Before you think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth…

I haven’t. It’s just been a very busy week!

Figured out the nap problem. Monday, when I laid Little Bug down at 1:30 and she slept until 4:00pm, I knew the issue here was an issue of needing to lay down earlier and not later as I had first thought.

So, naptime is now back to 1:30pm, until there is a need for another change.

It’s interesting how I have seen a pattern of Little Bug needing more sleep during certain times and then needing a little less sleep. It’s never a huge difference but I do know that Little Bug requires 13-14 hours of sleep to function properly. Right now, she is needing 13ish hours…11 hours of nighttime sleep and a 2 hour nap is ideal, but I have seen this past week if she sleeps 11.5 hours at night, her nap will only be 1.5 hours.

It is interesting how sleep for baby/toddler is really a science and when you mix just the right ingredients of optimal wake time and consistency you have a recipe for an awesome sleeper. Getting the ingredients “just right” is more important for young babies, but as I learned with Little Bug this week, it still plays a big roll for a toddler as well.

Little Bug had a big surprise today! When she woke up from her nap her Uh-Note (Uncle Wesley) opened her bedroom door! She was still laying down but when she saw him she got this big smile on her face, stood up and started doing her little “happy dance” in the crib! Then she decided to play shy (which she is not!) and wanted Mommy. After she pretended she wanted Mommy she stood up and ran to Uh-Note who picked her up out of the crib! She gave him a big hug and had so much fun playing with him tonight.

Wesley flew in today and will be here a whole week! He’s already enjoying the nice weather here. He left some melting snow on the ground this morning!

Little Bug and her Uh-Note Wesley

Another week has begun… Am I the only one wondering how it can already be March?!

By the way, this is going to be a random post with lots of stuff included.

Nap: Saturday we tried putting Little Bug down for nap early. At 1:30 she was in bed, but didn’t go to sleep until 1:45ish BUT then we had to wake her at 4:30pm! So, I was thinking that must be it…she is needing to lay down earlier now for some reason. So, Sunday we did the same thing. Laid her down at 1:30 and she still took a while to go to sleep. She was asleep a little after 2pm and woke up at 3:30. So an hour and a half nap.

So…I’m still clueless about what is going on! I am going to lay her down at 1:30 this week and see what happens and go from there.

Congestion: She is still so congested, especially when she wakes up. I am trying to not take her outside as much as possible, but you know Little Bug. She could live outside if I’d let her.

Trip: We are going to Texas next month to see Mimi and Papaw and all the family that lives there! I am so excited about this. My parents and Grandmother are going too. Dave will be not be able to go due to work. I hope Little Bug likes to fly as much as her Mommy does!

Little Bug loves to look at airplanes in the sky. We always say, “Can you reach it?” and Little Bug says, “Too far away!” When we are boarding the plane I can’t wait to ask Little Bug if she can reach the airplane and then see the excitement in her eyes when she can actually reach out and touch the airplane!

I’m sure the journey from here to there on an airplane will be quite interesting with a (very active) 22 month old! But I will have back up in my parents along the way, so that will be of great help I can only imagine. Last time I flew with Little Bug she was an immobile infant that sat in my lap and slept for half the flight!

I am hoping lots of snacks, books and small interesting toys will keep her entertained. But knowing Little Bug, she will be fascinated by all the people in such close proximity to her on the airplane and will be trying to talk to everyone within five rows of her. I bet she will exit the airplane with at least a dozen new friends.

Oh and another thing about sleep…it’s almost summer. Which means trips, which means sleep naturally gets a little off anyway. So, I suppose this is as good a time as any for a “bump” along the way. We have Texas next month, then the annual mountain trip probably in May and then another trip to a reunion in July. But this is just another benefit to having your kid on a schedule. When you get “off” for one reason or another, when it is time to resume “normal life”, your kid falls back into their routine/schedule. And hopefully by that time, this weird nap phase will have passed.

At least I can hope so!!

Something I really appreciate about Babywise is that it busts many of the common parenting myths.

One such myth is that “babies will sleep when they are tired” when in reality an overtired baby won’t sleep well at all.

But that isn’t the point of this post.

Babies need sleep – and they need more than we probably think. Not only do they need sleep, but they need uninterrupted sleep.

A baby who is getting up during the middle of night out of habit, instead of need, is not getting the rest he/she needs.

Uninterrupted sleep is a beautiful gift parents can, and in my opinion, should give their child. And hey, let’s face it, uninterrupted sleep is a beautiful gift for the Mamas and Daddys too!

