When your toddler still doesn't sleep through the night.

The kids are asleep so I fired up the rocket ship aka my laptop to finally get around to writing an update on Ava's sleep or lack of. Before I delve into that, you might be wondering why I call my laptop a rocket ship. It's so loud. I made the mistake mid last year of leaving a full glass of water next to my laptop while Ava was around. 

Never trust a 2 year old with a glass of water. Never. 

She climbed up on my chair when my back was turned because I had gotten up to put something away, and she just casually decides that she's going to take that glass of water and just dump it right into the keys of my laptop! I had just turned around as it was happening and I launched into a slow motion NNNOOoooooooooo........

I immediately tried to mop up the water with towels and I could hear the fan of the laptop get really loud and slowly start dying. I thought I had lost so many memories and business documents because I hadn't backed up in awhile, but miraculously it ended up working a few days later--minus the keyboard anyways. I have to use a cordless keyboard and mouse to use my laptop, but I'm just happy it works. H has his own and we have an old school computer as well so worse comes to worse I have a backup plan when this old thing goes kaput.

I digress, back to Ava. So she's currently 28 months old and she's still waking up every single night. I never imagined I'd still be sleep deprived 2 years later with one of my children. By far the worst sleeper of them all. The approach we took with Ava was just doing whatever it takes to get her and us back to sleep as quickly as possible. This back fired in the worst possible way. As with most breastfed babies, they tend to wake up more than formula fed babies. I nursed my other babies and I intended to nurse Ava well into 2 years old like I did baby #3. The problem was Ava was waking up 3-4 times a night. By 16 months I couldn't do it anymore. I needed sleep. I decided to cut out nursing and I was so afraid the night I decided to do it that I was going to be up constantly. It was surprisingly easy. I gave her a bottle of almond milk and she was out within 15 minutes. Shoot. I should have done it sooner. Right away her sleeping improved. A few days of waking up just twice and then down to once a night. The problem with that she's still waking up that "once a night" and she's over 2 years old. My next tactic was to move her out of our room and into Layla and Mariam's room. I did that in August I believe and it hasn't helped. She wakes up between 12:30 and 2:00 and starts crying for me. I get up quickly to get her as to not wake the other girls and then I bring her into our bed. For awhile we tried putting an air mattress in her room so H could help me out, and he could go get her and keep her in the room so I could sleep, but it didn't do much good. I would still hear her and she would want me. 

I was this close to paying $500 for a sleep trainer to come to my home, evaluate it and give me a detailed plan along with help along the way--minus her actually sleeping at my house, but my pediatrician told me to save my money and said "here's what you need to do". The problem is of course it involves some crying it out and H and I just aren't the crying it out type. Now that she's this big, it would have been harder anyways and would have taken longer. My biggest fear is that I'll put her through a week of torture and the rest of the family and it still won't work. She's stubborn this one and I'm convinced she hates sleep. Almost all of her naps (when she takes one) still consist of her waking up and crying. Like she's mad she actually fell asleep!

I'm sort of out of options here, but I've got one more tactic I can try. A friend mentioned not bringing her to my bed anymore when she wakes up. Like I know this but I haven't caught up on any sleep to try this. She mentioned getting a chair and when she wakes up, not pick her up and just pat her back down to sleep from my chair, not laying next to her. I didn't mention that when I put her to sleep the beginning of the night, I lay next to her--in her crib. Yep. It's bad. Well let me tell you how that one started. So yes I was doing whatever I could do to get her to go to sleep. As a newborn she started off in her bassinet and pack and play, but it somehow morphed into her co-sleeping in the middle of us. I wasn't comfortable with that since that's not what we did with the other girls, and I missed snuggling up to my husband. I started to put her in the crib, climb in there with her and nurse her to sleep. Basically getting her to sleep better was like taking one step forward and two steps back. 

The biggest problem here is I never trained her to put herself to sleep on her own. I missed the boat. If you're expecting heed my advice. Don't miss that boat. While I'm tired every day, my body has grown accustomed in some ways. One thing that doesn't adjust much is your mindset though. Being sleep deprived means I have to keep my moods in check. While I still do a lot, everything including regulating emotions is 5x harder when you are tired. I keep waiting for the day where I'll get a small break where she'll sleep through the night and I'll wake up not feeling tired. She has only slept through the night 6 times in her whole life. I used to google ways to get her to sleep when she was a baby, but haven't looked up much about toddlers that don't sleep through the night. I've never been in these shoes before! So I guess I've got some homework to do and I need to try some new things. If nothing else works well I hope when she's around 3, I can implement some sort of reward chart that entails staying in her room and not waking up mommy and daddy. 

