I am so thankful that I have such a dedicated and skillful husband - who also happens to own just about any tool you could think of and who is capable of such monumental tasks.
This weekend's project was to take all those pieces-parts and reassemble them into a sturdy and trustworthy contraption for the girls to play on and around. Not an easy task considering the fact that he needed to replace some of the ground level pieces that had started to rot and create a new base for it out of pressure-treated lumber so that those piece were not going to rot again any time soon. Add to that the fact that the main crossbeam (to which the swings get attached) was too long to safely get home in one piece. Rick cut it at a mostly convenient spot and in reassembling the structure he had to use metal plates and screws to rejoin the two pieces.
Rick busted his hump from 8:30 this morning until about 3:30 this afternoon (with a mere 20-minute lunch break and a few breaks to rehydrate) and managed to get the thing back together and reinforced the areas that needed some help - it looks great and feels solid! The girls were even able to play on it a bit today. YAY! He's not completely done yet as there are a few things that still need to be attached (the roof structure above the platform, a nifty little pulley attachment, and the rope climber are all I can think of at the moment), but the girls did get to swing and slide and play on the upper platform-thingy. They were so excited! Rick hit a wall by the time he stopped working at 3:30 - he was beat, the poor guy.
Here are some pics from today...
Our Superhero, Rick, and his assistant, the lovely Miss R.
The kids enjoying the swings for the first time.
Helping Dad install the slide.
Slide is all set - time for a ride!
Me, too, says Miss A.!
And, yes, even crazy mom gets in on the action!
So that was where today went. And now we are night two of a feeble attempt at getting E. to sleep at a reasonable time. She has been napping fine but has hit a stage where she is refusing to go to sleep at night unless I am in the room with her. My only guess is it is somehow related to her recent bout of stranger anxiety, but I can't be sure and I don't really want to spent every night sleeping on the twin bed in her room or having her co-sleep with us. I just don't sleep as well in those situations. I was ok when she was sleeping from 9ish-3ish, waking to nurse, then going back to sleep until 6ish or even 7am. I could handle that. But, this new thing is throwing me for a loop and I can't figure out what the heck to do. Last night we decide that enough and decided to try some cry-it-out (CIO) techniques. She screamed for 2 hours with me going in to try to calm her every 15 minutes or so (just my mere presence was enough and she would seem to be asleep again and be back to crying as soon as I left the room). We started at 8ish and Rick finally went in and rocked her to sleep at 10:15. She did sleep through the night which was a huge blessing, but now tonight we are back to square one. She woke at 8:45 this morning (I'm sure she was exhausted from her scream-fest), napped from 12:45-2:30 and then I tried to put her down again at 7:15. She did fall asleep by about 7:50 after I had rocked her for a while and we had such great hopes. We even tried to start a movie - but she woke up again screaming at 8:15 so the movie idea went right out the window. We have been going in to try to settle her - rocking her, not rocking her but just sitting in there with her - and it is now 9:30 and she is still not down for the night. We are both completely frustrated and don' t know what to do next. I just know I'm tired, Rick is EXHAUSTED after his long day, and we just need sleep. Why won't she just settle down and sleep when she herself must also be exhuasted. Is she overtired? We've tried one nap on some days and two naps on others. Neither one seems to be the answer on a given day. Maybe I need to feed her more? Not sure on that one but I can't exactly force feed her solids and I can't be sure how much she is getting from nursing but I do nurse her on demand at this point. Maybe I just need to wait it out and hope she outgrows this separation anxiety thing? I really don't want to start bad habits by co-sleeping every night or sleeping in her room!
So, how the heck do we get past this hurdle? You'd think a 'seasoned' parent of three would have figured this one out by now, but unfortunately each kid is so different and has such different needs at various stages that I'll be damned if they don't keep me on my toes and second-guessing myself at every turn.
I really wish these kids came with an instruction manual!
*****
Edited at 9:50pm to say that apparently all it took was venting here on the blog to get her to sleep! Will wonders never cease? I am REALLY glad I started writing this thing. Time to make a list of things to complain about and see if they magically right themselves!
The kids enjoying the swings for the first time.
Helping Dad install the slide.
Slide is all set - time for a ride!
Me, too, says Miss A.!
And, yes, even crazy mom gets in on the action!
