Project Lexi's Room 1.0

It's the sound no parent likes to hear - that 'thunk' followed by crying. We knew the day would come when Lexi could climb out of her crib. We had to lower her crib mattress freakishly early because she could pull up, but I had expected she would at least be able to stay contained until age 2.

I was wrong.

A couple of weeks ago, Doug watched Lexi climb out of her crib before naptime. We hoped it was a one-off accident, but nope. That night after I put Lexi to bed, I heard the dreaded THUNK and not a minute later, Lexi walked down the hall. CRAP.

Knowing Lexi, we could not risk leaving her in the crib any longer (not even in a carpeted bedroom). Trust me, I thought about it. She's a bad enough sleeper as it is without having to throw this early transition into the mix. But we have to put our big girl panties on and deal with it (OK, maybe just I'll do that part).

We had been considering what color scheme and theme to do Lexi's room in for a few weeks as it's the first one we had been planning on tackling here. Before us, her room was inhabited by a girl of about 10 named Alexis (this I know because she had written in her name in crayon all over the built in wooden desk in her closet. Most of it came off after 2 hours of scrubbing with Magic Eraser). The decor was already girlie, but we wanted to make it our own. We pulled several ugly floating shelves off the wall which left huge holes, and since we don't want purple paint anyways, we needed new colors.

We decided on a mod ladybug theme and ordered this lamp, wallpaper border and wall decals. For paint, we'll either go green/pink with blue and chocolate brown accents, or two tones of green with pink and chocolate brown accents.

Furniture shopping with a toddler is... interesting... but yesterday we managed to buy Lexi a bedroom set. We wanted something that would grow with her (I was still sleeping in my childhood twin bed at age 20), and although I was not convinced initially, we chose an off white set. We got a full sized bed for her as we've got the room, along with the double dresser and mirror and the nightstand. And don't worry, we didn't pay that advertised price. As we learned EVERYTHING is negotiable when buying furniture. It'll be delivered next week.

So the current state of Lexi's room is atrocious - she is sleeping (not well I might add) on her crib mattress on the floor, and has basically given up her naps. We have patched most of the holes in the wall, and in a rather lame attempt to get her to sleep longer, we put cardboard up in two of her windows. The windows in this house are the most bizarre and irregular sizes (I guess it's a west coast contemporary thing), so we will have to custom order horizontal blinds for the 4 windows. Doug will try to paint her room while Lexi and I go to Alberta later this month to visit John and Stephanie. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of watching Home and Garden Television around here in the next few months. Here's the before, and I hope it won't take months before we are able to get the after shots up...

A Baby's Perspective on Sleep Training...

OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 9 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night).

At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:
Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!!

If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it.

BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with.
My sleep sack tickled my foot.
I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
I burped, and it tasted like pears (I hadn't eaten pears since lunch - what's up with that?)
A dog said "woof" outside (I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL.)
Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!!
It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am.
You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, NO milk will come out! Trust me.

Almost 8 months later - what has changed...

I can't believe Lexi will soon be 8 months old. As we have also just turned the corner into a new year, I thought it would be a good time to look back and reflect on what has changed in my life since she was born:

- while I used to enjoy 9 G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S hours of sleep per night (well, before my third trimester of pregnancy at least, after which I become way too huge and uncomfortable to get any proper rest) I now survive on 6-7 hours of broken sleep each night, as I'm still getting up to feed 3-4 times per night

- I have lovely clothes in my closet, I really do. I used to consider myself kinda fashionable. Now I wear yoga pants, T-shirts and runners most days (on a dress up day I wear jeans)

- My hair has gone through more changes lately than Madonna did at her concert in October. None of my hair fell out while I was pregnant, then almost ALL of it fell out 3 months after Lexi was born. Now I'm sporting some lovely tufts of regrowth all over my head which I'm sure will lead to a mullet like look in several more months

- dates with my husband? What's a date?

- I can wolf down a plate of food (and a LARGE plate at that) in record time

- at least five times a day I say "Oh my god, she is so cute"

- I give approximately 5631 kisses a day

- a giggle and a "mum mum" directed my way makes my whole day

- I have a whole new appreciation for my husband, who is a damn fine father and partner

- you learn that life is good, no matter how little sleep you get, because your baby is healthy, happy and thriving