Showing posts with label Sleep deprivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleep deprivation. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Hello 2011
These past two months have been very very busy. In addition to having two little girls that are two and under, we bought a new apartment in downtown Laguna and I'm gutting it. That's right...down to the studs in some areas. Which means a lot of time decisions going into it...cabinets, plumbing, tile, carpet, paint, furniture....you get the idea. On top of that I've started working out with a trainer 3 days a week because this booty isn't going to slim itself...believe me, I've given it plenty of opportunity to do so and it's not cooperating! Oh! And my beloved nanny moved away so I've been interviewing and hiring and training my new helper. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about it. And speaking of sleep? Not much! With Alia's potty training and Mimi's cold, let's just say there's a lot of waking up these days. Alia is doing so well with potty training, but still will wake from time to time having to go pee pee in the potty because she's repulsed by the idea of wetting her night-time-only pull-ups...which is a good thing, but still...!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Groundhog's Day?
It's busy around here. If I haven't said that before, I'll say it again: having two babies 15 months apart is a lot. A LOT. All caps, bold print.
Now, that said, there are people out there with more kids, kids closer in age, multiples, you name it. All I'm sayin' is that for me? Right now? Two babies is a lot.
A typical day goes something like this:
Wake up at 12AM, feed Amelie. Wake up at 3AM, feed Amelie. Wake up and get up with Amelie at 5AM. Put her in the bouncy chair while I shower. Get dressed, dry hair, apply minimal amount of socially acceptable make up. And by that, I mean the amount of make up it takes to not scare people in public with the bags under my eyes.
I feed Amelie around 6 or 6:30, depending on when she's ready to eat. I play with her as much as possible before she's ready to go back to sleep at 7AM....which, surprisingly lucky me, is when Alia has been waking up. So after jiggling Amelie off to sleep for her signature micro-nap (read: the girl does not sleep....my nanny with 20 years of experience claims that she's never seen anything like it), I go in and greet Alia. She likes to enjoy a little milk in bed before facing her day, and typically we'll play for 15 or 20 minutes in her crib and/or room before getting her up. At 7:30, my nanny arrives. She throws the laundry in. She tidies up the kitchen. And then Amelie is awake....about 30-45 minutes after she is put down for her first nap. So my nanny and I begin the juggling act. I make Alia's breakfast and put her in the highchair. My nanny will hold Amelie or feed Alia, whichever I ask her to do. I do whatever she's not doing. After she eats, I get Alia dressed, washed up, and ready for the world, and we head out. A typical day is either a trip to the beach, down to town for a stroll, the mall, the grocery store, the bookstore, the library...basically we choose the activity based on what she hasn't done in awhile, what weather permits, and how tired I am from night duty with Amelie.
Our morning activity concludes around 10:30 when Alia is ready for her morning nap. Yes, she is 18 months old and still naps two times a day. I know that makes her a rarity, but my pediatrician says not only should I not be concerned, but I should be celebrating and enjoying the time it gives me. Once Alia is down, I use the time in one of several ways...on nights that Amelie kept me up all night, I too will nap. On days in which the nighttime rest is adequate, I'll make dinner during Alia's morning nap if Amelie is asleep as well, but if Amelie is awake, I snag whatever time I can with her. As noon approaches, or if Alia wakes up and begins her signature hooting and hollering from her crib, I make her lunch.
Alia eats well...she loves whole foods....from avocados, fresh fruit and whole yogurt to peanut butter sandwiches or last night's leftovers, she enjoys lunch on most days.
After lunch, we clean up, change shirts if necessary, and head out again...down to town, to the store, to the park, to the mall, the beach to the bookstore, to the library....whatever we haven't done in awhile and whatever we're both up for. We sing in the car. We talk about what we see....Alia shows me her sign language for tree every time we see one. She exclaims "TUH-TUH-TUH" for every truck we pass, and the bigger the truck, the greater the reverence.
When our afternoon activity ends, we head back home. If Ajay is getting home around this time, we wait for him in the driveway, where Alia gets to slide in through the window and "park" the car in the garage from the safety of Daddy's lap. If he's working later than 4, Alia goes down for her nap and will see Daddy when she gets up. My nanny leaves between 3:30 and 4:00. Oh, and the afternoon nap at this time is usually just quiet time...maybe 1 day in 4 will she actually fall asleep in her crib, but it's time that she needs to regroup and reflect, and it's time that I use to once again connect with little Amelie.