She's so lovable though. As tired as I am, there are some nights I welcome feeling her fluffy curls next to my face and having her pick at my nails as she likes to do while drifting off to sleep. I know only too well just how fast they grow up. As tired as I am, I know I'll look back on these days and miss them. 

Surviving Hurricane Mariam (When you're still in the storm)

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about Mariam's temperment and crying. I'm back now to give you a little update on things. If you never read the original post, click here for a little insight on her type of personality. 

Mariam has always been a crier. She was colicky from the beginning of her days on this earth and sometimes I think she never grew out of it. Around 11 months when I wrote that post she started getting better in regards to not crying as much, but that only lasted for a couple months. It started again and since then, she has her good months and her bad months. 

Shortly after I wrote that blog post, the website whattoexpect.com contacted me and asked if they could share my story. In their article they mentioned Mariam being a "high needs child". That was and is the perfect way to describe her. She is still sweet and loveable but she is very much high needs. She still cries about almost everything and is quite feisty. Right now I'm at the point where I'm finding it very difficult to take her anywhere, which stinks for me because I don't always want to be stuck at home. To make matters worse, Mariam stopped sleeping through the night earlier this past summer. She wakes up every night trying to crawl into our bed--along with Layla. We only have a queen sized bed, so yes between my husband and the girls we are squished like sardines, when I'm too tired to put them back in their bed. Not enough sleep and other stress probably means you don't feel like running through the hills a la Julie Andrews style from "the sound of music." It makes me downright moody sometimes and sleepy. Oh so sleepy.

Sleepy may not be the only thing 2 years of Mariam has brought me. I can add cranky mom to that resume. I ventured out this morning to try and buy Serena's birthday gifts and once again Mariam kept trying to get out of the cart and Layla was giving me a hard time too. At one point one of the employees at the store says very snippy and judgey "She's gonna fall out!" I hoisted Mariam on my hip with one hand, and with the other maneuvered my things on the counter. I look at her and said "You know what!" I took a pause wondering what to say next because I hadn't thought it through and then said. "I'm doing my best."

I turned away so I could compose myself and give my eyes a minute to clear since I could feel the tears welling up. The lady didn't say anything and I ended up just saying I changed my mind about these things and left the store. As I buckled Mariam in her car seat wriggling and all, I did cry there in the parking lot. I wasn't angry at the lady, I was angry at Mariam and I was angry at myself for being angry at Mariam. Being a mother of two toddlers isn't easy, being a mother isn't easy period. I feel like I don't have the best advice to give at this point like I did 11 months ago, because I'm still trying to figure things out, but I will say this: Hang in there and be kind to other mom's out there. You never know what kind of struggle they might be having.

Happy Birthday Mariam!

{Baby bib: FHJ Baby} {Tassel garland: Pretty posh shoppe}

You guys! My baby is two! 

I may or may not have held for for over an hour last night at bedtime, because I didn't want the day to be over and her a day over 2.

Our weekend

My babies are growing up. I swear I say this like a few times a month, but time goes by so fast. Even faster if you have kids. Yesterday we converted the crib to a toddler bed and by convert, I mean we just took off the front headboard. It's pretty neat because it can also be made into a full size bed. Mariam started climbing out of her crib last week so I figured it was time and we also moved Layla's bed into her room. Last night was the first night they shared a room. I'm super sleepy today but it went much better than expected.

This weekend we also went to a birthday party on Saturday so Friday evening I took the girls to the mall really quickly and then checked out Marshalls afterwards. I found these adorable Skechers shoes for Mariam.

Mariam's and Layla's outfits for the party.

Have a great Monday!

A wee baby no more

I've had a baby bassinet in my room since Layla was born 3 years ago. She only slept in there for a few weeks and Mariam only slept in there for a few weeks as well, but I just can't bring myself to put it away somewhere. Not to mention I like the look of it off to the side of my bed.

I did however temporarily move it to the nursery last weekend. My mother is visiting from South Africa so we moved Layla's toddler bed into my room so there could be more space for my mom and Serena to share a room. The wood on it and the wood in the room don't match but I kind of like the way it looks in the nursery. I may end up leaving it in there and who knows maybe it will be put to use again in a couple years...or maybe not.

