Finally! We are a Sleeping Family

Ok, folks. Something amazing has happened.  My life has gotten a thousand times easier because of this. In the last post, I mentioned that Zoey had slept really great. Well, apparently, that was just a one time thing. We went back to old, bad habits of waking every 4 or less hours every night.  I would go in a nurse her, and she would go back to sleep fairly painlessly. It would take 15 minutes to a half hour every time for the whole ordeal to be over though. And by that time, of course, I would be wide awake. It would take me another half hour to fall asleep myself, only to be woken in 4 hours. Needless to say, it was getting old.  I'm sure it is getting old for everyone else to hear about our sleeping situations all the time. I realize this, but a huge part of my brain power goes to this, so I am sharing anyway.

Tanner and I talked about it again and I told him what Dr. Weisbluth advises in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.  His extinction method simply (not to be confused with easily) leaving them alone for the night. If they wake up, do not go into them. If this involves crying, so be it. He claims that within a few days, they will learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. Therefore leading to a more rested child.

This has always sounded too good to be true to us.  We have let her cry in her crib over and over again, but always end up going in to her, because she just sounds so sad.  And she has been quite sad in the past because she was sick or had 4 teeth coming in or whatever. Of course, the emotions were compounded by her overtired and overstimulated state.

I don't know what the difference was this time. Maybe she just doesn't have pain from the teeth anymore. Maybe her brain is finally to a mature enough level. When decided on February 1st not to go into her at all after I put her down for the night around 7 or 8ish. She did wake a couple of times, but after just a couple of minutes of crying, she laid down and went back to sleep.  It has been 1 full week since that first day. Not only does she go back to sleep when she wakes up; she will lay down and go to sleep from the very beginning when I put her in her crib wide awake.. even for naps! I never thought this transformation would happen.  I just thought that was a big fat lie when people said that their kids did that.  It's not a lie folks! This really can happen.

We are all happy about this. Zoey is a happier baby. She is content to play by herself during the day.  She is not super clingy like she always was in the past.  I can tell so much easier now when she is ready for a nap because there is actually a change in her behavior. Therefore, I can take her to her crib at the appropriate time so she can get her rest.  Before, she was just tired all of the time, even if she just woke up 20 minutes ago, so I would often keep her up way longer than she should have been.

We are a whole different unit now. I am ecstatic about this change in our lives. Hopefully, sleep issues won't take up so much of my brain power now. I know there will be issues in the future when she starts teething again or whatever, but I think it will be easier to deal with now that we know it is possible to regularly sleep through the night. Plus, we will more easily be able to detect when there is an actual problem. I hope I'm not jinxing us by saying our accomplishment out loud.



In other news:
We have been pre-qualified for a home loan this week.  We still have a lot of work to do to get pre-approved and find a home, but we are happy that the ball is rolling. Tanner's work office is moving to Bluffdale, UT, so we are planning on moving somewhere close by there.

Yesterday, Zoey walked 57 unassisted steps around the living room. She is still not fully independent, but oh so close.

Play Date

Zoey and I just went to our first play date with a couple of moms that live close by. I needed some time with some other people to socialize with. I think the two of us both are happier when we get out of the house.  I have been going to the store a lot just to get out, but it is so much better to actually talk and interact with people.  I ended up enjoying myself quite a bit.  Zoey was really good the whole time too.  I think she also likes to be around people and other kids. She doesn't like it when other adults give her too much attention or try to hold her usually, but if they are just around and smile at her every once in a while, she is happy. You should have seen her trying to play with the other little girl that was there. Such cuties! They just sat by each other and mostly stared at each other. Zoey touched her face like she does to almost everyone; silly girl. I'm not sure what this little Allison thought of that.  I am very happy that I went. I have been needing some mommy friends!

Z Sleeping and Walking

The night we have all been waiting for arrived last night. Zoey slept the whole night from 8:30 to 7:30 without waking to nurse one time.  She did wake up one around 1, but I just gave her binky back and she fell right back asleep.  There was no more than 5 minutes of crying the whole night! Woot Woot!

Zoey is walking now! She often stumbles over her feet, of course. And she starts to dive when she gets close to mom or dad, but if she doesn't have anyone to dive to, she is just fine. Silly! 

Ring Around the Rosey

I am excited because Zoey has shown us that she understands some of the things we say. She has learned to sit down by playing Ring-Around-The-Rosey with me. To teach her, I sang the song and played the game with her and at the end where "we all fall down", I just kind of pushed her down into the sitting position. After a couple songs of it, she was trying to sit down before the song was over. She knew what was coming.  It was exciting to see her catch on to the game.  The next day, she got confident enough to sit without holding onto me. She could do it all by herself! I would praise her every time. And it was easy to see the pride in her face as she took one more step toward independence. 

Later when dad got home, we showed him that she knew exactly what to do when she heard me start to sing "ring around the rosy.." She would often be on her bum before the I could say "a pocket", as the next phrase starts. We started to say "sit down" before singing the song, and she quickly picked up that this is what she is supposed to do when we say "sit down". 

Not only is it exciting because she has shown us that she understands words and can follow instructions, which is seriously HUGE to me! It is also exciting because she can sit back down in her crib when she wakes up and stands up in the middle of the night.  She demonstrated that she was capable of this last night after we left her alone for a few minutes. It was cool that she made the conscious decision to get down, lay down, and go to sleep. Yet another step toward her and our independence in the night. YAY! She woke up about five times last night, (unfortunately, this has become normal the past week) but she put herself back to sleep every time within no more than ten minutes.

Maybe, just maybe, we will be able to start sleeping again.

First date

Tanner and I went on our first date night in 8 months to the Jazz game on Tuesday. Tanner's parents came to eat dinner with us and watch Zoey for the couple of hours that we were gone.  It was such a fun date! We, actually Zoey, won the tickets as a grand door prize at the Christmas Eve party at the skating rink. The seats were amazing: 18th row, mid court, against Oklahoma city Thunder, (which is supposed to be really good this year). And the Jazz won!