fit into my crazy busy days.

Then there’s the fact that we have decided to cloth diaper our baby. And not only that, I decided to MAKE cloth diapers for our baby. I am not sure what I was thinking, except the fact that cloth diapers are expensive. And disposable diapers are even more expensive. I have already made about 6 diapers, and they cost me pennies to make because I used old T-shirts and flannel sheets to make them. I recently bought some cute flannel fabric from JoAnn, so the next few diapers will not be as cheap. But they’re still cheaper than buying them.

Do you know how many diapers babies need? A lot. Apparently they can pee and poop their way through 10-20 diapers a day. So I’ve got a lot of diaper-making ahead of me, especially since the ones I’m making now are infant size. He will also need some bigger diapers for when he grows. I’ll post some pictures eventually of the diapers I make, because some of them are so cute!

Tonight is my baby shower, and I’m very excited. I can’t believe it’s that time already…

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We fear change

I wish I had more time every day. Or maybe I just wish I was more effective with my time. There are so many things I am interested in accomplishing, and with a baby coming, I feel like I have limited time to do it in. If I don’t get it done before August, will it ever happen?

I’m scared of things changing. I have a strange relationship with change. Sometimes I need change; sometimes I thrive on it. At the same time, I struggle to accept change – I get nostalgic and sad. And I worry that I haven’t accomplished enough by this stage in my life. Why didn’t I take better advantage of all the time I’ve had while living in Georgia?

Why didn’t I learn to play the mandolin or actually learn to play the guitar decently? What about learning to sew? I don’t know. I guess I’m just feeling the pressure of impending responsibility. I guess it’s called adulthood and I should get used to it. Most people go through this stage of life a lot younger than this, so I really should be grateful for all the extra time I’ve had. And I am.

I just wish I had taken better advantage of it while I had it. I still have a couple of months, it’s true, but everything tires me out during pregnancy. After a trip to the grocery store, I have to go take a two-hour nap. It’s embarrassing but true. So I have dreams of making cloth diapers and baby wipes, of learning to make my own soap, of baking my own bread, and making my own yogurt. I want to make a total lifestyle change, apparently, and time is just running out.

Not to mention my worries of how my relationship with my husband will change. I mean, it already has changed some. How will I handle the changes that happen after the baby comes? I’ve had John to myself for three years now. I’m used to it just being us; I like spending time alone together, taking a day trip on a whim, cuddling at night, just being together. I guess I just worry. Probably for no reason, but I do it anyway.

One thing is for sure, so very much will change in August when we have this boy.

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Baby stuff

So it turns out I don’t have gestational diabetes, which I am thankful for. After hearing everything my sister has to go through because of it, I’m very thankful. I still don’t have a side shot of my pregnant belly, but it’s definitely growing. (I’ll save this for another post, but I’m just wondering: why do people feel that it’s ok to tell a pregnant woman how big or small she is? It’s not ok, so don’t do it!)

In other news, John and I recently got the best deal at a yard sale. I’m so impressed with our haul that I had to share a picture. We went to a yard sale right at the end, and the lady had TONS of baby boy clothing. And they were all name brand items (not that I care about name brands, but they were quality items). Anyway, she gave us a big garbage bag and said it was $10 to stuff the bag full. So we did. Here’s what we came home with:

We already had clothing for under 12 months, so we focused on the 12 month to 2 year clothing. We ended up with:

• 2 jackets
• 12 pairs of socks
• 8 hats
• 11 pairs of pants and jeans
• 6 pairs of shorts
• 22 shirts and onesies

All that for $10. I was proud of our find. Our boy is practically set for clothing until past age 2, and we have so far only spent $10. I feel very blessed.

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My news

I have failed to mention here that in August, my husband and I will be having our first baby. My excuse is that pregnancy really makes me tired, so I never feel up to posting.

Anyway, the new baby is another reason we are eager to get out of the apartment we are in. It’s too small and isn’t the kind of environment we want our baby in. Although we have noticed that our neighbors have been a bit more considerate ever since John went over to their house at 1:00 in the morning and told them to turn down the music.

Otherwise, life is more of the same. John works night and day doing school stuff, and I work night and day trying to get this freelancing thing to pay the bills. I don’t know what we’re going to do when the baby comes!

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