Tag Archives: sleep

I Have Weird Dreams

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Do you ever wake up in the morning and think, “Where did THAT dream come from?”

I’ve been doing that a lot lately.  I don’t know why, but my dreams have been really odd the past few weeks.

Sometimes I dream about something that someone posted on Facebook, or about someone that I haven’t seen since childhood.  Last night I dreamt that I hired a babysitter for C and he turned out to be a comedian that I’d heard on 24/7 Comedy Radio on my iHeartRadio app.  The night before that, there was a tornado but we couldn’t go to the basement because it was on fire.

Weird stuff, ya’ll.  Any of you who are dream analyzers, feel free to go wild with these. ;)

What weird stuff do you dream about?

Living Room By Day, Bedroom By Night

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Well, we did it!  We moved our bed into the living room so that C could have his own bedroom.  We have so much more floor space now, and we have been sleeping wonderfully.  Wonderfully!

Please excuse the piles of laundry. There's always laundry in some stage of completion at Chateau de Novotny.

I wish I had agreed to make this move sooner.  I was concerned that it would be too weird to have our bed in the living room when we had guests.  The reality?  No one ever visits us.  If I had come to terms with reality sooner, C and I could have been sleeping better for months! ;)

On Monday night, C slept for – drum roll, please – TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT!  It was absolutely amazing.  I don’t wake up to his every move, he doesn’t wake up after I wake up from his movements…the vicious cycle is over.  I couldn’t be more pleased.

C even has space to play on the floor in his bedroom!

I love that the bedroom now houses C’s bed, changing table and the recliner where we feed him his bottles.  It’s like all of his things are in his own space.  Maybe the part of me that felt bad about not being able to have a nursery for my baby is now slightly appeased.

Yay for more sleep!

11 Hours of Sleep? Divine!

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I got 11 – ELEVEN!! – hours of sleep last night!  It was absolutely divine and for the first time since before I had C, I actually feel well-rested.  I have energy and feel like myself again.  In fact, Hubster would tell you that I’m playing it fast and loose with the weird life commentary, sound effects and laughter today.  (Doesn’t he remember that’s just my personality?) ;)

Making faces while drying my hair

Since C’s staying with my parents, Hubster and I are super excited about sleeping through the night.  C still wakes up 1-2 times per night.

Hubster and I both had the chance to work out today before we went on a date.  He’s been wanting to see Wanderlust, so we went to a matinee before going out to dinner.  When we came out of the movie theatre, the guy next to me opened the car door for his lady.  Meanwhile, Hubster got in our car and I was pounding on the window for him to unlock my door.  *sigh*  Ah, marriage…

Still crazy in love...

 

Nighttime: An Open Letter to C

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Dearest C,

When you were super little, I very much enjoyed sharing our one bedroom with you.  It was such a comfort to know that you were just a foot away from me.  It was so easy to come to your aid in the middle of the night when you needed one of us.  In the first couple of weeks, when my new maternal instinct was in overdrive and I had to check to make sure you were breathing, I didn’t need to go far.

Fast forward seven months…

You are quite a wild little sleeper.  You like to bring your legs up in the air and slam them down on your mattress.  You move your arms around all the time.  Even though you still have no interest in rolling over, you rarely wake up in the same position that we set you down in.

In short, you’re loud.  You’re also the lightest sleeper I have ever encountered.

When your dad or I enter the room to go to bed, we slowly turn the door handle and silently slip into the room.  Regardless of how stealthily we attempt to be, we disturb your sleep.  I don’t know if you can sense our presence or if we somehow disrupt the airflow of your sleeping radius.  If we’re really lucky, you go back to sleep.  But 90% of the time, you completely wake up just as I am drifting off to sleep.  You wake up crying.  Did I mention you’re a loud little person?  Then we need to get out of bed, make you a bottle, feed you, put you back to bed, shut the door and cross our fingers that you fall asleep very quickly so that we can begin the process anew.

This entire process has become so troublesome that your father and I have contemplated moving our bed into the living room.  The living room, C!  Do you know what that would mean?  If someone came to our door, the first thing that they would see is our bed.  *sigh*

Raising you in a residence hall environment certainly has its pros and cons.  I’m filing this under the “cons” and counting the days until your dad graduates and we can move on to a larger apartment.

Love,
Your tired mother, who wishes you were a heavier sleeper :)

My Vacation!

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I suppose that when you’re a stay-at-home mom and your child is staying with his grandparents for the week, you can consider it a vacation right?!

Well, I guess I’m on vacation!  After visiting my parents last weekend, we decided to leave C with them for the week since I was planning on coming back next weekend.  They get time to bond with C and I get some time to myself.  It’s a win-win, really.

Other parents seem to react to this in one of two ways.  Either they tip their head a little, narrow their eyes and say, “Wow, I could never leave my child for a whole week.”  Or they say, “Awesome!  Are you enjoying your freedom?  Enjoy it while you can, girl!”

