So, Video Monitors are HILARIOUS!

...and a necessity for toddler bed training! I never used a video monitor up until this point. Just for me and my family, I didn't see the point of one...really ever. When they're newborn all they do is lie there and cry, you go in. As they get older, I can see why it would be neat to have one, to see if they're actually awake or if they're just unsettled, to see if they're standing up in their cribs, etc. But I still didn't see the need to buy one. Well, God must have known that I would need one one day, and it just so happens that last year I won this awesome Tommee Tippee monitor from a blog giveaway, and I can't see getting through toddler bed training without one! And this is why:

EPIC. NAP. FAIL.

I was SO MAD when I found this. This was "nap" time on day #2. I knew he wasn't going to sleep but he wasn't being that noisy, so I didn't think much was going on. Plus, day #1 he took about 6 books off his shelf and quietly read them for the hour of quiet time. Well I wasn't prepared for the above, that a Toddler Tornado would take over my son during his supposed "nap time". I know I got tons of belly laughs from the people I shared this with. My I can just picture my brother Ben and my best friend's husband Steve with big belly laughs saying "wayta go, buddy!" And I do laugh now, I even laughed an hour later, but mommy lesson learned!

So I set up that video monitor pronto and used it for the first time for the designated nap time the next day. I gotta admit, looking into the screen I kept waiting for one of those scary ghosts to pop up and scare me.

The really cool thing about this monitor is that you can talk to your child through the baby unit. It worked really well! Laura was over that afternoon and she caught him climbing up on his change table. So I spoke to him through the monitor for the first time and said "Braden! You get down from there please!" He suddenly stopped, looked around and had this "how did she know!?" look on his face. Then he figured out that my voice was coming from the baby unit. Actually....he didn't think it was my voice at all....



He totally, 100% thinks that it's my mom when I talk through the video monitor! It's quite hilarious and we're all getting such a kick out of it! I'm really enjoying the monitor and I can calmly reassure him in the morning that "Mommy's coming soon!" so he knows it's okay. It was time to start sleep training again, this time for the toddler bed.

Daddy read him stories last night and I came in to sing a song with him. I told him that he had to go to bed by himself tonight and that I loved him. He cried not even the 30 seconds it took me to leave his room and go turn on the monitor. It took him quite awhile to even get out of his bed, he was so distracted/entertained by his new Thomas decals we put on his wall yesterday I could hear him talking to his trains. He ended up getting out of bed twice, running to the door, but all the while remaining calm and happy. I think it took between 1/2 hour and 45 minutes for him to settle and fall asleep. My boy has ALWAYS liked to be very comfortable, so I couldn't imagine him falling asleep in front of the door or or on the floor anywhere....this is how I found him:

How did I get so lucky? I was so nervous and anxious about this transition, but he has made it so easy on not only himself, but on me too. I'm so proud of him! I think with his history of sleep training, he just knew it was bed time and that he'd eventually have to fall asleep. There was no crying, kicking, screaming, he didn't fight it at all. And as my Mom says, I think the novelty of the freedom of the toddler bed will soon wear off and he'll just want to sleep there.

I know nap times will take awhile, as he was pretty inconsistent with them before the bed, as my friend Katie told me, it takes awhile for them to learn the toddler bed nap! But at night, I couldn't ask for better. He sleeps his usual 12ish hours a night, straight through, we did decide to keep his door locked, he knows he needs to stay in his room when the door is shut and there's no fussing, crying or fighting it. He just calls out for me when he's done and that is that! Thanks for all your support and kind words this week!

*Note: This was not an official review for Tommee Tippee, nor am I affiliated with them, I do love their products though!*

1+ Week Sans Soother

We knew it was coming. I've mentioned it before. We all knew...except for him. I don't know why I had it in my head that "when Braden turns 2, we're getting rid of the soother". But I did...so we did. Little did I know it would feel like I was killing one of his best friends. I had some major mommy guilt, let me tell you.