There are many aspects of baby getting adequate uninterrupted sleep. This post will hit on one of those aspects: respecting baby’s naptime.

As I stated in this post, I was a bit of a naptime drill sergeant when I first started Babywise with Little Bug. If it was naptime, I was home and Little Bug was in her crib sleeping.

There is nothing wrong with a nap on the go. In fact, sometimes, it’s a necessity, but if every nap for baby is on the go – they probably aren’t getting the length of nap needed for good, restful sleep.

From the start, we have always made plans around Little Bug’s nap/bedtime schedule. Obviously, there have been times where Little Bug has had to sacrifice a nap or go to bed a little late. But overall, if it is naptime or bedtime, we are home and Little Bug is in her crib sleeping. Have we had to make sacrifices along the way  (such as leaving an event early to get Little Bug home and in bed)? Yes, but the way we look at it is this: This is a small phase of life. Before we know it, we will have teenagers, but for now, we have a baby who needs to go to bed before 9pm. And so we leave early. Only for a season. 

Think about it. What if we as adults had to continuously sacrifice the sleep we needed to be able to function properly? Many adults, in fact, do do that. They are not operating with optimal alertness because they are sleep deprived. It is the same for babies. Without adequate sleep, they are not operating with optimal alertness, which means they are also not at their point of optimal learning either.

I have no idea how to figure this one out, but I am sure, the more kids you add to your family, the harder it is to respect the naptimes of those who are still in need of one! The more schedules you throw into the mix, the harder this has to be!

I think it all boils down to this, however, I obviously have no experience in juggling more than one child’s daily schedule: It’s a balance. I can’t expect my older children to always sacrifice to be at home when it is baby’s naptime. And I can’t expect my future baby (who, by the way, is NOT on the way! ) to not be able to take a snooze in the stroller while big sis is at dance class. Big kids won’t always be on the go and babies won’t always be at home.

But as their mother, it is my responsibility to make sure everyone is getting adequate sleep.

This week in the mountains hasn’t been what I hoped, nor expected. It’s actually been rather stressful with Little Bug’s stomach issues (which seem to be okay now since I’ve continued the BRAT diet like her pedi suggested – no puke since Sunday afternoon), fearing my dad was coming down with a stomach bug (he didn’t), missing Dave more than I usually do when we are apart (I guess that’s a good thing ) and the sleepless night on Tuesday night and fearing I had started something by bringing Little Bug to my bed. (I didn’t. She slept fine all night long but chose to wake up at quarter till seven this morning. Ugh!)

So I might have given a clue or two in the past that I detest the stomach bug. (Who doesn’t?) But my detest probably actually goes a little farther to some weird phobia of it. I remember having it as a child on several occasions. For some reason, at the mention of someone even feeling like they are going to throw up, my heart rate accelerates and I have the instinct to run away as far as I can go. Maybe I should go to counseling when I return home. But seriously, when my dad called me to tell me Little Bug was up from her nap and he asked me come on back to the cabin right away because he felt “chilled and queasy” I just knew that Little Bug had indeed had a stomach bug and she had passed it on to her Grandpa. I had visions of being stuck in this 800 square foot cabin with vomiting family members for the rest of the week. Because I knew if my dad had caught it, it would only be a matter of days before my mom and brother would be sick too. I had already decided if my dad was up sick all night long I’d just brave the 40-50 degree temps outside, bundle up like an Eskimo, plug my ears with my earplugs and sleep on the front porch. The cold would certainly be better than hearing that awful sound all night long.

But, fortunately, God heard my prayers and spared me. (Yes, I prayed that God would spare me that awful experience. He cares even about the stupidest things that concern us.)  Turns out my dad didn’t have the stomach bug (because I am certain it wasn’t a stomach bug Little Bug had and was instead an upset tummy from spicy pasta she ate) and most likely was feeling bad from the flu vaccine he had gotten before we left. 

While I am on a rampage of “trip annoyances” I’ll go ahead and share this because it’s pretty funny (at least I think it is):

As I said I slept 1 hour on Tuesday night. Wednesday, as soon as I laid Little Bug down for a nap, I headed to the front porch to take a nap myself. It was a bit nippy but I was fine in my cocoon of blankets.

I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard a girl talking loudly in the most country accent I have ever heard in my entire life. I am not exaggerating, people! (No offence to any country folks who may happen to read my blog.) I was supremely amazed and slightly annoyed. Ok – I was actually very annoyed because I was trying to go to sleep.

