We had a crazy whirl wind weekend! :) I went shopping on Saturday afternoon, with Abigail, to buy Andrew some new clothes. His old company gave him many company logoed shirts to wear (23 to be exact) so needless to say, he needed some new shirts to wear! I found two great shirts and a pair of pants for him.
Here is a little background to help you understand the rest of this story: Andrew and I are following the Dave Ramsey plan. We are currently paying off debt (all we have is school loans) and so I'm trying to live as cheaply as possible. One thing that I made a committment to do was to not purchase any NEW clothes for one whole year. There are a few exceptions to this rule. 1) I can buy new underwear and a swimming suit, 2) I can buy new clothes if the money is a gift from someone. So, Andrew decided to "gift" me about $50 (from his bonus) so I could buy some new clothes for myself. My wardrobe is pretty scarce!
So, I went to JcPenneys. I only need a few new shirts. I found some shirts that fit great. The best part was that they were buy one for $6.95 and get a second one for $1! Yeah! I didn't particularly like the pattern but there wasn't much to choose from. So, I took them home and when I showed Andrew he immediately said, "Well, those look a little old lady-ish." See, that is a problem for me. I go for convenience and cheapness and don't think about style. So, I can't wear the shirts. They have to be returned. So much for new clothes! We decided that I am going to buy Andrew's clothes and he is going to buy mine. I'm a bit frightened by this. He will buy me stylish clothes, but can I fit into them? That is the question!
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On a separate note:
Abigail is still a bear to get to sleep! It makes me hurt to see her struggling so much with sleep because there is not much I can do to help her. In the past week, she seriously only went down for one nap (with me) peacefully. The rest of the time she is crying, fussy, screaming even, and it takes a LONG time to get her to go to sleep. Part of me dreads nap and bedtime, but I KNOW that my baby needs her rest and she is cranky if she doesn't sleep enough, so I have to press on. For example, on Saturday morning, I tried everything to get her to sleep: bouncy chair, swing, crib, rocking with pacifier, and even nursing her to sleep. Nothing worked! Aunt Carol finally got her to sleep (in the afternoon) in her car seat. I'm looking for advice again. Everything I have read says that you should be consistent with nap times and well . . . we just can't do that, since she has a new schedule each day! Any other tips on getting her to sleep peacefully? Perhaps it is just her thing. She is a very happy baby otherwise. Perhaps she will just be hard baby to put to sleep (she usually sleeps great once she is down).
11 comments:
Just curious--why does she have a different schedule every day?
I know about the whole not-buying-clothes thing. I hate shopping for clothes and Aaron is so intent on the Plan that he doesn't care if he wears old, ugly clothes all the time (which is a complete turn around for what he was like in college & the early days of marriage!)! Of course, he has a couple people that buy him clothes or give him hand-me-downs (and by h-m-d's I mean really nice, expensive clothes that his cousin just doesn't want to wear anymore!)
She has a new schedule every day of the week because there are three people who split her care (my mother-in-law, me, and a babysitter). The only two days that we do the same thing are Tuesday and Wednesday. So, for example, I can't make sure that she is put down for a nap by 8:30 am because I only have her on Thursday mornings.
Andrew follows along with the plan but he isn't always as intense as I would like! :) He still "needs" things. I'm in the process of selling everything in our house that I think someone will buy!
I don't want to sound rude or anything...just trying to help you b/c I know how draining it is when your baby doesn't nap like they need to! My suggestion would be that if she is with either your MIL or the babysitter at the same times as she's with you, ask them to try to get her to nap at the times you have her nap. When I babysat, one mom had her baby on a schedule and asked that I try to follow it as closely as I could. So if you have her nap at 8:30am, 12:30pm, and 4:30pm, ask them to try to do the same. Understandably, some things come up sometimes when it's not possible. But if they're willing to do that, it might help her sleep-fighting problem. In my experience with my own kids and babysitting, babies and toddlers do much better when they have consistency, esp. with sleeping times.
