Monday, March 26, 2007

Ending the day on a high note

The last few days have been full of ups and downs. This morning things were looking pretty grim in the sleep department, but right now it is evening and the house is all quiet. Both of my kids went down without a peep! I think we made it through the worst of it. Micah's first two nights without the soothers went OK. It took about 30-45 minutes to get him settled down each night but then he slept right through. Then last night when Erik tried to put him down, he freaked out. He screamed so hard that we thought he was going to throw up. It took awhile to settle him and Erik had to lay with him until he was fast asleep. Then he woke up crying again at about 1 am and Erik ended up spending the night in his bed which didn't make for a very restful sleep... Why is it that toddlers always have to sleep sideways as soon as they're sharing the bed??

Then after getting up with him at 5:20 this morning we were ALL exhausted. To make matters worse I had a very bad mommy moment shortly after Erik left for work. I had propped Keziah up on the couch which is something I often do. She had some blankets kind of holding her up. I went into the kitchen for a couple of minutes to put some things away and next thing I know she's screaming. I run out and find her on the floor! What an awful feeling!! I don't know how she managed to get from her nice cozy position to the floor, but she did. Needless to say she was quite worked up from the whole ordeal. I tried to comfort her while checking for broken bones and blood. She checked out fine, and I ended up nursing her to calm her down. I felt so terrible and I think I've been cuddling her extra close today to make up for it. We won't be leaving her on the couch again, that's for sure!

But the day got better from there. For one thing, it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL sunny day here. You know you live on the west coast when you walk outside and your toddler says with surprise, "It's not raining!" The other thing that was great about today was that Micah had his first real nap since Friday. He kind of whimpered and cried for about 10 minutes when I put him down but he stayed in his bed and then slept for almost 2 hours. Hallelujah! And now I just put him to bed by myself (Erik's playing hockey - again) and he didn't cry - not once! When I left his room he was looking through a book and 5 minutes later he was in dreamland. I can't even express how proud I am of him right now! There were points this weekend when I thought we wouldn't get through it, but I think the worst has passed.

Here's a picture I snapped of Micah's 10-minute nap on Saturday. He refused his nap for a long time but in the end The Backyardigans lulled him to sleep. Right after I took this photo I attempted to transfer him from the couch to his bed - FATAL mistake! He promptly woke up and didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the day.

Micah and Keziah enjoying some "tummy time" together on Sunday afternoon...


In other news, we are starting some home projects around here. Erik's parents own the suite we live in and they've agreed to let us lay laminate floors and do some painting. We started by painting our fireplace mantel. Here's the before shot:


And this is after:


Micah was lucky enough to get to do some of his own artwork. We just stripped him down and let him make a mess. We didn't even have to worry about the carpet since it's getting ripped right out.


We're planning to paint the walls "granite grey" and put down the antique finish laminate from IKEA. I'm very excited about the finished product and I'll be sure to post some pics when it's all done!

9 comments:

kelly ens said...

phew! I'm sure it's quite a transition for micah too, but he seems to be getting there alright! Way to go!!! :)
sorry about the mommy moment...i'll bet we're all thinking "yup, sounds like something I've done before."
wasn't it GORGEOUS today??? :)

The Keowns said...

now aren't you glad you are done with the soother thing?? it wasn't so bad was it?
yea for the remodelling. Getting rid of carpet will make potty training WAY easier since i would just let them run around nude. I was going to mention how much more sweeping it creates but figured Erik would have that department down.

Anonymous said...

Jamie - I found your blog via Heather's and just wanted to say I soooo empathize with your mommy moment. Ours happened with our little guy at exactly 4 months. It's amazing how one day you just can't do the things you did the day before hey? What a learning experience motherhood is!

Have fun with the renos!

Summer said...

I have to admit that the same thing happened to me when Candace was around that age. Put her on the bed, pillows surrounded her and she still managed to fall off the bed. I felt so bad also. Great pictures! Cant wait to see the finished product. Have fun with the renons!!

Laura said...

Hi Jamie. My middle daughter Autumn has had so many tumbles that we could have probably prevented - it happens to all of us - that's why God made babies so resilient and bendable! And any kind of major change like giving up nukies is always good for some missed sleep - sounds like Micah's already settling into sleeping without it. Hope you had more sleep last night! Maybe I'll see you at play group Thursday.

KDees said...

A typical week in the life of a mom, hey? A little craziness, a few bumps and scrapes, sleep deprivation, etc....You seem to be handling it great! Apparently, Tyler is all done with his soother too - Dan was home with Tyler last night, and when I got home from an evening shopping trip, I found Tyler's soother with the end cut off - I guess Dan decided enough was enough. Well, so far, so good. Tyler is taking way longer to fall asleep for his nap, but I'm hoping that'll get better over the next few days, not worse. He just keeps saying his soo-soo is broken, and this morning, he promptly chucked it in the garbage. I was so worried about the whole transition, but Dan took care of it for me, and surprisingly, it's going way better than I thought! I'm going to post all about it, so you'll get all the details. Anyways, your fireplace looks great - I'm sure all your renos will spruce the place up! Can't wait to see the finished look!

Rob, Lisa & Ryken John said...

Nice choice on the laminate. Great color! Hope you have fun with the renos. Pretty soon we'll be going through the soother withdrawl too. Haven't quite decided when to do it, but probably after two.

Jessi said...

Hi Jamie, I've read your blog before through Kelly's and Amanda's and enjoy all your stories!

I wanted to join the rest of the mom's on here in understanding your Mommy Moment. Same thing happened to us. I propped him up in the corner like I had done a million times before - and took 2 steps to grab something and he was on the floor. My son is now 6 1/2 and it still plays in my head. It is just one of those moments when you realize they are growing up faster than you thought!! And there will be plenty more moments -- bumps, bruises, tears and guilty "i should have known better" moments. But they are all a part of motherhood -- and no one said that was easy!!!
Your children are beautiful and look like such a joy!

Trev and Rebekah said...

Looks like you have a pretty spacious basement suite.
Hope you can get some more sleep soon.