We recently moved from a 2 bedroom home to a more spacious 3 bedroom with an extra full bath. Our 2 bedroom was just too cramped with the overload of baby stuff we acquired after Micah was born. Even though he's never slept a night without being right on me to do so, having that extra bedroom is still very helpful as a place to store all of his things. The extra bathroom was a perk and has proven to be invaluable with a pre-teen in the home who insists on taking 2 hours to shower every night.
Our move wasn't a big one. Our landlord owns nearly every home on the street we live on, so when a 3 bedroom became available we took it and moved 3 houses down from where we lived before. I guess the positive to this was that we didn't have to pay for a moving truck this time, we just packed it through the yard piece by piece over 3 days time. Well, I didn't pack much of anything but a crying, sleepy baby around but you get the point.
In our 2 bedroom, the houses on either side of us had both been empty for some time, so we had grown rather used to it being quiet. In our 3 bedroom, we have noisy neighbors on both sides and I still haven't been able to get used to it.
On an almost daily basis, just when I've reached my breaking point and feel I may fall over from exhaustion, little Micah will finally decide to nap for an hour or so. If there is one thing we have learned quickly around here, it is to not make much noise when he is asleep or else it is all over with. He is a super light sleeper. Sneezing in the next room can often end a nap far too early and make for an evening of inconsolable crying.
Also, on an almost daily basis, one of our neighbors decides that just when my cranky baby is finally napping it is time to start hammering or doing something else around their house that makes a lot of noise. Of course, with this comes an almost daily occurrence of my little guy waking up from all the sounds and crying for hours because he didn't get to finish his nap out. Thanks, neighbors! I'll be sure to leave a gift for Christmas by your front door. Preferably some thumb tacks so you can stop hammering so many nails into the walls over there. Just how many pictures do you have to hang anyway?
Friday, November 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Raising a High Needs Baby
If you read my very first blog post than you probably noticed the term "high needs" within the text. I realize that there are many people out there that aren't going to understand what the term means so I feel I should at least provide a brief explanation.
I'll begin this post by saying when my daughter was born in 2002, and I became a mom for the first time, I was blessed with what is commonly referred to as an "easy baby". She rarely cried. Even when hungry she would often simply suck her fist instead of wailing uncontrollably. She didn't mind waiting if her diaper needed changed, she had no problems eating, she slept in solid 4 hour blocks at night and was almost always content.
Back then I was a single teenage mother and I'll admit, I was blinded into thinking that this is how all babies act. I often wondered to myself why everyone had told me that raising a baby was hard work. Even during the short lived colic phase we went through, I was easily able to cope and we made it through with ease thanks to the dryer and warmed bath towels.
Fast forward to 2012 and I was with the love of my life and expecting a baby boy. My little girl was getting a brother and we were all so excited. During my pregnancy I reminisced about those baby days and dreamed about doing it all over again. I would have a new little person to love and cuddle and care for.
At 37 weeks my water broke and my world was turned upside down. After 14 hours of back labor, a lot of Pitocin and an epidural that was useless, my little boy made his entrance into the world. Within minutes of birth I could already see that he was much different than his sister. When she was born and I held her for the first time she calmed and laid quietly with her eyes closed once she was swaddled. My little man, on the other hand, continued to wail inconsolably as he lay on my chest.
After being whisked away to the nursery and getting cleaned up and transferred to a different room myself, we settled in for our first 24 hours with this beautiful little boy. I was exhausted and needed rest and just knew I could sleep in blocks of 2-3 hours as the baby slept in the room with me. The 3 days I was at the hospital, I don't think I slept more than 30 min. at once. At the time, I blamed the excitement of having a new baby, the visitors and the nursing staff and decided things would be better once we were home.
We arrived home on a Monday and I can honestly say from that time until present has mostly been a blur. A sleep deprived, pull my hair out and scream, blur. This little one never sleeps. Daytime naps are short and sweet, with the longest being about 20 min. if you are lucky. When he is not being held, he's crying. Period. There is no content period of the day. Ever. Bed time is mostly non existent around here. For the first 4 weeks we traded shifts of being awake with him. There was never a moment that we were all asleep at the same time.
Eventually after weeks of this craziness, I logged on to the internet in a desperate search for answers, solutions, remedies...anything. I just needed some rest! It was then that I some how came across the article 12 Features of a High Need Baby by Dr. Sears. When I read this article it was like a lightening bolt had struck me. Everything Dr. Sears mentioned described my little bean exactly. Armed with this information, I stopped looking for a solution and started seeking support instead.
Now, I'll be honest, he is still a very difficult child to deal with. What has changed since I found Dr. Sears' article is that I have come to accept it and found a wonderful group of ladies to go through it with. I know now that it is nothing I am doing wrong and I most certainly am not the only one going through it. That, some how, provides me with the strength I need daily to make it through and not run out my front door screaming while pulling my hair out at the roots.
I'll begin this post by saying when my daughter was born in 2002, and I became a mom for the first time, I was blessed with what is commonly referred to as an "easy baby". She rarely cried. Even when hungry she would often simply suck her fist instead of wailing uncontrollably. She didn't mind waiting if her diaper needed changed, she had no problems eating, she slept in solid 4 hour blocks at night and was almost always content.
Back then I was a single teenage mother and I'll admit, I was blinded into thinking that this is how all babies act. I often wondered to myself why everyone had told me that raising a baby was hard work. Even during the short lived colic phase we went through, I was easily able to cope and we made it through with ease thanks to the dryer and warmed bath towels.
