ketchup

[mamajoan]

Well, my big plan to get caught up on sleep yesterday didn't work out. I tossed and turned and dozed a bit from about noon to 3pm, then gave up and got up. Sigh. Then I washed three sinkfuls of dishes and still had an overflowing sink. More sigh. Then I went to bed early but to no avail -- Ruthie as usual woke up within moments of me getting into bed (this is a talent she has that irritates me to indescribable degree) and then she nursed basically all night long. Argh!!

I am seriously thinking of reneging on my previous (albeit wishy-washy) decision to not night-wean at this time. I have to do SOMETHING, and maybe it would help. Maybe I'd still be up all night every night, but at least I wouldn't be physically depleted by the time the sun comes up? I dunno. I'm just about desperate enough to try almost anything at this point (anything other than CIO, that is. Although in my personal lexicon it doesn't count as CIO if the child cries herself to sleep in your bed, in your arms).

Um, but anyway, let me stop whining for a bit and try to say something not sleep- or money-related.

Yesterday evening my mom got on a plane to go to California to visit her brother and mother. She will be gone until late Monday. So this afternoon at lunchtime I popped over to her house to feed her kitties. And supposedly also to give them some lovin', but they were not interested. I guess they aren't needy enough since mom has only been gone less than a day so far. They were like, "what? who are you? go away." I was like, "Here kitty kitty! Who wants to snuggle!" and they were all, "who does she think she's kidding?" LOL. So I just put down the food and went away. LOL. I'm on to them though. By Sunday they'll be going nuts with the "pet me, PET MEEEEEEE!!!!!" ;)

Tonight there is a parent info session at the school right near metafrantic and sandykidd's house. It is from 7 to 9, which is unfortunate timing (i.e., very close to bedtime) especially on a night when I have no babysitting options what with mom being away and our other usual babysitter also unavailable. So I will have to take the kids along, if I go. They'll have childcare there, supposedly, but this will probably consist of a couple of high-school students and a table with some crayons. So that might occupy Isaac long enough for me to chat with a couple of parents briefly, but Ruthie? Nah. I imagine I'll spend most of the time chasing her. I hope I'll at least get a little bit of use out of the session. We'll see. At least the 7pm start gives us time to go home and eat something first. Also one of my coworkers said that some of the other parents on his son's soccer team have kids at this school, and he will try to hook me up with some of them.

In Ruthie news, aside from the horrendous sleep issues she continues to be the cutest and smartest toddler ever, yadda yadda. ;) Her latest thing is covering up her teddy bear with a blanket, and then she lies down next to him and pats his back. Which is just what the teachers at daycare do to get the toddlers to sleep.

oops, I had more but it's time to leave, more later

Comments

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

I got nothin' on the night nursing front, but I will say: there's a lot to be said for less quality time at night, and more during the day. I still feel guilty every time I lie awake while Violet wails, thinking, "Okay, fall back asleep." But I love the mornings when she calls "Mommy?" from the other room and I can hop right out of bed, well-rested, and go get her. Instead of thinking, "How long can I lie still before she starts yelling?" Obviously my current definition of "well-rested" is more like "not a lot of pain" but whatever, you know how that goes.

I guess my point is, there's only so much of you to go around, and maybe it's fair to decide how you're going to allocate it?

[opadit.livejournal.com]

I made it until Eleanor was 14 months. At that point, I would go to bed every night at 10:00, look out the window, and say to myself, "I'm going to be awake again in three hours." I could physically feel the fuzzy edges at the periphery of my vision.

Long story short, you won't hear it from me if you put your foot down and teach Ruthie how to get through the night without nursing. It helped for us to offer Eleanor a (securely closed!) sippy cup because she did get genuinely thirsty during the night.

[downwardlashes.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! The sippy cup and plain rice cakes helped us night wean.

[downwardlashes.livejournal.com]

I LOVE watching Caspian daddy his doll. So adorable.
Without really thinking about it, we night weaned Caspian while I was pregnant. I was worried about him wanting to marathon nurse all night when the baby came, and we also saw that on nights when he didn't nurse, he slept wonderfully. But the only way we could do it was by having Plato take over. I bet Ruthie would adjust to it quickly if you had some kind of night servant to distract her away from the boobs :P

no advice, just a statement

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

You are an amazing mom. Until my recent single=parenting stint, I had no idea what it was like to do what you do. And you have two kids. I have the utmost faith that you will try a few things, discover what works, and implement a solution that considers both your needs & Ruthie's. I'm sorry it's tough right now, and let me know if I can do anything other than send good thoughts.