Sitting on the couch, slowly nodding off. It’s 2045 and I could easily go to sleep, right there, for the night. On days that I crossfit, I sleep so well! My pillow is my best friend as I drool fall into slumber and feel the soreness of my muscles hit my mattress. Sweet dreams! I know I will!
Tag Archives: Sleep Patterns
Could it be, we’re back on track?!?
Sweet Rina,
Ever since we got back from our trip on the east coast, you have been all out of whack with your sleeping pattern. I guess at first it was thanks to the jet lag and then you got this nasty cold (which you still have!), but tonight, you fell asleep at your “usual” time and have been sleeping since I put you down. Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed that you are finally back into your old sleeping routine and will start sleeping through the night again. I’ll admit that it’s been particularly challenging for me as I really relish my “evening time” by myself. Those few hours where you are sleeping and your Dad isn’t home from work is when I can really unwind, whether it is reading all the blogs I follow, watch some TV or work on my translation project or just enjoy a nice fire in the fireplace. However, for the past 3 weeks, I haven’t had the luxury of this quiet time by myself, let alone an uninterrupted night of sleep in well over 5 weeks and it has taken its toll on me. So for tonight, I am thankful you seem to be sleeping well! 🙂
In other news, you had your 1st eye check-up today. I was getting one for myself and the ophthalmologist was asking if you’d had your 6-months check-up (for your eyes). I had no idea you were even supposed to get one at 6 months and I know our *wonderful* doctor did it. the doctor today was nice enough to throw yours in at the same time as mine! You seem to have a bit of astigmatism in your left eye (just like me), but nothing to be worried about right now and it could’ve been a fluke according to the ophthalmologist. You’ll have your next check-up around 2 years old. As for me, my astigmatism has gotten a tiny bit worse, but it’s still very minor. I ordered my contact lenses and will get new glasses when I start getting paid from work as my money from my maternity leave pay is not getting me very far lately. With your birthday, Christmas and having to renew my nursing license, I’m living on pennies right now, but don’t worry, we’re doing just fine! It just means I have to be a bit more frugal than usual! 😉
I was just taking a short break from my translation work to update the blog, but I should really get back to it seeing as I haven’t been able to do any this week. You see, I’m helping out with the French translation of Eat to Live. My name (as well as many others) will be in the contributors of the e-book when it comes out! Not bad, right?!? 🙂 I just hope it will help many other readers out there to eat healthier, I know it has helped me tremendously and I’m eating delicious foods, losing weight and not feeling deprived through it all!
Here are a few pictures I took recently of you, just because I like them!
You were all skin and bones in your Halloween pyjama!
Up to no good, making a mess of my linen closet!
Sleep well little angel!
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Just what this yogi needed
Sweet Rina,
I woke up this morning and felt like a rusty tin man (tin woman?). My calves were sore (both from the hike yesterday and slamming the car door on my left one 😦 ), my shoulder and neck were stiff and my quads and hip flexors were angry with me too! I almost debated not going to Iyengar today, but at the same time, I knew it would totally help me feel limber again. So off I was!
It was the perfect practice for me today. Lots of stretching in the shoulder joints, shoulder blades and hips. I also received and slight adjustment in Utthita Trikonasana (extended triangle pose) that allowed me to really open my chest and engage my obliques in a way I didn’t know I could do in this pose. I was also able to use this same small adjustment in Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose) and it was a whole different way of experiencing those poses. Funny how just a few degrees more in a twist from a certain part of your body can change how you feel in a pose so much!
I came back home and I feel all back to normal. There is still a bit of soreness in my quads, but it’s just that: soreness. There isn’t any stiffness in it. It just feels like I’ve used my quads yesterday, and it feels good to be aware of these muscles in a more subtle way. As I was walking through the door, your Dad was just about to put you down for your second nap so far today. Funny how you go down so easily today, with no complaining while it had been a struggle all week. I guess all the hiking (and crying) of yesterday did you in and you need today to recharge. A bit like your Dad and I in a way. I’m glad we’re all on the same page!
