Category: sleep

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Closet Dweller

We’re going to Louisville in May for General Council. We booked a suite for the week, and it was assumed by both Yvonne and I that Caleb would be getting the bedroom and we would be sleeping in the living room.

But why does it have to be that way? Yes, Caleb is a very light sleeper and he is easily disturb. We can’t go walking around in his area of sleep after he’s down. We don’t want to be stuck where we are at (bedroom) after he’s asleep with no access to the bathroom or exit.

Question is… can Caleb sleep in the closet?

Now at first thought, that’s absurd, right? What parents in their right mind would put their son to sleep in the closet? But he gets his dark sleeping area. He won’t get disturbed by light, sounds and movement. He’s much smaller than us, but he still gets his own room. I mean we’ll lose some storage area, but that closet would be put to good use!

So, you choose.

[poll id=”4″]

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Caleb’s Sleep

So, Caleb’s sleep has always been easily disrupted.  About a month ago, new neighbors moved in behind us with a dog who loves to bark.  I was praying that the dog would quickly learn to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake up my son anymore from his mid-day nap.  I noticed shortly after that there was no longer any barking.  Yay, prayer answered affirmatively!  🙂  So, Chris & I have been wanting to visit our new neighbors with a welcome gift.  We finally got around to going to their house this past Saturday.  We learned that they gave their dog to the animal shelter since he wasn’t adjusting to the smaller house and backyard.  Awh, now I feel bad.  But my son is back to taking longer daytime naps.

Caleb has been talking in his sleep sooo much lately.  In the middle of the night, he yells out these words and then goes back to sleep, usually.  I’ve just spent the last hour listening to him babble away in conversation with himself.  He’s practicing all these sounds, words, and phrases.  Kinda cute.  But not as much at 5:30AM.  This boy just can’t shut off his brain.  Sleep seems to always be the first thing affected when things change in Caleb’s life… good or bad things.  Oh well, another developmental phase.  Hopefully, we’ll have a big boy who can communicate better with us soon.  We love you so much, Caleb.

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Caleb’s Growing

Caleb had his 18-month pediatrician appointment this morning.  He finally recognizes the place as the place he gets shots.  He started crying as soon as daddy brought him into the exam room.  Awh… but only 1 shot today.  Caleb is now almost 24 pounds (25%) and 33 1/2 inches tall (75-90%).  If you know this boy, he eats soooo much, but I guess all that food goes towards his running around and playing.

On another note…. As I’m sitting here with the baby monitor, I can hear a dog howling.  Stupid dog.  We have new neighbors behind our house.  They have a dog.  Don’t wake up my child, dog.  Stupid helicopters and airplanes.  We think they changed the flight pattern at El Monte airport or something, cuz a few months ago, all these planes started flying directly over our house when they’ve never done so for the last 7 years I’ve lived here.  Oh well.  Just don’t wake up our child.

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Our 30-Week Ultrasound Today

And the gender is…

…we don’t know. still. awh, the baby doesn’t want us to know. so, i guess we’re going with neutral colors for this baby.

we do get one more ultrasound. the baby was breech, so in the last month, they want to check again. if the baby stays breech, i’ll need a c-section. the baby has one more chance to show its genitals.

we have so many updates to do. i haven’t had time/energy to blog, but i’ll try to later.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Baby #2 turns around so i don’t need a c-section
2. I’m now “high risk” since my AFP screening showed slightly elevated hCg hormone levels. The risks are poor growth of the baby and preterm labor.
3. I have carpal tunnel… and unfun numbness/tingling/pain of my arms. Hurts to use my arms and fingers. Wakes me up at night.
4. Caleb is sick again! Not sleeping the best, so mommy’s not sleeping her best.

Thanks for thinking of our growing family. Time for me to nap.

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Sleeping In

So, it’s 7:26AM and Chris & I are wondering what’s wrong with our son.  We’re awake before him.  I’m staring at the video monitor, and he seems to be just fine… sleeping away.  Did you drug my son, Chris?

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My many positions of sleep

Chronicling the many ways Caleb likes to sleep.

Note that many are viewed through his portable video monitor.  And the camera above his crib doesn’t move.