As many of you know, Braden has 2 comfort objects. His beloved blankie and his soother. Collectively known (by him) as "duckie soo". I really wanted to keep his soother around for selfish reasons. I wanted him to have it on our plane ride to Maui in hopes of helping with his ears, and also just to have an extra comfort item to rely on. Lately he's been using it mostly for teething. So to bridge the gap between his soother an no soother, I gave him a Molar Muncher that I bought off a steal site awhile ago. He's used it now and again over the months, but always preferred his soother. 

So on January 29, his 2nd day as a 2 year old, I took his soother away. He did ask for it for nap time, but I just said "no more soo. Soo is all gone." We read some books like we always do and I put him down with his blankie and his munchie (Molar Muncher). He fussed, not even cried, off and on for a half hour and then had a good 2 hour nap. not too bad! I thought to myself! This gave me so much hope, I wasn't a monster after all.

But then...came bed time.

He didn't ask for soo. But he sure went down fighting this time. He cried. He cried OUT for me. Do you know how heartbreaking it is to hear your child call out for you? "Mommy! Mommy!" He fussed/whined/cried off and on for 45 minutes. I do stress the one and off part, it was not constant and there were many times I thought he did fall asleep. But at the 45 minute mark, my heart couldn't bear it anymore. I went it, we had some snuggles and rocked in the glider for awhile. I put him back down to sleep and 5 minutes later he was out. He did wake up at 11:45 and cried for 5 minutes, but put himself back to sleep.

The next few days can be broken down like this:

Day #2: No nap and fussed for 20 minutes at bedtime. Meanwhile, I'm at work texting back and forth with Jay while tweeting to the world in desperation as to whether or not we have made the right decision. Should we have taken it? Should we wait until he's done teething? Is it really that bad? We decided since we invested so much time already into the no soother thing...we'd just push through it, because it would be harder if we had to give it back and take it away again.
Day #3: No nap and fussed for 5 minutes at bedtime.
Day #4: No nap and fussed for 20 minutes at bedtime.
Day #5: Finally had a 2 hour nap after he fussed for 20 minutes or so and about 5 minutes of fussing at bedtime.

And so on and so forth. The fussing thing, I actually believe, has nothing to do with the no soother thing. It probably isn't helping, but ever since about Christmas time he's been fussing off and on at bedtime for no particular reason. He could have 3 soothers in bed with him and still fuss. He's also so much more aware of his surroundings, that if he's in a new place, or even if he's in a place he's not at all the time (like my Mom's) he cries out and fusses for up to 10 minutes before he settles. When he settles, he typically settles all night.

It's times like this that I am so thankful that we sleep trained him with SleepEasy. If you want, just click the links to look through my old posts, but the gist of it is...Braden knows how to self soothe and put himself back to sleep. If I followed SleepEasy by the book, he shouldn't have kept his soother in the first place. At the time (and I still don't regret it), I did not want to take EVERYTHING away from him when we sleep trained and felt it was necessary for him to keep his soother. Also, I never, ever was running into his room to put his soother back in his mouth 50 times a night...so nothing like that was changing for us.

As I said before, Braden was having problems settling to sleep. This happened over Christmas at Mom's and it was even happening at home the odd time. I knew this would happen in Maui too. Pretty much every nap and bedtime for the first 3 days was up to 10 minutes of crying/fussing but then he'd be totally settled and sleep right through his nap or the night and wake up happy. This is always the sign of a well-rested Braden: waking up happy.

Had we not used SleepEasy for him or had he not been able to learn the art of self-soothing in one way or another? I imagine I would be in his room for HOURS reading books, singing rocking, praying, and begging for him to go to sleep. Not how I want to spend my should-be-child-free time on vacation....trying to get said child to sleep! I did spend extra time before lying him down singing and rocking with him and making sure he was nice and calm, but he would still fuss and cry for a bit.

