The sleep saga continues

2/20/08: So the crib thing didn’t work. We tried it on for a week, but Miles never took for it. I know some of you are thinking that I may not have tried hard enough. But I know my baby, and he was having none of it After too many missed afternoon naps, and after sleeping in the nursery with him for a week, I’m trying plan B. I took apart the crib and put it in the garage for now. I took the legs off the twin and put it on the floor. I removed the curtains (which hung over the bed) I removed all electronics except the fan and the monitor and put plugs in all the sockets. And I put a bed rail on the twin and pillows all over the floor around the bed. He’s sleeping in there by himself for the first time right now. Before, I couldn’t get him to sleep in the afternoon because he would wake when I put him down. So this way I can lay with him and nurse him and then sneak out when he falls asleep. I don’t have to worry about him falling of the bed if I don’t get to him fast enough when he wakes. And maybe I can still reclaim my bedroom. We’ll see how this goes. I have high hopes.

Other than that not much is new. Miles is still very close to taking those elusive first steps. Today he sucked water through a straw for the first time. And that’s about all the news I have.

I finished my first crochet project. It’s a simple pirate monster. Miles seems to like it. It’s far from perfect, but not bad for my first project.

Playing Catch Up

2/15/08: There has been a ton going on lately and Miles is a handful these days so it’s hard for me to write as much as I wish. I can hardly keep up with my email (or the laundry, toy mess, cleaning, etc).

We have a measles “outbreak” in San Diego. I don’t know if I would call 6 or so children an outbreak… Miles has not yet been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. I lean toward the side that says vaccines do more harm than good in some cases. I am waiting on the MMR until our doctor can order them separate. I want to separate them and then space them them out and start them when he's a little older, like two years old. Then I think his body might be able to better handle the vaccines. He was fully vaccinated up to a year, then I started saying no. Our doctor is pretty cool about it- she will order the MMR separate as soon as the vaccine manufacturer is caught up (I guess they are behind, since so many moms are now demanding them separate). These are the toughest issues I think we are faced with. All a mom wants to do is protect their kid. But with big pharmaceutical money behind everything, it's hard to get accurate information with which to make these decisions. It's hard to be balanced, and not paranoid.

Another issue we are living with is co-sleeping transition. I have been napping Miles in his crib with mixed success, and he's starting his evenings in there too! We are doing a very gentle approach of nursing, bouncing and rocking to sleep then putting him down. He wakes up sad- which breaks my heart, (I run in as soon as he wakes)but I think there's an adaptation period. I think this is safer for the time being. Otherwise we've had too many middle of the night exploration sessions on our bed, which are too hard for me to stay wake for to keep him safe. Right now I'm sleeping on the twin in the nursery and when he wakes up at night I bring him into bed with me. This is one of the transitions that Dr Sears recommends. I'm hopeful that as time goes by he'll sleep longer and longer in there so I can make a switch back to my own room. Wish me luck- this is a HUGE step for us. I really do think it’s time. I love sleeping and snuggling with him- but it gets tough when you wake up with his feet in your face or him crawling toward the end of the bed, where there’s drop that he doesn’t understand yet.

Other than that Miles is growing so fast! Every day he does something new. Yesterday it was clap, the day before- wave. He feeds himself, brushes his teeth (although we help him with that after he’s had a try) Brushes his hair, and mine. He’s the funniest, sweetest, most social boy ever. He loves to explore and is very independent. He loves the outdoors, and water- the beach especially, even when it’s as cold as it has been. We are starting a veggie garden in paper sacks in the house. I put them out in the sun during the day and bring them in at night so the frost won’t kill them. I think Miles will have so much fun with the picking of the fruit and veggies this spring and summer.



The other day at one of our playgroups a Mom said Miles’ always looks like he has a funny joke to tell you. It does look sometimes like he is suppressing a smile. That boy is always smiling.