I hope that makes sense and I don't mean to sound anything but trying to be helpful! :)
Oh, and we had a garage sale the summer after we started the Ramsey plan--we made over $300!!! (We did have window AC units and a TV and a small upright freezer, but we made a lot more money than we ever thought we would). So go for it--make Andrew think he's the next thing to be sold!! ;)
We do follow the same basic schedule that Jaime has set up. The plan is based on a 3 hour schedule of eating with play and then sleeping in-between. Abigail normally sleeps until around 8:30 in the morning and then takes one nap in the morning and one in the afternoon. Today, for example, her longest nap was only 45 minutes, but I don't think that Jaime wants us to keep her in bed if she is crying and ready to get up. :)
I'm just not sure what to think. I just got done with an hour and 15 minutes of crying (hers, I actually managed to not cry this time, but it was close) before bed. I finally had to rock her to sleep! Nothing else worked. These babies keep us guessing. I'm still doing my research on how we all can help her sleep easier and longer with the naps! She starts acting tired at 6:15 or 6:30 now! Ah! Another thing is that she sleeps best in her car seat and bouncy chair. I wish she would lay down to sleep (since she'll outgrow the other stuff) but I can't get her to sleep laying down for the life of me (except at night). Shouldn't babies come with an organized manual?
I have sold about $50 worth of stuff on ebay. I feel like I'm out of things people will buy, however. I'm starting to sell DVDs and books (that we both agree on).
I definitely wish they came with a user's manual!! I'm sitting here listening to Jacob scream in bed. How in the world he can go from falling asleep in his highchair to fighting sleep so hard in a matter of minutes is just beyond me!!
Maybe it's just a phase of sleeping in her carseat/bouncy seat?? My nephew is having similar issues (altho he's only 6 weeks old and I think his deal is that he's been spoiled with being held all the time:) ). He'll only sleep being held or in his swing (sometimes). Also, for a period of time Aaron's nephew would only sleep in his papsan (sp?). So it could be a stage. I don't know....I guess just keep trying and praying! How wonderful that you have family close by to help out. Oh, is there any chance that she's teething? I know sometimes that's Jacob's problem. And he would sometimes teeth for a month before it came through and stopped bothering him! I'll be praying for you during the day. Having a tired, fussy baby is so draining :(
She definitely won't fall asleep in your arms. She did tonight with me but that is RARE! I think that's the first time in months that it has happened. The bouncy seat is a favorite because of the vibration feature. It could be teeth. I'm not sure. I have a little portable bed that I'm going to try using at work tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the prayer! I feel like I really need it right now! Just as soon as I think I have something figured out she changes on me!
Okay, this is off topic from the comment thread, but I wanted to talk about clothes buying. The past couple years or so the only time Donnie and I have bought clothes were for each other's b-days. I got to get some for my b-day and he got to pick some out for his. I trust him to pick out clothes for me more than I trust myself to pick out clothes for him. I'm always so afraid that he won't like what I pick out and then I'd feel bad. The other day I was in a clothes store just browsing and I was thinking, boy I wish it were my birthday.
That's a great idea. I was just thinking the other day that I don't like shopping for clothes but I do like new clothes that make me feel good. I'm not a huge shopper. I like to be in and out quickly. That's why I'm good at shopping for Andrew. He is very specific about what he likes and needs for clothes, so I can do that fast! It always makes me feel good when he says, "I think this will be my new favorite (pant, shirt, etc)".
That is a bummer about the different locations for her days and some changes in the daily schedule. I think that does make a difference. But babies do change their schedules often as well. Just about when you think you have her schedule figured out she will change it! :0)
Could it be that she is going from 2 naps to 1 nap a day?
Again, Baby Wise by Ezzo(?) helped me with their schedules and sleep patterns. Hang in there.
AND great job doing Ramsey. I wish we had started that 10 years ago!!!
Umm, but do try to not do the frumpy martyr look. :0)
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