Thankful Thursday - Failed Controlled Crying?

BabyCool has not been the easiest of babies. Cute - YES! Easy - NO! He decided at 6 weeks that really, to be honest, he preferred to feed only on one 'side' {male family members read this blog, cannot say 'breast'}. That is right, for 12 months, he was a 'Uni-Boober' of his own decision. 

He has also been a terrible sleeper. Terrible. For the first few weeks he literally slept ON me at night. I got loads of sleep, but it was all while sitting up holding a tiny boy against me. It was lovely, but it quickly grew thin, I just wasn't getting good quality sleep. So then it was a comedy of errors trying to get him to sleep anywhere else. I thought I had won a tactical warfare game when I worked out that he liked to sleep on his tummy, with the bassinet propped up on 3 thin books, being jiggled while listening to a doppler sound on my iPhone. 


Anyway, things were pretty bad a few months ago when it would take over an hour of jiggling to get him to sleep during the day, most days he would then only sleep for 20-40 minutes. This was not enough - for him or me! He was cranky and clingy and grizzly most of the time and spent most of the afternoons wailing and wailing. My poor boy. Thank goodness we never had to settle him through the night, because he was so darn tired he couldn't stay awake any longer!

So we tried controlled crying. {I think I may have just lost 14 readers with that sentence}. We did everything right, had the timer, had the plan, discussed it with our child health nurse etc etc. I could go into the numbers of minutes it took to get him to sleep and how much time we spent in his room - but - really who needs that kind of information? After a month of incessant timed screaming, I rang a child health nurse in tears. It just wasn't working. I was beside myself.


She was very kind and listened to my blubbering and said that for that day, to do whatever it took to get him to sleep. Whether it be rocking or shushing or whatever, just get him to sleep then have a nap myself. She told me to take a week off and just take stock. I never realised that Controlled Crying would not work. In my head, it made sense. In BabyCool's head, it was not going to work from the start.


During that week 'Off' from Controlled Crying, I rocked BabyCool to sleep and he went to sleep within minutes of being put in his cot, I still patted him, but he did the work of getting to sleep himself. I thought this was just because he was so tired from the 'Month of Misery' - but a couple of months down the road, and he is still doing it! He is now having two sleeps of a minimum 90 minutes!


This morning I had to have a chuckle while out at the grocery store.... 

My 1 year old little boy, who at 9 months who could stay awake from 5am - 7pm with a twenty minute nap, asleep in a shopping trolley...  Go figure. It just goes to show that I really know NOTHING, about babies. Not a thing.


I tell people we failed at Controlled Crying and I make a bit of a joke about it. But I am thankful that we did it. The hours of patting/shushing/rocking a baby to sleep before we tried Controlled Crying were hard, now he goes to sleep in under 10 minutes. I am claiming that as success, plus, I get to have those cuddles where I get to feel his little body go limp and see his eyelids flutter shut. In all of my days, I will never regret that. I am thankful for those moments. 


For the last two nights, he has gone to sleep on his own at night... We are both thankful that he can settle himself to sleep, but a little sad too... 


It seems appropriate to be Thankful on Thursday - with katesaysstuff and it is a bit of iPPP - with abelleabeanandachicagodog

Thankful Thursday - A Letter To Dear BabyCool

  
I am linking up again with Kate at 'Kate Says Stuff' for 'Thankful Thursday'.


On Sunday, BabyCool turned one. Isn't he the cutest thing you ever did see?

Dear BabyCool,


Oh my goodness, I cannot believe you are one already! What an amazing year it has been. I am so thankful for so many reasons....

• I am thankful that you are here, your delivery still gives me chills.
• I am thankful for your loving nature, it melts my heart, every time.
• I am thankful for your love, it is so complete it hurts my heart {in a good way}.
• I am thankful that you sleep in your own cot, it wasn't always like this.
• I am thankful that you don't seem to remember how cranky mummy is when she gets woken through the night.
• I am thankful for the love you have for your sisters, it is so great to see you all playing together.
• I am thankful that your burns have almost healed completely and you will not have any permanent scars.
• I am thankful for your 'Koala Cuddles', you hold on so tight and bury in so deep that is both physically and emotionally hard to put you down.
• I am thankful that you are you, you are inquisitive, adventurous, stubborn, gentle, loving and oh so cuddly.

