Can anybody figure out this sleep thing?

Here we are, almost 10 months old. To think, at one month of age, we were pulling our hair out trying to figure out when we would get a good nights sleep. Looking ahead, we figured by this time, a piece of cake. Well, we were wrong. It all began Tuesday night, Nana spent the night and Mackenzie put on a show. Crying at 10, 11, midnight. Dad gets home from work, mom is up with her, mom puts her into the cribtonyte, and voila, more crying. Dad goes up to do his thing. A couple of attempts, to no avail. Into dads bed, I lay there, she is asleep, I can get out of bed she stays asleep. Try the crib, cribtonyte. She wails. Back to dads bed, try again. Asleep. this time I try the forklift approach of getting her up, and voila, success! She is asleep in her crib. 6:30 am, more crying. Based on the activities of last night, this is too early to get up. In to bed with dad, we buy another hour of quiet sleep. Mom is up, comes to the rescue, dad gets another hour of sleep.
So, Wednesday, my little Mookie should have some good naps based on last nights performance. Morning nap, 1/2 an hour. Hmmmm....Afternoon nap, another 1/2 hour. What is with this kid?

Wednesday night, Mackenzie goes to bed as usual. She was a happy girl all day, don't get me wrong. However, tonight would be different. Out like a light. Thursday morning, mom and dad awake. What happenned? Is she still alive, breathing? Voila, sleeps through the night. A solid 11.5 hrs. Yay! We feel human again.

So, based on that, we're off to a good start for the day. Sure enough, Mackenzie decides on skipping her morning nap. No problem we figure. We're told at this age they may start to get out of two naps and convert to one daytime nap. Noon, the nap begins. To our surprise, only an hour. Regardless, she is still happy. Bedtime, out like a light. This is where it gets a little foggy. I am sure we were up, played musical beds, and she didn't get full nights sleep. Danielle must have dealt with most of it. Thanks hun.

Friday, mom and daughter are tired. They nap in mom and dad's bed. 2 hrs, 15 minutes later, they get up. It's just after noon. That is what I call a nap. Mom is better, baby is better. Friday night, just like clockwork, up at 11pm.
dad gets home from work, Mackenzie is with mom. Asleep in bed. That's ok, she is teething, and everytime we get close to her crib, she wakes up. Go figure. I leave them be. 3:30 am, crying, I get up, meet them at the change table. Another messy diaper. They have been messy this week, and happening often. Fresh bum, dad takes over, mom goes to the room where dad was. Dad tries to settle her down. She decides to have a conversation with me. Try the bottle, not interested. She is happy, which is good. One problem, it 4:15 am! Time for sleep, not party. I lay there with her, time to sit up she says. I say, time for another bottle. Not an oz into her, out again. We go upstairs, cribtonyte, Back into dad's room. She is asleep again. Yay. It is 5am, I make a succesful transfer into her crib. I go get a drink downstairs, make my way back to bed. I finally get back to the verge of sleep, 5:45 am, wailing. This is too much. I will try and preserve some sort of a nights sleep for mom. I go get her, into bed with dad. She wedges her little body in between me and the pillows, asleep. I am too pooped to move her. Therefore, I only get a light sleep for fear of smothering her. Somehow, 8am shows up, mom awakes, plucks her from bed and they go downstairs. Dad gets back to sleep for 2 more hours. I awake, analayze the night, shrug my shoulders. She is a baby, she is teething, it must hurt. Or, do we comfort her too much, too soon? She does not come to bed with us everynight, nowhere near that. But as a first time parent you begin to question yourself and your choices. My sister has 3 children between 4 and 7. I feel out her thoughts on the issue, as she puts it, 'You gotta survive!' Her kids didn't turn out bad. I dunno.

All day, Mook is not herself. More upset than usual. I guess so with that little sleep. We give her fresh air, food, bottle, whatever to keep her happy. Nap time, 1pm, we figure a good 2 hrs coming our way. 30 minutes later, nap over. Way too short. Besides drugging them or adding alcohol to their bottle, how can we get her to sleep more?
She gets more fussy. I go outside and present my conundrum to my neighbour over coffee. He has two boys under 4. As I make my way back inside, Mook is asleep in mom's arm. Mom changes her spongy diaper, she awakes. A soother keeps her calm. Upstairs we go, she is up. That is it, off we go for a ride. As I carry her downstairs, dad decides to get his stunt double and fall down two steps with Mook in my arm. A scraped knee on my behalf and a spooked baby. We're ok. As mom and daughter go to Nana's, she is good. Surprisingly, no car nap on the way over. They shop, Mackenzie is a ham as usual. 6pm, on the way home from Nana's, cell phone rings, Mackenzie is not happy again. This time, she passes out on the car before home. To wake her up, or let her sleep, that is the question? I have not heard back yet, so I have no clue what is going on.

Just when you think you have a system, it's gone. Just when you get used to a new routine, you lose it. too bad there are no books on this stuff. Wait a minute, there are. They lie. Life is not a text book. So, in the meantime, we'll hang in there. It can only get better. It has too. What's a little yawning every day? I have gotten used to forgetting everything, not being able to remember is pretty much the same thing. Besides, after awhile, you sort of get used to feeling like dirt so it becomes the norm. As my father once told me, once you decide there is no such thing as a bad cup of coffee, it all tastes good whether or not it is Tim's finest, or a cup of mud, it all tastes good to me. I guess its all about attitude.

So much for daily posts....

Well, to my loyal readers, I think that list includes only me. Regardless, the responsibilities of a new parent never end. I try to balance my life to have a little bit of time for everything I want to do, if that were the case, I would not sleep. So as a result, daily turns into sometimes yearly. Someday soon, I will post some more photographs.
Since my last post, Mackenzie has five words, mama, dada, nana, papa, and bubba (bottle). The problem is, she has had these same words for 3 months now. Maybe she will need to go to a special school after all. Regardless, last week was a momentus week at Westminster Ave. Mackenzie cut her first tooth. Mackenzie has now decided to pull her self up to a standing position on anything she can. Also, she now has realized, she can crawl. Only far enough to get whatever is in front of her. After that, she gives up. I guess once she understands the concept of being in the other room, vs disappearing act, then she may stop getting frustrated and continue to crawl. In the meantime, I have another week before I need to install the baby gate. Last, but most importantly not least, until I screwed it up last night, we were blessed with 3 consecutive sleeps through the night. Good sleep makes a world of difference. I have been more fortunate then Danielle in this aspect. Thanks again honey. However, once your spouse starts getting good sleep, voila, life is good again. So, now that I am back at work and Danielle is in charge again, 2 good things will come out of this. Mackenzie's routine will be more regimented and hopefully more sleeps through the night, and secondly, at least it won't be my fault if she doesn't.
P.S. It looks like our weight loss program is about to start. A walking and crawling child will enhance our mobility, and activity level, for the next few years. Might be time to adjust her bedtime 1 hour earlier.