Crying it out....

I'm a monster.  That is indisputable.

I would be a bad mother, however, if I didn't do this.  My gorgeously adorable happy little boy has, over the last few weeks, become a real drag...  He refuses to go to sleep when he's tired, and if I manage to convince him that he needs a sleep, he only does so for the minimum period of time - 30-50 minutes.  Ordinarily, I would just let him be, pick him up, play with him a little, let him loose in the playpen.  BUT, more recently, he has been waking up cranky and irritated, which, needless to say, is horrible for both of us.

So, I have had to take a different tactic.  He'd turned into what I call a "Sleep Brat".  He thinks he's in control, and can choose if he wants to sleep or not, no matter how tired he is.

I beg to differ.  I am the boss.

So on Saturday afternoon, after a FULL ON day out and about with his Mimi (my mum), Aunty Sharni and I - shopping of course - he needed a big sleep.  2 hours or so would have been sufficient.  Even and hour and a half would work.  But he had different ideas.  30 minutes later he wakes up, cranky and grizzling.  So, mum goes up and pats his bum for about 20 minutes.  He falls asleep twice or more, and every time, in his stubborn "I'll-do-what-I-want" way, he forces himself awake again and cries.  So, we leave him there to scream it out.  It's more like screaming in an angry way, rather than crying cos he thinks no one loves him anymore.  He's peeved.  This is a full on tantrum.  Now that the battle lines have been drawn, if we back down now, we've lost, and it'll just get harder from here.

Almost 2 hours later, we've checked on him several times, tried to get him to lay back down and go to sleep, and he's winding down the pace with smaller, defeated whimpers.  This is when we all breathe a sigh of relief.  He's given up, finally!!  He's dead to the world asleep.

That was traumatic.  For me, not for him.  He woke up about 2 hours later, had a feed and dropped straight back off to sleep.  He was exhausted.  He ended up sleeping really well Saturday night.  When he finally did wake up for the day on Sunday morning, he was happy and cheerful.  It was like he didn't even remember it!  Just in case, though, I gave him tons more cuddles and kisses...

We had a great day Sunday, but again, it was pretty fast paced and he needed a decent sleep that afternoon.  So, we engaged in battle number 2.  This time, it was to get him to go to sleep in the first place.  I had him asleep, and as soon as I tried to put him into his bed, he'd crack it.  It wasn't because of his bed, it was simply him trying to reassert himself.  I couldn't let him win after the massive victory we'd had the day before, so I patted him, cuddled him, reassured him, and left.  It took only 45 minutes of intermittent yelling on his behalf and he was asleep.  Out cold.

I am finding today (Monday), that he is coping a whole lot better with life in general.  I haven't needed to give him nearly as much pain relief for his teething woes.  I also have found he goes to sleep more willingly.  However, I know that I will have to continue in this vein for a little longer, because his midday nap (which he's currently engaged in) wasn't so smooth...

I like to feed him to sleep, which I don't have any dramas with, but sometimes, I can feed him until the cows come home (even when he's absolutely 'past it' tired) and he will fight to the death to stay awake.  I used to just give up and plop him back in his playpen, only to be hit with an onslaught of whingeing and crying because simply nothing will make him happy.  Eventually, after I have almost lost it completely, he'll go to sleep.  Sometimes this would take hours, and he would miss a nap time altogether.

This time, however, I fed him, he rubbed his eyes, grizzled, wanted to sleep... so I put him in his cot, on his tummy.  He cried a little bit here and there for about 5-10 minutes and then fell asleep.  If the phone hadn't rung at that point, he would have gone down without a hitch - but it did ring, and woke him, only to restart the 10 minute process again, but this time with a little more vigor.

He is learning, and he will be able to be put in his cot and go to sleep without all the fuss very soon, I'm sure.  I'm not going to recommend Crying It Out, but I will say this:  What is better?  Cranky, unhappy, unhealthy mother and child?  Or knowing you have done what you had to do, no matter how difficult for YOU?

I never wanted to use a method of sleep training that involved crying, but I knew that if I didn't set the limits now, then my son had one over me.. and that would spoil my beautiful child.  That would have been on my head, and THAT, I could never deal with.

Good luck mummies out there....  You're doing the best you can!

Love A. xo

Inventing Mums

Ok mummies and daddies... I need you.

If you know of an amazingly practical, great quality baby innovation that you have used and found invaluable, you need to let me know!!

I'm starting a new business - one that will feature all kinds of random essentials that most mums don't really think are necessities until they have their babies and find out they need them....

Please leave a comment if you know anyone, or if you have designed something.  Anything is welcome.  Australian businesses are preferred, but I will look outside OZ to find the perfect ensemble of items!!