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Frazzled sleeping patterns and Rebooting
Sweet Rina,
Over the past week, you have been changing your sleeping patterns. I should be more precise and say your napping patterns. Thank goodness you still sleep your (often) uninterrupted 11hrs at night. I just don’t know what to do with you during the day anymore. You used to take 3 naps and tally a total of close to 4hrs of nap sleep, now, we’re down to 1-2 naps and if we tally 2hrs, we’re lucky. The result is a tired Rina who doesn’t want to be held, doesn’t want to play, doesn’t want tummy time or back time nor do you want to try and crawl. You are just grumpy and I find myself not knowing what to do with you at times. After trying for over 1hr to have you nap this afternoon (I took you to bed with me, hoping to get a nap too, no such luck) I put you in your child carrier and took you around the lake. It was hot, but I didn’t hear a peep out of you. You seemed pretty content in there and it gave me a bit of a break from your whining! I must say, it’s been a pretty draining week for me. I feel horrible for you as you have baggy eyes, but keep fighting sleep whenever we put you down. Twice this week, you’ve fallen asleep in my arms drinking your bottle, something you NEVER normally do. You are just exhausted and I feel horrible for not knowing what to do. I don’t know if it’s your new tooth that’s bothering you, but I sure hope that this too shall pass… Hopefully, a lot sooner than later. I’m getting tension headaches from it all and it’s no fun dealing with a tired you with a headache. Ugh!
In other news, I’ve started a Reboot today. It’s mainly a food detox program based on eating fruits and vegetables as well as juicing. Don’t worry though, I get in plenty of calories and more than enough grams of protein to make it through te 15-day program. This morning’s breakfast had way too much cinnamon in it and the mid-morning juice was quite gross to be honest with you, but my lunch was pretty good and I’m also looking forward to dinner! I’ll keep you posted on how things go as I go along!
The S word…
Good morning gorgeous girl!,
The S word would be success… but I am a bit afraid of saying it out loud as though I would be jinxing myself. Last night, I was determined to put you to bed around 8pm instead of the usual 6pm. You fed around 5pm and then went for a nap until 7pm allowing me to have dinner at a more “normal” hour (which hadn’t happened in a loooooong time!) and I then went to wake you up. That’s right, you read right, I. WOKE. YOU. UP. I know “they” say never to wake a sleeping baby, but I knew that if I didn’t do it, you’d go through the night just like every other night, hence waking up at 4am and again at 6am and I was not willing to have that happen again. So I went against “their” better judgment and woke you up. Sue me!
I let you wake up on your own, cuddling you in my arms, until you flashed me your famous “I’m awake” smile. I then ran your bath and proceeded to your usual bedtime routine. You drank a little less than usual, but considering you had taken a very good bottle just a few hours earlier, I wasn’t too worried. I think you woke up again around 2am (I say I think, because I was asleep and your Dad got up to feed you. He says you took a long time to get back to sleep then 😦 ) and again around 5am. I tried to put you back to sleep in your bed, but you wouldn’t have it, so I went to the futon with you, where you passed out until 0730! I was actually up before you and managed to slip out of the futon without waking you up! 🙂 You are currently napping and I’ve had time to have my coffee, breakfast and a shower without waking up your dad either! This is almost a perfect morning in my book!
Your Dad just woke up and you are still napping. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new sleep routine for you and you’ll adjust well to it. It may sound stupid, but that extra hour of sleep in the morning is so beneficial to me. I’m not sure if it’s the extra sleep or the fact that I was able to do yoga last night (and relieve the tension in my neck and shoulders), but I feel so much more rested this morning. Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed!
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Birthday getaway!
Sweet Rina,
(This is a long post with many pictures… You are warned!)
I havent posted in a while, but then again, things were pretty much routine around here so I didn’t think it was worth blogging about our walking/playing/bedtime routine. We just got back from Tofino for the weekend. It was my birthday on Friday and your dad surprised me with a little weekend getaway to a cabin in Tofino with a nice wood stove and a hot tub. You traveled very well with needing only 1 stop each way in order to feed you. When we got to the cottage, they had just emptied and re-filled the hot tub so we weren’t able to enjoy it that night as the water was too cold. Your dad made a nice fire in the wood stove when we got back from a walk on the beach between Mackenzie and Chesterman Beach, followed a quiet night in after having a splurge dinner of homemade carbonara spaghetti!
