The biggest news recently is that Elie has been sleep trained AGAIN. He sucked so bad at sleeping recently that we had to rock him to sleep EVERY time he went to sleep. My back was breaking. My arms were weak. I HATED putting him to bed. At night it sometimes took an hour to get him to fall asleep. We missed going out to a Tiger's game because of it. Ugh.
(Other than that, he has been a lovely, happy baby. Learning lots of new things each day. Still only has one word: quack (as in a duck). Eats nearly everything. Smiles. Laughs. Makes jokes. Just COULD NOT get himself to sleep for his life)
Then, two weekends ago, I had a luxurious three day weekend in New York City. I went for a friend from childhood's wedding (I wasn't actually invited to the wedding, but that's another story, and the bride and groom were happy I was there - and it was an AMAZING wedding, and I was so glad I was there too!), and I added a few days to see a few other people whom I love and have a bit of childless time to catch up. I had good catch ups with Ellen from Pardes (and met her daughter for the first time), had fantastic time and good food with Eli, had breakfast with and got to meet Emily, Ari's new fiancee (Ari from Singapore...), my cousin Hallie, Vishal and Therese from Singapore (and I met their son for the first time), friends Jeremy and Terese and their kids, Julia (also from Singapore...) and then I got a great walk and chat with Sarah and met up with the camp friends (Freya and Daniel) for Jay's wedding. Wow - to have no responsibilities beyond myself. Wow - to walk and walk and walk in this city that I love. And wow - that wedding...it was amazing to be around people who were part of the formative years of Melanie, and also it was just a beautiful, beautiful wedding with a fantastic bride and groom.
So...I may have drank a bit at the wedding...and also perhaps I didn't go to sleep so early...so by the time I came home on Monday I was pretty useless. At night I tried to rock Elie to sleep a little bit, but I had no energy. I was hating every minute of it. So I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him and I left him in his bed.
And he cried.
And cried.
And cried.
For FIFTY minutes.
But then he slept through the night.
Tuesday morning he woke as normal, nursed, ate breakfast, and I put him down to sleep again, with a kiss and a few minutes of rocking, but he was not sleeping.
And he cried again...for fifty minutes.
Now I had told people he was literally not capable of putting himself to sleep. I had previously let him cry for HOURS, and it was just awful, but the truth is that I always went in eventually. I hadn't had my hard assed approach (at least in a few months) that no matter what (other than fire or something seriously wrong), I would not go in his room from 7pm - 7am. I don't think I realized that I hadn't actually given him the chance.
I KNEW that if I went in, even after 45 minutes (which is the time I had set for the last few weeks), he would then know that I was coming eventually.
Tuesday afternoon I did the same thing, but he only cried for five minutes.
Tuesday night NO CRYING. And since then (other than once when he was super late for his nap and he was super hungry) NO CRYING!!! Even when he slept in my brother's bathroom last weekend (that's another story) and my parents' house for naps and for a night. Nothing!!! I don't know if he goes to sleep right away or what, but he's quiet and he is rested when he wakes up. Boy do I love him more.
In other news we had a LOVELY time in Chicago this past weekend, visiting my brother, a few cousins and a few friends. We weren't able to fit too much in with nap schedules, but we got a few minutes at the park with Daniel, Annie and Judah, a yummy taco dinner, a playground date with Marla, Kirsten, Ian and Lily, a lovely catch up with Eric's mom, Phyllis (also from Singapore), a nice time with our cousins and a super brunch with Matt's friends (and mine too at this point...) Christen and Brian and their awesome daughters. We loved all of the visits and overall the travel was easy.
A few things I have noticed:
Many of the people I love visiting I met in Singapore. I don't think I realized it would be that way when I met them there, but it turns out they're really good friends, we have a lot in common and I care a lot about them. Who knew?! :)
Samara is still seriously hard to manage. When I ask her to do something she says, "NO!" a lot of the time. And I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I got the book 1-2-3 Magic, as I heard that is helpful, but man is it exhausting to have to spend a half hour on getting dressed, then 20 minutes on going to the bathroom before we go to school, anther 10 on which shoes to wear...oh, and that's just before 8am. She's also still very difficult with food (though getting SLIGHTLY better). That's really frustrating too...
I don't think the culture shock of anything has really hit too much (yet?). I have a few moments, but nothing that has totally freaked me out or overwhelmed me an unreasonable amount. There are still a lot of details to sort out, so perhaps my brain is busy with those. Car seats. Warm clothes for the kids. Mobile phones. Closed toed shoes. New York. Chicago and upcoming travel too...