So that was where today went. And now we are night two of a feeble attempt at getting E. to sleep at a reasonable time. She has been napping fine but has hit a stage where she is refusing to go to sleep at night unless I am in the room with her. My only guess is it is somehow related to her recent bout of stranger anxiety, but I can't be sure and I don't really want to spent every night sleeping on the twin bed in her room or having her co-sleep with us. I just don't sleep as well in those situations. I was ok when she was sleeping from 9ish-3ish, waking to nurse, then going back to sleep until 6ish or even 7am. I could handle that. But, this new thing is throwing me for a loop and I can't figure out what the heck to do. Last night we decide that enough and decided to try some cry-it-out (CIO) techniques. She screamed for 2 hours with me going in to try to calm her every 15 minutes or so (just my mere presence was enough and she would seem to be asleep again and be back to crying as soon as I left the room). We started at 8ish and Rick finally went in and rocked her to sleep at 10:15. She did sleep through the night which was a huge blessing, but now tonight we are back to square one. She woke at 8:45 this morning (I'm sure she was exhausted from her scream-fest), napped from 12:45-2:30 and then I tried to put her down again at 7:15. She did fall asleep by about 7:50 after I had rocked her for a while and we had such great hopes. We even tried to start a movie - but she woke up again screaming at 8:15 so the movie idea went right out the window. We have been going in to try to settle her - rocking her, not rocking her but just sitting in there with her - and it is now 9:30 and she is still not down for the night. We are both completely frustrated and don' t know what to do next. I just know I'm tired, Rick is EXHAUSTED after his long day, and we just need sleep. Why won't she just settle down and sleep when she herself must also be exhuasted. Is she overtired? We've tried one nap on some days and two naps on others. Neither one seems to be the answer on a given day. Maybe I need to feed her more? Not sure on that one but I can't exactly force feed her solids and I can't be sure how much she is getting from nursing but I do nurse her on demand at this point. Maybe I just need to wait it out and hope she outgrows this separation anxiety thing? I really don't want to start bad habits by co-sleeping every night or sleeping in her room!
So, how the heck do we get past this hurdle? You'd think a 'seasoned' parent of three would have figured this one out by now, but unfortunately each kid is so different and has such different needs at various stages that I'll be damned if they don't keep me on my toes and second-guessing myself at every turn.
I really wish these kids came with an instruction manual!
*****
Edited at 9:50pm to say that apparently all it took was venting here on the blog to get her to sleep! Will wonders never cease? I am REALLY glad I started writing this thing. Time to make a list of things to complain about and see if they magically right themselves!
4 comments:
Ok, first of all, you need to get that photo of Rick put on a Tee Shirt. I laughed so hard, I spit my iced tea all over my lap because i was choking to death. HILARIOUS. Love it! Rah rah Rick!
As to E... she's nearing one, isn't she? Does she not want solids? I don't know - I think I'd be stingier with the nursing during the day - not withhold it entirely but you know - kind of forcing her hand at eating something to keep her more full.
But that said, yes, I think it is the stranger anxiety thing; went through this with W. NO FUN. I wound up pulling out the sofa bed, plunking on it with him, and watching tv /nursing til he went to sleep. I confess sometimes I too went to sleep, and at that point, that was all I cared about.
Let me know if you find an owner's manual. Mine definitely didn't come with any. ;)
LOL - hope your lap dried quickly (we certainly don't want to create more laundry for you, of all people! Geesh!)
As for E. - yeah, she eats solids but I feel like we are in that early solids "rut" where it's hard to find non-chokable yet nutritious stuff to give her. In particular I think it would be good if she would eat more protein but for now it's just the whole milk yogurt that she'll eat. She won't touch most jarred stuff anymore because she does have a few teeth and likes to use them (and on the jarred chicken and turkey I can't say I blame her!!). She lives on crackers, cheerios, kix, some fruit if she can pick it up and eat it herself (or sometimes I mix the jarred fruit in with the yogurt), and other "snacky" foods. And of course the nursing. Once she gets more teeth we'll be golden! We're just not there yet....
May I suggest Benadryl? =D
Ummm....no, Karyn, you may not suggest Benadryl for it seems to induce, in at least R, a quite henious case of badass crankiness, the likes of which have rarely been seen in any of my children. I tried the Benadryl on her when she had those rashy spots (pre-Lyme diagnosis) because I thought she was having a reaction to something. Her behavior about 2 hours post-Benadryl was to be completely and utterly out-of-control insane - screaming at the top of her lungs, thrashing out at anything that came near her, hurling toys across the room. It was a nightmare. And it wasn't until a short while later that I put two and two together and realized that she was likely one of those kids who doesn't get sleepy but rather gets excitable/irritated by the dang stuff. Sigh. So, I don't dare try it out on any of my kids ever again!!!!
Post a Comment