Our Journey Into Night Weaning: Night 3

For some odd reason, I am having a really hard time remembering last night. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because we had a busy day and I was really tired when i went to bed, so my memory of last night is just heavy with sleep.

We woke up from night 2 and scurried around to get ready to spend the day at the zoo with friends. It was a hot day, and it was also our first time going with no carrier or stroller. Mackynzie is now old enough to walk the zoo on her own (when did that happen?). When we got home, we had lots to keep us busy and with the dogs being home alone all day, they needed a big walk in the evening. Mackynzie didn't get her typical morning nap, but she slept in the car both ways. All of those things combined left one tired little girl come bed time. Over tired. To the point where she didn't think she was tired anymore.

After doing our night time thing, I brought her into bed after I read her some stories (Cody had a really hard day at work, so he went to bed at about 6. that didn't help because when she couldn't get comfortable she wanted him to come help her.). I nursed her, but she just couldn't settle. we spent an hour switching from breast to almond milk, rubbing and massaging her back and feet, laying in every possible direction and position on the bed, moving to her own bed, moving back to our bed where she finally said yes to nursing and fell asleep. For the past few weeks (before the move) she has been saying no to nursing sometimes, when I offer at her usual nursing times. Last night was the first night (as far as I can remember) that she had said no to nursing at bed time after her first session. Cody woke up to grab something to eat, we talked for a couple minutes and I went to bed a couple minutes before 11pm.

 I don't remember looking at the time when she woke up, but i assume it was between 12:30 and 3am. from what remember, she woke up kind of grumpy, and got pretty mad when she asked, and I said "boobies all done.".  After refusing water or cuddles for a couple of minutes, she drank some water and I was able to bounce her back to sleep on my chest within what I can only assume was about 20 minutes. She woke shortly after 6am again, and nursed back to sleep until about 6:45, when she nursed again and then woke up.

  Not a bad night. I think we were both just really tired from our long day and we also got a lot of sun, so when bedtime came, we slept really solidly, but at the same time it wasn't the most restful sleep. I am tired today. Its one of those heavy tired's though. Like when you fall into a solid dreamless sleep and wake up feeling like you are wearing body weights.

The first 3 nights have past, and we are on to the next set of 3 nights. Honestly, I am a bit nervous for tonight. Part of me is confident though, since I haven't had to nurse her at all during her night wakings, so that's just one less thing to remove tonight. All in all, I am just planning to go enjoy the beautiful day ahead and the hot weather, and take advantage of the amount of sleep i have had under my belt from the past three nights.

Our Journey Into Night Weaning: Night 2

 After night one of our night weaning journey, I had a sneaking suspicion that the one wake up was a fluke, and I would be paying for it on night 2.

 Well, I was wrong. Which leaves me more suspicious, because there is no way I can actually be this lucky is there? Or is It because I have been so sleep deprived that any amount of extra sleep at this point is leaving me thinking I've struck gold? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Night 2 went well. Better than night 1 even. Here's the break down:

 We went out for dinner with our family for mother's day at 6:15pm (A perfect example of us needing to be flexible with our schedule. We like to keep dinner between 5:15 and 6pm.). It was really busy due to the holiday, so service was slow, and we weren't home until about 7:45. We decided that since our routine was still new, we would keep to it despite the time. We put Mackynzie in the bath as soon as we were home, quickly got her ready for bed, so Cody and her could sit down with a story and her almond milk. I took her to bed to nurse her and I am pretty sure she was asleep by about 8:30.

  Cody and I parted ways and I crawled into bed at about 10:30. Mackynzie was fast asleep, I had a dog snuggled at my feet and I quickly drifted off. At about 12:30-12:45 Mackynzie woke up coughing a bit (she is getting the rest of her teeth, so when she teethes she gets a horrible runny/plugged nose which makes her couch at night sometimes.) So I went downstairs to to grab her a drink of water (normally I keep a water for myself, and Mackynzie on the night stand, but i forgot.). She met me at the stairs as I was going up, so I carried her with me back to bed. She drank her water thirstily, then let me lay her on my chest. She sat up and asked for 'boobie' and again, I responded with 'boobies all done.'. She whined a tiny bit but laid back on my chest and was asleep within a minute or so. I say the entire episode lasted 10 minutes tops.

The next time she woke me up, it was 5:50am. She asked for 'boobies' but since it was not yet 6 am (the hour we chose to end.) I cuddled her instead. She fussed for a minute, but flopped down and laid still. At 6am, she was still awake (we are early birds, so we wake up for the day between 6 and 7.) and I knew she was up for the day. I asked her if she would like to have 'boobies' and her little face lit up while she exclaimed 'Yes!' and clapped her hands. We nursed for about 20 minutes and were soon joined by Cody who gave us each a kiss goodbye.

This morning I woke up with more energy then I can ever remember waking up with. It was glorious. Perfect timing too, because we had a full day at the zoo!

