First Week of 2014

The first week of 2014 has been very uneventful.

It's mostly consisted of me and Ellie both being sicker than dogs and Clay working.  A lot.

I've been sick since December 28th.  Today is actually the first day I've felt almost back to 100%.  I've had a respiratory infection mixed with the flu, mixed with the baby hole in my heart - it hasn't been fun at all.

Little miss has her usual belly problems.  The doctor called today, and her stool samples (gross!) came back normal, so we are going to try probiotics and see if that helps.  Poor kid has had a cold for like two weeks straight.  Runny nose, cough, congestion.  There have been nights where I've had to sleep with her upright on the couch so she can breathe.  She's finally starting to feel better (I think).

We've started sleep training this week.  I know, I know.  My baby will be seven months old tomorrow and she has never slept in her own room in her own bed.  She's slept in her crib in our room or slept with me on the couch or on our bed.  (Spare me how dangerous this can be.  I've heard it all a million times.  But it's worked for our situation.)  I've been the main problem here, I'll admit it.  It was much too easy to find a reason to not put her in her own bed.  She can't roll off her belly, she's sick, the heater is broken, (her room still doesn't get the warmest).  I think the biggest reason I've had a hard time putting Ellie to sleep in her own bed in her own room is because we live in an apartment.  We have neighbors. And I didn't want to be "that" neighbor that's child screams ALL THE TIME.  (I've had neighbors like that before.  It's not exactly enjoyable.)  Sleep training = screaming, right?  When we tried sleep training once before, Ellie screamed for over an hour two nights in a row.  And I ended up caving both times and getting her out of her crib.  It's sad to hear your baby cry.  Add "holy crap, our poor neighbors" on top of that, and yeah.... not an ideal sleep training situation.  Well - our upstairs neighbors moved out.  The floor plan in our apartments is kinda nice - they are really the only neighbors we had to worry about bothering with where Ellie's room is.  I decided if there is a time, it is NOW.

My second issue has been that Ellie has a super late bed time.  Like this kid never gets into bed before 9 or 10 at night - and that's MUCH too late for a little babe.  So, moving up her bedtime is also something I hope to accomplish with sleep training.

The first night, (Sunday night) we fed Ellie, said our prayers, kissed her and put her to bed.  At 9.  Ellie screamed for 22 minutes and then put herself to sleep.  That's it?  22 minutes?  She woke up once at about 3:30 in the morning, ate, and went back to sleep.  I didn't even know what to do!  I have a goal to read more this year, so I picked up my Kindle and read.  Oh. My. Gosh.  It was heavenly!!  Not to mention, I slept better than I have in a long time.

My plan was to move Ellie's bed-time up about half an hour each night until we reach 7 or 7:30.  Clay gets home at 6 at night, and I want Ellie to have a little time with her daddy before she goes to bed.  The second night - last night - Ellie was so cranky I put her to bed at 7:45.  Last night was worse than the night before.  She screamed for about 20 minutes, and put herself to sleep.  However - she put herself to sleep in the absolute worst position.  I have a bumper in Ellie's crib.  (I know, I know...danger danger.)  But my baby is SO busy that when I had the bumper off her legs and arms were constantly sticking out through the rails and getting stuck.  I put the bumper back in and no more problems.  When Ellie finally put herself to sleep last night, she was on her belly with her head in the bumper and her butt in the air in the corner of her crib.  I couldn't let her sleep like that.  So I moved her, she woke up and started crying.  She cried for about ten minutes, and then fell asleep in the EXACT same position.  So I woke her up, and the cycle continued.  The cycle continued until 10:30, when she finally fell asleep on her side in the middle of the crib.

Tonight is night three.  They say it usually takes about 5 to 7 days for the adjustment to take place.  I guess we will see how it goes.

I have also decided I officially hate winter.  I've never been crazy about the snow and the cold, but now that I have a baby, I hate it.  Every day, Ellie crawls over to our back door and pulls up the blinds and looks outside.  It's like she's saying "I want to go outside and play again mom!"  Ugh.  Me too Ellie, me too.

Clay is finishing his Associates this Summer, and then he's got to get serious about what he's going to major in.  I've never liked the idea of moving, but with the prices of real estate in this area and the freezing cold, the idea of moving is becoming more and more appealing.  Hopefully whatever he decides to do with his life is something he'll be able to do where it's warm.  Haha.

Anyways... this is going to be a good year.  I can feel it.  The first week has been pretty gross and uneventful, but we have what, 51 weeks to go?

Cheers.