Summer, Sleep Training and Ruffly Swimsuits

Howdy-doo!

I feel like I have been scarce around these parts as of late. I wish I could say it is due to some big vacation or major home-reno project but truth be told, I’ve just been a lazy SOB. Hats off to anyone (and I do mean ANYONE) who works full-time, has any form of offspring (be it human or other varietal), one or two hobbies, various relationships AND manages to do anything else. Doesn’t matter if it’s a side job, volunteering, or writing about their inner-most thoughts on the internet. Keeping any semblance of a “regular” schedule is tough to do. I do not do it well. I do not do many things well. But I am STELLAR at doing several things at a mediocre level. I win at that.

So in no certain order – here is what has been going on in my life.

CLARA. Clara has been going on. Here we are on the 4th of July.

I bought this outfit for her at Target last year (minus the drool bib) when I was pregnant for like $8. I am a TOTAL sucker for bloomers and I always will be. Poor girl will be wearing them in 8th grade if I have my way.

She is just the best. I am still completely obsessed with her and everything she does and does not do. She could literally kick me in my open eye and I would not care. I would rob a bank if she wanted me to, or clean up a dead body. FIGHT ME.

Also, we did sleep training with her.

*Disclaimer – As I have said from the beginning…I am sharing my experience here guys. Not an expert. Not telling anyone what to do and not looking for criticism. Just your average gal, doin’ her best.

And now we can talk about how SLEEP TRAINING IS THE WORST THING EVERRR. Imagine a hot knife being plunged into your heart. THAT is sleep training my friends. Maybe I am being a taddd dramatic but honestly it was the worst thing I have experienced. And it is worth talking about in case anyone else is going/has gone/will go through it.

My only tip coming out the other side is this: THE ONLY way to get through sleep training is with a partner. There is 100% NO WAY I could have managed it on my own. Here is how it went down:

Girlfriend was a champion sleeper until like 5 months. Then she went through the dreaded sleep regression that everyone warns you about. We could no longer swaddle, because she was rolling over (click here to see what helped us through that) and I was up 4-8 times a night feeding her so she would go back to sleep. Even though they were short little feeds (it was more about soothing than actually eating), it was getting to be a lot. David and I knew we needed to teach her to soothe herself and go back to sleep on her own. The first step was starting to put her to bed while she was still awake and doing “the routine”. We read her books, sing her songs, make a point to show her that we are shutting the curtains, and turn on the white noise. We explain what we are doing, while we are doing it. It is a sight to see. Then we set her down, wide awake.

Then we let her cry.

This is where having a supportive partner comes in. Lucky for me, I have the world’s most supportive partner (seriously, ever). He obviously does not enjoy the sound of her crying, but it does not affect him the way it affects me. I had to go outside, watch YouTube, drink wine and I still SOBBED. I did this every night.

The longest she ever cried for during this period was about 25 minutes. Which, when you are going through it – is a lifetime. And we did not check in on her…we just let her cry. The first couple of nights, I did get up with her when she would cry in the middle of the night, but then quickly decided to stop doing that too. We just felt that it may be confusing to her. So when she cried during the night, I would go to another room (she sleeps in a Pack and Play in our room still).

After about a week or ten days, she FINALLY got the hang of it! She slept through the night, from like 7 pm to 6 am and has been doing that consistently since then. She is WAY happier during the day, still takes 2-3 naps (albeit, sometimes not long ones) and David and I have our evenings back. It really is a win-win for us but I also know it does not work for everyone.

Her tiny eyebrows slaaaay me

At the end of July, David went to Las Vegas to coach basketball for 5 days and my mom, Megan and nephews came to stay. Here is what we did:

We played on the ground a lot with cousin Dean.

We went in the pool with cousin ~~Tornado~~ Tate.

Clara’s swimsuit? Yes it has ruffles on the butt.

We went places.

Like the zoo!

Here we are on the little train at the zoo.

Then, Clara got sick for her first official time! I do not know why I am making this sound exciting because it most definitely was not. She caught a little stomach bug and literally emptied her tummy allll over the house while my mom was watching her. I was at my bestie Kelly’s birthday party and had to leave early. It was a whole thing.

I came home to a very pale bb.

It was so sad and so hard. OF COURSE it had to happen when David was out of town. He is really good in situations like this whereas I just cry and panic. She did not have a temp and I called the doctor on call at her pediatrician to figure out what to do. It was quite a night though.