Change Overnight

The past week has been a little... how do I put it? Off. Basically, Jayde's sleeping has been totally horrible! I have no problem getting her to sleep. Its the same as it's always been, she is down at her bedtime with no struggle. So, what's the problem you ask? The problem is that she has been waking up at incredibly early times. On Tuesday she woke up at 4:30am. I figured she just woke up for a feeding, so I brought her out to the living room like I usually do and fed her. She ended up dozing off, so I put her back into her crib. She immediately woke up and started crying. I thought that maybe I didn't feed her enough, so I went back into her room to get her, fed her, and then tried to put her back down. Nope, she wasn't going back to sleep. I ended up bringing her into my bed, because I was not in any way ready to be up that early. I know that 4:30am isn't THAT early, but it is when your expecting to wake up at 7:00am. She ended up falling asleep in our bed and waking up at about 6:45am. The next night Keith asked me, "Do you think Jayde will be up at 4:30 again?" I responded, "I don't care what time she's up, as long as it's not at 4:30!!" Well, she didn't wake up at 4:30. Instead she woke up at 2:30am. SHIT! When I said "as long as it's not 4:30," I didn't mean earlier!!!! Pretty much the same thing happened, she ended up in our bed, and fell asleep. Last night she woke up at 3:00am, and again, the same thing happened.

Your probably asking why I don't let her just lay in bed and cry it out. The problem is that when Jayde wakes up at night, she pulls herself up to a standing position in her crib. I really don't think she would be able to put herself back to sleep while standing, she doesn't even know how to get herself to lay back down! Not only that, but she doesn't exactly have perfect balance yet. I have witnessed her fall and hit her head on the wooden panels, and I seriously freaked out! So not only will she not go back to sleep, but I won't able to either. Because I will be sitting there in my room staring at the monitor making sure she doesn't hurt herself. I researched the topic today, and this was my finding:

"At 6 to 9 months, your baby may be learning to sit up, crawl, or possibly even cruise or walk — quite a list of achievements! Not surprisingly, he may not want to stop practicing his new skills at bedtime and may get so excited that he'll wake up to try sitting up just one more time.

Children who are learning to sit or stand up may practice their new skills at night in their crib and get stuck in an upright position once they're sitting or standing up. If this is happening to your baby, you'll need to teach him how to lie back down

Separation anxiety could also be the cause of your baby's wake-up calls. Waking up and finding you not there may cause some distress. But he'll probably calm down as soon as you enter the room and greet him."

I could definitely understand her practicing at night, and possibly getting stuck. Separation anxiety? Jayde does have slight separation anxiety at times, it depends what mood she is in. When we are at an unfamiliar place with people she doesn't see often, she can get clingy and she won't want to be in any ones arms but mine until she warms up to them. But, is it even possible to get separation anxiety when your in your own bed in your own house? It doesn't seem possible to me, but apparently it is.

All I have to say that whatever the reason; practicing, getting stuck, growth spurt, teething, etc., I hope that this will pass sooner rather than later!

Jayde standing with the support of her changing table

Speaking of teething, Jayde is almost 9 months old and she has yet to break a tooth through! It's so crazy because everyone thought that she was going to be on the early side of getting her first tooth. We thought she started the process of teething at 2.5 months, and then again at 4 months, again at 6 months, and so on. She never got a tooth when we were "for sure" she was teething, so we gave up on talking about it. People always ask us, "Is she teething?" We always look at each other and respond, "I have no idea, but it is a possibility." I kept waiting anxiously for her to break her first tooth, but now when I think about it, I am happy she hasn't for two reasons. 1. The longer she waits to get her first tooth, the longer it will be easier to breastfeed her without getting bitten. Hell, if she doesn't get her tooth until shes a year old, I will never even have to worry about it! 2. I will have longger to enjoy her cute baby gummy smile.

Fall is finally here! Which means that Jayde's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is coming up! I am ecstatic! It's weird to think that this year, I am now officially "Santa!" I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, because I know that I will!


Another amazing thing about fall- Starbucks pumpkin spice latte!

Oh, and I thought this was cool:

Crazy, huh?