Happy birthday my little man, we are so glad you are part of our family.

Anna Says - The Coolest... I Have Ever Seen

The Coolest .... I have ever seen

This hand knitted bear is the coolest thing I have seen in a really long time. Let me tell you why.

Last night I had to call an ambulance. BabyCool burnt his hands and feet with some really hot water. I had decided that the mopping just HAD to be done at 6pm at night. I used really really hot, close to boiling water {so it would dry really quickly}. BabyCool was being entertained by his sisters in another room. I had shut the door - or so I thought. BabyCool pushed the door open, crawled in, saw the bucket and decided to use it to help him stand up.  Accident. 

I am realising, that the details just don't matter. It was an accident. These things happen.

I am having an almost anti-adrenaline rush today which has left me tired, emotional and feeling so stoooopid. But I am so so grateful. 

• I am grateful that I live in a country where we have fresh running water in our house with which to bathe burns
• I am so thankful to have an ambulance service with staff so thoughtful and kind and who work quickly and efficiently and who then stay with an upset baby and mum those few moments longer than they are required to 
• I am thankful for understanding, kind nurses and doctors who see a need and work fast to ensure that a little baby with burns is comfortable and not in pain
• I am blessed to be in a country where nurses are trained to care and to be personable and who give comfort to a mum who is feeling awful that her dear boy has been hurt
• I am in awe of technology that allows a doctor in my town to take a photo of red blistered feet, email them to a burns specialist in a bigger town and get advice on the best care for our baby boy
• I am so amazed by friends and family who are so willing to help in any way they can, from lending cars, minding sleeping children, to prayer, to delivering of Kindles and dry clothes, to offers of food and company 
• I am so thankful for medical technology that allows big burns to little feet to be covered up and protected by no less than silver embedded dressings

What I am most grateful for today is my dear baby boy who has woken up happy and full of life, despite having bandaged hands and feet. His smile, his cuddles and his giggles are the best thing he could have done for his mum who has a sore heavy heart today.

And the bear? Somewhere out there is someone who has sat down to knit a bear. A bear that they donated to the Red Cross. That bear was then given to the Ambulance Service. Then it was given to my very scared and struggling baby boy in the back of an Ambulance. The Ambulance officer tried to cheer up BabyCool with the bear, but he was just too distressed to appreciate the toy. 

This morning however, there were special cuddles and special giggles for the Red Cross Bear. I am grateful for the lovely person who knew that at a time when a child is most scared, that they might need a cuddly toy.

Life is Cool. Love it. Live it. Share it.

Crocheted Converse

I have a very clever friend. She is also very generous. She likes to do things for other people and is also very cool to have around. She also wears very cool red mary-janes.


When she noticed that BabyCool didn't keep his shoes OR socks on, she offered to crochet him some booties. But not just any booties, no sirree-bob, come CONVERSE sneaker looking booties. Do we all remember how much I love Converse? Click here if you don't....


My very clever friend actually made up the pattern and design for these very hip booties. She even made shoelaces and included the star on the side. Impressive!

Aren't these just sooooo cute!  BabyCool is getting used to them. What he normally does with socks and shoes is take them off and chew them. It is gross. I can't think of a quip about 'putting a sock in it' but, he does love a good sock chew - especially in the car.

I tried to take some photos of my gorgeous 10 month old BabyCool with his Converse Booties on... But.... they are right when they say don't work with animals or children, especially a baby boy who loves his mummy. Very hard to take photos of.

It was a gorgeous day to be out on the deck in a T-shirt. So BabyCool made the most of the photo shoot to have a bit of a play. And his mummy thought these photos were much too cute to not gratuitously tac on to the end of this post. 

I think I have the cleverest friend. Thanks a bunch lovely lady - you rock! Check out her madeit.com.au store here {if this link does not work, it is because the madeit server was down when I wrote this post and no amount of yelling at the screen seemed to help!}