Well... looks like things are FINALLY blowing over. DD is sleeping great (except for the fact that she gets herself wedged in a corner at least once a night). I can handle that though. We are all sleeping better. Phew.. that was a big bump. My milks back up and she's quite content now. Im positive that wasn't the only issue but one of many. She's starting to squeal now and is definitely more verbal. I love hearing her talk to me. We had a mommy daughter day today and she's so happy and back to her normal self. Like my clients tell me they are happy they stuck with it. I am too, though really.. i dont know any other way so i didnt have a choice. Im just glad i covered all my basics and kept on the same path. Really though. We started all this when she was 2 days old. Its the only thing that she knows. I just thought i would give that update and i am very appreciative to all my past clients for all your emails of encouragement. it meant a lot and i am truly great full.  Off to wake my lil baby up from her great nap and give her tonn

WOW... my daughter is really teaching me (i think Debbie has set me up). In my last blog i mentioned that DD had a few obstacles to overcome. She learned to roll which caused her to be very frustrated at night and at naps while trying to master this new skill. She loved to sleep with her face smothered in the mattress. LOVELY!! Thats where my sleeplessness started. I kept checking on her because ... i was worried. Rightfully so. I was up hourly and many times had to go move her head to the side. I didnt flip her, that would have been pointless because she needed to figure this out. Second obstacle.. TEETHING. ESH! what  a grump! I am truly a believer in amber. My DS has had a necklace on forever. DD has had hers on since 3 mos but its not touching her. Ive stated before and i will again. SHES A DRAMATIC DIVA!. . . Well.. what does all this mean? This means a big sleep hiccup in our home. Ive troubleshooted all that i could. Checked the room temp, double checked her schedule, offered pain relief both homeopathic and tyl/advil, picked Debbie's brain apart, and what does it come down to? Im doing everything right. I have to wait this out. SERIOUSLY... i had a big sigh in thinking how hard we worked to get to here and everything is right, she just needs some time. She is having great naps, but is waking overnight. It changed over a few weeks though which made it even more confusing. She was originally waking because of her rolling skill, then i think it was teething. Then it changed some more and tricked me. I thought she was still having trouble sleeping on her tummy or teething but it was one obstacle blending into another.  She's not staying awake long enough for me to have to check on her, but it ranges. Some nights its 1 wake her worst night was 5 wakes. Only one night was her wake longer then 20 min. When a client would tell me that their child was up longer then 20 i would tell them "make sure they are eating enough in the day". So just as i thought i was comfortable in my supply, and that wasn't the issue but all these other things were, i decided to  go on a milk boosting marathon. Bring on the water, pumping and fenugreek. I smell like maple syrup (mmmm...) so it must be working. 

I have had a few clients where they have had these obstacles, i have yet to see a blend of 3 but leave  that up to my DD. Every baby is different (mine is for sure), and as long as i don't change how i react to things i know she will adapt and not be confused.  I can now say "i've been there, i've done that" Here's the thing.... I may be a trainer but right now, while doing the training myself, i'm a mom. Even as a trainer i need my reassurance sometimes. My clients have me.. I have Debbie. (SO SO THANKFUL for Debbie)

Email sent to Debbie from myself
"I know we talked. I know I can't do anything. But ur my person and I'm know i shouldn't be but im frustrated. More cause we worked SO HARD. she should be  sleeping. She's never woken this much. Even at birth. I've double and triple checked everything. I'll top her up more today after feeds.  Her naps are perfect.   Very different being on this end the second time around. Glad i have you!!"


Email back to me from Debbie
"I understand how frustrated you are but I can't stress enough that those wakes are normal.  As she gets older they will shorten and seem like they r gone. She's not a newborn anymore, she's a baby. This means more alert and aware. Nothing u can do to minimize this other then what u have done. Now u need time   Makes it worse cause ur a light sleeper.  Please just hang in.  You know less then 20 is fine. "

I thought long and hard before posting this as i didn't want people to think "huh, it doesn't work" Thats not the case at ALL!. Our system works, this just proves that sometimes you can do everything right and things can still appear to go wrong. We can think its not going to work or WE are doing something wrong.... but sometimes our babies are just buggers. Plain and Simple. Just give it time.  

Its been 3 days since the above email. Im confident she had some great feeds, LOVES to sleep on her tummy now (face to the side), teething we are now going the homeopathic route and last night and she did fantastic. Woke once for a few minutes and back to sleep till her wake up time in the morning. Today same thing. Longer feeds and great naps. Lil trickster is keeping me on my toes. Im HOPING that the light at the end of the LONG tunnel is getting brighter. Im off to bed and  hope not to hear from my lil Diva till the morning... Fingers crossed.

Well.... I had mentioned in a past blog i would be taking my DD on a trip with us to the DR... well i learned a whole lot on that trip.. and the biggest one.. sometimes you have no control and have to accept that!... if you know me... that is NOT EASY.