Fast forward to 2012 and I was with the love of my life and expecting a baby boy. My little girl was getting a brother and we were all so excited. During my pregnancy I reminisced about those baby days and dreamed about doing it all over again. I would have a new little person to love and cuddle and care for.
At 37 weeks my water broke and my world was turned upside down. After 14 hours of back labor, a lot of Pitocin and an epidural that was useless, my little boy made his entrance into the world. Within minutes of birth I could already see that he was much different than his sister. When she was born and I held her for the first time she calmed and laid quietly with her eyes closed once she was swaddled. My little man, on the other hand, continued to wail inconsolably as he lay on my chest.
After being whisked away to the nursery and getting cleaned up and transferred to a different room myself, we settled in for our first 24 hours with this beautiful little boy. I was exhausted and needed rest and just knew I could sleep in blocks of 2-3 hours as the baby slept in the room with me. The 3 days I was at the hospital, I don't think I slept more than 30 min. at once. At the time, I blamed the excitement of having a new baby, the visitors and the nursing staff and decided things would be better once we were home.
We arrived home on a Monday and I can honestly say from that time until present has mostly been a blur. A sleep deprived, pull my hair out and scream, blur. This little one never sleeps. Daytime naps are short and sweet, with the longest being about 20 min. if you are lucky. When he is not being held, he's crying. Period. There is no content period of the day. Ever. Bed time is mostly non existent around here. For the first 4 weeks we traded shifts of being awake with him. There was never a moment that we were all asleep at the same time.
Eventually after weeks of this craziness, I logged on to the internet in a desperate search for answers, solutions, remedies...anything. I just needed some rest! It was then that I some how came across the article 12 Features of a High Need Baby by Dr. Sears. When I read this article it was like a lightening bolt had struck me. Everything Dr. Sears mentioned described my little bean exactly. Armed with this information, I stopped looking for a solution and started seeking support instead.
Now, I'll be honest, he is still a very difficult child to deal with. What has changed since I found Dr. Sears' article is that I have come to accept it and found a wonderful group of ladies to go through it with. I know now that it is nothing I am doing wrong and I most certainly am not the only one going through it. That, some how, provides me with the strength I need daily to make it through and not run out my front door screaming while pulling my hair out at the roots.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Chex Mix, Pumpkin Pie and A Little Motivation
Perplexing title, right? Let me explain.
It's rather obvious that this, my friends, is the very first post on this blog. That's right, the beginning, where it will all begin. This little blog has been floating around in my head as nothing more than an idea for quite some time, but for one reason after another I just never found the time to actually create it. Little things like parenting just kept getting in the way, if you know what I mean.
Tonight, as I sat on my couch at 1 am while my youngest child rolled around on the floor chewing his fists and pretending bedtime wasn't hours ago, I decided it was time to just do it already. Just create the blog that has been in my head for so long and begin sharing with the world all these little things that are constantly swimming around inside my mind. Reveal to the world the craziness and chaos going on behind the closed doors of our little home and the situations encountered while attempting to raise a sassy pre-teen and a high needs infant.
Fast forward about an hour, after having a terrible time finding a blog title that wasn't already in use, and I'm sitting here with a container full of homemade Chex mix and half a leftover pumpkin pie while the baby is still busy not being sleepy. Well, mostly just the crust of the pie right now since I've been scooping out the tasty filling by the spoonfuls for the past several minutes. Shhh, don't tell my daughter!I
I guess with all new blog creations there are aspirations of what you hope to develop your little web space in to. For me, I want a place to share parenting stories and information. I want a place where I can write about many different topics related to family and raising children. At times it might be comical and at others it might be more serious, but isn't that exactly the way parenting is anyway?
I encourage anyone who stumbles across my little corner of the interwebz to leave comments and share along with me. Who really wants to be in this alone, anyway? I certainly don't want to feel like I'm talking to a wall, I get enough of that here at home as it is. Pre-teen. Enough said.
It's rather obvious that this, my friends, is the very first post on this blog. That's right, the beginning, where it will all begin. This little blog has been floating around in my head as nothing more than an idea for quite some time, but for one reason after another I just never found the time to actually create it. Little things like parenting just kept getting in the way, if you know what I mean.
Tonight, as I sat on my couch at 1 am while my youngest child rolled around on the floor chewing his fists and pretending bedtime wasn't hours ago, I decided it was time to just do it already. Just create the blog that has been in my head for so long and begin sharing with the world all these little things that are constantly swimming around inside my mind. Reveal to the world the craziness and chaos going on behind the closed doors of our little home and the situations encountered while attempting to raise a sassy pre-teen and a high needs infant.
Fast forward about an hour, after having a terrible time finding a blog title that wasn't already in use, and I'm sitting here with a container full of homemade Chex mix and half a leftover pumpkin pie while the baby is still busy not being sleepy. Well, mostly just the crust of the pie right now since I've been scooping out the tasty filling by the spoonfuls for the past several minutes. Shhh, don't tell my daughter!I
I guess with all new blog creations there are aspirations of what you hope to develop your little web space in to. For me, I want a place to share parenting stories and information. I want a place where I can write about many different topics related to family and raising children. At times it might be comical and at others it might be more serious, but isn't that exactly the way parenting is anyway?
I encourage anyone who stumbles across my little corner of the interwebz to leave comments and share along with me. Who really wants to be in this alone, anyway? I certainly don't want to feel like I'm talking to a wall, I get enough of that here at home as it is. Pre-teen. Enough said.
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