I know there are tons of mamas who would disagree with letting Braden cry it out (CIO) but there is no other option for my family! I've done my research, Braden knows he's not abandoned, he's very much loved and comforted by us throughout the day. If I ran to him EVERY time he fussed or cried...neither of us would sleep, neither of us would be well rested and happy. He hasn't been a fall-asleep-in-my-arms baby sincee he was that...maybe the last time at 4 months? This way? We all get a full night's sleep at the price of him fussing (not even full on CRYING) for up to 10 minutes.

Has your 2ish year old(s) gone through this phase? He's fussing almost every night, even though we're at home now? I don't know if it's a new development stage? The soother? 2 year molars? Combo of everything or nothing? Just wondering your experiences!

Anywho, the soother is GONE! He hasn't even asked for it since we have taken it away, we're not looking back now!

Braden News

It feels like I haven't blogged forever! Sometimes I feel like I just can't keep up to the fast pace our life is set at right now. How is it June 14th already? The month is almost half gone. Braden is developing so fast. He's definitely slowed down on the physical growing part...he shot up the growth charts so fast at 1 month, but now he's at a plateau, and I imagine he will just slowly gain until we start solids at 6 months. So lately we have been...

Hanging out naked! And by "we", I mean just him! I give him a little nudey bum time before his bath every night now. And sucking his thumb TONS lately. He's getting really, really good hand-eye coordination. When he is in his car seat, I have this:

And he is getting so good at batting the little bugs with his hands. Jay says we should find a little plush volleyball so he can practice his spiking! P.S. I highly recommend this toy to add to your bucket car seat handle, it keeps him VERY entertained! It's $20 at Babies R Us but I scored it for $4 from a consignment sale! He has also enjoyed a lot of drooling:

And even more tummy time lately...and tolerating it much, much more!

So that's a new diaper I've tried on him. I feel like I'm cheating on my FuzziBunz! This is a Goodmama "One" all-in-one diaper. I love my FB's, but they have so few prints that I have to seek elsewhere. Check out this gallery for all of Goodmama's prints...they are adorable. I've got a couple more coming in the mail. If I don't end up liking them much, then I'll just sell them on DiaperSwappers.com which I've already sold one of my non-FB's!

We are now in a consistent schedule which I am so thankful for!! Bedtime is 8-8:30 and wake-time is usually 8 or shortly after, but I will let him get up if he is up at 7. First morning nap is 2 hours after wake-time and has consistently been 1.5 - 1.75 hrs! No more morning 45 minute nap, which is great. Second nap I really try and make him stay awake at least 2 hours in between, but sometimes it's hard...and this nap still is always 45 minutes. I'm hoping that magically one day it will be longer. Another 2ish hours later and then the third nap varies in length from 45 mins to about 1.5 hours. So three naps a day and 12 hours of sleep time at night.

Sleep training was on hiatus for 2 nights because he was congested, but he's over that now. The last 2 nights we've been getting back on track and he's only woken up once after 8 hrs the first night and 9 hrs last night. Since he's waking up between 5 & 6...he feels very rested and has a hard time self-soothing. So I'm modifying the training, letting him fuss for about 20-30 minutes and then making sure he's calm, I'll feed him, and he'll go back to sleep for another 2.5-3 hours. I think that with time this last wake-up will just extend until it really is his wake-time.

I miiiiiiiiiiiiight have to start solids earlier than I intended! I couldn't believe him last night at his Grandpa Schultz's birthday party! We were all eating cake for dessert, he was in the high chair, and he was literally smacking his lips! He was also following Carol's fork from her plate up to her mouth as she held him later. It's unbelievable! I really do want to hold off until 6 months, it's only 1.5 months to go...but we'll see how it goes in the next while, maybe I'll start him at 5.5 months or something!

Night #5 of Sleep Training

SUCCESS!!! Braden finally slept through the night again!! Being at the lake all afternoon probably helped a lot (I'll post about that later!) AND he even had a really good 1.5 hour nap on the way home! Put him down at about 8:50, he was unsettled a bit, but put himself to sleep around 9:15. I was so tired that I didn't do the usual dreamfeed before I went to bed, I figured I'd take my chances and just do the feeds 4 hours apart. So I fed him after midnight and after 4 and then he slept right until 6:30ish...fussed a bit until 7:30 and we're up! So he slept about 9 or 10 hours with that nap before! YAY BRADEN!! Now the next step is to keep increasing the length between his feeds and then I will wean him from those feeds. I am just so utterly happy with how this has worked for us. I am getting so much more sleep, it will be nice to have this "system" to fall back on!