I know I am in the mountains of North Carolina but wow I’ve never heard anything like it and I’ve been around many Carolinian’s in my lifetime. I, techically, am a Carolinian myself because I was born here in NC although we moved away when I was only 22 months old. Anyway. And she was talking so loudly. She was visiting the next door neighbors and I can’t tell you how relieved I was when she said, “Alright now. Yall have a good day and I’ll be seeing ya later.” and then got in her mustang and drove away. I think I was asleep before she got down the mountain.

But right now, as I type this, there is serenity all around. It is the picture of a crisp autumn day. A breezy 60 degrees or so, a beautiful canvas of red, yellow and orange leaves all around. The distant sound of a train passing by down the mountain. Beautiful sunshine streaming through the trees and wrapping warmth on my exposed hands.

Yes, there have been moments when I have wished I was just home already, but overall, there is no place like the mountains in Fall.

Oh! It was special to be here on October 20th because it was on that day in 2006 that Dave brought me here to propose! My mom, Little Bug and I went walking to the general area where he proposed but I couldn’t really find it because the brush had really grown and hadn’t been kept up. I couldn’t even find the picnic table we were near. Anyway.

This is where it all began for Dave and me! We started dating here in June of 2006 and then were engaged here later that year in the Fall. And then, we came here for our honeymoon too!

Well, enough randomness for one post. Adios!

You always hear that Babywise babies are so happy, flexible and well-adjusted. I saw this firsthand in Little Bug this weekend as we were out of town for my cousin’s wedding.

I knew Friday and Saturday night would be late nights for Little Bug. And they were.

Little Bug is usually in bed between 8 and 8:30pm and she gets 11 to 11.5 hours of sleep each night. Friday night she was in bed by 9:30 and the night of the wedding she went to bed at 10:30pm! (Little Bug hasn’t been to bed past 10pm since she was probably 3 or 4 months old!) She still woke up around the time she normally wakes up (around 8am) so she definitely lost several hours of sleep those nights.

During the trip naps stayed the same. I knew it was critical for her to get her afternoon nap in because she would be having two late nights in a row.

Overall, Little Bug did AWESOME Friday and Saturday night. My parents kept commenting that she sure is a well-adjusted little girl to be up past her bedtime and to be doing so good. I did notice that she was whinny towards the end of the evenings but that was fully expected. We would get in the car and she would fall asleep on the way back to the hotel. Then I’d put her to bed as soon as we got to the hotel.

It wasn’t until Sunday morning, the morning we were leaving to come back home, that Little Bug had a melt down. She had only gotten about 9 hours of sleep two nights in a row. Saturday night she had woken around midnight and cried for about 5-10 minutes before going back to sleep (I am positive that was because she was so overtired).

That morning we met up with my Uncle David, Aunt Mary, Lauren (cousin) and my Grandpa for breakfast at the hotel. Little Bug was fine while she was eating but once she was done she became this child I did not know!

She was whining and crying. She was restless and was not happy to sit in her highchair. I gave her a fork to hold and she threw it down in anger! Once I gained my composure from that incident, I knew I had seen first-hand the result of a toddler who had not gotten adequate sleep.

Uninterrupted, adequate amounts of sleep really is critical for babies/toddlers/children.

Little Bug is 16 months old. She’s never had late nights like that before (because we make bedtime a priority) and she, up until that time had never thrown something in anger. It truly was not my Little Bug that was at that breakfast table! The lost sleep had caught up to her and had made her a monster!

Unfortunately, I feared that things were only going to get worse because we had a long car ride ahead and Little Bug’s naps in the car seat tend to last 40-45 minutes max! She needed a good LONG nap that day.

Much to my surprise, Little Bug fell asleep soon after we got in the car and slept an entire hour. Then, after lunch, she did the unthinkable! Little Bug fell asleep at 3:25 and slept until 5:30… in her car seat! I knew I had gained some ground with 3 hours worth of naps in the car and we would be well on our way to having a well-rested Little Bug back if she got in bed on time (or even early if she was showing signs of being tired earlier) that night.

This is just my opinion, but I think parents tend to underestimate the importance of their child getting adequate sleep. On Becoming Babywise talks about studies that have been done that show children who got adequate sleep as babies have higher IQs. They also go on to say that generally speaking, Babywise babies/children are happier and more obedient. They are more alert and are at their optimal learning capacity during their waking hours. This makes sense. Think about the last time you were lacking in adequate hours of sleep. You probably felt sluggish and you weren’t at your best. It’s the same for babies and young children. A baby who isn’t getting enough sleep can be classified by the three C’s: crying, clingy & cranky, according to The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg.

