Friends, sorry for the lack of posts lately. As you can probably imagine, our lives have been a touch busy. M finished his first semester of seminary (yay!), and we are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas with Lucy! Also, on Thursday, M and I celebrated our fourth anniversary!
I have been hesitant to post about this, but I think it's important to present an honest picture of our family life on this blog. Part of that means sharing the not-so-glamorous things...
For the past couple of weeks, Lucy has been having a hard time falling asleep at night. We put her down in her crib at bedtime (8 p.m.), and she immediately starts screaming. I mean, she has an incredible lung capacity. She can scream for hours. The only thing that helps her to calm down is to be held and / or fed. As you can imagine, we have been confused, frustrated, and exhausted.
As I mentioned in this post, we read a couple different books about sleep training. I don't want to imply that these books and the principles they teach are wrong; in fact, some of the principles we learned from these books have been very helpful. But the more M and I have discussed the concept of "sleep scheduling", the more we have realized that we wanted Lucy to adhere to a certain schedule more for our own convenience than for her own well-being.
One of the things about parenting is that you have to constantly re-evaluate. What worked for Lucy when she was three months old doesn't apply any more. As she grows and changes, we have to learn to be flexible too. This means letting go of our desire for control and order, and accepting that Lucy is her own little person. She struggles just like the rest of us. And while a little structure is good and beneficial for all of us, it can easily become an idol of control.
We don't really know what is causing her wakefulness. It could be that she is in the process of cutting her first tooth (which she is). It could be that, as she grows more socially aware, she is having a little separation anxiety. Or it could be a combination of many different factors. Either way, Lucy is an incredible little baby, and we feel so blessed to be her parents. Sleep or no sleep.
Family, are you sure you want us to come visit for Christmas? :)
We don't really know what is causing her wakefulness. It could be that she is in the process of cutting her first tooth (which she is). It could be that, as she grows more socially aware, she is having a little separation anxiety. Or it could be a combination of many different factors. Either way, Lucy is an incredible little baby, and we feel so blessed to be her parents. Sleep or no sleep.
Family, are you sure you want us to come visit for Christmas? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment