Sleep Deprivation

Everyone tells you how exhausting it is to have a newborn baby, how to expect your newborn to wake every four hours, how a full nights sleep is well, something you dream about....

But what no one tells you is that almost two years later your little darling may still not be sleeping through the night!

That is where we are (argh).  Isobel is 21 months old and rarely sleeps through, my eldest was and still is a great sleeper, she slept through (and yes by sleeping through I mean from the 10.00pm dream feed until 6.00am) from 6 weeks and now goes to bed at 7pm and will easily sleep until 8am if Baba doesn't wake her up. I thought stupidly that Baba would be the same and up until she was 5 months old it appeared that she was going to be and then she started to wake up and hasn't really slept through since, she does occasionally but more often than not she wakes up. 

Its exhausting! I've tried controlled crying tough love and it works for a bit but before I know it we are back to square one and doing it all over again. I've tried not letting her have a sleep during the day but that makes her worse ??? The only way I can get her back to sleep is to give her milk, I've tried water and she looks at me like I am deranged. so I am at loss at what to do to make her sleep and funnily enough my sister has the same problem with my nephew who was born a week after Baba. 

If anyone has any miracle cures I am all ears!

Time or lack off..

Time is my enemy, it hates me! I do not seem to get a minute, things are just manic! 

You would think as my two lovely little girls like to get me up at about 6am I would have lots of time but it seems like one second its 6am and the next its 11pm and I've not stopped.

Why am I so busy...

Apart from the obvious and having two toddlers to look after, we are renovating the house which is taking a lot of my time as I stupidly volunteered to do the painting (why oh why did I do this??), as well as working during the evenings, two lots of gymnastics, playgroup, visiting my Mum and Dad, Nana, Sister, friends, ballet, swimming, shopping AND I'm trying to fit in a new career move as well!!! I really have no time for sleeping, bathing etc...

Pro Plus and Redbull are my new best friends, if I could figure out how to get a few extra hours a day I would be laughing.

Oh and did I mention my husband is working away? so I am also a single parent for the next 8 days....

I may soon be found rocking in the corner. 

Little Miss Independent

As there tends to be a Yin and Yang to most things, the Yin to Baba’s clinginess is Amelia’s independence!

Amelia has started nursery a couple of extra mornings this week and cried when I went to pick her up as she didn’t want to go home!

I had to bribe the little sod with sweets to get her out with minimal screaming; it’s nice to feel wanted….

Crying at the Nursery Door

Baba starts nursery this week one day a week, I booked her place with much anticipation last January but as the time got nearer I started to dread it. Which is ridiculous! I have not had a day to myself since Amelia was born in May 2009!

Like I said initially I was really excited about how I would spend my free time but then I started to worry about how Baba would cope as she is the original velcro baby, she screams blue murder if I leave her at home with her Daddy and god forbid I leave her with her doting Grandparents. She really is a nightmare, I was expecting the worse, even to the point where I was going to delay sending her until January but, as my husband pointed out she isn't going to change any time soon, so am I not sending her to school either? And because she is so clingy that maybe a bit of independence from me would probably do her and me the world of good.

Fast forward to last week where I had to leave her for the first time, I booked her in for a morning session to break her in gently, I took her in, she ran straight off to play, I loitered... she didn't notice... I loitered a bit more... she still didn't notice.... I shuffled towards the door... she didn't notice... I virtually got shoved out the door by the staff... she didn't notice... I looked through the window for five minutes... she didn't notice... so I got in my car and even though I was relieved there was no screaming hysterics I was also a bit sad that my little Clingy Miss Clingy Pants didn't need me (of course I know that’s not true but I was being melodramatic).

So I went off for three lovely hours, did some shopping and when I went back for her she still hadn't sodding noticed I'd left but her big beaming smile was good enough for me.

I am still preparing myself for hysterics though at some point, the little bugger is probably lulling me into a false sense of security and as soon as I think “oh that was easy” she will turn back into a wailing she-devil, clinging to my legs….