No Sleep Just Snot. The Perfect Storm.

*Please note I am writing this instead of taking a nap. I need a nap but I also feel a need to document this so I can look back one day and say "I can't believe I survived"*

When your a new mom you hear things like "4 month sleep regression" and think psh..."I'll get through it no problem." or even worse "it won't happen to me". Sure there are babies and moms out there who gracefully embrace life without too much hassle but if you like most moms, you probably have a baby who will go through tough crap like sleep regression. When Audra was headed into 4 months old I went to bed with a permanent cringe in my body. We had a rough 2 weeks but then all of a sudden she was sleeping through the night and everyone was honky dory. Enter the 8-10mth sleep regression, baby's first cold, a new developmental leap, possibly teething, possible growth spurt. Good bye sleep. Good bye sanity.

The Lord has a sense of humor for sure. I prayed for more moments spent with Audra asleep on my chest because it hadn't happened in so long. Now it happens a lot. Usually before the sun comes up. 

Now I do consider myself pretty lucky. Seeing as Audra was born smack dab in the center of cold and flu season she never had anything more than a runny nose for only 24hrs. She is truly a happy baby. Or according to the lady at Aldi's yesterday "the perfect baby". Follow by the question "does she EVER cry?". Why yes nice lady, she does cry but she chooses to do it at 4am. Because...why the heck not?

I mentioned before that Audra has been waking up before the crack of dawn and I typically have to nurse her back to sleep. Add that to everything aforementioned and you have the perfect storm of all things dreadful.

Our nights consist of going to bed when Audra goes to bed but now I have that permanent cringe again. She now will wake up several times during the night. The first one or two she is happy to be rocked back to sleep but if it's near 4am she's hungry and will not be satisfied with anything but eating. If I'm lucky she will then go back to sleep for a while. This morning I was not so lucky. The girl was up and babbling at quarter till 6. It was still dark outside. "The sun ain't even warm yet" as Lorelai would say. She was at least happy. I was only happy there was coffee brewing.

Our days consist of lots of saline drops, booger sucking, and vicks rubbing. I am honestly so tired of hearing the snot in her nose and sucking it out. Or worse yet, hearing it and going to suck it out to find that there is nothing in her nose and it's more in her throat and chest. I finally gave her some Tylenol and a steam today which seemed to help. We've also raised one end of her crib so she sleeps at a slight angle. I am still in doubt that it's working but I'm too lazy to lower it yet.

I have read in her Wonder Weeks leaps that she is at the point where she may temporarily resort back to her newborns habits. Being more fussy, eating more frequently and sleeping less. Whether or not this is really what is happening I feel like the mom of a newborn again. Sleep deprived and filled with thoughts of "why did I have a kid again?"

Oh yeah because moments like these are amazing. 

And moments like this are exciting and hilarious. 

First perogies and with her frenemy Sue the cat. 

But at last we've made it to Friday. I find joy in making it to Fridays, immense joy. I continue to pray over this sweet child that her cold will disappear and that sleep will resume. I pray for patience and strength because nobody likes a child who whines. And I pray for a coffee cup that stays full so I can stay sane.

And when all else fails you put on a pretty bow and make it through the day. 

The Diaper Game

As you can tell from the pictures Audra is a lot younger in them - obviously I wrote this a while ago and I'm just now posting it. Forgive me for having a spare post to pull out when I haven't had two seconds to sit down and write. Crawling baby = no down time.

A few years back I went to a baby shower where they played what was called "The 2am Diaper Game". This is where diapers were passed out and attendees wrote messages on them in sharpie. These would serve to provide a smile or a laugh to the mom who was changing said diaper in the wee hours of the morning. I knew that I wanted this game played at my shower when I had a baby because 1. It's just a fun game that isn't very common at baby showers and
2. I'll use the diapers so why not have fun notes on them?