The first reaction makes me feel like the worst mother in the world and is, quite frankly, a bit judgmental.  Of course I miss my son!  But on the other hand, I had a horrible pregnancy, an awful delivery experience ending in an emergency c-section, then two months of C’s colic followed by the high needs personality that has emerged in him.  I love my son dearly, but sometimes I get really burned out.  I have a feeling that the people who react this way don’t have a high needs baby and/or have a job outside of the home where they get the adult interaction that SAHMs crave so badly.

The majority of people with the second reaction have been fellow SAHMs who totally understand the need for alone time.  It was awesome to excitedly share with them some of the things I’ve been up to while C is with his grandparents.

On Monday night, Hubster and I finally got to see “The Lion King 3D” and it was AMAZING!  It was my favorite movie as a kid, and now I also was able to catch the humor that Disney throws in for adults.  We had a great time, and followed it up with wine and an appetizer at Olive Garden.  So fun.

Yesterday afternoon, I took at 3.5 hour nap.  It was glorious.

Today, I went to the salon for a haircut and then went shopping.  Leisurely.  Alone.

I miss C’s little snuggles and open-mouthed kisses that fill your face with slobber.  I miss those laughs that brighten up my day.  But I am very much enjoying this time to be on my own schedule, and I don’t think I should feel guilty about that. :)

5:30? 5:30??!!!

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Apparently C has decided that instead of the more palatable wake-up time of 7 or 8, he would prefer to wake up at 5:30am.  FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING.  Naturally, he insists on continuing two night feedings, the second of which is typically between 3:30 and 4:30.  Thus, he leaves me with somewhat of a “cat nap” before getting up for the day.

Let me remind you, lest you forget, that C also does not nap during the day unless he is held.

This leaves me with the age-old question (oh wait, it’s not an age-old question?  You mean there are babies who actually sleep?): Why, dear child, do you not require more sleep than an adult?

Instituting an 8pm Bedtime

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After we got back from vacation this week, I’ve been working on instituting an 8:00 bedtime for C.  I was a little concerned about it, because he has never been one for a schedule.  To my surprise, it has been working very well!  We dim the lights, change him into a sleeper and change his diaper.  Then he gets his bottle, we turn on his white noise and put him to bed.  He typically goes to sleep within minutes.  Outside of one or two crying sessions or waking up around 9:30/10, it’s been great.

I don’t know if he’ll ever be on much of a nap schedule.  He never gets tired around the same time of day and often sleeps for only 30 minutes or less.  But having a specific bedtime has been pretty nice.

“The No-Cry Sleep Solution”

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I just received this book, by Elizabeth Pantley, in the mail yesterday and cannot seem to read the pages fast enough.  Between my weary, sleep-deprived eyes and a 5-week-old who won’t nap for more than 15 minutes unless he’s sleeping on one of us, I’m in desperate need of a solution.

We’re lucky in that C usually sleeps well at night.  He has 3-5 hour stretches between feedings.  It’s a different story during the day.  I don’t understand why he hates napping!

Have you utilized the tips in this book?  Were they helpful to you?

I Have the Sleep Schedule of a Bat

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It’s no secret that I have major trouble sleeping at night.  I’m either totally awake until the wee hours of the morning, or I’m exhausted but too uncomfortable to drift off to slumberland.  Anyone else have this?

Last night, I experienced the latter.  It’s difficult to get quality sleep when you’re up every 1.5-2 hours for a trip to the bathroom.  Throw some hip and back pain into the mix and it’s downright impossible.  I had finally drifted off just before 8am…then my phone rang.

There was no way I was going to be able to fall back to sleep after a phone call, so I ran some errands.  Now I’m pretty much dead to the world, napping on and off.

I’ve become nocturnal.

Weekly Update

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35 weeks

Size of baby: Large Cantaloupe (up to 22 inches, approx, 5.5 lbs)

Newly craved food:  Veggie subs from Subway

Food aversions: Beef, fried foods

What do you miss?  Being comfortable.

What are you looking forward to?  The ability to sleep on my back, stomach, or however I wish.

What was the BEST part of last week?  Hubster was able to attend our childbirth class and car seat safety class with me, which was awesome!  I attended one class solo and was the only one there without a partner…it was very sad, so I’m super glad he’s been able to be at the rest of them.

What was the WORST part of last week?  The baby dropped and now I’ve been having a significant amount of hip, pelvic and back pain as well as cramping.

35 Weeks

 

Insomnia – we are NOT Friends!

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Last night had to be the worst night of insomnia since I got pregnant.  And that’s saying a lot.

Went to bed at midnight, like usual, but tossed and turned until 2am, when my stomach started growling so much that I got out of bed for a snack.  I decided to take my pillow with me and shut the bedroom door to spare poor Hubster from a bad night of sleep.  After Cheerios, cheese, chocolate and two hours of Netflix-watching, I was finally tired enough to doze off.  I woke up a ton of times because sleeping on the couch is not the most comfortable place. (Although, these days I’m not really comfortable anywhere.)  Then at 9:30am, I woke up and was unable to fall back asleep.  My hips are in agony.  I’m exhausted.  Oh, and because I didn’t get enough sleep, I get to deal with some morning-sickness-like nausea today.  Woohoo.

Dear Baby C, I’ll give you three more weeks to become full-term.  After that, would you please help mama out and vacate my uterus?!  Ok, thanks!