You spend months and months just waiting for this little human to come out. You are so excited to see him. You can't wait to get to know him.Finally! Finally he arrives!
And you wait and wait and hold your breath pray for him to go to sleep.
I decided the other day that I needed to stop doing that, to appreciate him in the here and now, because his here and now changes daily.
This is not to say that I've fully succeeded, that I'm never all, "Just sleep. Please, please, pleeeeeeeaaaaase sleep." Not because he is tired, but because I am.
And then he will happily sleep in your arms. But often, not so much out of them. Which means no sleep for you.
He can fall asleep within a second flat. Me, it takes me a while to relax and drift off. So very often, I will just be edging into the calm blue pool of lovely, misty sleep.
And I'll hear little grunty baby noises.
I'll silently chant, "Don'twakeup! Don'twakeup!"
And there I go, wishing more sleep on him.
Regarding sleep, one of the things we're learning is that he needs to wind down at the end of the day.
This seems funny, being that really, he spends his day eating, pooping, peeing, having his diaper changed, sleeping - although not a lot, crying, flailing his arms and legs in an attempt to get to know them, and looking around.
How wound up can he get?
But the days that he's had visitors, or we've had an outing, or we've been LOOKING! at a lot of stuff! or using! our! limbs! into late in the evening, he gets super agitated. You can see his eyes getting all puffy and tiredy, and you know he's exhausted.
You're sure he's about to drift off.
But instead of letting himself go, suddenly he's all, "I want to nurse! No, I don't! I want to look around! Ha! Kidding! Hungry! No, wait, just feel like punching my arms in the air! Maybe I'll kick kick kick! Mama! I'm hungry!"
And so I'd try to nurse and get punched and kicked, and then I give him a stern talking-to about how to treat his mama.
Like this got me anywhere.
We spent several nights going around and around with this. And finally, we swaddled the shit out of him, shushed and rocked him, and put him down.
He was outraged. For like 30 seconds. And then, sound asleep.
Isn't it crazy how little ones will fight sleep, but when we grow up all we want is more sleep?
ReplyDeleteThis post and the squarching post are pretty much the best birth control ever. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo, though. Smiling while sleeping - such a talented boy!
My last little one would only nap in his carseat. It was a lifesaver. I'd just drape a cushy blanket over it, lay him in and tuck another blanket around him. He felt like he was being held.
ReplyDeleteswaddling is great. here's another idea that worked for me - sleep nursing. the baby nurses, and you both drift off to sleep.
ReplyDeleteAnd when he is a teenager, like about 16, all he will do is sleep. He wont clean his room, or help with the dishes, or do asnything in the weekend except maybe get out of bed half an hour before his footy game and then come home, shower and go back to sleep, on the floor, or the couch, or anywhere he can lay his lanky frame really.
ReplyDeleteHe really is an adorable wee creature Lisa. Hope you and Nick are keeping well, even if a little sleep deprived.
I love the picture! Sweet! My daughter has an almost 4 month old baby girl. One day about 6 weeks ago, I went over to visit and her husband said she was out with the baby...driving around...trying to get her to sleep. It was almost 5:00 pm and little Abby had been awake all day. But, It didn't work. As soon as she walked in the door, the baby's eyes popped open: )Then my daughter cried. Things are better now - they have each fallen into a schedule that works. You and Jordan will too. It just keeps getting better - you'll see.
ReplyDeleteHe sure is a sweet baby!
I may have said this before, but dang he's cute.
ReplyDeleteHow about some tub time before bed? Unless he hates water and then, well, nevermind.
Actually no, if he hates the water then maybe a good Swiffering before bed.
So, so, so super cute. Super cute!
ReplyDeletei may come steal him in the middle of the night with that cutie adorable little smile on his face... oh my, ooh, just wanna squish and hug him! consider yourself warned.
ReplyDeletebut i also with sleep upon you both
Swaddle the shit out of him- HA!
ReplyDeleteDude, I swear sleep gets better (I mean if it got worse NOBODY would ever have kids)
Dan would come up with these crazy complicated ways to get B to sleep- one involved a vacuum on right next to her swing while music was on in the background.
Swaddling is the best :)
ReplyDeleteBetti is waking at night now and I'm like a crazy person. It was not nice of her to sleep well for a bit and then wake up all the time. :(
God I love that picture of him, so cute!
As for sleep, be wary of the overtired baby. Sadly, the more overtired they are the harder it is to get them to sleep. Also, sleep begets sleep. These two things were so odd to me with Marion but are so true!
My baby sleeps great in my arms and not so well elsewhere. Now I just bring her to bed with me and we both sleep! This wouldn't work for everyone but it sure works for us. Marissa
ReplyDeleteyou're nursing, right? Benadryl- you take it, he gets it too. Promise it works. Advice to me from my OB.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know. I wish sleep on other people all the time. Boss sitting across from me, asking about a project that's over deadline?
ReplyDelete"Man, I wish he'd fall asleep right now."
Significant other about to ask me to grab another beer out of the fridge, when it's not even a commercial break?
"Why can't he just sleep in front of the tv like a normal guy?!?"
If I expected myself to enjoy being in the moment all the time, I'd probably go mad. Though, the Boy *is* adorable enough that it might be feasible.
What Lisa said. We fight sleep as kids and then all we want as adults is falling into a deep slumber in our cozy beds.
ReplyDeleteHe's such a little cutie! (I'm just going to keep saying that cause he is.)
And before you know it, you'll have the "It'll be so great when he can TALK!" Followed very quickly by, "Will this child ever SHUT UP?"
ReplyDeleteAlso, the "Ooh, ooh, he's almost crawling!" followed by the "For the love of God, stay put!"
We forever wish ourselves on to the next stage and then wonder why. :)
I have to disagree with Hillary - he is so ridiculously adorable, with the smile and the hands and the feet. My ovaries are all "come ON, lady!" right now.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the swaddle. I love LOVE LOVE the swaddle.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweetie pie! He needs his rest, I wouldn't feel bad about it. Your rendition of an infant is remarkable - I can picture him getting all cranky after visitors!
ReplyDelete