 

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And, yes… since turning Caleb forward-facing in his carseat after he turned 1, he now likes to fall asleep in the car.  I think he’s fallen asleep more times in the front-facing car seat in the last 2-3 weeks than he did his whole 1st year of life.  No picture yet.

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Baby Caleb Sleeps Thru the Night!!!

Yes, you read right.  Caleb slept through the night last night.  It’s a miracle. 

It all started when he turned 1 on 6/27/08.  We were at youth camp.  He slept 9 hours straight, but woke up at 4 something in the morning.  Despite the early morning wake up, we were ecstatic.  Then the next 2-3 weeks, Caleb just teased us… sometimes waking multiple times in the night, sometimes having trouble even falling asleep, sometimes staying awake for long periods of time in the middle of the night… or sometimes only waking up once or doing long stretches of sleep.  Then this past week, he started stretching out his sleep more consistently.  8 hours one night.  9 hours another night.  9.5 hours another night.  But he would struggle with going back to sleep after these long stretches of sleep, keeping mommy up with him from 4 or 5 in the morning. 

Caleb’s been occasionally resisting his morning nap… or taking shorter morning naps.  He started consistently dropping a nap this past week, which may be why he’s sleeping longer at night.  I think Caleb’s in the process of transitioning from 2 to 1 nap. 

Anyhow, 2 nights ago, Caleb slept 10 hours straight, from 8PM to 6AM.  we thought that was a miracle.  Then 1 night ago, he woke up once at 11:50PM.  He had a huge stinky poop.  I changed him, put him down immediately, and back to sleep he went in less than a minute or two!  He slept until 6am-ish.  Then last night… the momentous night that calls for major partying… Caleb slept from 7:35PM to 6:40AM.  11 hours!  He did wake up right before 5AM, but put himself back to sleep after 10 minutes of crying.  This is utterly amazing.  And now for the last 2 days, he’s back to taking his 2 naps again… 3 hours of naps per day, 11 hours at night….  it’s textbook.  My goodness… we have a textbook angel baby. 

For those of you who have not been on this sleep deprivation saga with us, you have no idea what joy it brings us to see our son sleeping.  We know this may not be the end of all the sleepless nights for Caleb.  But pray with us that it is!  Meanwhile, we’re praising God for what He’s given us so far.

 

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Please Sleep! Puh-lease!

Another night has gone by.  Another night where our baby boy didn’t want to sleep.  This boy is so teasing us.  Sunday night, he slept from 7:20pm to 4:25am.  Over 9 straight hours.  He quickly goes back to sleep and wakes up at 6:50am.  Easily the best night of sleep he’s ever had.

So what happens then next night?  Of course he doesn’t want to sleep.  Down at 7:30pm.  Up at 10:40pm.   Cry, cry, cry for the next hour until Yvonne comes to get him.  Suck, suck, suck for the next 30 minutes, and then it’s cry, cry, cry until past midnight.  At which point we’ve all but given up.  We don’t want to hold him anymore.  We don’t want to hear him cry anymore.  Let’s just see how he does sleeping between.

Well it’s more like lying between us for 15 minutes.  He’s happily lying there, making his cute baby sounds.  He curls up next to mommy, sticking his feet and butt at daddy.  He rolls around back and forth.  He slaps daddy in the face multiple times with his hands.  And it seems like he might be trying to go to sleep.  That is until he sees the lamp.  That darn lamp.

He tries walking over mommy’s head to get to the lamp, only to be hindered by mommy’s arm.  But Caleb is persistent and keeps going.  When his attempts are finally thwarted, he tries to climb over the pillow off the end of the bed.  The only thing keeping him around was mommy and daddy holding his feet and pulling him back.  After those attempts fail, Caleb decides maybe daddy is the weak link.  And he goes for my lamp.  After numerous attempts to slap away my arm and walk/crawl across me, I decide it’s time to go back to the crib.   It’s only 1am now.  We’ve all got to sleep some time.

I put him back in his crib and plays there for a while.  I’m trying to sleep on the floor, but it’s no use.  I leave and he starts his crying again.  Mommy decides to help him out.  She sleeps in the crib with him, and he finally goes out.  What time he sleeps, we don’t know.  But he’s up again at 5:45am this morning.  It’s much too long a day for us regardless.

