Well Thank the Lord

Ok...so I've admitted to myself several things. One is that my daughter's problems with naptime are rooted in my inconsistancy. For awhile it was 12:00 naptime...2 hour naps...no problems...then I started changing it up and running late and trying to get her down earlier....not a good plan. She seems to really thrive with a routine that doesn't change SO...after a couple days of tears (mine) and her not napping because I didn't even want to deal with it, we ventured into the waters of naptime again today...54 min of yelling (I've decided to discontinue the use of the word "crying" because that is most certainly NOT what she is doing")....2 hours of naptime...HOORAY! I'm sorry, you didn't hear me H O O R A Y ! !

One of the other things that I realized a few weeks back but refused to acknowledge until now is that up until she was 10 months I nursed her to sleep every naptime and bedtime...I'm not saying that was a bad thing AT ALL....but when the times comes to wean her it poses a big problem...so I developed a pre-sleep routine ( I use the same for both bedtimes and naptimes...it works for us) and I allowed her to cry it out a couple nights (literally 2, the second much quicker). However, subsequently, she got sick, I began nursing her more again and we fell into the same routine of nursing to sleep...when I decided to end that habit I just replaced it with rocking her in my arms while I sang. When she would be sound asleep I would put her down...and then I wondered why she still wasn't sleeping through the night. I'm not talking 1 or 2 wake ups...I'm talking up to 5 times. She's 5 days away from being 16 months old and I'm going on 11 months of barely any sleep.

MY POINT BEING....A few nights ago, after much prayer came up with a plan. We watch her praise baby video and eat a snack...we say good-nite to everyone and everything in the house as we walk to her room, we sit and read 4 stories, i turn off the light and to the lullaby that plays (repeatedly) on her CD player I rock her...1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4...it began by me counting up to 100-2-3-4...and no matter what state of sleep she is at the end I kiss her cheek, put her down, say ni-night and I love her, and I walk out....we are down to counting to 35-2-3-4...the last 3 nights she's awakened 2 times a night...AWESOME!....same times every night too. TONITE...I know she was awake when I put her down. It's been 18 minutes and not a peep...I put the monitor right next to her crib and I can hear her breathing...it's so cute and I know she's sound asleep. And she's been waking up SO HAPPY...in such a happy, silly mood....I actually sorta look forward to nights now.

We'll see how naptime tomorrow goes and I will be sure to let you know.

Thank you ALL for your prayers, advice and support! I'm sure this is not the end...indeed, it is only the beginning...I appreciate you ALL.

At Baby Boot Camp today I was invited by another girl I met to go to a MOPS Christmas party tomorrow. I'm excited. In the 4 years I've been here I haven't met many women my age and I've made very few friends. I've attended college with lots of kids 10 years younger than me, and my oldest daughter's friend's moms are 10-15 years older than me and very few have kids younger than 9 or 10...and our church is so big and I have yet to get really involved there since we returned to it in June. (for a year and a half we attended a smaller church but found they held some beliefs we disagreed with and that meant we couldn't be involved like we wanted, due to the fact that we had to sign a statement of faith that we didn't believe in....ANYWAY, I digress) My closest friends are back home in Virginia and that's really far from where I am now. I've never been one that just goes out and meets people easily and I very rarely find someone I would consider a close friend so that doesn't help much either. I'm excited that I've been making more of an effort lately to get out and meet people, first with Baby Boot Camp and now with this. I'm a homebody...I love being at home with my hubby and my girls and my mom. Typically I would turn down the invitation because of the akwardness of meeting new people but I'm just gonna do it.

Amanda really made me thing with her post about praying for a friend. I'm trying to do that. I've found many online (you guys rock)!! but I think I should be looking for a friend a little closer to home. Thanks for that post Amanda, you really opened my eyes to praying for things I've never thought of praying for.

So...it's 9:45 now...I'm tired. My house is clean, thanks to Fly Lady and my mom even helped me organize and declutter my desk...Thank the Lord...My home is almost completely clutter free and organized and clean.


Here is a picture of my baby and me as we found some reinforcement stickers to put on our faces.

So now I'm going to sleep. Hopefully for another good night of sleeping at least 3 hours at a time! (Now that's luxary!!!!)

Tuesday, December 20th...I am going to the salon and getting a manicure, pedicure and coloring my hair back to my natural color...I'm actually going to do it a little richer than my natural color. Something like Finola Hughes in both style and color.

ANYWAY...again...I'm tired and I'm taking forever to finish this post. Oh my goodness. It's 10:00. I'm squandering the precious time God has given me to sleep.

Love you all! Until tomorrow!