Happy Friday

Despite the fact that Cohen woke up 3 times in the night, yesterday was a great day, maybe due to my 4.5 hour break that my sweet friend Katie gave me. Katie is a genetic counselor and doesn't have kids of her own...yet, so why she'd want to come hang out with Mr. Fussems is beyond me, but she did (maybe she's trying to figure out if he has some genetic anomaly that make him both super cute yet super fussy).

And wouldn't you know he was perfectly behaved. And went down super easy for his nap. Yay Cohen!! Yay Katie!!!

Today has been great too. We put him down at 8:00 last night, he nursed at 4:00 a.m. and then slept until 7:15 this morning. I feel GREAT after getting a combined total of 8 hours of sleep!!! Went to my mothers meeting, then took some new pants to get shortened by my favourite Korean couple, then came home and the little sucker had fallen asleep in his carseat and is snoozing in his crib. I actually was able to eat lunch and go to the bathroom. What a big day.

Fingers crossed that the good vibes continue all day.

Thanks for all of the encouraging phone calls and e-mails dear friends. You'll never know how much hope and different perspective you've given me.

This is not the super cute outfit that I was going to show you. He peed all over that one during his nap. Hopefully this one will get you through your day!
 

The Ultimate Showdown: Baby vs. Mommy

Baby - 1

Mommy - 0

Much to my chagrin, I am officially throwing in the sleep training towel for now. I just don't think Cohen is ready for it and I personally, for my mental health, cannot take one more night of his crying. 5 nights is enough to know it's not going to work right now. If his crying was tapering off and was for a shorter amount each night, I'd keep going, but it's not.

Got him down by 8:00, he woke up at 3:20, cried for 20 minutes. I'm thinking, once again, "Great, only 20 minutes...this must be it!!" Wrong-o Timber Tom. He woke up at 4:40 and cried until 5:45. Then again at 6:25, at which point I got up and answered his booty call and nursed him. Aren't they supposed to cry less each night? Not my dear, sweet-natured Cohen.

After talking with my mom, who's 3 daughters all slept 12 hours at night by the age of 4 months, and Christian, I've decided to give in for now. Some of you will be happy to hear that.

But I will certainly try again in a month or so. For now, I need more sleep to deal with Sir Fusses Alot all day.

My friend, who's baby is a week younger than Cohen, and I went for a walk yesterday and Cohen fussed and cried the entire time while her baby just sat there taking in all the beautiful sites without making a PEEP. I had to carry Cohen and push the stroller (her sister eventually caught up with us and pushed it for me) around the park to keep him calm. When we got back to my friend's house, she hugged me in a "I'm sorry you have such a rotten kid" kind of way and I cried the whole way home.

I really hope he doesn't get kicked out of daycare for fussing so much! We're meeting the director of the daycare today and that will definitely be one of my questions.

On the bright side, he looks adorable in one of the outfits a friend bought. I'll post a photo tomorrow. He might fuss a lot but he sure is cute to look at. I don't know what I'd do with him if he was ugly.

Throwing in the sleep training towel

So everyone and everything I've read says that it takes 3 nights, sometimes 4, to get your baby to sleep through the night. It's going to take more than that to get Cohen sleeping through. Little jackass.

We got him to bed at 8:00 last night. We've heard that babies' bedtimes should be between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. (thank you for confirming that Marci & Tara). So we're aiming for 7:00 but need to get there gradually. The goal is within 2 weeks MAX. We figure if we move it up 15 minutes every 3 or 4 nights, that should do the trick.

As last night was night 4, I had medium hopes that he could do it. The stinker woke up at 3:20 and cried until 3:40 and then again from 4:25 until 4:45. I was awake the whole time (an hour and a half) and was just so out of my mind with exhaustion and frustration from the previous nights that I threw in the towel and nursed him back to sleep. He didn't wake up until 8:40 a.m.

So, I e-mailed his pediatrician this morning and asked if I'd blown it and had to start over or if there's any point in continuing. She wrote back to keep going, so that's what I'll do. If he can't seem to get it by Saturday, I'll quit and try again in a few weeks. As I start my new job next Monday, I was hoping to have this done by then.

I know that this is such a controversial thing and everyone has their opinions (and thank you to everyone who has e-mailed them to me) and I greatly appreciate all of the wisdom, but I am going to keep going with this. My friend is currently sleep training her 8 month old and she told me this morning that she regrets not doing it when she was 4 months old.

If Cohen can't seem to get it, then I will continue the middle of the night nursing and will look and act like a royal hag at work. Now that's a great way to make a lasting first impression.

And the absolute worst thing about all of this is that Christian says I've lost my sense of humour. I can't even make any joke about this entire experience. Now that is a sad day at Hancock Manor when I can't find humour in a crappy situation.

Thinking he's all that and a bucket of fried chicken in his sweater suit. Thanks Nana.

Another sweater ensemble he's been waiting to fit into. Thank you Kirsten. He's been told he looks like a teddy bear when he wears this. A non-sleeping-through-the-night Teddy Bear. This photo was captured just prior to him throwing up on himself 3 times and then peeing on it.

 

Too good to be true

I knew Cohen wasn't sleep trained to go through the night yet. I had high hopes. Yes, I sure did.

He went down at his usual 8:45 last night only to wake up at midnight and cry for a minute. I thought to myself "Yay, he's done it!!". But oh no. He woke up at 3:20 and cried until 5:00, slept for an hour and cried at 6:00, at which point I got up and fed him and started getting ready for the day.

We'll try again tonight. I still have high hopes, just not as high as before.

Is this really happening?

So, against the advice of some friends, we did start sleep training on Friday night. As I wrote yesterday, Friday night did not go very well. Cohen cried for close to an hour and a half, but I remained strong (stupid? mean?) and did not go in and comfort him.

Last night he went to bed a little earlier than his usual 9:00 p.m. and woke up sometime between midnight and 1:00 and cried for a couple of minutes and then did not make another sound until 6:20 a.m.

Could he have already been trained to sleep through the night?

Probably not.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

Sleep training SUCKS!

The title of this entry says it all. Enough said.