Hang in there

Ricky left for a business trip this morning, not for long, just less than a week. I have learnt to take care of the kids all by myself pretty well, I’m not too concern that I can’t cope….unless the kids are not well. That’s exactly what’s happening right now.

Russell started having a cold and fever since Friday evening. This morning, he woke up around 5.30 am, maybe because he was not well, or maybe because I told him that daddy would be leaving for the airport early in the morning. Anyhow, he stayed awake to see daddy off. For the rest of today, occasionally he would bring up the topic of how much he missed daddy and asked when daddy will be home. Health wise, he seemed okay, no fever, no more runny nose, just constant cough, and he has a pretty good appetite.  As for Netanya, who normally has no problem falling asleep by herself, was acting out today! She would not quit crying until I sat in her room and waited for her to drift off. This happened both at nap time and bed time today, while his poor brother sat outside all alone feeling sick and tired (literately). Finally close to 9 pm, i came out of the room to put Russell in bed, I could hear his cough escalating. By the time I went to his room again to check on him, it was too late. He has vomitted on his bed. I tried to comfort him and was about to bring him to the bathroom to clean him up, when he vomitted again and again all over in his room on the carpet.

If I was not a mother, I would have cried. What a mess! But because I am a mother, and my child is depending on me to take care of him and the situation, especially so when daddy is not around, I kept my composure and assured him that everything was going to be just fine. For the next half an hour or so, I cleaned him up, change his sheets, cleaned the carpet and tucked him in bed. *pause* (Listen…it’s all quiet now, he’s finally asleep.) But not for long. Since he threw up all his medicine, I’ll have to wake him up around midnight for another dose to keep his fever down.

Gearing myself for a long night. I only pray that he’ll start feeling better soon and Netanya will back to her normal sleep routine tomorrow.

Two is better than one

 

I’m not trying to echo Singapore’s slogan to encourage Singaporeans to have more children. While I have complains about how tiring and hectic my day to day can be because of the two kids, and how our resources are now divided because we cannot devote everything we have to raise and groom one child; plus whatever trouble that happens with the kids now always comes in multiples of two….BUT so do love, hugs, kisses and laughters, we get at least two folds if not more than what we used to get. Despite the squabbles and sibling rivalry (oh yes, that has started already), just look at how much fun they have and how sometimes they can be so sweet toward each other….hmmm….guess it’s really better to have two after all.

Tackling sleep problems

When Netanya was born, right up till she turned 4 months old, I thought I must be really lucky to have an easy baby. She napped well during the day and woke up only twice every night between 8 pm to 8 am for milk and would fall right back to sleep after each feed. But everything’s changed since she was between 4 and 5 months old, she wakes up frequently, not just for milk, won’t stay asleep through the night and is wide awake every morning around 5.30 am! I was one desparate, sleep-deprived mom who did everything just to have a few more minutes of shut-eye. I did things that I knew I should not; running to her crib-side at her slightest whimper (for fear that she would rouse herself awake), rocking her for as long as it takes to get her back to slumberland, when all things fail, giving her the bottle to soothe her back to sleep. There were nights when nothing worked, and I stayed awake for one to three hours until she finally tired herself out and went back to sleep. This has gone on for the past 3 months, and sleep-deprivation is taking it’s toll on me both physically and emotionally.

So I decided, enough is enough, for the sake of the kids (they need a happy, energetic mom) and for the sake of myself and our family, I need to do something about Netanya’s sleep problems. I spent alot of time, reseaching the internet and reading articles on how mothers and sleep experts tackle babies’ sleep problems. The advice given are more or less similar:

*Establish a fix bedtime routine.

*Put the baby down sleepy but awake.

*Eliminate sleep crutches: pacifier, bottle, rocking etc.

*Help her to be attached to a lovey to comfort and soothe herself to sleep.

*Most importantly BE CONSISTENT!

Last Thursday, I started taking steps to help Netanya to fall asleep by herself. I placed her in the crib and sat on the floor to comfort her with my voice and pat her occassionally when her cries got louder. I removed her pacifier and kept offering her her baby pillow. For the first 10 minutes, she was pulling herself to stand up in the crib and was crying so bad I almost gave up. But I told myself not to give up now, or it would be harder next time. BE CONSISTENT! Then her cries became sobs, after 30 minutes, she finally lie down and was hugging her pillow for comfort, still sobbing. After another 10 minutes or so, she finally fell asleep! And she stayed asleep for 1 1/2 hours.

Over the next 3 days, whether it was nap time or bed time, I did exactly the same thing when putting her down. With each attempt, her crying time shortened by about 5 minutes. On the fourth day, I distant myself by sitting near the door and comforting her only with my voice when needed. Yesterday, I finally took the final step; I put her down in her crib, left the room and closed the door behind me. I stood outside her bedroom nervously listening  for her response. It was all quiet…..I couldn’t believe it. After 10 minutes, I opened the door and peeped into the dim room, she was fast asleep! YEAH, sleep success! I hope this is first of many easy nights to come for us.

Cold domino

5 days ago, Russell came down with cold. Runny nose, throat irritation and for the first 2 nights he was fussy in the night because of stuffy nose. On the 2nd day of his cold, I was down with cold-like symtoms. My dear hubby said to me, “Don’t fall sick, or I don’t know what to do (with the kids) when you’re down.” *sigh* You know what, even falling sick and having time to recover from it is a “luxury” when you have kids. I took medications and fortunately I got better the next day. Then yesterday, Netanya started having runny nose….NO!….I dread the little one not feeling well…which means days of fussiness and nights of sleeplessness ahead for me. Which was exactly happened yesterday, the poor baby was so uncomfortable and irritable, not eating and sleeping well. Ricky too was not feeling good and had to keep himself going with medications. The virus will run it’s course for at least 3 to 5 days, I’m mentally prepared for a long haul.

I’ll be really busy and guess no more blogging this week.

the all-too-familiar story…

…my baby is not sleeping well! I’m sleep-deprived and desperate for just one night of good sleep. I’ve tried whatever I can but she’s still waking up at least 3 times a night and she is wide awake at 6 in the morning…HELP!

Sound familiar? That is the story of countless parents, including unfortunately ME.

Netanya has not been sleeping well for past 3 nights and I can’t figure out why. She is not an excellent ’sleeper’ (some babies start sleeping through night at 3 months old), but I have been very contented with waking up only once a night to feed her and being able to get back to sleep right after that. I count myself lucky that I can go to bed at 10.30pm, wake up at around 2am for 15 minutes and then go back to slumberland until 7am. The only times when she didn’t sleep well were days when she was having runny nose. But last 3 nights were abnormal, she has alot of difficulty falling asleep and when she finally did, she didn’t stay asleep soundly. What’s going on? Wish someone could tell me why.

“Hey my baby, can you please sleep like a baby? Your mama really need a good night rest.”