Well after my shower I admit I read all the diapers but then I put them into storage. They were a size two diaper and I had no idea I wouldn't use them until after Audra was sleeping through the night. But it worked out better this way. I was able to read each diaper as I put it on her and I even took pictures of some of my favorites. If the one you wrote is not pictured it doesn't mean I didn't find it special. It means that I didn't have my phone handy at every diaper change to take pictures of them all. I loved all of them, these are just the ones I was able to capture on film. Wait people don't say that anymore do they? OK, capture on SD card. Doesn't have quite the eloquent feel to it but such is life. Enjoy

You're the best mom ever!

Use only ONCE

Warm hugs, soft kisses, unconditional love

Open Slowly!

You got this mommy

This is a BIG ONE! (it really was!)

My dear friend wrote in Thai on one of the diapers. 

"Meh Meh, means stinky in Thai. Sounds like Men"

This WAS one of her stinkiest diapers to date

 

The outside is prettier than the inside (by far the prettiest diaper from the shower)

Your s'wonderful and s'marvelous (from my same friend who wrote the Thai diaper)

Other diapers that I came across but didn't snap a photo of included baby wanting a guitar and a pony when she grew out of said diaper and the always true and helpful "This too will pass". And I think there was not one but two diapers claiming "isn't it daddy's turn?". True as it may be but daddy has yet to change a poopy diaper. Lucky me. #earningthosemothersdaycards

 So for anyone having a baby shower ever, I encourage you to do this game. It's fun for guests and fun for momma! I can't wait to do this game at a shower some time in the future I have so many good ideas now for what to write!

P.S I would like to give a shout out to the people at the Safety First company for making these bibs. And bless the person who bought them for me.

I highly highly recommend them! They are big enough to cover baby's whole front and they're easily washable, just dunk in your dish water as your washing dishes! One morning Audra was eating her chicken and mixed veggies 'lil' bits from Gerber and some of those carrot pieces are too big for her. It can take her a while to gag one down but she's getting better. Well this morning she gagged on one for a while. I went to get a paper towel to clean her face and when I came back she not only spit up the bite she just ate but the milk she had for breakfast 2 hours before hand. Her bib was COVERED and the pocket was holding it all! I was so glad I chose that bib today otherwise her dress and high chair would of been drenched and she would have been headed for a bath. I am half tempted to put all other bibs in storage. *reading this now I realized I only use these Safety First bibs. The other ones I keep in the diaper bag for on-the-go meals but I don't use them at home anymore.* This Safety First bib was a life and dress saver that day! If you're pregnant or you have a baby who is not yet eating solids but will eventually, get yourself one or two or three of these bibs! You won't be sorry!

Thanks for reading. P.P.S. size two diapers for.ev.er.

Month Number Eight

If you remember from my 7th month post I was not enjoying that Audra was 7 months old because I enjoyed her being 6 months still. Well the 7th month was without a doubt the fastest month yet. Hello. Good-bye. Welcome to month number eight!

The other day I counted the weeks until Audra turns 1 year old. Then it was 18 weeks away. Now it is 17 weeks away. How is that possible? That also means Christmas is 15 weeks away and I have yet to start my shopping. Oy.

Audra's eighth month has greeted us with a cold. Babies with colds are no fun. Sucking snot out a screaming baby's nose at 5am is really no fun. But the fact that she is a little more cuddly than normal is a pretty nice trade off.

We are also saying good-bye to Summer and gearing up to greet Autumn. Really my favorite season with the exception that after it is Winter.

Not much has changed in our day-to-day. Audra still gets up before the sun everyday but as much as I hated her to get in the habit of nursing that early I have done it more and more lately. I will nurse her for 10 minutes and she usually falls back to sleep for another hour and a half. So I get to go back to sleep until 8 sometimes. Sometimes is the key word. Sometimes she doesn't and she is up and babbling like a brook at 6:15am. And I start counting down the minutes until nap time. I think I will either chalk it up to a growth spurt or the fact that we had a solid routine so she decided to change things up on me. This morning the drama started at 4am. No one was happy.

It was really hard to get her to look at me because she was obsessed with the sticker!

Happy almost weekend friends. Cheers to Friday eve! Eat some ice cream to celebrate. Or wash your hair and change out of your pajamas. I am choosing the latter.