(Other than that, he has been a lovely, happy baby. Learning lots of new things each day. Still only has one word: quack (as in a duck). Eats nearly everything. Smiles. Laughs. Makes jokes. Just COULD NOT get himself to sleep for his life)
Then, two weekends ago, I had a luxurious three day weekend in New York City. I went for a friend from childhood's wedding (I wasn't actually invited to the wedding, but that's another story, and the bride and groom were happy I was there - and it was an AMAZING wedding, and I was so glad I was there too!), and I added a few days to see a few other people whom I love and have a bit of childless time to catch up. I had good catch ups with Ellen from Pardes (and met her daughter for the first time), had fantastic time and good food with Eli, had breakfast with and got to meet Emily, Ari's new fiancee (Ari from Singapore...), my cousin Hallie, Vishal and Therese from Singapore (and I met their son for the first time), friends Jeremy and Terese and their kids, Julia (also from Singapore...) and then I got a great walk and chat with Sarah and met up with the camp friends (Freya and Daniel) for Jay's wedding. Wow - to have no responsibilities beyond myself. Wow - to walk and walk and walk in this city that I love. And wow - that wedding...it was amazing to be around people who were part of the formative years of Melanie, and also it was just a beautiful, beautiful wedding with a fantastic bride and groom.
So...I may have drank a bit at the wedding...and also perhaps I didn't go to sleep so early...so by the time I came home on Monday I was pretty useless. At night I tried to rock Elie to sleep a little bit, but I had no energy. I was hating every minute of it. So I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him and I left him in his bed.
And he cried.
And cried.
And cried.
For FIFTY minutes.
But then he slept through the night.
Tuesday morning he woke as normal, nursed, ate breakfast, and I put him down to sleep again, with a kiss and a few minutes of rocking, but he was not sleeping.
And he cried again...for fifty minutes.
Now I had told people he was literally not capable of putting himself to sleep. I had previously let him cry for HOURS, and it was just awful, but the truth is that I always went in eventually. I hadn't had my hard assed approach (at least in a few months) that no matter what (other than fire or something seriously wrong), I would not go in his room from 7pm - 7am. I don't think I realized that I hadn't actually given him the chance.
I KNEW that if I went in, even after 45 minutes (which is the time I had set for the last few weeks), he would then know that I was coming eventually.
Tuesday afternoon I did the same thing, but he only cried for five minutes.
Tuesday night NO CRYING. And since then (other than once when he was super late for his nap and he was super hungry) NO CRYING!!! Even when he slept in my brother's bathroom last weekend (that's another story) and my parents' house for naps and for a night. Nothing!!! I don't know if he goes to sleep right away or what, but he's quiet and he is rested when he wakes up. Boy do I love him more.
In other news we had a LOVELY time in Chicago this past weekend, visiting my brother, a few cousins and a few friends. We weren't able to fit too much in with nap schedules, but we got a few minutes at the park with Daniel, Annie and Judah, a yummy taco dinner, a playground date with Marla, Kirsten, Ian and Lily, a lovely catch up with Eric's mom, Phyllis (also from Singapore), a nice time with our cousins and a super brunch with Matt's friends (and mine too at this point...) Christen and Brian and their awesome daughters. We loved all of the visits and overall the travel was easy.
A few things I have noticed:
Many of the people I love visiting I met in Singapore. I don't think I realized it would be that way when I met them there, but it turns out they're really good friends, we have a lot in common and I care a lot about them. Who knew?! :)
Samara is still seriously hard to manage. When I ask her to do something she says, "NO!" a lot of the time. And I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I got the book 1-2-3 Magic, as I heard that is helpful, but man is it exhausting to have to spend a half hour on getting dressed, then 20 minutes on going to the bathroom before we go to school, anther 10 on which shoes to wear...oh, and that's just before 8am. She's also still very difficult with food (though getting SLIGHTLY better). That's really frustrating too...
I don't think the culture shock of anything has really hit too much (yet?). I have a few moments, but nothing that has totally freaked me out or overwhelmed me an unreasonable amount. There are still a lot of details to sort out, so perhaps my brain is busy with those. Car seats. Warm clothes for the kids. Mobile phones. Closed toed shoes. New York. Chicago and upcoming travel too...
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