Our Journey Into Night Weaning: Night 1

Yesterday, I talked about how we have decided to night wean 19 month old Mackynzie, using Dr. Jay Gordons method on changing sleeping patterns in the family bed in this post. This is how our first night went.


 I prepared myself for a long night.  I fully expected to get very little sleep, and braced myself for the possibility of a mama-baby melt down. Much to my surprise, it didn't go horribly.

 We got Mackynzie down at about 8pm, and I crawled into bed a little after 10:30. When she woke up for the first time, I glanced at the clock and was surprised to see it was already 2:30 (Of course, the night we are prepared for an all-nighter she sleeps, right?). I laid her on my chest and she imidiately asked for 'boobies'. I told her 'boobies all done.' and laid her back on my chest. She cried a little, but laid down anyway. She moved on and off my chest for a little bit, and I rubbed her back while she laid on her pillow. This went on for what I can only assume was 40mins to an hour, at which point she fell asleep and so did I. She didn't wake again until 6:38. I nursed her then, and she feel back to sleep until 8am.

I woke feeling much more rested than I have felt in quite some time. It made me both hopeful and cautious of night 2.

We didn't just decide to do this and wing it. We did have a plan, and made some preparations to ready all of us.

The Plan

 After talking about it for a bit, we decided it would be best for us if Cody slept downstairs (Don't worry, he wasnt banished to an uncomfortable couch.) and I took on the first couple of nights on my own. Then when I felt like Mackynzie was doing well, Cody would come back to the bed and we would both take on comforting her if need be. We mainly decided to do it this way because Cody has to be up for work early in the morning, and deals with machinery at work that would be unsafe to operate without a good nights sleep. We also decided that the most important 7 hours for us was between 11pm and 6am. That way, it flowed well with our natural sleep and wake up times. Mackynzie and I are early birds, so we wake anytime between 6 and 7.

The Preparations

 We have always known our bedtime routine wasn't the strongest (it wasn't the weakest either.), especially with the last month or so being super busy due to our move. So naturally, the first preparation we were going to make was defining our bedtime routine. We figured out what made sense, how our nights typically go, and developed a routine from that. We now start the bed time preparations with dinner, which is between 5:15 and 6pm (Flexibility is important for our family, because we often have things come up, or have evening activities, so a wide time frame is what we need.) We do our best to make sure Mackynzie eats a high healthy fat, high calorie meal to try to help her sleep a bit better. Right after dinner and clean up, we take the dogs for their walk (If Mackynzie didn't eat much dinner, she takes a snack and some water with her on the walk.), which is typically a half hour. After our walk its bath time, which we keep in the time frame of 6:30 and 7:30pm. Bath time is followed by stories with Cody and a cup of almond milk between 7:30-8pm. Finally, at 8pm, I take Mackynzie into bed and nurse her to sleep.


 I think our new schedule has helped a tone already. Not just for Mackynzie, either! We are much more productive in the evenings now and my stress level for little things like having the house clean for the night, has been greatly reduced.

Back to night one though, I am skeptical. It was so much less than what we had both anticipated. Like when you're watching a suspenseful movie and you're sure the bad guy is about to pop out but he doesn't... Maybe it was a random fluke, or maybe this is just the right time and we are on the right track. Too bad we can't whip out that trusty parenting manual.

Longing For Sleep

 You can read about how the nights following this post went here, with  night 1, night 2, night 3, night 4,  night 5,  night 6, and night 7

 I am tired. Seriously tired. downright crazy exhausted. It has been this way for a while and the thought of being well-rested seams like a far away dream. A very far dream, since you need sleep to dream.

  Our nights start off with me nursing Mackynzie to sleep, then laying her either in our bed or her bed (until the move, her bed has always been beside ours. It's currently in 'her room' until we get things organized.). Our bed time routine is casual, but pretty solid and it has worked well for us at bed time. Staying asleep, however, is another story. Mackynzie still nurses throughout the night and wakes often to do so. In fact, she would be happy to just stay on the breast all night and have that be that. Night nursing is getting hard though. I have never been one of those people who can latch baby, close their eyes and go right back to sleep. I am lucky if I doze off lightly for a few minutes. It also becomes extremely uncomfortable to nurse in the night time position. My back aches and clenches and I start getting a claustrophobic, panicky, itchy feeling. But she insists on nursing several times per night, even though she is hardly suckling, and most definitely not drinking milk. This routine has resulted in a very tired mama.

 We have tried a few things that are in our comfort zone, like having her in her own space, in her own room, giving her a drink before bed, giving her a snack right before bed, tiring her out like mad, and many others. Some nights seemed like things may start to shift, and we would be sleeping soundly soon. It wouldn't take long for things to go back to normal again, though, and for us to realize our longer stretches of sleep had been from factors outside our normal routine.

 I am finding myself often stumbling through my days. Not paying enough attention to conversations to catch even the last sentence. Unable to muster up enough energy to do simple things like go to the park or take the dogs for a walk. My creativity has flown out the window. I have a sad amount of patience. And admittedly, I have found myself to be cranky and irritable. That last one really bothers me. Mackynzie has been tired too, and often joining me on the cranky bus due to lack of rest.

