Monday, August 31, 2009

Making your home sing Mondays

Today is a special Monday! I am home with my child! I have been cleaning away, making my home sing! We have had a lovely day. I have started "boot camp" with my son. We fell slack on his nap times some time back, deciding it was easier for him to fall asleep when he wanted. However, I fear this has aided in his all night rendezvous. As you know, Charlie has not been sleeping through the night for going on three weeks. I am the only one that can console him and help him fall back to sleep. Oh yeah, he will only sleep in Reba too. Both of us have been at our wits end with what to do about Charlie waking and not returning to sleep. Trying disparately to help provide a quite night for me, when all else failed last night, Seth took Charlie for a ride around town. I decided right then, that we were not going to fall prey to prompts such as these. Charlie has been sleeping through the night since he was 8 weeks old, now is not the time to bring in prompts! So, today, I decided that we are going to reclaim our lives and our authority as parents. Otherwise, our relationship will decay along with our lives, as one cannot live without sleep: especially this one! We are the parents! At 0930, I put Charlie down in his crib. Boy, did he pitch a fit. He was like: what is going on? SCREAM!!! WHAT IS GOING ON?? Then, he fell to sleep. I was vacuuming to distract me. Even with the noise, by the time I was 1/2 way through with the house, he was asleep. At 1330, I put Charlie down in his crib. Again, he was like: what is going on? SCREAM!!! WHAT IS GOING ON?? SCREAM!! SCREAM!! Then, in less than 20 minutes, he fell asleep. Praise God!!! This is such a blessing. I was prepared for him to scream and cry for at least an hour. He has to learn to comfort himself. Otherwise, it will be Mommy getting him, rocking him in the recliner, not sleeping with him beside her. Or, Mommy getting him and putting him in bed with she and Daddy and not sleeping because he rolls around so much and has to be either right in her neck or on top of her head. I speak from experience! Teaching my child to comfort himself and sleep through the night is making my home sing and my marriage too for that matter! Yall pray for us---tonight is coming!!!

8 comments:

Lemonade Makin' Mama said...

Oh sweetie... that's just about the hardest thing right there!!

You know, they eventually DO figure it out.... mine just took years to get that down, so you're miles ahead of that. I hope it goes well!

Unknown said...

bless your heart! that's the hardest thing ever... to let them cry it out... just remember that consistency is the key!!! :)
Good Luck!!!

Debbie said...

Oh Yeah!!!! Kudos to you Kate! I'm SO VERY proud of you! And of Charlie too, cause he's learning when enough is enough and you mean business. I'll pray that tonight will go just as smoothly as today did.

momstheword said...

Good for you, you won't regret it. My hubby and I sort of paired up for getting our youngest to stay in bed.

He was able to crawl out of his crib, and once he did that....well, we had a battle on our hands. So we put him in a toddler bed (to keep him safe as I was afraid he'd fall out of the crib).

So we took turns putting him back in bed. We would take turns siting out in the hall and the minute he came out the bedroom door we'd put him right back in bed where he would pitch a fit and come out again.

We'd take a book with us and sit and try to read. Eventually he'd give up and fall asleep. It took a couple of weeks before he just gave up and stayed in his bed and we never had a problem again.

We were like you, we didn't want to be controlled by a cranky toddler, lol!

Thank you for joining us today.

Collette@Jesuslovesmums said...

hOPE you had a good night's sleep and Charlie too! It is awful losing sleep I still have one who gets up at night and she is 2 and a half!
Love Collettex

Teresa @ ♥ Too Many Heartbeats ♥ said...

I know it is so hard to hear them cry but you are most definitely doing what is right for your marriage and for sweet Charlie. He needs to be able to console himself for now and in the future.

Good luck and stay strong!

Blessings,

Teresa <><

http://toomanyheartbeats.blogspot.com

A Box of Chocolates said...

Oh my serious flashbacks here. When my now 25 year old daughter was about a year old she would only sleep if we nursed her to sleep and then wake when we put her in her cot. I remember the night I sat crying on the floor in the hallway outside her room, with the door cracked just a little, while she cried and sobbed and held her breath and finally after what seemed like hours fell asleep. It took one night to transform our lives. She is totally fine no need for counselling it worked a treat. Ha ha!! Good luck and hope tonight is better for you.

Becca said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog and for the folllow! There are Christian groups at both colleges here in Hattiesburg, USM and William Carey. There are also large churches here who do all kinds of things with students. We go to Temple Baptist and they have great programs, but there are several churches around here to choose from. She is welcome to go with us anytime!