My Two Kids...

Anna has always been a great sleeper.... ALWAYS!!! Well that has been true up until the past couple of days. She has started to wake up around 4 am every morning wanting to eat, and since I am a good mother, I feed her. Then she goes back to sleep on her own which is very nice. But then she begins her eating routine of every 3 hours from there. And this really puts a nitch in my old first dual feeding and pumping session at 7 am- it's just way too early and cold to pump at 4! And that is a problem because I need that pumped milk for when I start subbing.....

I guess if it was just Anna and the feeding issue I was dealing with, I wouldn't be complaining because I have always been able to fall asleep really fast. But that's where my other child comes into play.....

Peanut. Peanut has also always been a great sleeper, a great dog, etc.... until last week when he had his seizure. Since then, he has developed a fear of jumping onto and off of our bed and a fear of the upstairs hallway (he pretty much walks up to the top of the stairs and won't go any farther) and has insisted of sleeping in our bed with us. The vet has suggested me using treats to help him "trust" the hallway again and that is going okay. And oh yeah- he also has ALWAYS been petrified of farts- yes farts! So when Anna wakes up, I get out of bed allowing Peanut the opportunity to take over my side faster then I can pick up Anna and get her back into my bed to feed. I usually slide him over just enough for me to fit on the bed, but lately when I slide him over he gets mad and RIGHT when I start feeding Anna he wants me to get him off the bed. TOUGH. And then sometimes during feedings, in between feedings, when she's back in the pack and play the little girl starts with her farts and that is when he loses it! So if the farting is bad (he can stay with us if it's not too loud), I have to get back up, carry him from my bed to the stairs because god forbid he walk down that hallway.... and then I head back to sleep.... or try to... Peanut usually wants back in our room so the bark starts again to let me know that he is now ready to be carried from the steps back to our bed and he cuddles up RIGHT next to my side JUST IN CASE a fart gets him... sometimes I think I should fart REALLY loud so that he becomes scared of me- but then that would be just mean and he's been through A LOT lately.

So, needless to say, that is how I have spent my 4 o'clock hour the last couple of days. My sister in law told me to overfeed her at night(which I feel like I already do) and not to feed her at 4 to see what she does (she said she might be developing a habit of that feeding and we don't want that to happen- our book on her first year says the same thing- you're brilliant Carolyn!!!) and my friend Ashley's son did the same thing at this age so she started feeding him rice cereal at 4 months (we might start that in 9 days when she turns 4 months). We will first try what Carolyn and the book suggested and if that doesn't work, onto what Ashley did. As for Peanut, maybe we can ignore the barking at night as we head up to bed and try to have him sleep downstairs- I don't think the couches fart, but who knows! At least I'm not working or I'd look and feel like a zombie...

Much Love and WOW the patience you need as a mother is amazing,
Jenny