 Night weaning has come up in the past. We gave it a gentle try, but it didn't feel right, so we stopped.  I know saying something doesn't 'feel' right is a very unscientific term, but we believe very deeply that our instincts need to be what drives our family, so we can do what is right for us.

 Mackynzie is 19 months old now. She is showing some major signs of being ready, and everything feels right now. It's not an uncomfortable thought anymore, and neither Cody nor I leave a conversation about it with feelings of guilt or uncertainty. Since first thinking about it, we had been looking at different ways to go about this delicate process. I had been introduced to an article some time ago, when night weaning was a far off thought, by Dr. Jay Gordon. I loved his gentle, yet honest approach, and how his methods really matched well with our beliefs to respect our baby's night time needs.
  While heavily considering night weaning again with Cody, I sought out to find his article, and read it with a mind that was now ready to absorb and consider it's information, seeing as we were in a place that it was instinctively comfortable for us.

We talked it out, laid out our goals, concerns, and anything else we were unsure of, and decided that this was the right method for us, and that we would give it a try.

 Tonight, we begin night 2. I have every intention to share this journey, and will go over night 1 shortly. I can't say that some nights may not be a one word post, but I will do my best. We really need sleep. I am hoping that with this experience, we can bring back our normal selves and get things back on track.

Did we move yet? ...Nope...

 It rained last weekend. A lot. So our move got postponed to this weekend. I am actually thankful for the date switch, because if you were reading before, we had nothing packed! Now, we are almost completely packed and ready to go. It hasn't really hit me yet, but i am expecting that it will, and I will probably cry like a big baby.

We had a garage sale 2 weeks ago though, and got rid of literally half of our belongings, so there really isn't that much to move. I can't tell you how nice that is!

 There are so many things going on, I can't wait until we are just in our new place, and can start getting our routines back, and just relax!

 I swear I have more to update, I am just going to attempt to write them all in smaller posts so its not so random haha. Don't worry, family, we are not ignoring you!

Vegan Pizza Awesomeness

 This pizza is so awesome, I just had to share with you all real quick! ...And it's vegan!

 It is so simple and so delicious! Creamy, savory, a tiny bit of crunch... If I had to choose one thing to eat forever right this second, it would be this.

I was shopping for our hectic schedule, and needed something quick and easy that could be thrown together despite the chaos and boxes that goes along with moving. I picked up some Nan bread with no idea of the beautiful creation I would soon be nomming on.

So, enough with the talking. Here is how I made it:

I took one piece of Nan bread, brushed it with melted butter (This part wasn't vegan, but i will replace the butter once my coconut oil comes in. you could even use water or olive oil.) and popped it in the oven, pre heated to 395F for approximately two minutes (you just want to warm it up.).

Then I washed and chopped some red and green bell pepper, onion, garlic, fresh mushrooms, and although its not in the picture above because i just laid it on the pizza (which is still good, but this is better.), about a handful of chopped/ripped spinach, and sauteed it all in pan with butter (again, i will use coconut oil to make it fully vegan when I get it!) until things started turning golden.

you only want enough veggies etc to cover your Nan bread, but you want a good amount. Also, while you're frying, your bread should be out. don't burn your bread!

Once everything was sauteed, I spread some *herbs and spices* tomato paste on my Nan bread, then evenly spooned out my veggie mix. Herb and spices tomato paste is very important. It really makes the pizza..

I popped it in the oven for about 2-4 mins (you are just giving everything a little bake since its all cooked. Just to crisp up a bit. So do not exceed 4 mins!)

I took it out of the oven, put it on a plate, and went into a state of bliss as I enjoyed this beauty with a nice cold glass of coconut milk. Om Nom Nom...

And that, my friends, is how you make my awesome Vegan pizza. If you try it, let me know. Also let me know what you add to it! My next one will have some zucchini...

Moving in T-Minus 4 days?!

 Whoa.. I just got some awesome, yet unexpected move news! (I figured I better keep you guys posted as I have been sort of MIA. So I will do my best to update often, even if its just a picture or something!)

 We just found out that we can move in... days. Like four. Holy cow! Now, you might be wondering why I am not being typical Rainbow and bouncing off walls, freaking out, and trying to get everything done in three days. The good thing is, we actually have 3 weeks to move. Probably a little longer if we want, so with us getting our new place so early, we have lots of time to pack, move, clean, organize, and paint both houses.

Pause for big dramatic sigh of relief.

 I am super excited to get started, but SO happy that I don't have to try and rush and do a big move in such a short amount of time!

I have been really bad at taking pictures lately, and hardly have any since things have been so nuts, but I am going to do my absolute best to record this move! I want to show you guys before and afters! The before's of this place may not be very clean though... hahaha with all the in and out there never seems  to be a moment of complete tidiness. But since I am an over sharer, I don't mind if you don't!

Now Cody and I need to sit down and decide exactly when we want to start living in the new place. Are we crazy enough to try for this weekend? ...Probably...