At 5PM, Alia gets up from her nap, and this last part of her day is pretty much exclusively Daddy's time. Which means more time with Amelie for me! Every other day, I use this time to bathe Amelie, or put the finishing touches on dinner if Amelie happens to also be napping. Ajay will play with Alia, or perhaps take her to a neighbors, or for a final stroll in town. I get Alia's dinner ready while they're occupied, as well as set up for her bath. I gather her pjs, nighttime diapers, toothbrush, hair brush, etc. and make sure they are all handy for when it's time to bathe the tornado Alia. From here, the day-end becomes a blur...Alia gets overly stimulated and can sometimes be quite a handful through dinner and bath time. After these are finished, Alia likes to watch her sign language DVD for a bit, and then reads with Daddy in her bedroom until it's lights-out at 7PM. Amelie may or may not be napping or down for the night by now...we have yet to establish a true sleep routine for her, but for the most part she also goes to bed around 7PM, which allows Ajay and me to have dinner together, typically in front of the TV and whatever TIVO caught for us. However, sometimes Amelie holds on until the very end, which makes it more of a baby-pass-around-take-turns-eating event followed by an immediate surrender to bed for all of us when we finally do manage to make the baby sleep. Lights-out for us is pathetically around 9, or even before! Because guess what? Amelie is going to be up in an hour or two or three or four, and you never know which it's going to be!
So there you have it...that's what life looks like for us right now with an 18 month old and a 3 month old. I am busier than ever, and barely get half the things done in a day that I'd like to, but all in all, I think we're doing pretty well.
Now, that said, there are people out there with more kids, kids closer in age, multiples, you name it. All I'm sayin' is that for me? Right now? Two babies is a lot.
A typical day goes something like this:
Wake up at 12AM, feed Amelie. Wake up at 3AM, feed Amelie. Wake up and get up with Amelie at 5AM. Put her in the bouncy chair while I shower. Get dressed, dry hair, apply minimal amount of socially acceptable make up. And by that, I mean the amount of make up it takes to not scare people in public with the bags under my eyes.
I feed Amelie around 6 or 6:30, depending on when she's ready to eat. I play with her as much as possible before she's ready to go back to sleep at 7AM....which, surprisingly lucky me, is when Alia has been waking up. So after jiggling Amelie off to sleep for her signature micro-nap (read: the girl does not sleep....my nanny with 20 years of experience claims that she's never seen anything like it), I go in and greet Alia. She likes to enjoy a little milk in bed before facing her day, and typically we'll play for 15 or 20 minutes in her crib and/or room before getting her up. At 7:30, my nanny arrives. She throws the laundry in. She tidies up the kitchen. And then Amelie is awake....about 30-45 minutes after she is put down for her first nap. So my nanny and I begin the juggling act. I make Alia's breakfast and put her in the highchair. My nanny will hold Amelie or feed Alia, whichever I ask her to do. I do whatever she's not doing. After she eats, I get Alia dressed, washed up, and ready for the world, and we head out. A typical day is either a trip to the beach, down to town for a stroll, the mall, the grocery store, the bookstore, the library...basically we choose the activity based on what she hasn't done in awhile, what weather permits, and how tired I am from night duty with Amelie.
Our morning activity concludes around 10:30 when Alia is ready for her morning nap. Yes, she is 18 months old and still naps two times a day. I know that makes her a rarity, but my pediatrician says not only should I not be concerned, but I should be celebrating and enjoying the time it gives me. Once Alia is down, I use the time in one of several ways...on nights that Amelie kept me up all night, I too will nap. On days in which the nighttime rest is adequate, I'll make dinner during Alia's morning nap if Amelie is asleep as well, but if Amelie is awake, I snag whatever time I can with her. As noon approaches, or if Alia wakes up and begins her signature hooting and hollering from her crib, I make her lunch.
Alia eats well...she loves whole foods....from avocados, fresh fruit and whole yogurt to peanut butter sandwiches or last night's leftovers, she enjoys lunch on most days.
After lunch, we clean up, change shirts if necessary, and head out again...down to town, to the store, to the park, to the mall, the beach to the bookstore, to the library....whatever we haven't done in awhile and whatever we're both up for. We sing in the car. We talk about what we see....Alia shows me her sign language for tree every time we see one. She exclaims "TUH-TUH-TUH" for every truck we pass, and the bigger the truck, the greater the reverence.