A surfer heading out to the water on this overcast day in Tofino
Saturday, we went back to the same beach even though it was raining and snapped some more pictures. We walked for about 1hr in the rain and had you very well covered!
Well covered up in the Tofino rain
Some of my artwork...
We then headed towards town in hopes of finding something to do… Tofino is consists of about 5 streets and we walked all of them. You see, you go to Tofino for 2 reasons: to surf or to relax! We bought a bottle of wine for dinner and headed back to the cabin. We enjoyed some of this while you napped:
So inviting after a day in the cold rain!
When you woke up, it was all about Daddy-time!
- Don’t they look alike???
Sunday, it was time to pack up and head back home 😦 Of course, fate would have it that because we were leaving, the sun was shining very bright (it was supposed to be sunny all weekend in Tofino…) Once we were done locking up the cabin, we headed out towards Long Beach to enjoy the sun and I snapped some more shots:
Last day on Long Beach
- Snapping away!
- Rina at the beach!
Thank goodness we had brought the ERGO with us! I thought you’d be fine without the insert, but it turns out you were much better behaved with the insert in. I guess, you like being higher up and looking around! I think being in a different environment had its effect on you as your sleeping patterns were all out of whack at the cabin, but you had a regular night here last night.
On the way home, we stopped by the side of this little creek because the colours were simply stunning. I haven’t touched the pictures at all on the following ones:
The water was THIS green!
Rocking the shades and the crazy hair!
I’ve decided to wear my hair wavy as I’m letting it grow and it’s just too much work to try and straighten it right now, hence the crazy hair!
Today was weigh-in day… I didn’t do as well as the previous weeks, but it was to be expected as I,ve had a few cheat meals because of birthday celebrations. Oh well! Only 27.8lbs to go! It is A-OK in my books. We are back on track today!
As I said to your dad, when we used to live in Quebec, we were surrounded by beautiful natural surroundings. However, British Columbia, in my opinion, has surpassed that beauty by the tenfolds! To me, nothing puts a balm on my soul like the landscape of ocean and mountains, all combined into one. Getting to spend the weekend in such beautiful surroundings was amazing. Getting to do it with you and your dad was priceless…
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Abort! Abort! Abort!
Sweet Rina,
I have to face the facts: the dreaded shin splints are back 😦 I was feeling a soreness in my shins all day on Wednesday after my jog and today, when I went to run errands with you in your stroller, I could feel the all too familiar pain in my shins. I am really bummed out as I was determined to do the C25K once and for all. I will bench myself for a week, hopefully recover, then give it another try. In the meantime, I’ll be doing Pilates, yoga and other workouts by Tracy Anderson. I’m just hoping I keep losing some weight.
I called Jess to let her know I wouldn’t be doing the jog tomorrow and we decided to go walk instead. I am really disappointed, but there is no way I will “push through the pain”. That’s what I did last time and it got me nowhere, so I won’t be doing that this time around. RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) all the way. I guess I will have to walk the TC10K too 😦
You know what, I won’t be disappointed. I’ll keep working out, it’ll just be a different kind of workout. I just finished a cardio Pilates in the living room and I was sweating my tush out so I have to have burned a few calories right there! 🙂 And, of course, I will keep taking you out for walks and errands !
In other news, your dad is acting very weird, asking me if I’ve used my computer today and if it was working fine, then asking me if I received an email from him. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I’m thinking it has to do with my upcoming birthday. When I asked him what he was up to and demanded for him to tell me what he had done, he just replied: “Think of it as an Easter egg hunt”. I CAN’T stand surprises! I am the most curious person there is! Our first Christmas in BC, we woke up one morning (close to Christmas) to the sound of the fire alarm in the apartment complex where we used to live and once we decided to exit the apartment, my 1st reaction was to go grab the presents from under the tree because I didn’t want to miss finding out what your dad had gotten me! That’s how curious I am! You can imagine that his behaviour is simply killing me right now!
