A Day of Life with a 7 Month Old

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about resting while I had the chance. I don't regret a second of it! Life has been full speed ahead since Christmas. I had hospital orientation the first week of January, then we all got influenza, and this past weekend I worked all weekend orienting to my new unit.

In the meantime, Noah has NOT been napping. Honestly, it's so small in the scheme of things, but I can't help but feel like I'm letting him down when he doesn't sleep well. In the 7.5 months that Noah has been here, I'd say we've had a total of 1.5 months of textbook naps (at this point that means two naps a day, for a total of 2-4 hours of daytime sleep).

Last week, I spent entire days struggling to get one 45 minute nap in (thankfully we had a bit of a thaw and Noah did get a good stroller nap!). This kid needs sleep, but he has SUCH a hard time shutting down! He's always GO GO GO TALK TALK TALK WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE. I LOVE it overall, but I wish I knew how to get him to turn it off. He needs rest, and I feel like it's up to me to coax him into it, but I cannot figure him out! I read all the books. I've tried all the tricks. Honestly, I think self-soothing is a developmental milestone that he hasn't reached because he's too busy with anything and everything else.

That being said, here's a fairly typical day for us since we're all still recovering from Influenza A: clear the schedule and get the kid to sleep at all costs!

0110: Noah wakes up. I get him and see that he threw up the avocado he ate for dinner. I change his sleep sack and feed him while Ross changes his sheets. Poor buddy!

0140: Ross puts Noah back in his crib and we all go back to sleep.

0430: Noah is up. I feed him.

0450: Ross takes a very wiggly baby back to his crib again. He doesn't fuss, but he also does NOT fall back asleep.

0530: Noah starts crying, so I feed him again thinking maybe it'll make him drowsy. Note to self: it never does!

0550: I put Noah back in his crib, where he proceeds to babble, whine, and practice balancing on all fours.

0630: He's obviously not falling back asleep. Ross gets him out of his room.

0700: I turn on the solar lamp in the kitchen to wake us all up and feed Noah some big kid food for breakfast-- strawberry applesauce with oatmeal. Yum!

0730: Play play play. This kid is on the move! He can scoot backwards, roll everywhere, and army crawl. Be still my heart :-)

0800: I dress and swaddle Noah, and then feed him. He's slowing down, so I'm hoping he will fall asleep after eating. Lay him in his crib "drowsy but awake" like all the books and well-meaning friends say to. He proceeds to whine, wiggle, and fuss for 45 minutes.

0900: I take him out of his crib and we play some more.

1000: Try to get him to nap again. Come up with some convoluted combination of rocking, feeding, listening to Gregorian chants, and putting a vibrating disc from the Rock 'n' Play on Noah's back. Whatever the magic is, it produces heavy eyelids which I haven't seen in ages! He also lets me give him the pacifier, which he rejects 99.5% of the time.

1020: Noah falls asleep in my arms (this NEVER happens). I hold him for 20 more minutes until he stops wiggling, and my arm goes numb.

1045: Successful transfer to the crib!

1100: I eat lunch. I'm famished! Also move laundry and do PT exercises.

1200: Marvel that Noah is still asleep. Watch an episode of the Mindy Project.

1245: Holy crap. If I'd know this was going to be a legit nap, I would've started on my to-do list right away! Feel like it's too late now. Move laundry again. Eat a bowl of cereal. Pick up the book I'm reading.

 1315: Noah is up. I feed him.

1430: Give Noah some pureed green beans. He's happy to be eating solids after stopping for a week when he was so sick!

1445: Nurse him again in hopes of another nap.

1520: Rock him again. He just takes a 15 minute catnap in my arms this time.

1600: Play inside, and then outside for a bit. Noah isn't so sure about the wind and the bright sun!

1710: Baby bath, aka water aerobics. Took this picture in the 0.5 seconds it felt safe to not have my hands on this wild monkey, lest he submerge himself!

1730: Nurse

1800: Rock a very overtired baby until Ross comes home and takes over.

1900: Baby is asleep! I eat dinner, shower, and pump.

2020: Ross and I are in bed, exhausted. We watch an episode of Downton Abbey before going to bed.

2100: Lights out!

2240: Noah is awake. Feed him. We all go back to sleep until 0230 when it starts all over again...