Lets start with a flight that left at 6 am on the day of a time change.. oh ya... cause we need 2 factors in the mix.  DD is a light sleeper. I put her to bed at 9 as normal. had everything ready. Car seat in her room. Car packed. Last thing we did was put her in the car seat to go. Of course as soon as i walked in the room she looked at me as if to say "lets go mom, im excited." she stayed up the WHOLE 1 hr drive, the WHOLE 1 hr it took to check our luggage and finally fell asleep on the walk to our terminal for 45 min.. thats it. My anxiety started already it wasn't even 7 am yet. At least she fell asleep after nursing on take off and fell asleep for 2 hrs in my arms. I bought this great contraption called a flye baby to use on the plane. But i wasnt allowed to use it which was frustrating. She's a heavy baby to hold for 2 hrs, but i did. She did wake after 2 hrs. We were able to keep her happy till we landed 1.5 hrs later. Then came the 45 min bus ride.. that she slept on. By this point i was so confused as to if it was time to eat or sleep or what. (i was also exhausted) Of course we couldnt check in till 3. Somehow, she fell back into her schedule through the day and we put her to bed in our hotel room in a crib at her normal bedtime after a bath and bed routine at 9pm as normal. Now she had been sleeping through the night for us for almost 2 weeks at home... i expected a hiccup. At 6am.. Hiccup. she was up. fuss fuss fuss Normally at home its easy.. turn the monitor down and let her fuss. But since im a light sleeper so i was basically up and at 7 am (an hour before i should have) i fed her and started the day. 

It would  take a good hour for me to write how the whole week went. We eventually fell into our own routine backwards somehow. Short morning nap. 2 hr nap on the beach (cant complain there) and 2 hr nap in our room for "Siesta" which again, we didnt mind since we would grab a nap/ shower and be ready for diner. 
Now if you have ever been on a trip with a group of 30, going to your room at a decent hour is not really the plan. My husband and i didnt really want to take turns going to bed early, we wanted to enjoy some time ourselves with our friends and without our running toddler. SO.. we brought along her pj and i fed her where ever we were (LOTS of N.I.P. but covered of course) and walked her around in her stroller. Out like a light. We rarely went back to the room before 12 and she did well. Our nights remained off with at least one wake up that took a while to get her to go back to sleep (or so it seemed long... no working clock in the room) but the days became consistent. We even did a day excursion hike to a waterfall... OMG. what was i thinking.... i was given props for making parenting look like a breeze as i didnt let anything stop me. BUT i have to tell you... I WAS EXHAUSTED! It was a ~6k hike. After the first 1/4 kM with DD Strapped to me with a carrier (asleep) and almost losing my balance many times on steep hill and wet rocks. i bailed out and decided to go HORSEBACK!!! yes you read that right.. DD at 4 mos old (on her 4 mo bday actually) rode horseback. BUT only for maybe 2.5 kms. I had to do the last bit of the hike on foot. The waterfall was too big to take her close to (not as i pictured it) so we hung out. She had a big feed in the rainforest and it was interesting because the local ladies were impressed. It was hot and i decided to not cover up with my cover and they were all looking at me and smiling. One told me that it was nice to see a mom nursing naturally as they do there. We had a nice chat. They dont have any covers as we do at home. Even covered at home i get stared at. I dont get it. Im feeding my child, one of the most natural things a woman can do. But in the DR they get it and it was great. Honestly my fav moment of the trip. Then i expected to jump back on my horse. NOPE.. that was it for the horse. BUT they told me it was only a 20 min walk back to the bus. WHATEVER. 1.5 hrs later. through rivers, streams, rushing water, up hills, down hills, through mud and now at 1pm in the blistering sun. Lets say my patience was thin. My baby was hot and though she did amazing. That was enough. Needless to say. We stayed on the resort after that until the wedding. Again.. She did great. No schedule followed, and again we somehow picked back up to normal. 

The rest of the week stayed pretty much the same. i thought i was starting to adapt but still found myself a little panicked and texting debbie about silly stuff i knew i had no control over. By day 6 i was ready to come home and get back to our normal routine. I have to add..... A TEETHING BABY WHO IS LEARNING TO ROLL ON VACATION... Come on. really. Yup. Just one more thing to add. 

Our flight home was at 1130pm. HORRID. we got a late check out and she did well on the flight. The plane wasnt full and though she slept from 8pm-1130. She woke on take off and was up for an hour. She finally fell asleep and since the plane wasnt full we were able to lay her down between us and get some rest ourselves. 
She stayed awake when we departed the plane right till we got home at 4am. THEN SLEPT TILL 8am. Home sweet home. Our 1st 2 days we stayed home. it was tough.  i needed to get her back on her routine. Its now a week later we have FINALLY gotten our 11 hrs overnight back and 3 great naps. The only training im doing now is if she rolls over. I had a few obstacles in my way on my return and i really think they would have happened even if i was home. Teething and rolling both effect sleep, so the poor babe had quite a bit to overcome. Im a very proud momma though. Because shes doing great.

What did i learn on this trip. Sometimes. As much as you want to, You can't plan whats going to happen. So you can roll with it and enjoy or stress about it. I found myself somewhere in between. It was a great trip and we really got to learn so much about our lil baby girl. Shes amazing. What a personality and she was adored by all of our friends. 

My 2 year old stayed with my mom. He did AMAZING. slept 11-11.5 hrs a night and 3 hrs a day. FLAWLESS!!! He didnt miss us, just his sister. We are going away again in Jan. 

Im so happy to be home though