Night Weaning

I am so excited! Layla has been sleeping so much better the past few nights. She had been sleeping fairly well, but then decided that it was a good idea to wake up and try to nurse every couple hours. Naas....Naas

Well, that was getting to be a bit annoying since she is now 21 mos. old and doesn't need the calories during the night. I finally got over feeling bad about it and decided to cut her off for the night nursings.

I nurse her right before bed at about 9:00, the husband and I go to sleep around 11, and she doesn't touch my naas until its at least light outside. Its working pretty well so far.

It took me a couple nights to cut her off completely. After giving in only a time or 2 the past week, she finally realized that she can't bother me all night long. If I let her nurse early in the morning, she will usually go back to sleep until at least 8:30. Let's just say that we are all much happier with this arrangement.

Our next big hurdles are potty training and taking away the pacifier. At this point she won't sleep at all without it clipped onto her shirt. Since I've had so much trouble with her sleeping from day 1, I guess that I'm willing to put up with the pacifier for a little bit longer.

She is also talking up a storm. She has lots of 2 and even 3 word sentences that she uses now. I cracked up yesterday when she patted the couch and said "Mama, sit down!". She will also say "Layla do it."

She slept throught the night!

I woke up this morning around 6:30 and started to freak out a little. Why? Layla hadn't needed to get out of her crib yet and it was light out already. I had to check and make sure she was still breathing.
Her normal night routine looks like this:
9:00 She goes to sleep in her crib with little or no problem.
11:30-12:30 She wakes up during this time frame not wanting to go back in the crib. I nurse her cuddle her, and usually just keep her in bed with me because its easier.
4:00 Sometimes she wakes up again around this time and wants to nurse some more and if I'm lucky she will go back in her crib afterward.
6:30 She wakes up again wanting back in bed with me. She's sometimes crabby and wakes up on and off until about 9 from this point on.
8:30 Most mornings she wakes up for good around this time. Other days she sleeps a little later depending on how restless her morning was.

For some reason Layla is a restless sleeper and has a hard time getting back to sleep once she has woken herself up. She is still addicted to both the pacifier and nursing and I don't think I would have ever gotten any sleep if it were not for both of them.

Last night she did wake herself up, but just whimpered a little and got herself back to sleep instead of screaming for me. It was amazing! However, I also doubt that it will happen again for a very long time.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Umm Omar at Just Another Day...The Juggling act of an American Muslim. For this post I am elaborating about 5 things that I like or don't like about motherhood. Wow, that's something so hard to condense into this form. Becoming a mother is something that you can't really prepare for because each baby comes into this world as an individual with such differering needs and reactions to your care. That said, here are the things I like:

1. Realizing just how much I am capable of loving someone else.
If you think you love your husband, just wait until you see your first baby. Layla reminds me so much of Dave, but so much of myself at the same time, yet she is still completely different from either one of us. Its hard to explain it, but I love her in such a completely different way that I have ever loved anyone else.

2. Growing in my relationship with my own mom.
Since I've been staying with my parents while my husband is deployed, I've really gotten to see generational parenting in action. Now that I am a mother myself, I feel like I really can conceptualize how much my own parents have cared and made sacrifices for us. I also get to see how much joy it brings my mom to be around Layla every day. It also gives me a level of closeness to strive for with my own kids.

3. I'm never bored
Really honestly, I have never been bored for a single day since Layla was born. She was very demanding and high-need from her birth, but also developed her social skills very quickly. The early months were frustrating at times with the nearly constant nursing and lack of sleep at night, but I have really enjoyed every day I have been able to spend with her. Now that she's turning into a feisty toddler, I have thousands of chances to play funny games and laugh at her antics every day. This also means that all the running keeps me in pretty good shape.

Here are two things I would have to say I dislike.

4. How fast kids grow up
I would hear parents complain that kids grew up too fast when I was one myself, but now I'm starting to realize how true that is. It still seems like yesterday that I first found out I was pregnant, and now I have a climbing, running, 17mo old on my hands. Its a little depressing to think that Layla will want to do more things on her own and not need me so much, but its also such a blessing to watch her mind develop and learn new things every day. I just want to make the most of my kids potential during those crucial early years.

5. Lack of consistent sleep
Yes, I am still struggling with this one. First of all, I am an extremely light sleeper, so I am a part of the problem. When Layla was born she was mostly nocturnal for the first few weeks. On top of that, she only slept about 30-45 min at a time during the first few mos and also screamed a lot if something didn't feel quite right. Right now she still wakes up a couple times during the night and is going through a phase where she likes to nurse all morning long, therefore ruining my last couple hours of sleep. Oh well, I shouldn't complain since I have the fortune of staying home with her instead of going to work a 9-5 on very little sleep.

Well that was fun. Next I will tag Bri from Little Green Pastures and Tammy/Amina from Tammy's Somali Home.