Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Sleeping arrangements

In our house babies sleep in the most unusual places. When Tony was a baby he slept in our room initially, then the hallway just outside of our room, then a little farther away into the bathroom. The fan in the bathroom did wonders for his sleep, so there he slept until he outgrew his bassinet and we were forced to put him in his room in his crib. I thought about moving the crib into the bathroom, but it would have been a bit of a squeeze so I didn't. I went online and bought a CD that played the sound of a bathroom ceiling fan for 1 hour straight, and I put it on repeat play all night. It took about 6 months before we were able to get rid of the fan CD.
Bella is a much better sleeper than Tony was, by 6 weeks she was sleeping through the night, I think Tony was 8 or 9 months before he was. I was afraid it wouldn't last, but so far so good. She usually goes to bed around 10pm and sleeps until 6 or 7am, then I feed her and she goes back to sleep til 9 or 10. I am so lucky she is such a good sleeper. She sleeps in the kitchen, on the counter in her bouncy seat, with the stove fan on. When she was first born I put the bouncy seat up on the counter so Tony couldn't get to her and hurt her accidentally, and it just sort of stayed there. It's close to the fan, so she sleeps really well there. We have tried putting her in the bathroom, but after sleeping in the kitchen for so long with the stove fan, the bathroom fan just doesn't do the trick, I guess it isn't loud enough.
Now that she is 3 months old, I feel like I need to put her in her crib to sleep before someone calls CPS on me. I have given her a couple naps and a few nights in her crib. She actually does pretty good, as long as I let her fall asleep in the kitchen and then carry her to the crib after she's really good asleep. The problem is, when one of them wakes up, the other one wakes up. Tony still wakes up from time to time due to loss of paci, tooth ache or some other unknown reason, and when he cries it wakes Bella up. When Bella wakes up at 6am to eat, it wakes up Tony, and with it being so close to morning, I risk him not going back to sleep.
So I have decided that they need their own rooms, at least for a little while until they are on the same sleep schedule. Problem is we don't have another bedroom, so I have decided to give up our office and turn it into a little girl room for Bella. I have a lot of stuff in the office, but I rarely use it as an office, it's more of a catch all room to temporarily stash stuff I don't know what to do with. So finding a new place to put all the stuff is going to be a real challenge for me.
But that is my plan over the next week, to clear out the office and make a room for Bella. If I get it done properly and in a timely manner, you can expect some before and after pictures soon. If you don't get them, please feel free to harass me about it, I may need the encouragement to get it done.

Here is how my little Bell-Bell sleepsOnly when she is really sleeping she is swaddled up super tight like this...

And here are a few more pictures just because they're cute.

5 comments:

Elle J said...

I like the corn on the cob shot of Tony! :)

Thank you for the coupons!! They came in the mail today, just in time for a shopping trip tomorrow. Thank you!!!! I will keep you posted on what we try.

Tina in CT said...

It amazes me how Bella likes to be swadled like that. How do you manage the bouncer seat straps with her like a papoose? Yes, your kids do sleep in strange places but if it works, go for it. Anything to have a baby sleep at night is the way to go.

Rachael said...

I think the office will make a really cute little girl's room! Let me know if you need any help.

(Since I'm planning to nab you to help me with some of my own redecorating projects this summer!)

Also...did you decide what to do about your couch and loveseat?

Kathy said...

A week?!?! I've been wanting to clear my office out and get it ready for the baby for much longer than that. It's started, but NO WHERE near ready yet. Like you, we still have lots of extra stuff and I cannot figure out where to put it. Good luck getting all the work done in a week - if you are successful you are going to make me either look really bad or else motivate me to get moving faster! I'd challenge you to a race, but I think you'd easily win this one...

Paula said...

You're household sounds just like ours. We have to start Bella out sleeping in our room and then transfer her into her crib when she's good and asleep. Both our girls do sleep in the same room at night and even when ones cries out it doesn't seem to wake the other one....yet. I'm glad you guys are doing well. We'll be on the homestretch soon friend.