One of the most important things I’ve learned from Babywise is this: Baby’s sleep must be respected. This does not mean that life halts at naptime and there are no exceptions. But this does mean (for me, at least) that when it is Little Bug’s naptime I am going to make an effort to be at home so that she can nap where she naps best (in her crib) so that she can get the sleep she needs. Yes, life happens and there are times when Little Bug hasn’t been able to nap in her crib. That is the beauty of a flexible Babywise routine! It allows life to happen, but at the same time it provides structure and predictability so that I can plan my day so that when it is naptime, we are home so Little Bug can get her nap(s) in.

Is it inconvenient sometimes? Most certainly, yes! Especially when Little Bug was napping 3 times a day! As she has moved from three naps to just one, it has gotten easier and easier to plan activities and outings around naptime.

Something that really helped me be able to respect Little Bug’s naptimes (especially when she was napping 2-3 times a day) was to remember that it was only for a season! There was a time when Little Bug was napping around 9am, 1pm and 5pm daily, but it didn’t last long! Typically by 15-18 months or so, toddlers are down to only one nap. One nap is so much easier to work with and plan the day around than three naps was!

The sacrifice that was necessary for Little Bug to get her naps in was well worth having a baby who was getting adequate sleep. I can’t tell you how many people have told me that I have the happiest baby they have ever seen. I’ve even had people ask me if she ever cries. My dad was astounded that Little Bug was crying so much at the hotel that morning because Little Bug is generally so happy and rarely cries. From the time I started Babywise there has rarely ever been a time when Little Bug was crying and I had no idea why. I am serious when I say that. There is always a reason and typically, because she is on a routine, she has no need to cry because she knows what is coming next. All her needs are met before she ever has to cry and ask for something.

Babywise gives sleep guidelines, which was great information for me to have during Little Bug’s first year. Remember, Babywise gives averages*.

Newborns nap 6-8 times a day, depending on how many feedings they have (because Babywise follows an eat, play, sleep routine that repeats itself over and over every day). At two months, baby sleeps 7-8 hours straight during the night and naps are at least 1.5 hours long.

By 3 to 5 months of age baby sleeps 10-12 hours per night and has three naps that range from 1.5 hours to 2 hours in length.

Typically around 6-8 months the 3rd nap is dropped. Baby continues with two naps until dropping the morning nap around 16-20 months. Baby continues to need 10-12 hours of nighttime sleep and has one 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  *All of these averages come from On Becoming Babywise Chapter 7, page 131-133.

I found having this knowledge in my mind very useful as I was plugging along with Little Bug the first year. Babies are hard enough to figure out, but having these guidelines/averages to follow was very helpful to me to ensure my baby was getting adequate rest. (And just so you see those ages above are averages… Little Bug was 5 or maybe even 6 months before she started sleeping 11-12 hours straight through the night. She was 10 months old when she dropped her 3rd nap and 15.5 months old when she dropped the morning nap.)

So in summary, I’ve learned to not underestimate the importance of Little Bug getting adequate sleep through uninterrupted nighttime sleep and naps. It does take some sacrifice on my part but the end result of a well-rested, happy, secure baby is well worth all the sacrifice!

Found the culprit of yesterday’s short hour and 10 minute nap!

Teething.

The night before, Little Bug had cried out some but never fully awoke. She slept through the night like usual.

Then we had that hour and 10 minute nap.

And then I noticed swollen gums, runny nose and fingers in the mouth…Little Bug’s typical teething signs (minus the runny nose – this is a first for that one).

Surprisingly enough Little Bug was a complete ANGEL yesterday compared to the little cranky pants I pictured her being after such a short nap. We had a wonderful evening together – just the two of us – as Dada had to work late. I did put her to bed early (8pm) and she slept till nearly 8am.

So how did today’s nap go?

Well, with a dose of Infants’ Motrin at quarter till one, Little Bug took a 2 hour nap!

I just got back from an Infants’ Motrin Scavenger Hunt. (I had to go to THREE stores to find the stuff. I stocked up once I found a store with the goods.)

Now, we are rooting for these teeth to make their grand appearance soon!

Today’s Nap Saga:

In bed at 1pm.

Went right to sleep.

Awake at 2:10pm.

(Woke talking/playing in bed, not crying. Weird.)

1 hour and 10 minutes??

Someone is going to be a cranky-pants tonight.

(I won’t name any names.)

But that same someone is going to bed e.a.r.l.y. tonight!