Thanks y'all!!

A. xo

Up up and AWAAAYYYYY

So, you know how I told you we dropped the cot lower for my adventurous son??  Well GEEEZZZ I'm glad we did!  In the last two days not only has he become crudely mobile, but he's started pulling himself to a stand on just about anything that won't move!!  I looked away for a moment and he was standing at the window sill beating his head (and laughing about it) on the glass looking out at the cat.

He's having a blast, but I tell you, I am not.  I'm terrified of him crashing down and breaking something (of his own.. ie- head)

It's not so much that I mind he's doing it, or that I have to sit next to him while he does it so he can't hurt himself dreadfully, but it's the fact that I just never know what he's going to do next!  Will he try to walk and I don't see him??  Is he going to figure out how to escape his cot and find a power point??  I'm truly scared..

But hey, millions upon millions of kids survive the transition to toddlerhood, so I guess mine will too.. haha

A. xo

A slice of my heaven....

Oh, how cute you say.... Butter wouldn't melt, you say... HA HA HA

And so ... it begins ...

Four days ago, my little cherub turned a grand 7 months. Literally on that day, he changed. He went from a lump that squealed every now and then, and wriggled without any real success, to a strong little boy who is now able to stand while holding onto the sides of things (for instance, his cot!!).

Now, I don't know why, but I am TERRIFIED! I don't know what I'm going to do with a walker.. especially since he doesn't even crawl yet. I assume, being the super baby he is, he is going to skip crawling either completely, or just crawl for a day and then run off on me the next.

I found him on his knees in his cot, holding onto the railing. I then commissioned my husband to drop the base down so he doesn't combat roll over the top and splat onto the ground.

This raises a whole new set of issues and rules for me... I can no longer leave him on the floor while I shower. He will have to be LOCKED UP! :o) I have to buy stair gate thingy's.. oh joy. I am going to have a sore back from holding his hands while he practices walking. These sound great, right? I'm now going to have to worry if he's going to fall flat on his back and smash his head. This is all too much for me!! I can't cope! How does anyone ever manage a soon-to-be toddler?? He's not even going to be a toddler... just a walking BABY!!

OMG... wish me luck!!

:o) A xo

Trouble in Paradise...

Hello hello.... I'm back again, this time, a little bit more frazzled than normal.

Eli is teething - again/still - and I've HAD IT!! I can't seem to make the poor little bugger happy unless he's out and about (which frankly, I'm too tired to do) or drugged up (which I don't fancy either). He's in so much pain, to put it into perspective, that I have to give him baby NUROFEN to keep him from being fussy and crying all day. He can't sleep properly, and it's making him (and me) sick.

So off I've trundled, to my mum and dad's place, so that I can - maybe - get a break. Turns out that even with mum and I together looking after him, we're still only just coping.

I don't know how people survive with twins!!!

A. xo

Promo Time:

I recently got my hands on a copy of the 2010 Annual Ministry of Sound. I'm not too thrilled with it, but that's not cos it's not great. You see, I've turned into a mummy.... The kind that says "don't cuss" and "mind your manners". SO, the MoS isn't really for me - anymore. I'm sad to say that this era of my life is over, but indeed it is.

However, I plan to do a fully unbiased rundown on the type of thing you might be able to expect from this new album.

First up, it's a 3cd set, which includes a tagalong this year - The Aston Shuffle (disc 2). Now, I'm not too sure about all these DJ's that are around now, but this one seems to have his thang downpat. For one, the transitions are SO smooth that you don't even notice it's changed songs until you look and it's track 10..... My fave track of this one was "Pianobytes" - kinda funky and oldschool at the same time (which is more now my thing..)

John Course, of course, is a regular favourite. There's no real question why... This guy, in track 8, makes even Mika sound groovy.... Not the easiest of feats!

Finally, Goodwill takes care of disc 3, and personally, I think this is the best disc of all. I can imagine this one having a reminiscent quality about it - you know, the kind of CD that you chuck on and think about all the great times you had when you went out "that one time". It's bubbly and not quite as dark as the other two discs.

Overall, they are pretty great mixes - John Course preps you, winds you up for the high energy section of the night, The Aston Shuffle kicks your booty into popping mode, and Goodwill is just that - the happy ending to a fabulous fun night, the part you sit around and sip the last of the drinks, too danced out to dance anymore, but you tap your feet and boogie a little with your arms....

Like I said, though, it's really not my scene anymore. Kinda sad, kinda not, but I'll always have my last little piece of it here, in this MoS 2010....

Enjoy! :o)