When our afternoon activity ends, we head back home. If Ajay is getting home around this time, we wait for him in the driveway, where Alia gets to slide in through the window and "park" the car in the garage from the safety of Daddy's lap. If he's working later than 4, Alia goes down for her nap and will see Daddy when she gets up. My nanny leaves between 3:30 and 4:00. Oh, and the afternoon nap at this time is usually just quiet time...maybe 1 day in 4 will she actually fall asleep in her crib, but it's time that she needs to regroup and reflect, and it's time that I use to once again connect with little Amelie.
At 5PM, Alia gets up from her nap, and this last part of her day is pretty much exclusively Daddy's time. Which means more time with Amelie for me! Every other day, I use this time to bathe Amelie, or put the finishing touches on dinner if Amelie happens to also be napping. Ajay will play with Alia, or perhaps take her to a neighbors, or for a final stroll in town. I get Alia's dinner ready while they're occupied, as well as set up for her bath. I gather her pjs, nighttime diapers, toothbrush, hair brush, etc. and make sure they are all handy for when it's time to bathe the tornado Alia. From here, the day-end becomes a blur...Alia gets overly stimulated and can sometimes be quite a handful through dinner and bath time. After these are finished, Alia likes to watch her sign language DVD for a bit, and then reads with Daddy in her bedroom until it's lights-out at 7PM. Amelie may or may not be napping or down for the night by now...we have yet to establish a true sleep routine for her, but for the most part she also goes to bed around 7PM, which allows Ajay and me to have dinner together, typically in front of the TV and whatever TIVO caught for us. However, sometimes Amelie holds on until the very end, which makes it more of a baby-pass-around-take-turns-eating event followed by an immediate surrender to bed for all of us when we finally do manage to make the baby sleep. Lights-out for us is pathetically around 9, or even before! Because guess what? Amelie is going to be up in an hour or two or three or four, and you never know which it's going to be!
So there you have it...that's what life looks like for us right now with an 18 month old and a 3 month old. I am busier than ever, and barely get half the things done in a day that I'd like to, but all in all, I think we're doing pretty well.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Whew
What a couple of days it's been. No, nothing crazy...no one got hurt. No one broke a bone or ended up in jail. But can I just say how challenging it is to function on so little sleep for 3 months? Just when I thought we rounded a corner and Alia slept for 5 hours one stretch and then another 4 hours all in one night, she's back to waking every 3 hours.
Yesterday was a brutal day for Ajay at work too. So between my continuing fatigue and him getting totally worked at work, let's just say that we were both in bed by the crack of 9 last night. And how out of it am I? I didn't even realize it was the finale of Project Runway last night! I mean, it's not Top Chef, but since the writer's strike of last season, I'm a pretty dedicated addict to Bravo's reality line up! Except Top Design...I don't like the main lady's voice...the Brit? Yeah, she bugs me...but anyway...I've proven that these are the ramblings of a crazy lady!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sleep Envy
Last night, I was totally wiped out with sleep deprivation and Ajay tucked me in at 8:30. I slept and slept, and finally was awakened by the sound of Ajay bringing the baby to me at 1:00 a.m. Fair enough, I thought...even though our typical change of shift was at 3 a.m., he had in fact taken care of her for quite awhile while I enjoyed getting re-acquainted with the inside of my eyelids.
So just to keep track, I had 8:30 to 9-10-11-12-1...that's like, 5 and a half hours of sleep. Not bad!!!!
Anyway, around 1:15 a.m., Little Miss woke up. And she was wide awake. And unhappy. I fed her. I changed her. I sang her songs. I jiggled her. I told her stories. I checked her diaper again. I fed her a little more. I could not get her back to sleep. She was awake for the long haul. I continued into the night trying to calm her, comfort her, and help her go to sleep. But she wouldn't...she was awake and fussy until almost 6 in the morning.
In this stretch of time...from 1 a.m. to about 5:50 a.m., when she decided to finally go to sleep, I found myself doing sleep comparisons in my head like a score card. I know in the end it all evens out. I know that this is totally silly and infantile behavior. But dammit...Ajay got a four hour nap during the day, and now a totally uninterrupted night of sleep too! He had logged 4 + 5 hours of sleep in one day! That's 9 hours! I only got 5! How is this fair!!!! Why did my little girl decide to sleep on his shift and be awake on mine?
And that's about the time that I wheeled in Alia's bassinet into our bedroom, touched Ajay's leg, and told him "it's your turn". I climbed back in bed, slept 2 hours, and began my day with a new understanding for the need of a good under-eye concealer.
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