If you know me well you can probably guess I’ve been a research maniac lately on the 2 to 1 nap transition!

I’ve found most toddlers who wake around 7am are napping from 12 to 2. So, I’m thinking Little Bug’s naptime of 1pm should be pretty accurate considering Little Bug wakes at 8am.

So, hopefully these short naps are due to her little body needing to adjust!

I’ve decided to try this:

8am wake

1-3pm nap

8/8:15 bedtime

Well see what happens. Right now, it really is just trial and error.

Oh, and Little Bug did IP this morning while her Daddy was taking care of her (and I was sleeping!) and Dave reported she happily played for 30 minutes!

Monday morning we will start moving the timer towards 45 minutes!

And it’s not because she’s not ready for only one nap.

It’s because her one nap remains to be short. That first day of a 2.5 hour nap must have been a fluke.

Boo.

She is doing fine staying up during the time she would have been taking her morning nap. But, yesterday and today she is sleeping 1.5 hours and then waking up crying. Waking up crying means she is not done sleeping. Yesterday I left her in the crib (crying) until 2 hours was up. Same story today.

So, what to do???

I read on the babywise blog that it is not unusual for the toddler to take shorter naps once transitioning to only one nap. Within a week or so, their bodies get used to only one nap and the nap lengthens.

Back when I did that experiment in August to determine whether Little Bug was ready to drop the morning nap or not, I found that Little Bug needs 11 hours of nighttime sleep and 2 hours of daytime sleep (nap) for a total of 13 hours of sleep per day.

I am hopeful that this waking after only 1.5 hours is just her body needing to adjust to only one nap. However, I do realize that it could also be because I haven’t quite nailed down what time bedtime and naptime need to be for optimal sleep to be achieved.

I did put Little Bug to bed at 8:15 (instead of 8:30) last night since she had only had the 1.5 hour nap. She went right to sleep and I had to wake her today at 8:15am. 12 hours of sleep. Which means she has technically gotten her 13 hours of sleep today with just a 1.5 hour nap…BUT she did still wake up crying which is a for sure sign of waking before getting adequate sleep. (And no, she isn’t teething or sick…)

I guess it is just going to take some time to figure all this out…

On the other hand, Independent Play is going GREAT!

We made it to 30 minutes this morning! She played happily the entire time!

I think maybe the key here is alternating the toys I put out for her to play with very frequently. I usually put out 3 or 4 things to do and I’ve been trying to alternate what is out so she isn’t playing with the same thing two days in a row.

Another thing I know that has helped is being very consistent with the timer. I set the timer, tell her it is time to play with her toys and leave. I don’t come back until the timer goes off (or if I hear an “I’m hurt” cry, which has happened once). Consistency pays off in dividends with kids in every matter (eating, sleeping, discipline, etc…), I am convinced!

Next goal: 45 minutes!

And as far as a sleeping goal, I really hope by the time we go on a trip at the end of this month, we’ve figured out naptime and bedtime (although I know travel can mess all that up very easily!).

I’m pleased with how well Little Bug did yesterday. It assures me I am doing the right thing in dropping the morning nap now.

I kept us busy during the morning with playing outside, Independent Playtime (28 minutes!), reading and playing with toys. There were a few moments where Little Bug was a little ornery/fussy, but I know it will just take her little body a few days/weeks to make this adjustment.

I decided 1:00pm would be a good start time for nap.

So her morning schedule really stayed the same, except for no morning nap! She had her milk around 11:30, we were eating lunch by noon and then I cleaned up lunch and we read books until almost 1.

She went right to sleep around 1, but woke up at 3:30pm crying. That was an hour and a half and I really was expecting her to wake up around then because she is used to 1 to 1.5 hour naps – she hasn’t taken a two hour nap consistently since way before she turned one!

I didn’t rush in to get her since she didn’t wake up happy because her cries told me she wasn’t quite ready to get up yet. Sure enough, within 5 or so minutes, I didn’t hear anything and she went back to sleep.

It’s now after 3pm (as I am writing this) and she is still sleeping. I will let her sleep as long as she wants until 4pm. If she is still sleeping at 4pm, I will wake her although I fully expect her to be awake any minute now or at least by 3:30.

I’m hoping the ease of today is a good sign that this transition will go smoothly for her.

I look forward to the day that we are into a great routine with one nap so she continues to get the rest she needs each day and I know when I have time periods to get things done around the house or to relax after entertaining a toddler all morning long! I also am looking forward to the freedom of not having to be home for the morning nap! I see many morning zoo trips in our future once the weather cools off a bit.