Zombie Mommy

I write this blog partly to update our family and friends of all of our happenings, but another big motivation for me is to have a record of our life with the boys. I have an awful memory and I hope that in keeping up with my blog, I will be able to look back on these postings and remember the wonderful moments and the challenges that were overcome as well. With that being said, I want to update on my current challenge of life with a baby that does not sleep. I hope that one day very soon I will not even remember what it's like to be so sleep deprived and Nolan will be a great sleeper and I will look back on this time and laugh (or at least be so thankful that it is behind us). And knowing me, I won't be able to remember the details that got us there either...
Nolan will be 3 months on Wednesday. I can't believe these 3 months have gone by so quickly in one way but at the same time it seems like an eternity since I slept. He normally wakes every 2 to 3 hours at night. Our best night ever was this past Friday night when I got to sleep from midnight until 5 am! I thought that maybe he was starting to make improvements but then he turned on me and Saturday and Sunday nights were awful and he was up all night (add Day Light Savings time into that and I was a disaster on Sunday). He has also regressed on his napping and is no longer napping well at all. I have to admit that all of this sleep deprivation has turned me into somewhat of a crazy person. Yesterday I was on the verge of tears all day as he cried through each naptime and I had no idea how to make it to last night when I knew I'd be up all night again (and I was). I felt as if I've totally confused myself regarding my parenting techniques and didn't know what to do anymore when Nolan cried (which has been anytime he's supposed to be sleeping). My trusty Babywise techniques that worked so well with Nicholas have failed me with Nolan. So I solicited the help of my mommy friends and of course received lots of different advice and the confusion mounted. One friend let me borrow her book that she says works wonders--"The Baby Whisperer". So I've been reading that since Friday and am attempting to use her techniques. It's similar to Babywise in terms of the schedule/routine is the same. The main difference is that you do not let the baby "cry it out". I felt the "cry it out" method wasn't working for Nolan and all it was doing was tramatizing both he and I (plus I worry about waking Nicholas too). With The Baby Whisperer you follow the routine (Eat, Activity, Sleep) and you put them to baby swaddled but awake. When they cry, you go in and do Pick up/Put Down in an attempt to calm the baby and teach them to fall asleep on their own without the props of nursing to sleep, rocking to sleep, etc. When he cries I pick him up on my shoulder, do a shush-pat on his back until he stops crying (no rocking, etc). The moment he stops crying I put him back down and can continue to shush-pat him in the crib. When he cries again, pick him back up and continue to put him back down as soon as he stops crying. You do this for as long as it takes for him to fall asleep, standing by the crib with your hand on them until they are in a deep sleep (and the paci falls out and he does not wake up and cry). Nolan is definitely paci dependant so that is a big issue to work on. Last night was my first night attempting this. He woke at 2:45 am and I did PU/PD with him until 4 am. Then he slept until 5:45 am. I tried PU/PD a few times and then decided that he was hungry and needed to eat. Afterwards I put him back down until 7 am when I fed him again to start the days schedule. During his first nap this morning I had to do PU/PD 3 times, each about 20 minutes long. It's definitely exhausting but I am trying hard to stick with it and be consistant. I'm praying that by the end of what will probably be a very difficult week, he will be sleeping better and the time for PU/PD will be very short or none at all and he will learn to soothe himself to sleep.
To add to all that, Nicholas has had a minor stomach bug since Thursday. He is once again missing school today because he had some tummy problems yesterday and it has to be 24 hours of being well to send him to school. This is making it a little challenging to spend so much time doing PU/PD in Nolan's room. Surprisingly though, I'm much more positive today and I hope to keep up this positive attitude. My problems are so minor and I know will pass soon. In the meantime, I am REALLY looking forward to naptime today!