High highs and Low lows - Ellen Barron Part 2

The rest of our week at Ellen Barron was filled with lots of highs and lows.

We were up at our usual 5am on Wednesday morning - the very pleasant surprise about this was that i wasn't up during the night!! I think he may have had a couple of whinges, but he self settled, so that's all good!! I was on such a high when i got up that morning!! After the two hour long sessions of crying he had the previous day, i was hoping that he might have a sleep during at least one of his day sleeps on Wednesday. This was not the case. Trying to settle him after his second failed nap attempt took me to my breaking point for the first time during the week - not bad really to be able to make it half way without crying!!

See how grumpy he is when he doesn't sleep!! This was him after he didn't sleep through either of his naps!!

After 2 failed naps, the nurse suggested that i get him up for a bit (again!!) and then try something different later in the afternoon. So, i ended up staying with him, patting the mattress, until he fell asleep. The nurse said it was better that he had a nap in his cot than the stroller. I tend to agree with this, but it did mean that next time i tried to settle him, he thought i was going to do it again, which made for a very trying night. It took until 10ish that night to finally get him down. I was so upset that one of the nurses ended up putting him down the same way as how he went to bed in the afternoon. After a discussion with that nurse, she and i agreed that the next day we would go back to leaving him to cry instead of staying with him - otherwise it was just too confusing for him.

Thursday morning was the first day he had a day sleep in his cot on his own. It took me just 15 minutes to get him to sleep and then he slept for an hour!! And the most amazing part was that he woke up chatting!! He hasn't done that since he was a very small bubba!! The afternoon yielded another failed nap attempt, which meant that he was so tired by bed time that he wouldn't drink his milk and it took less than a minute for him to go down!!

I figured that this did not bode well, and i was not mistaken.

Midnight he woke. After ~45 minutes of unsuccessful resettling i got him up and gave him a bottle. It took another hour for him to fall back asleep. Not good!!! He wasn't asleep until 2am. My i hate that hour. On the up side, he didn't wake until 6:30!! That was a very pleasant surprise - it's the latest he has slept in ages - he usually rises with the sun!!

Friday had finally arrived and we were able to go home. We had such a lovely morning playing in the enormous play area with all the other lovely little boys there. He really did have such a wonderful time playing with them the whole time we were staying. After a huge play, all of the mums headed down to the kitchen for a last goodbye cuppa. I brought along my Moccona, so we didn't all have to drink international dust and we all just gathered and chatted like we'd known each other for years. We had all been through so much growth that week, and we'd done it together. One of the dads took down all of our details and vowed to email it all around and arrange a get together in January at his place (they have a pool!!) for all who could make it.

Our first night home and Calvin cried for 2 hours before going down. Not too bad considering he was testing the waters yet again. The most pleasant surprise was that he slept until 6:30 again!!! We actually woke before him. He thought it was the biggest treat to be greeted with 2 very happy parents and wagging doggies on Saturday morning!!

Saturday was a day of no day sleeps for Calvin - the first day of his life (i think!!) that he's never had a day sleep. He just wouldn't give in - what did i say about testing those boundaries!!! He actually feel asleep in his high chair - to which we both were yelling "Calvin, wake up!!!". There was NO WAY we were letting him have a cat nap so close to bed!! He was in bed at 5:30 and asleep by 6. Poor little guy was so tuckered out. He's still asleep now, so we're hoping for a good night, but you just never know with our little guy.

It's hard, and we've got a long road ahead of us still i think, but i am really looking forward to knowing what to expect from my little guy each day and night in terms of naps. Jeremy and I have decided to just try him with one nap tomorrow and see how that goes. If that doesn't work, then we'll go back to 2 on Monday. That's all you can do!!