Sleep wars

I think we are on our way down to one nap a day now. Which is great, and sad, all at the same time. It will be great if we can get on a one nap routine, because then it will be easier to plan day time activities around one nap a day instead of the two he had been taking. I just hope the one nap will be long enough to me to get as much done as I need to while he is asleep!

When did all of you other parents cut down to one nap a day for your little ones? Joshua is almost 14 months old now, and some days he still goes down for two naps without any issues, but then there are days like today, where he refuses to sleep. It is almost 1:30 and he is in his crib, not sleeping yet, probably because he is over tired from not napping yet today.

So my question is, do I keep him awake the next few days and try to establish a single nap routine with him from here on out. Or do i just go with the flow and let him take two naps some days, and one nap on others? I do notice his two naps are getting shorter when he takes both, so maybe reducing to one will make for a longer nap? I hope?

Isn't it amazing how we parents, spend all this time while kids are small trying to make them sleep longer, sleep more, and take naps, and by the time they finally do, and want to, they are teenagers and we don't want them to sleep that much anymore?

My other issue with baby sleep. Is Joshua's wake up time. On a typical day he wakes up around 6am. Which is not the worst, but also not the best. When he is teething, or not feeling well, he's up between 4 and 5am, which is the worst. At least, when you are used to having a baby who sleeps until 6am. So my question on. How does one encourage their little one to sleep later into the morning? We've tried earlier bedtimes, later bedtimes, the whole bit. And he wakes up at the same time regardless. Maybe he is just a morning person? I guess only time will tell!

Things one should not do on a broken night of sleep.

Joshua has been having a terrible time the last few nights. I am guessing it is the two top molars trying to break through. the gums are very swollen and red and sore looking, and I suspect, the culprit to why Joshua has been up screaming for at least an hour in the middle of the night lately.

Last night. Joshua fell asleep around 8:15 or so. I had to clean the floors desperately because Joshua was so disturbed by the dirt and animal hair, he had taken it upon himself to begin cleaning by eating anything he could grab. (Kidding, he does that anyways.) So I went to bed around midnight, I think. Which is late for me. There I am, snuggled in my warm, cozy bed. And the siren named Joshua goes off... around 2am. I looked at the clock, and prayed to the Gods of sleeping babies to make him go back to sleep. But no such luck. So I got up, changed him. Made attempt #1 to put him back to bed. He wasn't having it. So I got back up, did the orajel and tylenol bit. More screaming. Got him a sippy of water... it IS pretty dry in our house, I get thirsty at night... maybe that was it? Nothing. finally I decided I had done all I could do, including a little rocking, and soft singing, all the old bouncing-while-walking-and-spinning a little tricks. So I did the ol' "cry it out." He screamed for 5 minutes, I went in, laid him down avoiding eye contact like he was Medusa or something, and left. More screams. Ten minutes go by, went back in laid him back down, shushed him a little, and walked out. MORE screaming. 15 minutes, 20 minutes... same thing. Then I just turned the monitor down (not that it helps much with such a painful scream coming from the room next door.) After about an hour of solid screaming, he finally went back to sleep. So I'd say, we slept from about 3 or so until a little before 6am. Gross. Especially gross when you are used to having a good sleeper who sleeps through the night with no issues!

So back to the things you should not do after a night such as that.

1. Cut your own hair. It's just a bad idea. But, I don't have money for a haircut, or time to get one, and my bangs needed a trimming. Luckily, I didn't do too bad a job. But I realized, that was probably something that should have been left for a day when I was a little more awake.

2. And this is a biggie. Shopping at Walmart. I had gift cards, and some diapers that were too small for the boss to return. so we went. and this is what happened. In case you can't tell, that's the jumbo sized, bucket-o-cheese balls. I have been resisting them for as long as I've been shopping at BJs. But, Walmart had them today and I had run out of will power for the week. so here we are.

Lucky for me, Joshua is cute. And so are my animals. And they all love each other, and let me take cute pictures of them. So I'm still doing ok. And now, I am going to take a nap while everyone else is before I get myself into more trouble!

Kitty cuddles.

Loves his kitty.

family nap time... yes, he is laying on the cat. Marvin is a good sport. Most of the time.