Spiff:
Spiff has finished his second year of medical school! It hardly seems possible that he is halfway through his medical school training! And now, he and his friends are in the thick of studying for Step 1 of the Board Exam. They are all putting in even more hours studying for this test than they did studying for any of the other classes they have taken over the last two years. When Spiff informed me of his plan to study from 7:30-6:00 six days a week for this five weeks, I had a minor emotional meltdown, and I'll admit to having a bit of a pity party as well. I have accepted it now, and we're safely in a new routine, which includes a picnic lunch with the family on the medical school's beautiful grounds, in order to break up the monotony of Spiff's 11-hour study days.
Mindy:
While Spiff is busy studying at school, Gunner and I are preoccupied with Sleep Training. I constantly worry and brainstorm about how to teach my baby to sleep. I know that I posted about "Crying It Out" a couple months ago, and we did try it at that time. But we weren't all that dedicated, and it really didn't take. Now, however, something has to be done with our sweet little baby because he refuses to sleep! He won't let us cuddle him and rock him to sleep anymore, and he cries and cries when we put him down to sleep in his bed. We are using the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child as a guideline, and it has given us some ideas about how to have a well-rested child. So far, some of the ideas have been very helpful, and some of the ideas have just frustrated me. The author gives many patients' testimonials on how his ideas have caused miracles, and those same ideas have come close to giving our little family all ulcers. I'm pretty frustrated with the whole thing. My friends keep telling me that it will get better if we just power through and do our best to teach him to comfort himself. It has actually helped to me to think of it as "sleep training", with a plan and an agenda, instead of just "crying-it-out". Like potty training, I know that sleep training will take a while and not happen over night. But I sure do feel like it's going to last forever.
Update (Sunday May 17): We have been doing this for almost a week, and I'm happy to say that we have seen some glimmers of hope. Gunner has gone down to bed like a dream for three nights in a row! I know we're not done, and I don't expect this to happen every night, but it helps us get through the sleepless moments when we know he has his great moments, too.
5 comments:
May the Lord be with you Mindy.
Way to go! Just keep it up and he will just get better and better. Every baby comes with their own challenges and you're doing great with him. When it all boils down, the most important thing is that you love him and keep him safe.
Oh Mindy! I wish I lived closer and could come bring you cookies and let you get some sleep while I play with that cute guy! I hate the whole sleep thing with kids. Right up there with my hatred of potty training . . . and maybe even worse because you're trying to deal with it in a sleep deprived state. Not fun. It gets better. I promise. Just stick with it.
Miss you tons! Make sure you let me know if you're coming out this way at all this summer.
Dennis has been having so much trouble lately... come to find out he is getting two teeth! Check it out. Also, when my mom was in town she didn't like it when we would let dennis cry so she would go in there and burb him sometimes FOREVER! And, sometimes he really would have a bubble that was just hard to get out. ??? but you never know. :) good luck.
I don't envy your sleep-deprivation. I'd have gone postal long ago.
On a different note, it was fun seeing your fam on your daily pic-nic, today.
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