In yet another unrelated topic, you slept really well last night. You did 8h30, had a bottle and then slept again for another 3hrs in you own bed! Normally, I get up with you anytime between 4-6am and we both go to the futon to “sleep in” until 7am or 7:30am! Ha! However, last night, you slept until 7am in your own bed and had done the same 2 days prior to that. Could it be that you are starting to sleep a little bit more? Here’s to hoping!
We love you very much my gorgeous girl!
Mom & Dad Xxo
Jet Lagged…
Sweet Rina,
You were so good on the trip back home with very minimal crying on the planes. Everyone thought you were the cutest and sweetest baby and I just had to agree with them! 🙂
Chilling at the Calgary airport
Everything went really well until we landed at home: your bag (with all your clothes, blankets and toys) got lost somehow. Your dad (who was ecstatic about seeing you and took time to examine EVERY inch of your body to see how much you’ve changed!) and I filled out the paperwork and we managed to wrap you up in 2 receiving blankets and headed home like the little reunited family that we are! 🙂 You went down for the night pretty easily and so did I, falling asleep cuddled against your dad on the couch!
Your bag was delivered first thing this morning and you and I were off to a doctor’s appointment where you came up at a whopping 11lbs 13 oz! As for me, I had a full physical (always soooo much fun!) and we are pretty much clear from our OB/Gyn care after Friday and back under the care of our GP. As for you today, you were quite the grumpy baby, but I had expected as much with the 3hrs time difference. You were so tired that you were dozing off during you bath. I then went back to your bedtime routine and you fell like a rock. I am currently trying to catch up to my mail, making a vegetable soup and feeling bad that I’m skipping the Challenges workout this week. I’ll get back to it next week, I promise, I’m just too beat up to even think about it this week. I am, however, thinking about starting to run with you. I’ll probably start the Couch to 5K program again with you in your stroller. Hopefully, the shin splints will stay at bay this time around.
Proof that you have a bit of fuzz on your head! 🙂
Passed out while drinking your bedtime bottle
Sleep well my love and hopefully, tomorrow, you’ll be on the Pacific time zone 🙂
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Feb.12, 2011: Hallelujah!
Lovely Rina!
I can’t get over how good you are being to me! Last night, after putting you down for the night, we had your Grand-papa and your Nonno keeping an ear out for you while me, your Grandma and your Mamie went out in the hot tub! I needed that so badly! It totally did me in to the point where I was so tired, I skipped my Challenges workout… Bad mommy! 🙂
Once I went down for the night, you only woke me up at 12:15am when you guzzled 8oz over an hour. You then went on to sleep until 6:45am! So far, this has been the best night of your life! Mama is so proud of you! You then got some serious photo sessions taken with your Nonno, your Aunt Sandy, your Great Oma and more relatives!
I’m off to another lovely relaxing session in the hot tub before calling your dad!
Love,
Mom & Dad Xxo
Jan. 28, 2011: Teaching you to sleep is exhausting!
Sweet Rina!
Teaching you to fall asleep by yourself and to self-soothe is exhausting! Don’t even get me started about nap times, bed time is hard enough as it is! I am still reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night by Elizabeth Pantley and she has good points about self-soothing and bedtime routines and I’ve seen a big improvement with your nighttime sleep pattern. You still have the odd day when it’s really hard to put you down as you fight it, but in general, if I do the routine to a T, it’s fairly easy. However, when you awake in the early hours of the morning, it’s harder for you to fall back asleep as you also still suffer from colics and you have a bout of them from about 0400 until 0600. I had started to take you and go sleep with you on the futon in the living room (we had tried getting you in bed with us, but daddy sleeps too soundly), but I’m not a fan of this solution so I’m trying the book’s advices instead. I know it’ll take time to get the new method in place and running, but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to start my day at 0400! Oh well, the good part is that your dad finally has the weekend off and we’ll all be together for a few days! Yay for family weekends!
- Totally happy enjoying your bath (part of your bedtime routine)!
Sleep well my love, I know I will!
Mom & Dad Xxo
Ramblings of a Babymama 