February 15, 2011

valentine's day fail + looking for advice

Ok not a total fail, but yesterday just wasn't a great day.

For starters, Ryann woke up at 5:35am.  I'm not sure why she feels she needs to be up before 6:00am, but that really doesn't work for me.  I'm an early bird, but not that early.

Chris was out the door to head to the hospital by 6:20am, so I decided Ry could hang out in the pack in play while I took a shower and tried to shake the crankiness that accompanied our early start to the day.  That plan back fired, when I couldn't get the water to shut off when I was done.  Seriously, I turned the handle completely to the off position but the water kept coming full force.  Lovely.  Then a screw came shooting out of the water spout, which obviously is a good sign.  So I had to turn off the main water supply to the house and call our home warranty service.  Stellar, stellar start to the day.

The rest of the morning was relatively uneventful.  We played, we had breakfast, Ry went down for a nap at 9:30, my mom showed up to hang out for the day, Ry woke up at 11.  We wanted to run a couple errands before the called me to say a plumber was on the way, so we quickly got Ryann dressed, fed her a bottle, got everything ready to head out the door, and wouldn't you know as I am just about to strap Ryann in the carseat, I got the call that a plumber was on the way.  At least we didn't quite make it out of the house I guess.

photo(3)
completely unrelated photos :o)

The plumber comes, fixes the shower (apparently that screw was rather important, go figure), and Ryann, my mom and I head out to lunch.  We did a little shopping, nothing terrible.  On the way home Ryann almost fell asleep, so she was obviously tired.  So I made her a bottle, read her a book and laid her in the crib.  No dice.  She cried for 30 minutes but would not lay down and take a nap.  By this point daddy was on his way home so when he got there we all strapped in the car to coax Ry in to an afternoon nap (for the second day in a row).  She fell asleep, we drove around, and ran into rush hour traffic.  Oh so much fun, but whatever, we made it home with a rested baby.  We decided that neither of us were in the mood to cook, so we opted for Olive Garden to go.

Apparently a big mistake.  I guess they lost Chris's order, because he ended up sitting there for well over an hour before finally getting our food.  By this point in the day I was done.  Chris gave Ryann a bath and put her to bed.  She thankfully went down without a fuss. 

We settled in to watch the KU/K-State game.  Oy.  The Jayhawks definitely took the final stab at any ounce of happiness I had left in me for the day.  What an awful game to watch (obviously you K-State fans enjoyed it, but it was awful).  Some of my fellow Jayhawkers did however mention on facebook, the last time that KU lost to K-State we won the national championship.  I could handle that.  But I won't hold my breath.

I grumpily went to bed hoping a good night sleep could clear away the funk I was in.

But at 5:35am on the dot a little blue eyed girl was having a party in her crib.

And she wouldn't go down for her morning nap today either.  She just sat in her crib and cried.

When I went to check on her she had pooped, which seems to be  her new way of getting out of naps.  Can a kid seriously figure that one out?  She frequently poops when we try to put her down for her afternoon nap, and I'm wondering if she knows that we will come back and interact with her if she does.

I also know we are on the verge of only needing one nap a day, but I just don't feel like we are ready for it.  (Maybe it's just me who isn't, but I'm not sure).  The trend, other than today, is that Ryann falls asleep easily anytime between 9:30 and 10 for her morning nap, and usually sleeps at least an hour, if not more.  We have tried laying her down for an afternoon nap between 2-3, but I would say in the last two weeks she has fallen asleep for that nap maybe twice by herself.  If we do get one in, it is usually because we go for a drive.

photo(4)
watching the clothes in the dryer

I hate to take her down to one nap, because she is usually ready for a little snooze in the morning.  Today when I kept her up until 12 she was getting really really sleepy.  But she has such a hard time falling asleep for that afternoon nap, even though you can always tell she is tired.

What would you do?  Keep forcing the two nap schedule, even if it means an afternoon ride in the car?  Or would you just switch over to a one nap scenario?  If she was a little closer to 1, or didn't fall asleep so easily in the mornings, I probably wouldn't question making the switch.  But the fact that she is frequently ready for a nap between 9:30 and 10 makes me feel bad for considering keeping her up until noon.

I so appreciate the feedback and input from all you other moms out there.  Really, hearing your thoughts and experiences makes this motherhood thing a lot easier to handle :o).

15 comments:

Salena Begley said...

Kids have off days so I would keep it going. I know until after a year I still put my kids down for 2 naps. If she doesn't nap in the morning then she will learn to have roomtime. Keep to your schedule and she will get it.

I know once my kids got older switching to one nap was nice because it was long and not 2 short naps. But stay consistent for a while and see what happens.

Breanne said...

Thats tough....no advice as my daughter is just 5 months so we are not dealing with that. Just wanted to say that I love reading your posts. You are very creative! Stop by and say hi if you would like! :) mcbridetales.blogspot.com

Jessa said...

My son went to no naps before the age of two. That sucked. LOL

As for the napping situation... I don't know how the rest of your schedule for the day generally is, but have you considered putting her down between 10:30 and 11 instead of 9:30. This way she'd nap until 12-1 therefore kind of eliminating the need for the afternoon nap. You may also want to play around with bedtime to see if that helps any.

Anonymous said...

Every kid is different, but I would try two things. Only letting her sleep 45 minutes in the morning and see if that helps with the afternoon nap. Or laying her down for the afternoon nap earlier, maybe she is overtired by 2 or 3.

