What am I obsessed with?
SLEEP
Well, sleep for starters. Both for Elijah and for me. But I am also obsessed with how often Elijah eats. And poops.
My life has come to subsist on the excretions, imbibations (that's a word now), and plain old sleep patterns of my little son.
I track all those things on a website, noting down each time he pees or dozes off.
One of my favorite features on the site is the sleep patterns chart. They compile the data, and it reveals the probability of Elijah being asleep. Check it out:
The gray scale shows the probability (dark-most, light-least) of him being asleep. I like how the possibility of Elijah being asleep from around 9-7 is pretty solid.
Another feature I like is the one showing his average sleep/awake hours. Right now, he is averaging 7hours and 44mins awake and 16hours and 15mins asleep.
So anyway, today has been hard. Elijah didn't sleep well last night, and was up early. He napped poorly, and he just now passed out after a marathon screaming fit.So fun.
I tried everything to calm him, from bouncing, skin-to-skin, swaddling, shushing (from Happiest Baby on the Block). It still took 45min for him to finally succumb to sleep. But he will be up again. He hasn't eaten enough.
Well, this is an exciting post!
(Elijah at 2 weeks in the Sleepy Wrap)
I have been talking walks with Elijah these days. I strap him on in my Sleepy Wrap and we stroll around the apartment complex.
He seems to enjoy it most days, although it is so hot that it soon gets uncomfortable for us both.
(Elijah at 13 weeks)
We don't do a whole lot more. The day consists of him waking up, feeding, diaper, playing, then bouncing back to sleep. I then get an hour, tops, to myself.
He does get a bath before bed, and a walk in the afternoon. Otherwise, our lives are pretty simple.
I do wish we had a community here in town for moms and babies. It gets pretty lonely.
Well, in other news, Gary has signed his contract for another year at the high school. This marks the start of our 5th year in Korea. Wow. Time really flies. And how embarrassing that we still don't know Korean!
We've gotten our visas and Alien Residency cards updated (love how I'm an 'alien'), and re-signed the lease on our apartment.
God knows whether we'll stay longer than another year, or where we'll go next. We'd love to buy our own house.... where? No idea. If you have suggestions, please let me know!
Friend, those first days can seem so long and so lonely, when all you want to be able to do is brush your teeth and not smell like sour milk instead of being attached to a sweating unhappy baby, but as you spoke of if your last post, there is beauty in that too. Look - you were able to write a whole blog post! That's quite an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteNone of the sleep training techniques worked for Lilian, and it would take hours to get her to sleep, though we did seem to start getting her sorted out without her crying herself to sleep. It took quite a few months. So, things do change. I wish that I was closer to give you a hug and let you take a couple hours (in between feedings :-) off.
I just read your blog and will pray for some relief for you once again. Are there any moms and babies/preschoolers in your area at all that you could get together with? Do most of the moms work? You would certainly benefit from some conversation and fellowship with other moms of little ones. It was interesting to see the sleep patterns chart! I didn't know such a thing existed. Are Elijah's sleeping and waking hours very different from other babies his age? My guess is that he's a very intelligent little guy, very observant, and he just doesn't want to fall asleep or he might miss something that would feed his curious mind. May God bless you with a good sleep each night and provide some friends with common interests that you can see during the daytime. Love you, Aunt Carol R.
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