The main things going on right now in my life are sleep training Matthew, and transitioning to a paleo/primal lifestyle. I have updates on both (this is rather boring stuff, so feel free to click away if you want!).
Sleep Training:
- I reviewed Matthew’s sleep charts and saw two glaring things – I was not enforcing a solid nap schedule and we were bringing him into bed with us for HOURS every morning when he got up
- Matthew was only napping in my arms, nursing – every single time. I was going insane. I was spending 3 hours a day in a glider
- I was staying way too long in his room, rubbing his back, after putting him down for the night
- Since forcing a nap schedule and not bringing him in to sleep with us, everything turned around
- Matthew slept 10.25 hours straight through the night last night!
- Matthew has taken 2 naps each of the last two days IN HIS CRIB. Yes, i still nurse him to sleep but he’s aware when I’m putting him in his crib
- I get the heck out of his space right after putting him in his crib, and all is better
- Everyone is happier today than we’ve been in weeks!
- It only (HA!) took 2 full weeks of Ferberizing (so much for all the, “it only takes a few nights” comments I got from everyone I know!)
Paleo/Primal Lifestyle
- So far, so good
- Still need to cut out the dairy
- Slipped up today and had a small piece of garlic toast that came with my 100% primal salad. I’m not beating myself up. It was damned good!
- I’ve had no more soda since my slip-up earlier this week that I confessed to everyone
- This is much easier than I thought it would be!
- As of this morning, I was down 4.4 pounds. Hard to believe! I don’t expect this to continue
Other Random Updates
- Matthew is standing up at his activity table now so I had to take the little spinning seat off. I am sad about this 😦
- Matthew has found his voice and it is rather loud. I love listening to him talk and babble because I know that his speech is deliberate and he is saying something very specific that I just don’t understand 😉
- I have spent lots of time wondering why so many people against CIO feel obligated and justified expressing their disapproval of the practice on all children, not just their own
- My wonderful husband got my mobile phone replaced for free, and he set it all up for me. I really appreciate this. I hope I’m kinder to the new phone than I was to the old one
- Matthew is now trying to climb out of his tub (and is quite good at it). This means that he will get to bathe in the big boy tub and will probably be showering with me more often now
- Despite Matthew sleeping better, I am not. I still wake up quite a bit wondering if he’ll be waking up
- I stepped totally out of my comfort zone and walked down to a neighbor’s house, knocked on her door, and introduced Matthew and myself to her and her twins. She is a SAHM mom too and we met her DH the other night who told us she’s lonely. Well, so am I – so I told him I’d stop down to say hello this week so we did it today! It was easy!
- I had lunch with an old coworker today. I thought to myself several times that no matter how boring some of my days are, I have no desire to be working where I used to work. This is the job for me!
All the Sun For You 
April 21, 2012 at 1:28 am
Love listening to babble too… so adorable 🙂 xo
April 21, 2012 at 2:24 pm
First off – really glad to hear about M’s sleeping! I agree that him being able to stand up was a big part of why it took a little longer for him to ‘get it’, but what a guy! He is doing so well. 🙂 I can also totally relate to not sleeping well for a while as well. I kept hearing ‘phantom’ cries, or waking up when he usually did. I assure you, you will be sleeping through the night soon as well!
I hear you on the ‘CIO’ critcism (up to, and including calling it ‘CIO”, because that isn’t really what it is, in my opinion). Reading all your wonderfully honest posts about it has me thinking that maybe I should write one describing our experience. Just as a reference for anyone thinking about it wanting to know more (and for myself, so I can remember!). I am a little nervous though!
Finally, I am so impressed that you went over and introduced yourself! I know I have so much trouble doing that…actually, I wouldn’t be able to! I hope you guys have some good coffee dates coming up. Jealous! 🙂
April 21, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Glad the sleep has turned around!! Sounds like the tracking has helped you learn a lot.
April 22, 2012 at 7:09 am
So great that you introduced yourself to your neighbor- it will be great if you can make a mom friend who lives so close! I think sometimes as moms we feel like we are the only ones who get lonely and bored, when in reality all of us do- and we need to get out and meet moms for our sanity!
April 23, 2012 at 3:18 am
Forgive me if you’ve already addressed this somewhere, but what are the benefits of the paleo diet? I know nothing about it and admit that I could never ever do something that forced me to eliminate dairy AND bread, but I think it’s an interesting concept.
That is AMAZING that Matthew did so well with sleep!! I feel you on the needing to get out of his space. I think that made a big difference with Sofia, too. Granted, her tiny baby teeth are currently wreaking havoc on sleep and everything else, so I’m back up in her space…
April 24, 2012 at 11:00 pm
The whole thing behind living a paleo/primal lifestyle is that we should live the way our bodies were made to live – on fruits, meats, vegetables. Primal people didn’t have modern agriculture and their bodies were lean, fat-burning machines. Some paleo gurus say dairy is OK, some say it’s not. The ones who say it’s OK say that you should only eat/drink whole fat dairy products. I agree with this – the lower fat options have sweeteners added and are way too processed to remove the fat – which makes it a manufactured food just like flour, corn, etc. Did you know that skim milk has sweetener added? I had no idea! We do eat some cheese, but it’s full-fat cheese. We are looking for yogurt made from whole milk, but that’s hard to find (hoping our new Whole Foods will have it). True paleo folks don’t eat dairy at all. For us, it begins and ends with cheese and maybe yogurt. NOW – Matthew will get whole milk once he’s weaned. Our pediatrician made sure that we understood that, and we already did!
We don’t like to tell people we’re doing this because they can become judgmental. “You need dairy, you need grains.” The truth is, we don’t. Humans by nature become lactose intolerant after infancy but we’ve forced dairy products on ourselves building up an immunity. So far, when I tell people we’re doing this, I’m getting responses of, “my doctor put me on that lifestyle,” or “my mom’s chiropractor put her on that lifestyle.” It’s very well-received because it’s a gluten free lifestyle and limits the dairy. Going gluten free is proving to solve all sorts of health issues. It’s so fascinating!
I love it so far. I can’t believe how easy it’s been!
April 23, 2012 at 2:35 pm
That is amazing about Matthew sleeping for 10.5 hours. I’m lucky if I can get 1.5 hours out of Simran these days!
April 23, 2012 at 10:19 pm
It lasted one night. ONE night. We’re starting over with the Ferber method tonight. I am a wreck over it.
April 24, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Oh no! Wishing you the best of luck. I think Simran is still considered too young for Ferber (just turned 4 months), but I will be very interested to hear about how things are going with Matthew since we will probably be looking to sleep train soon enough.