Sleep? Who said anything about needing sleep?!

This picture says it all...well, except you could probably add to it, "DADDY needs sleep," and "SISSY needs sleep," because these days, no one is getting much of it, especially baby brother..."BABY BROTHER needs sleep."  Maybe I should have family mugs made??;-)  At least I'm keeping my keurig happy, right?  hehee:) 

Sleep training, scheduling...some might even just go ahead and call it torture, but however you refer to it, as you can probably already tell, that's what we are in the midst of. 

I've never been a big fan of the CIO (cry it out) method.  If my baby is upset, and me loving on him is what comforts him, then that's what I'm going to do, especially when they are so little.  With Gabriel, I felt it very important to create a very strong bond with him in those first several months.  We held him as much as possible!  I wanted him to feel security from us and to get to know us--how our heartbeat sounds, how we smell (surely that alone would make the child want to be in his own bed and sleep, right?!  LOL:), etc.  But now we are to the point where no amount of not showering or not brushing our teeth will keep him from wanting to be rocked to sleep by us.  (OK, that one was to try to get some laughs, although I'm sure you other mommas know that there are days when you feel you should get a medal for being able to get a shower in and some Colgate slathered on!)  Gabriel has bonded with us well and now we are to the point where it's not so much that his sleep problems are upsetting us (although yes, I am exhausted!) but I know it is effecting HIM.  He's a growing baby boy, and he needs adequate sleep, and he's not getting anywhere near what he should be.  So, thus begins the adjustment from arms to crib.

Now, I realize this is a subject that every parent has an opinion on--what to do, what not to do, etc.  I'm really not trying to start an open forum though.  I know everyone is pretty opinionated about sleep issues (including myself!:)  I'm just stating what we're going through at the moment...  And every child is different, and I truly believe what works for one might not work for another, and really, what works for some PARENTS won't work for others.  Take last night for example...

Gabriel did great "sleep training" for naps yesterday.  I checked on him after 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, etc. and reassured him I loved him but that it was nap time.  (Poor baby boy was SO exhausted and rubbing his eyes--it was obvious he was sleepy.)  He finally gave in, took two great naps yesterday, and woke up one very happy little boy:)  Night time was a COMPLETELY different story though...  After over an hour of crying (and checking on him several times of course--I can't just leave him in there to cry, no way!) DH and I just looked at each other with tears practically in our eyes and said enough was enough.  So I picked him up and loved on him and he calmed down very quickly.  I brought him to DH and he placed his head on DH's chest, looked up at him, smiled, and then went to sleep!  It was so precious!  ...until midnight when he was up until 2 in the morning fighting sleep:( 

rocking my precious GP to sleep...

rocking my precious GP to sleep...

All of that being said, maybe CIO would have worked eventually last night for him, but it just did NOT work for us.  So, where does that leave us?  Well, we will just keep trying to figure it out, but we will also keep going with our mommy and daddy instincts.  Sometimes that means trying to tough it out, but sometimes it means just picking up my precious baby boy and rocking him to sleep and loving on him.  And that's exactly how things looked for us the other night.  He was so upset, but as soon as I began to rock him and love on him, everything else melted away, and he fell right to sleep.  I commented on my FB that day:  "There's nothing like rocking a fussy baby and seeing them transform from being so upset to being completely content from being in your arms.  I think our Heavenly Father must enjoy that part of comforting His children, too.  We "kick and scream" and cry when we don't understand life, and when it gets to be too much for us, and all the while the Lord is loving on us and telling us He has got it under control, and it's going to be OK:)"


Many times in life, we fight whatever is before us.  We don't want to give in to what is best for us because it's not what WE want.  God allows us to "cry it out" during those times and waits for us to come to Him and rest in Him and His perfect plan for our lives.  And then there are other times in life, when even if what lies ahead is what is best for us, we feel like we just can't handle going through it all, and God takes us in His arms, and comforts His children.  Both responses are made out of His love for us--whether we find ourselves "crying it out" or in the arms of our Heavenly Daddy.  And as a momma, I pray that's what my precious Gabriel senses--the incredible love that his mommy has for him as she strives to do what is best for him...