Night #4 of Sleep Training

Was the best night yet! Put him down the earliest that I ever have at 8PM. I hung a black sheet over his doorway (yes, my son doesn't have any doors in his room right now!) to make it extra dark, especially because the sun is still out at 10PM these days...and up at about 4:45AM (trust me, I know!). But he still cried out at around that 45 minute mark! At least he knows how to go back to sleep easily now...but man oh man, why that darn 45 minutes! Then before his dreamfeed at 11PM he started to fuss a bit. Only for a few minutes, then I went in and fed him and went to sleep. Then, right on cue, he woke up 1 minute before I set my alarm to dream feed him at 2:30. Only fussed for 7 minutes and then I went and fed him. Woke up shortly after 6:30, fussed for 6 minutes, then I fed him and he woke up shortly after 8, happy as can be!

So last night (with a bit of fussing before) he slept 6.5 hours, 4 hrs, 1.5 hours! I'm very happy with how things are going and I think in a little while he won't even make noise when he wakes up and he'll just settle himself. I sure feel more well rested, and tonight I extend his feeds to 4 hours. Thanks for following, I'll blog about our progress for one more night and then just give periodic updates!

Night #3 of Sleep Training

YAY!!! Night #3 totally makes up for night #2! Last night was so great, I hope we continue on this trend. I put him down for bed at 8:30PM without a peep. We were finishing watching a movie...at at the 50 minute mark, we heard one cry. We both looked at each other, and I said "oh no! Not this again!" But it was just that one cry...and then blissful silence. So I did a dreamfeed before we went to bed at 10:30 and then set my alarm for 3 hours later at 1:30. What time did Braden start crying? 1:30 on the dot when my alarm went off! How does he do that? So I got up, charted that when he woke up...and let him go. He actually wasn't even "crying" it was more of a fussing. I didn't even go do a check-in at 5 minutes as it seems to tick him off even more. I thought I'd go check him at the 10 minute mark...but he stopped fussing at 1:36! Only 6 minutes this time! What a huge difference to the previous night. So I gave him 10 minutes, did a dreamfeed and went back to sleep. Set my alarm for 3 hours later and fed him again without a peep.

Next came him stirring at about 6:30. It only took about 10 minutes and back to sleep he went. He then stirred at 7:30 for one cry and then I got him up at 8! He wasn't as happy as he usually was, but he had a pretty decent scratch on his left cheek and his night diaper leaked a little bit. The way he's been soothing himself back to sleep is either by sucking his thumb or by smushing his taggie blanket on his face, which probably resulted in the scratch. I trimmed his nails AGAIN this morning so hopefully that won't happen anymore. The book suggests giving them a blanket or a "mommy bear" stuffed animal as a comfort object, so I bought him a homemade taggie off of Etsy, It's only 9x9 and breathable. He loves it!

So Braden slept 5 hrs, 5 hrs, and 1.5 hrs! What an improvement. I just have a really good feeling that this sleep training, or sleep learning as I should be calling it will really work for us. Braden was able to self-soothe at 8 weeks on, but seemed to have forgotten it when he turned 3 months so I know that he'll get the hang of it again. Tonight I'll do dreamfeeds every 3.5 hours...thanks for that 1/2 hour increment suggestion, Kathleen...if I ended up doing the 15 mins like I originally planned...I'd be doing this until he was 5! ;) Eventually I want to get to a dreamfeed before bed, then one feed at the half-way mark at about 4:30 and do that for awhile and then I'll wean those feeds, or just cut them out completely depending on how he's doing.

Thanks for reading, your support, and your positivity and encouragement!