 

Before I sign off, just want to throw it out there that I'm having a sitewide sale in the shop all week. 30% off everything and it also marks the first time nursery décor will be on sale. You don't want to miss it. ;)

 

FHJ Baby

 

Have a great Monday!

 

Beachin' It

I'm by no means an expert on living by the beach, but I thought I'd share what worked for us, We stayed in Florida for a week and thankfully nobody got a sunburn. With the girls we were diligent about applying Babyganics sunscreen 20 minutes before they got in the water and then reapplying after about 2-3 hours.

 

 

I bought both Layla and Mariam sunhats from Old Navy but I only got them to wear them for a little while before they would just tear them off.

 

As far as floaties, I was very happy with the puddle jumper arm floats we bought for Layla. It held her up really well and made her comfortable in the water. Most times she didn't even want us to hang onto her. We should have bought a set for Mariam. With her we used a speedo floatie and it just didn't work with keeping her balanced in the water. It floated fine but it would quickly flip her over. One other thing I highly recommend for taking little ones to the beach and bay are water shoes. You can find them for really cheap at Walmart.

 



I was also pretty diligent about wearing my sunhat and keeping my sunglasses on--hence why I ended up with my face much lighter than the rest of my body.

 

 

I also thought it would be fun to bring our collection of Ella+Mila nail polishes and we all had fun painting our nails one day. I wore the color "pool party". Oh, one thing that I wasn't crazy about that happened is my hair turned super brassy. I didn't even wet it that often, but just washing it daily and exposing it to the sun so long really did a number on it. I plan on buying some toner next week and seeing if I can fix it. I'll do a post about it if it comes out successfully.

 



Have a great weekend!



 

 



 



The beach is that way, the world is round

 

If you're wondering where that title came from, it's a saying my cousin Lori taught me when I used to visit her in Chicago when I was younger. I'm really not sure where she got it from. I suppose she told me one time but I don't remember.

 

Anyways, back to recapping our trip. Let's talk about the biggest attraction which was the beach of course. The weather was great for 7 days we were there except for one day where it rained for a little bit. The water was also at a comfortable temperature. I loved the beach and how secluded it was. It still got a little busy at times but nothing like the overly touristy areas. I have to admit that I was a little worried about sharks. There hasn't been an attack since 2004 I believe in Cape San Blas but the boy was fishing and had shrimp in his pocket which was not a good idea. Thankfully we didn't see any sharks or any other scary sea creatures, though Serena saw a few Jellyfish.

 

 

I took soooo many photos, but I don't want to do a picture overload so I'll just stop here. Tomorrow I'll have a post with more pictures about the experience at the bay and conclude on Friday with tips on baby gear for the beach, What to bring to the beach and thoughts on beach body, hair and skin image. Have a great Wednesday!

 

Recent toddler finds

{Pride & Prejudice Book}

I've been on the lookout for great pieces and books for the nursery and slowly the things I've bought are trickling in. One of the first items that arrived last week was the Pride & Prejudice baby book. It's a counting book that somewhat tells the story in 10 pages. It really is an adorable book for the little ones and it helps them learn 1-10. I also ordered a few other books for the girls that have yet to arrive. Something else I found for Layla in particular was this cute hot pink sweater from Crazy8. Unfortunately I can't find it online anymore but they had tons in store heavily discounted. 

Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to enter the gold sequin hanger giveaway!

Layla Oh Layla

 
 
 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to lock up all my girls till they are at least 30. Then again, I'm not sure I'm going to want them in the house that long either. ;)

Layla is definitely the most spirited of the bunch. Serena was such an easy baby and also an easy toddler. She really didn't get into many things and played quietly. Layla...well she's like a little bulldozer and is into everything she can get her hands on! Did I tell you about the time she kept getting into her father's cologne cabinet, or about that time she covered herself in butt paste, or that time she got baby powder all over the nursery? As much as I scour the rooms we are in on a daily basis, with two other children, I'm just bound to miss something. There's also Serena who is not as diligent and will leave something out and there goes Layla finding it. Mariam also has a knack for finding things. I swear that girl can find the littlest crumb!

It does get a little frustrating at times, but you also can't help but laugh! She's at the age where she is exploring and I definitely can't blame her for that. Layla is incredibly smart and inquisitive and sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to be her mom.