I'm Still Here...

Long time no post, huh?  Life has been kind of crazy around here at casa de G.  See, a certain little miss just stopped. sleeping. 

Like, she went from 12 hours straight per night, to just a few hours a night.  She wakes up and it is darn near impossible to get her back to sleep.

Ok, sometimes we can get her back to sleep, but put her down?  No, not ever!  The second you put her in her crib, she's back awake and crying.  And I'd be happy to share my bed with her, but she's not down for that either.  We even tried to get the hang of side-lying nursing.  We got the hang of the nursing part, but my hopes of her drifting off and peacefully rolling onto her back so we could all sleep were quickly dashed.

I blame the teeth.  There's definitely two little teeth coming in there on the bottom and they're messing with our lives.  Ruby's sleep got great when she figured out that she liked to suck on her fingers until she was asleep.  Yeah.  She doesn't do that anymore.  Or pacis.  Anything that goes in her mouth goes to the sides, I think those darn teeth are just hurting her.  And it's changed the way she nurses.  I don't know what she's doing to my right nipple, but OW.

So forgive my absence, blog-land.  R also won't nap without me holding her in my arms, so between that and racing to my bed the second I actually get her to sleep in the evening, I have little time for blogging.  Or anything else for that matter.  Sheesh!  The words, "this too shall pass" are definitely my mantra lately!

Bye-Bye Swaddle

She always has a smile on her face when you come in to get her.

A couple of weeks ago we stopped swaddling.  Cold turkey.

It was a night I thought would never come.  Ruby always hated the swaddle, but yet she couldn't sleep without it.  Her wild "rodeo arms" would always wake her up.  We actually tried putting her down without the swaddle a couple of times before (I'd read that when they are busting out, it means they're ready to lose it.  Not so with my Ruby).  It never was successful.

Then this happened.  And that scared me, because she'd actually pulled the blanket over her face, we'd just pulled it down when we took the picture.

So, a day or two later, I decided the swaddle was gone.  We'd noticed lately that when she'd bust out, she didn't always cry.  She'd wave her little arms around, and then just go back to sleep.  It was time.

What a goober.

So we gave it a try.  Judge if you will, but I nurse her to sleep.  We both love it.  I did that first night, but she woke up when I put her in her crib.  I gave her her paci.  She pulled it out almost immediately, but she never got upset.  Just like when she'd wake up, she wiggled her arms around for a bit, then popped her fingers in her mouth and went to sleep.

We've been going strong since then.  On occasion, we have to go back and rock her back into sleepiness before she is out for the night, but we haven't had to resort back to the swaddle at night.  Phew.

Don't ask me about naps though.  We still have to swaddle for those, and even then, it's still a fight.

Hallelujah!

Somebody slept from 7:30pm-5:30am.  AND she took a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon yesterday, and then another one that I didn't time because she fell asleep on me after nursing and didn't even wake when I wrestled my boob back from her.  I am now firmly in the sleep begets sleep camp.

Oh, also?  I put her back in her crib after nursing (so I could shower) and she is still there:

I have showered, gotten dressed, put on makeup, and eaten breakfast.  Oh!  And loaded the dishwasher. I'm probably jinxing myself by posting this, but I am too excited!  Now I better dry/straighten my hair before she wakes up (they make the 3-6 monthers have class at 9:30am, cruel)!