Night #2 of Sleep Training

I've read in many places of reviewing this book that night 2 can be hard. Boy was it ever. I wish I could report that it went even better than the first night, but then I'd be lying. Firstly, he woke up not even 45 minutes into his sleep...which was very odd and he NEVER does that when I put him down. That resulted in almost 40 minutes of crying to start out the night! Jay did the check-ins and got a HUGE smile every time he went to talk to Braden - which proves right there that all Braden wants is to see us!

So the book recommends weaning night feedings by cutting the feed back by 2 minutes every night. Since I never know when Braden is going to eat, the first night I fed him every 2 hours and that worked well - he only beat me to the punch twice. Well, last night instead of decreasing the feeds by 2 minutes, I let him eat however long he wanted (when he was asleep), but I increased the time between feeds to every 2.5 hours. That's where it seems to have gone wrong :( He beat me to the punch EVERY time, except for the last feed. I had my alarm set to feed him every 2.5 hours and he'd beat me by 10-15 minutes every darn time, which resulted in crying of 50 minutes each time. It was so hard. I was doubting myself every 5 minutes. Why is he crying so long? Isn't this supposed to get better? But, CONSISTENCY is the key to this. It wouldn't be fair to let him cry for "no reason" by me going to console him and erasing everything he's been learning. I'm giving this sleep training 1 week and if I don't see results...then I guess I go back to the old way of doing things and pray that he just turns himself around?!

But, like I said at the beginning, everywhere I've read I've heard horrible things about night 2. So all I can do is hope night 3 goes better. I guess I have to keep thinking that Braden is NOT that hungry, it's not why he's waking up, and he is still getting 4 feeds per night! Yeesh! So tonight I increase the time between feeds to 3 hours. Wish me luck, pray for us, send us good sleep vibes...anything!! (If it gives you peace of mind...which it does for me, Braden STILL wakes up with a huuuuuuuuuuuge smile on his face and seems to not be mad at us for all this business we're putting him through!)

Night #1 of Sleep Training

Well, night 1 of sleep training is done. It actually went really well. And just for the record, I'm not looking to be judged, so if you have negative comments...please keep them to yourself :)

So I prolonged our bedtime routine and I fed him before his bath, had a nice long relaxing bath, then a baby massage, then I put him down on a nice soft blanket on the floor while he chewed on Sophie and I read him a few stories. Then I sang to him (poor fella!) and decided that he should have some snuggles with me because I wouldn't get to console him during the night. Sigh. He started getting a little restless so I decided to top him up. I had to talk to him the whole time he nursed to keep him awake (very important) and then he had a good burp. I gave him a pacifier (not ready to give this up yet) snuggled with him and sang him our sleep song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I put him down drowsy but awake at 8:40PM...and his first 5 minute check-in he was asleep!

The next step is to do a dreamfeed 1 hour before he usually eats. Since he's unpredictable, they say feed him at the earliest he's ever woken up. It was kind of a gamble, but he usually gives me a 2.5-3 hour stretch so I gently picked him up out of his pack and play (PNP), he had a good, long feed and I put him back down without a peep. I went to bed and he woke up shortly after midnight, so a 3.5 hour stretch. I had my alarm set to dreamfeed him at 1AM, so according to the training I had to let Braden cry. It actually wasn't bad at all, he did very well and only cried for 18 minutes. I did my check at 5 minutes and 10 minutes, then 3 minutes later he was asleep! I did another dreamfeed which was only 2 minutes and he went back down. So my goal was to do dreamfeeds every 2 hours, as that's what he's been used to and poor Braden woke up 5 minutes before my alarm was to go off to feed him! This was the worst part of the night as he cried and whimpered off and on for 1 hour exactly. Then I waited 15 minutes and he had a really good dreamfeed.

Next thing was to dreamfeed him one more time at 6AM and I was so tired that I slept through my alarm, but only by 10 minutes. Fed him successfully again (these dreamfeeds are AMAZING!) and he started stirring at about 7:30. As part of the training they HAVE to stay in their bed for 11 hours, which would be 7:40. So he fussed and cried just a little until 7:40 and Jay went to get him up and praised him with big smiles and cuddles for doing so well with his sleep training. So, really, he only woke up twice last night! A huge improvement from being up every hour and half or two!

