Big Girl Bed: Day 3

Today is Sunday and this is Raegan's third night in her "big girl bed".  The first night went better than I ever imagined it would go.  She stayed asleep and in her bed all night long!  You can read more about what led up to the big girl bed switch here. Night two went a little quicker, she was still reluctant to go upstairs, but she settled in once we got there.  She fell asleep in minutes and I was able to creep out.  She did wake up around 5:45am though.  i heard her cry and when I pulled her up on the monitor, she was getting out of bed and kept saying "blanky" because she had dropped it out of her bed.  She got up, grabbed her blanky and went to the door saying "mommy...mommy read book" and even grabbed a book from her bookshelf. (Insert broken mama heart here!) And just when I had decided I should probably go in and put her back to bed, she dropped the book, walked to her bed, crawled in and snuggled up in her cozy corner.  She laid there for about 20 minutes or so and fell back to sleep.  All on her own!!  I couldn't have been more proud of my sweet girl.  She woke up this morning at about 8:15.  She slid out of bed and walked to the door.  My husband and I raced upstairs and opened her door quietly.  She was standing there with a huge grin on her face and she ran into our happy, open arms.  Tonight she went to bed a few minutes early and fell asleep even faster than last night.  She has continued to totally blow us away with how easily she is transitioning into her new routine.

I should also mention that with this new bed, bedtime, sleep routine we have not been giving her a nap during the day.  Naps have gotten harder and harder for her lately and it seems that on the days she was napping well, she was sleeping horribly at night.  So yesterday and today we decided to not make her nap, but that if she told us she was tired, we would give her the chance to sleep.  She did not act tired at all during the day yesterday or today.  Although today we brought her home in the car and she fell asleep for about 10 minutes.   We were beginning to wonder if she was phasing out of naps before we switched her bed anyway, and we didn't want to make her new bed anymore traumatic on her than it had to be.  Since she has been crying for 30+ minutes at naptime lately, we decided we didn't want to risk her associating her new bed with a horrible experience.  I also think it is helping with bedtime; since she is so exhausted from the whole day, she falls asleep almost instantly at night. So it is still a work in progress and I'm sure she will fall into a new routine and maybe need a nap sometimes, but for now, this seems to be working for us.  And can I just say that, in the two days that we have not made her take a nap, she has been in better spirits and on better behavior than she has in quite a while.  She is throwing less fits, she is playing on her own even better than before, and she is just acting more content and happy in general.  Coincidence?? I'm not sure.  But I plan to find out....

This is our sweet little nugget all conked out in her "new" bed :)

drive a momma crazy

Let me start this post by saying that my daughter (now 21 months old) has never been a great napper.  She arrived in our lives very alert and didn't sleep as often as most newborn babies.  We spent the first 6 or so months of her life getting used to the fact that she only slept about 30 minutes at a time. She went through a period where she would sleep about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, but shortly after we got used to that, when she was about 15 months old, she dropped her morning nap.  We struggled back and forth with the time she spent sleeping in the afternoon; sometimes she would sleep 30-45 minutes, other times she would sleep over an hour.

For the past several months, however, she has been sleeping about 75-90 minutes in the afternoons, and sometimes will play for another 30 minutes after waking up.  Until about 4 days ago. She has been throwing her blanky (the one she can't go to sleep without) out of her crib the instant she stands up.  She started doing it on wednesday.  She woke up after about an hour and instantly threw her blanket out of her crib.  And of course she cried.  So I got her up.  The next day, same thing.  On Friday, she slept for maybe 30 minutes, then got up, tossed the blanky, and started crying.  I left her in there for about 20 minutes, then I got her up.  Yesterday and today have been the worst.  She tells us she's tired, I put her to bed, then within 5 minutes, she is up and crying.  Yesterday she threw her blanket out, I gave her about 25 minutes, then I went in and gave it to her again.  I knelt by the crib, handed her the blanky and said "Don't throw it out again. It's time to go ni-night." and I left the room.  Screaming ensued, of course, and after about 10 minutes, my husband went in and got her up.  Today is an exact repeat, however we put both of her blankies in her crib with her.  SO far, she has only tossed the one.  We are trying very hard to stick to our guns here and not go in to get her up.  First of all, I WANT HER TO GET SOME REST, for crying out loud.   Second, we are both fans of sleep training.  It worked so great with her at bedtime - she has slept 12+ straight hours at night since she was 6 months old (minus one or two nights when she was sick) and goes to bed willingly since we started sleep training.  And we think the same principles apply at naptime.  If we keep going in to give her a blanky or let her get up or whatever, she quickly learns what to do to get what she wants.  But uugghhh, I'm really struggling here!  I'm not sure what has flipped the switch in her but I'm just so frustrated.  I will say that she has had a bit of a cold this past week, so that may play a part.  And she seems to go through small spurts where her daytime sleep gets severely out of whack for a week or so, then she gets back to normal.  So maybe this is a similar out-of-whack situation and I will be back to singing her praises next week.  But geesh.  Drive a momma crazy.  I will keep you posted on her sleeping patterns (or lack thereof) in the upcoming days.  In the meantime, let us remind ourselves how cute this sometimes frustrating little being really is.....

the stairs are one of her favorite hangouts

wearing her snow coat inside and posing for pictures with her cousin

cuddled in daddy's chair with her "big blanky" and some juice

even with stickers all over her face and disheveled hair, this stinker is one of my favorite things.

Crossfit Day 2

My arms and legs are sore today from yesterday's workout. My abs tingle a little but not too bad. I wanted to do a little different workout today so that I wouldn't work all the same muscles again. Here is what I did:

4 rounds for time
10 step ups
10 dumbell swings (my variation of kettle swings)
10 squats

The dumbell swings turned out being a lot like a wide stance squat, but it works your arms and shoulders since you have to swing the weight. To my surprise, my heart rate was pretty up there. See, these workouts are deceiving: they sound so easy but they actually get your heart pumping and really work your muscles.

My time was 3:48. 3:48!! For a workout! Can't beat that.

I was telling my husband (who has the same thought process as me when it comes to exercise) about these workouts and he was very intrigued. He is even going to start doing some with me tomorrow - added bonus! Stay tuned for his thoughts on Cross Fit!!