Sunday, November 6, 2011

randoms.

First of all, my birthday is tomorrow. I will be 23 years old. Craziness.

Second, for the entire month of November, Aaron is on a detail guarding an ammunition holding area (AHA). This means he works 12 hour days with four days on and two days off. He had Thursday and Friday off, so he had to work this weekend. It has been more than a little strange to see all the military couples and families in our area out and about spending time together while Elliot and I are stuck home alone. It's also really weird to me that he does not have a steady schedule with dependable workdays and days off. He even has to work on Thanksgiving!
Um, can November be over already?!

Lastly, Elliot's sleeping has reached an all new low lately. Last night, for example, he woke up at 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8. Being in the first trimester and a full time mama is tough to begin with, but now I am so utterly drained and exhausted. I'm not sure what's going on but his sleep has been getting worse now for weeks and weeks. Nothing has changed- we eat dinner and play for a bit afterwards, then he takes his bath, has a warm bottle, and is asleep in his crib by 7:30. Yet he's been waking up over and over and... over. I don't know what to do. I'm the only one who gets up with him and I really hope this gets better soon. I AM EXHAUSTED. Add that exhaustion to the normal first trimester fatigue and nausea, and you have a recipe for a disaster.

11 comments:

  1. Aw I didn't know your birthday is tomorrow! Happy early birthday mine is Tuesday haha! :P
    Also I'm sorry to hear about Aaron's work schedule, I hope November goes by fast for you guys I know it can suck when they have to work a lot and Alyson sleep patterns did the same thing around Elliot's age it was weird and I was extremely sleep deprived although it does get better!!

    Petit Monstree

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  2. happy birthday! :)
    i lovvvvvvvvvvvvve the new blog look! :))

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  3. happy birthday!!

    i am loving the new look.

    i feel you on the crazy schedule thing. jeremiah's schedule is crazy too. it changes every other week & he NEVER has two days off in a row! it sucks.

    hopefully elliot starts sleeping through the night again soon so you can start getting some rest!!!

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  4. Happy Birthday!

    I feel so bad for you, about the lack of sleep. My little guy has always been a terrible sleeper, he's the worst sleeper I've ever had, and I am often exhausted. But being pregnant too, I just can't imagine. I was lucky in that with the three kids I had all within 3 1/2 years, they were all sleeping pretty decently by the time they were a year old.

    I wish I had some suggestions to try. I know from your other posts that you don't cosleep, (cosleeping is the only way I get some sleep with mine but I know it doesn't always help), and you have a bedtime routine, and he already has a lot of teeth so it's not like teething is new, if he is.

    Has he tried any new foods he could be allergic to? Does he show any signs of reflux? Is he waking up so often because he's hungry? My baby eats a lot and is sleeping a little bit better now that I've been careful to tank him up on food throughout the day and before bed.

    Also, this may be impossible due to your dh's crazy schedule, but if he has a block of days off sometime soon, maybe he could try getting up with Elliot for a few nights? In order to get my babies to start sleeping more at night, my dh had to take them when they were around 1 for a few nights and be the one to do the night soothing which transitioned them from their dependency on me. This is when they started sleeping in a crib next to us instead of with me, otherwise they still woke to nurse all night. I don't know if it was just the night weaning that helped or that they learned dh was going to come, not me, and they found him a lot less interesting at night and not worth getting up for.

    That's all I've got, (world's longest comment)! I hope Elliot starts sleeping better for you very soon. Take lots of naps, especially when your dh is home. It's important for you and the baby.

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  5. Happy Birthday for tomorrow.

    Hope you crack the baby sleeping code soon. I know from experience that you just have to figure out what works for your little one and that advice is often useless but I'll be praying that Elliot gets some sleep tonight.

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  6. You poor thing, Being alone must be so hard . . could you not go take a break and see some family at all so they could help a litte ? Hope he starts to sleep through soon hun.


    Happy Birthday x x x

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  7. Happy Birthday!

    I'm in a similar boat on the sleeping. We can't win...we were turning a sleep corner! Then cold, ear infection, followed by another ear infection and another cold and mix in cutting 1st year molars on the top and on the bottom.

    I see the same hours on the clock as you lately! I hate that you are going thru the exhaustion and in your first trimester!

    I just try and keep holding tight to the schedule and watching her cues on eating and if she seems like she is really in pain....give her tylenol or motrin.

    Hope it gets better!

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  8. I can say this from a distance, since my daughters are 31 and 20, but the sleep thing DOES get better. Little ones go through phases -- just when you think they're going to sleep through the night, every night, they decide to change things up. Take heart, though -- he'll calm back down pretty soon. Happy birthday, and try to rest when you can. Really enjoy your blog, and show the pictures of Elliot to my 15-month old grandson -- he waves and smiles!

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  9. happy birthday!

    could his sleep issues be the 1st year molars breaking through?? we had this issue with jake starting when he got those first ones in... it's gotten much better now that he's on the last one..

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  10. Happy (belated :P) birthday!! just a thought...when I was pregnant with my Elliott I looking for lots of advice from moms who had nailed this sleep thing, especially those who had more than one baby and whose 'sleep training' had worked on all of them. Here's some advice from a mom with five kids who all slept well (surely they can't all be 'easy' babies?!hehe)...is Elliot sleeping well for his nap/naps during the day? A lot of the time if you can get the baby into some sort of (even loose) routine during the day the night will follow. Having him take one (up to 2hr) nap during the day may actually help him sleep at night. Hope you're getting more sleep really soon xx

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