Last night was not quite as straight forward unfortunately! Scott and I went out for a couple of hours, leaving the kids alone with Aunt Kimberly for the first time! They all seemed to have a good time and we were home in time to give Toby and Emma a bath before bed.
Toby went down easy and then Scott, Emma and I hung out in our room for a while. Emma likes to play Hide and Seek - she covers her eyes, counts to 10 and then says "ready or not, here I come!" You don't need to hide, she just says "I found you" when she uncovers her eyes! When you count she won't hide, even if you try to help. It's really just an elaborate game of Peekaboo!
Anyway, she was pretty hyped up when we put her to bed - d'oh! She asked for the binky right away and we went over the whole thing again. This time though we changed our approach.
When you lay down with her as she tries to sleep you can actually hear her trying to chew! As we have both had to quit smoking before (cold turkey) and Scott actually went through drug rehab (8 years ago, clean ever since!!), we recognized that Emma is going through withdrawal and that is tough.
Therefore we tried to take turns to respond when she started crying and yelling our names. We weren't convinced of the solution though, since she stopped as soon as we went in and wanted to talk! If she wasn't so darn loud (can't think how that happened!) we'd leave her, but Toby wakes up.
Around 9.30pm we got the call of dread - the nurse wasn't coming, a "bad cold." Awesome. I knew there was a good reason I should take naps at every opportunity. So, I made the decision to blow up the air mattress and just sleep on Emma's floor.
Once we did that I told her I had to go and pump before bed, and of course she fell asleep while I was downstairs!!
The air mattress was a little too firm, and not nearly as comfortable as my bed, so I slept poorly, and woke up with a stiff neck! That said, Emma was not a problem at all. She groaned occasionally and was eased with a "You're okay" from across the room.
At one point I awoke to find her sleeping on her back with her legs hanging over the side of the bed! I changed her diaper once and did not have to vent her at all. Even though I was in the room I did not bother with the CPAP, that is an all night fight!
She woke up around 6.15am, which is standard if no nurse is there to tell her to go back to sleep! Toby was already up so we went in to get Emma. I put Toby down and climbed back into my temporary bed! Emma and Toby played happily, if not cooperatively for a good while, while I "watched" with my ears - eyes closed!!
Since Toby loves to bang things together, as long as I could hear him I knew what he was up to! Anything he shouldn't have been, like getting Emma's books out, was met with "No Tony no!" (Yes, we find ourselves calling him Tony too!!)
Tonight we'll probably be a little tougher on the crying. Man, it's a lot of effort. I wish we'd ditched the binky a couple of years ago. As convenient as it was to keep her quiet etc, we know from Toby that they soothe themselves just fine without one!!
Oh well, you live and learn. I just hope anyone reading this heeds the warning - it gets harder and harder the longer they have it!!
Toby went down easy and then Scott, Emma and I hung out in our room for a while. Emma likes to play Hide and Seek - she covers her eyes, counts to 10 and then says "ready or not, here I come!" You don't need to hide, she just says "I found you" when she uncovers her eyes! When you count she won't hide, even if you try to help. It's really just an elaborate game of Peekaboo!
Anyway, she was pretty hyped up when we put her to bed - d'oh! She asked for the binky right away and we went over the whole thing again. This time though we changed our approach.
When you lay down with her as she tries to sleep you can actually hear her trying to chew! As we have both had to quit smoking before (cold turkey) and Scott actually went through drug rehab (8 years ago, clean ever since!!), we recognized that Emma is going through withdrawal and that is tough.
Therefore we tried to take turns to respond when she started crying and yelling our names. We weren't convinced of the solution though, since she stopped as soon as we went in and wanted to talk! If she wasn't so darn loud (can't think how that happened!) we'd leave her, but Toby wakes up.
Around 9.30pm we got the call of dread - the nurse wasn't coming, a "bad cold." Awesome. I knew there was a good reason I should take naps at every opportunity. So, I made the decision to blow up the air mattress and just sleep on Emma's floor.
Once we did that I told her I had to go and pump before bed, and of course she fell asleep while I was downstairs!!
The air mattress was a little too firm, and not nearly as comfortable as my bed, so I slept poorly, and woke up with a stiff neck! That said, Emma was not a problem at all. She groaned occasionally and was eased with a "You're okay" from across the room.
At one point I awoke to find her sleeping on her back with her legs hanging over the side of the bed! I changed her diaper once and did not have to vent her at all. Even though I was in the room I did not bother with the CPAP, that is an all night fight!
She woke up around 6.15am, which is standard if no nurse is there to tell her to go back to sleep! Toby was already up so we went in to get Emma. I put Toby down and climbed back into my temporary bed! Emma and Toby played happily, if not cooperatively for a good while, while I "watched" with my ears - eyes closed!!
Since Toby loves to bang things together, as long as I could hear him I knew what he was up to! Anything he shouldn't have been, like getting Emma's books out, was met with "No Tony no!" (Yes, we find ourselves calling him Tony too!!)
Tonight we'll probably be a little tougher on the crying. Man, it's a lot of effort. I wish we'd ditched the binky a couple of years ago. As convenient as it was to keep her quiet etc, we know from Toby that they soothe themselves just fine without one!!
Oh well, you live and learn. I just hope anyone reading this heeds the warning - it gets harder and harder the longer they have it!!
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