The parents are being held hostage by Baby and the importance of sleep management.

Stressful times are upon us, and has been for a couple weeks. Gone are the good ol’ days when we can have some friends over for dinner, let Baby fall asleep around 7:30pm, Mama takes him to bed and I wrap it up with friends shortly after. Gone are the days where we only make sure Baby isn’t awake more than three or four hours at once, and let him choose when nap time is.

As we learn more about sleep training, we are now shooting for two naps a day, at least more than an hour but hopefully two. Also get Baby to sleep after no more than two hours of “wakefulness.” Stress level surrounding Baby went through the roof now that we’re actually trying to get him to sleep at certain times. This also makes his sleep is that much more precious when it’s happening. We nervously set down bowls in super slo-mo. We get angry at loud vehicles outside. The friendly neighborhood mail delivery lady is our new local terrorist (our mail slot is in the front door, and the mail crashes down like a scrap metal yard).

Hard to get anything done under these conditions, let alone have people over. A Grandma was here the other day, and her coughs during Baby’s nap was enough for Mama to kindly suggest she leave (while I gingerly open and close the front door for her).

This is all to get Baby feeling good about sleeping in the crib. We want to be able to.. hold on.. is it just me or IS MY TYPING CRAZY LOUD RIGHT NOW? Just typing this all out is going to wake Baby, I just know it. Oh shit it’s going to wake him I should stop please don’t wake up.. Ok he’s still asleep. My face is sweaty.

Ok where was I? Oh yeah, the crib. We want him to be able to sleep in the crib at night so we can get sleep. He’s still sleeping in the bed with us (or one of us) at night, but we’re putting him down in the crib for a nap at least once a day now. Hopefully a safe, gradual transition.

Also, we need improvement in the coming weeks as I’ve found a new job. Starts on Monday the 27th, two weeks from now. Countdown has begun, get the coffee pot ready!