The 10 Week Countdown! (& A Funny)

This is dolly all decked out in her wedding attire. The other day Ellie took a sheet off our bed, wrapped it over her head and declared, "I'm getting married!!" Then she got her dolly and declared that dolly was getting married. Too funny.

Yes the 10 week countdown is on! Yikes. I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. This pregnancy has been amazing...I feel SO good (most days) - Praise the LORD! I have so many things I'd like to get done before the baby arrives, but I'm honestly not sure how much will actually get accomplished between the potty training and sleep deprivation. Oh well...I can makes lists anyway, right? A major to-do list post will be coming soon.

By the way...the Ellie sleeping thing...it's still not going so well. Still trying to figure it all out, but regardless, I'm managing the fatigue most days. Most days. As of this moment, she is fast asleep on my lap, so it's the perfect time to type out a blog post. We had been "practicing" for church (something I'm trying to help her learn to sit still better) and listening to a sermon by Paul Washer. She was doing well and reminding herself to "face the front." Then suddenly...she was out!

Part of the problem with the sleep thing is the vicious exhaustion cycle. I can stick it out 3 hours to put her to bed if I have to...but when it comes to the middle-of-the-night, it's another story. Last night I was determined. So I thought. If she got up and came to our room, she would go straight back to bed. No conversation. No discussion. Nothing. Just keep it up until she gives in. That was the plan and I was sticking to my guns this time. Ha. Well that worked fine and dandy until it wasn't working anymore. An hour or two later, I was too tired to continue and caved by crawling into her twin bed. Usually after that, she'll fall asleep. Last night...not so much. She proceeded to toss and turn for the next few hours, keeping me awake in the meantime. Thus today I'm very tired wondering if I'll have the gumption to stick it out tonight should Round 2 (wait...we're on more like Round 9047) commence... and so the vicious cycle continues. Boo.

Oh...and the potty training thing...well we are on Day 2 of no diapers/pull ups except for naps and night time. We've had mostly accidents so far, but I'm determined to stick it out this time for at least this whole week. She is becoming a bit more aware of the process I think, so we'll see what happens.

Oh...and we've come down with another cold or something like it. Yay for us. I'm sure the sleep deprivation isn't doing our immune system any favours.

Oh...and we had the first snowfall of the year today. Ellie got really excited. Hubby took her outside to touch the snow. It was terribly cute.

10 more weeks (or so)! I can hardly believe it!

Bedtime Struggles & Successes

First...the bedtime struggles:

Anyone who knows us well knows we have had some major sleeping issues with our little Ellie. Almost from time time she was born, bedtimes and nap times have caused us problems. She only really started sleeping through the night around a year old and then about 2 weeks into that, she got extremely ill and then with all the hospital stays and traveling, she stopped sleeping through the night again. A few months later, we were back on track, however, bedtimes were still a big struggle. I honestly dreaded putting her down for her nap and for night as it was a battle nearly every single time. One night I spent 7 hours putting her to bed. Yes, you read that right. 7 HOURS. This girl just hates going to bed. I've read books, I've tried all sorts of methods, I did research. Nothing seemed to really work. Sure, some nights we would have a bit of success, but nothing lasting. She would go through phases where she'd go to bed fairly well at home, but then anytime we traveled somewhere, it was a nightmare. Often I would spend hours trying to put her to bed while everyone else played games or visited. Not fun is an understatement. Last weekend we ran into the same problem. This time, she went to bed surprisingly well, but then awoke around 1 a.m. with a terrible stomach ache (this is totally understandable). We got the stomach ache fixed and then the bedtime struggle really began. She wanted to play, not sleep. We tried letting her sleep with us. Nope. We tried letting her cry it out for awhile. Nope. I tried rocking her and cuddling her to sleep. Nope. We tried nearly everything. Finally, around 4:30 a.m. we (Ellie and I) crashed on the couch. She and I slept a grand total of 2 hours. We dabbled a bit in letting her sleep in a toddler bed to see if that would help, but after a few days and nights we gave that idea up for now. Now you know some of our bedtime struggles.

Now on to some bedtime successes...

The last method we recently tried was the Supernanny's (from that t.v. show) sleep separation technique. Basically, it goes something like this. Do your bedtime routine, kiss & cuddle, put them to bed. The first time they get up, go to them say "it's bedtime", give a short cuddle, then back to bed. The second time, you say "it's bedtime" with no cuddle. After that, you basically just ignore them while sitting close by so the child can see you. (If the child is no longer in a crib, you put them back in bed without speaking every time they get out). I did this with Ellie in her crib. For about a week, I would stay in her room until she fell asleep because she constantly would cry to get out of bed.The goal was to get to the point where she no longer put up a fuss when I put her down for bedtime. I didn't think this technique would work because I thought I'd then always have to stay in her room until she falls asleep, but I really tried to stick it out. This week, however, has been phenomenal at home! She has been telling me when she's tired "seepy" or "night night" or "bed," and now when I put her down, there hasn't even been a peep! The key is to wait until she is just tired but not overtired. Some nights, she is so tired that she wants to cut the bedtime story short and points to her bed, indicating she'd rather sleep instead. I am hoping and praying that this is going to be the new norm for us. Now, bedtimes are enjoyable rather than a battle. Of course, I know there will still be hiccups now and then, but I hope this becomes the normal routine. As for the toddler bed...well that can wait!

(Oh...and I chose a picture of a giraffe because that is one of Ellie's favourite animals. She cannot sleep without "Gerry Jaff". This morning she drew a little scribble on a paper, pointed to it, and said "Jaff" (giraffe).