July 23

With all this talk about her sister, baby Isla is feeling a little left out on the blog. So let's talk about Isla for a little bit before we get into all of Audrey's sleeping woes.

Isla is getting a lot better about holding her head up for brief periods of time when you are holding her. I tried to get a picture of her doing it today, though I didn't get any great shots. She is also starting to smile a little more frequently too, but again, I haven't captured any smiles on camera yet.

Last night, Isla was even a better sleeper than her big sister. Isla woke up once around 3 am, but she slept pretty well the rest of the night. Audrey, on the other hand, was up at 3 am as well...plus she was up at 4:30 and 5:00. She did finally go back to sleep until almost 8 am though (laying on the floor right in front of the door to her room).

The sleeping struggles continued today. Sorry for another long winded post. I just have to record these things, as I know someday I will look back and laugh at myself for stressing so much about this.

Naptime was horrible today. Part of the problem may be our inconsistencies in dealing with her. We've never dealt with a kid who won't stay in bed before, so we keep experimenting and trying different things to see if anything will work. We know what we want Audrey to do when it comes to sleep and bedtime:

1. Audrey will continue to take a nap, or at least have an hour of quiet time in her room.
2. Audrey will continue to go to bed at 8:00.
3. Audrey will sleep in her room by herself.

I think all of those things are both good for Audrey and for our family. The problem is--how do we go about getting her to do those things? I'm determined that we will make this work, but I don't know how to go about doing it.

Yesterday, putting her back in bed over and over again seemed to work well. But today, that turned into a game. She would laugh and run back to bed as soon as she saw us coming. Not good. We put a childproof cover on the door handle so she could no longer open the door, but that resulted in the most horrible screaming/kicking fit, which was more than my nerves could handle today. So we switched to another new strategy tonight that seemed to work fairly well.

I decided to just make a bed for her on the floor tonight, since she seems so intent on sleeping there. Then I agreed to leave her door open, as she pleaded over and over again, "Please Mom. Leave door open. Just a little bit." Then I sat outside her door, facing away from her. She could see me and know that I was present, but I wasn't giving her a lot of attention.

It seemed to work. As long as I stayed by the door, she laid on her makeshift bed on the floor and didn't move a muscle. It probably took about 20 minutes, and then she fell asleep without too much fuss.

I really don't want to have to sit by her door every nap and bed time until she falls asleep. It's kind of hard to do when there is a little baby around that needs attention too! I am hoping that this is just a temporary thing to help her get over whatever separation anxiety she seems to have. At the same time, it feels like this is turning into a control issue--who is really in charge here anyway??

We are intent on sticking to our guns and making sure that she does get good rest each day and night. But many more gray hairs may be added to my head in the process!!!