Ashlee said...

My Josh just turned 11 months old yesterday and for the past 5 days we have gone down to one nap. He was doing the same thing, napping great in the morning and then refusing his afternoon nap (unless I rocked him a lot and sometimes not even then). He also gets up early (around 5:00) so I have been keeping him up for 5 hours before I put him down around 10:00. I have also tried to make sure he gets a good 2 hour nap since it is his only one of the day. Yesterday he woke up after an hour and I had to go and help him get back to sleep but today he slept the whole 2 hours by himself.

To be honest with you, he has been on the cranky side since switching and it has also been disturbing his nighttime sleep, which has made me weary to continue, but at least I don't have to fight with him every day to go to sleep in the afternoon and for bedtime because he is not tired enough. They are in the stage of two naps being too much and one being not enough. I am hoping that as time goes by and he grows older, he will get used to the one nap and his temperament and nighttime sleeping will go back to normal.

Ericka said...

She may be too young to switch to one nap - that doesn't usually happen until 18 months, I think. I would keep an eye on her sleepy cues (rubbing eyes, yawning, getting cranky) and then try to put her down asap. Hope you find naptime nirvana :) - I'm still working on it and mine baby is 28 months! I love your blog!

Meredith said...

Naps are so hard...and just before kids reach new milestones, napping all seems to go to heck.

When we're home in the morning, Lizzy wants to nap at about 10am, but then only naps for an hour and often won't go down again in the afternoon. I'd really like to either reverse so that she's only napping in the afternoon, or get her to take both.

Right now, even if I don't think she'll sleep, I set her in her crib every afternoon with some books, and she stays there for an hour. Period. She and I both need the quiet time.

Ellen said...

We are having that same dilemma. She gets sleepy at around 9:30ish so I feel bad trying to keep her up longer but then she is fussy about the afternoon nap.

I don't have any advice, but know that you aren't alone! I was sort of glad to read you are having the same problem. At least I know it isn't something I am doing. :)

Hang in there! Hopefully our little girls will get themselves sorted out soon.

Carry Grace said...

Every kid is different, but they aren't usually ready for just one nap until around 16-18 months. She may just be having an off day(s). She could also be teething.

I have found that with Henry, consistency is key. If he gets off track we stay home a few days and make sure that he is home on time for each nap and then he gets back on track and is more flexible if I need him to be.

Hang in there, it will get better.

Erin said...

It was a lot easier for us because Annie was refusing her morning nap. I do disagree with the above posters that say kids aren't ready for one nap until 18 months though - since Annie was CLEARLY ready at 10 months. As the saying goes - every baby is different! I think Meredith has a good strategy of enforcing crib time at least for an hour morning and afternoon - maybe that would work? The transition between 2 to 1 naps is really rough for a lot of kids... we were lucky that it was easy for Annie. Good luck!

Kate said...

My daughter did that a few weeks back (and still does a bit now). Just refusing her afternoon nap would rather cry and whine in her crib. She finally got over it and started napping for both. She wakes up later then your daughter (around 7) but goes down at around 10/10:30 and again at around 3/3:30. Have you tried a later afternoon nap?

Laura WIlliams said...

I have two girls age 3 and age 22 months. Both girls took two naps until about age 1. I would lay them down at the same time everyday. If they slept, great and if not...they still had some down time and rest time.

When my girls transitioned to taking just an afternoon nap, they were sooo ready for a nap around 11:30 or twelve. so I moved lunch up to 11 or 11:30 and then laid them down around noon. They would usualy sleep around 2-3 hours. which I loved. I would put them to bed at 8.

I definately would not eliminate an afternoon nap. If I were you I would try two naps a day for another week or two. If you still have the same issues...transition and move lunch earlier etc.
It will eventually even out.

Now we eat lunch at 12:30 or 1 and my girls are napping or having "roomtime" from 2-4. I want my girls to have rest time even if they dont nap. its good for them to have quiet time.

Im having a boy in about 7 weeks...we will see what happens then! ha!

Julie S. said...

When Brayden started doing that, I tried him on one nap at around 13 months. He did great for 2 days, and then reverted back to the 2 naps/day because he was so tired. When I moved him to one nap, I just progressively put him down later and later in the morning until it was after lunchtime that he napped. It worked for us. You are not alone, just remember that!

Carrie said...

i would say don't be too quick to give up on the second nap. i think for the afternoon nap, you should try putting her down a little bit earlier. i know it seems backwards, but for whatever reason, it frequently works!

Kim said...

Hi Ashley,

I was just blog hopping and stumbled across your blog. LOVE it! I had to comment on this one. My daughter (who is now 4) was always a horrible napper (sleeper in general). A friend gave me a book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". Somebody may have already suggested it to you. I used that book to fix our problems and now she sleeps great. I followed that book with my second baby and he's a great sleeper. It talks about several methods but the basic idea is that babies have to LEARN to sleep. Most importantly, they have to learn how to put them selves to sleep, how to stay asleep, and how to go back to sleep when they wake before morning/time to get up. It's a great book.

You didn't mention bedtime. Maybe bedtime could be adjusted a bit so she wakes closer to 7 AM. I would also suggest consolidating to one long nap. I definitely wouldn't keep the car ride up. Check out the book, it will give you some great ideas.
Good luck, I know first hand how frustrating this situation is!