This morning we had Yvonne’s OB appointment and first ultrasound for the new baby.  Caleb slept from 8:30 to past 11 this morning while we were gone.  He needs the sleep.  But so do mommy and daddy.

Hopefully this next baby will sleep better.  She better!  Mommy and daddy need it.

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The Fall of Man (or Caleb)

You may have already read the post below about fireworks and how they may disrupt Caleb’s sleep.  Well last night he had a poor night of sleep which prompted me to curse them dirty fireworks.

Around 2am Caleb awakes (or is already awake from Yvonne holding him.  I don’t remember).  I watch him cry and stand up in the monitor, so I head to him and pick him up.  Caleb immediately begins to cry harder and louder in my arms.  I put him back in the crib, he wants to get back in my arms.  I pick him up, he immediately wants to get out of my arms.  What am I to do?  So I just hold him.  And hold him.  And hold him for the next hour.  I’m finally able to get back to my bed at 3:15am, only to see him stir and wake up at 3:18am.

I am done at this point.  Yvonne is sick and just wants our baby to sleep.  So we wait.  3:30, Yvonne says, she’ll go in.  He’s standing in the corner of his crib crying his head off.  This goes on and on.  Yvonne decides to get a sippy cup of water before heading to the room.  After getting the cup, Yvonne is back in our room trying to do something as I’m trying to sleep.  We then hear this *boom* (much like these damn fireworks I hear now).

Uh-oh.  I think Caleb fell out of his crib.  The crying had died down for a few seconds.  As we were running over to his room, that loud cry comes again.  Yvonne enters the room and goes to retrieve him.  He immediately stops crying.  At this point I’m thinking maybe he didn’t fall out of his crib.  I mean if a baby falls out of his crib, he’s going to be hurt and crying, right? So I go back to my bed and return to my slumber.

Yvonne comes back to the room and informs me that he did fall out.  He was in a prone position next to the chair and not crying at all.  Yvonne was all worried, but he just settled down in mommy’s arms and went to sleep.  (Is this what needs to happen to get my son to sleep?  If so, he may have many sleepless nights.)

Caleb seems to be alright from the fall.  At least for today.  Now we have to put the crib sides all the way up.  Of course they make this loud clicking sound when you move them up, which doesn’t help our son sleep as well, but it’s for his safety.  It’s a long way down to reach him now.  Our backs are going to ache.

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Want to be a Ghetto City?

So you just started a town and want to be ghetto.  Where do you start?  Drugs?  Guns?  Prostitution?  Maybe those are just too much for you and you want to be a ghetto city without realizing you’re being ghetto.  How about legalizing fireworks.  There you go.  You’re one step further to being ghetto.

Some of you may know that I despise fireworks.  I can go on and on about the dangerousness of fireworks, but I’ll talk about the sheer annoyance of them.  Now when I say fireworks, I want to exclude the good ones.  The ones done by professionals.  So you cities with fireworks shows and Disneyland are off the hook.  What I am referring to is to the July 4th fireworks show by the inhabitants of these ghetto cities (my neighbors).

Fireworks didn’t bother me as much before a year ago.  It wasn’t until after Caleb was born that my hatred for fireworks grew even more so.  There’s a big problem when your son, who doesn’t sleep well to begin with, has to listen to all your neighbor’s crappy fireworks (both legal and illegal).  These large booms and loud whistles don’t do well to anyone’s sleep, much less a little one year old is sensitive to most and almost everything.  By the grace of God, he’s only woken up once, which we attribute to a night terror, but still I hear them fireworks going on and on.  *wave my fist in the air*

Besides having these loud booms and shrieking whistles, many of the inhabitants in Duarte, CA don’t seem to know how to clean up after themselves.  Don’t you love getting up the next morning having to drive through a bunch of used fireworks?  I just love seeing ashes fly everywhere as my tires go over them.  It is a beautiful sight if you have never seen it.

Update:

It’s midnight now.  And fireworks are still going outside my home.  Duarte, CA is ghetto.  The inhabitants are ghetto => city is ghetto.  Now you’re just ruining everyone’s sleep and not just Caleb’s.