He slept 3.5 hours, 2.5 hours, and 3.5 hours. The goal is 11 or 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, so we have a ways to go, but I'm pleased with how it's gone so far. Now I have to be consistent and keep this going with his naps. He was actually rested enough to stay awake the recommended 2 hours until his morning nap, so I did the sameish routine again and he went down for his nap drowsy but awake without a fuss. For naps he has to stay in his PNP for 1 hour from when I put him down, and if he sleeps longer - great!

I just wanted to say that when Braden cries at night, it is an extremely tired cry and he is not in "tantrum" mode. I know his cries well enough that he is not in pain, not hungry, he's just crying for mommy to come and comfort him back to sleep because that's what he's used to. It's very tough to hear my baby cry, but in the long run, and even immediately, it's better. When Braden has been up so much crying all these nights, it frustrates me in my sleep deprived state and I have my moments when I want to "throw him out the proverbial window". I would never harm him, but I also know that my stress isn't helping him to relax and get the sleep he needs. This way, he is learning to self-soothe and he doesn't have to be put-off with my frustrations and I can be by myself, take deep breaths and send him positive sleep vibes!

Thanks for reading, more updates to come!

Something's Gotta Give...

We had the worst night ever last night. Poor Braden is soooooooo tired, he literally cannot sleep, no matter what we do. I am almost certain he's getting up out of habit now, not that he is hungry or needs anything. He's not in pain, he's not teething, he's had well over a week to practice his milestone of rolling over. Oi. I'm not going to cut night feedings cold turkey, I will be weaning him...and sleep training starting tonight. We'd sure appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers, it's going to be tough, but hopefully well worth it in the end. I'll keep you posted, but wish us luck.

Tales of a Sleep Deprived Mom

No, it's really not THAT bad. But my poor little man is sooooo inconsistent with his sleep. I imagine I'm driving my blog readers away with all my sleep rant, but really it's all I have....is to rant! Last night Braden was bathed, changed into a fresh, clean diaper and jammies, fed and burped. I sang to him and snuggled and he was drowsy so I put him down. And then came the crying. I decided to try out a night of the sleep training program to see what it was like, because I felt like I had nothing to lose. It involved letting him cry, but checking in on him at intervals and reassuring but not touching him. He cried for 36 minutes in total and drifted off into sleep. I hated hearing him cry, but I had tried everything else. I then dreamfed him, which involves slightly rousing him just enough to feed and then putting him back down to sleep in hopes of avoiding him waking up for the purpose of feeding. In doing this I did get a 4 hour stretch out of him. He woke up on his own, and according to the training I did let him cry some more. Another 34 torturous minutes. He settled and I dreamfed him two more times in the night and he woke up again at 6:30. I'd had enough of the crying, and even though I know I "erased" all of what I was teaching him in the night, I picked him up, cuddled and fed him and he slept until 9AM.

BUT...

I will not be continuing on with the training until at least a couple of weeks for a few reasons. Firstly, he doesn't weigh enough surprisingly. He needs to weigh 14 lbs and he's not quite there. Secondly, he just got his 4 month vaccinations today and I'm not going to put him through a crying night when I know he's sore and will need me. Thirdly, we're going to Edmonton this weekend and I'm just not going to trying something new on top of traveling. Lastly, he did just learn to roll over and I'm not supposed to start this training within 10 days of a new milestone! I'm glad I did it last night, and actually...I felt more rested getting up on my own schedule (I set my alarm for dreamfeeding). I know it will work for Braden, but the timing is just not right.

Naps suck too. The 45 minute napper has decreased to the 30 minute napper today. I'm really hoping it's because of his shots...because I really don't want to deal with 30 minute naps now...but what other choice do I have, really!? Hmmmmmmph. Oh well, the guys are almost done seeding, we're heading to Edmonton, and the drywalling is going well at our house. That's all!