For some reason Benjamin refused to take his usual morning nap today and so by 1pm he was very tired. I managed to get him to go to sleep and hoped he would make up for the morning, but after only a short while I heard the dreaded lawn care truck arrive. Ugh, these people bug me. Yes, they provide a useful service, but does their equipment have to be soooooo loud? The minute they started working I heard whimpers coming from Benjamin's room. Pretty soon Benjamin was in full-out wailing mode and no amount of white noise makers would help. I got him up and looked outside to see not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 guys with leaf blowers walking as a group, blowing clipped grass right under my window. Then, over by my door, a bull-dozer moving dirt from one spot to another for some unknown reason. Finally, a little ways off - 2 riding lawn mowers circling around on the grass and a guy with an edger trimming around the curb. No one could have slept through that racket! Plus, it's now 6pm and they're still mowing and edging and blowing - 5 hours later!! And still, Benjamin has not gone to sleep. So, this is my battle today. Oh, how nice it would be to own a house where you can mow the lawn when it's not nap time and if your neighbor mows his lawn, it's with one lawn mower at a time. Not to mention, if I owned a house, I wouldn't have smoker man's noxious fumes wafting into my bedroom at all hours of the day and night. But alas, we're too chicken for such a huge step just yet, so I must deal with the consequences of apartment living. Though, I sure love having maintenance guys to call whenever anything breaks! :)
End of the story: It's now after 9pm, and for all those dying to know how the story ends - Benjamin finally fell asleep for 30 minutes after the lawn crew left and thus got enough rest that he was his normal, happy self until bedtime. We played his favorite game - the airplane - which elicited the usual excitement. This is where I (or Kelly) lay on my back and lift him above me, in a laying down position, so he's looking down at me. Whenever I do this, he smiles. I've actually been able to stop him in mid-wail with this move.
The airplane game:
Coming in for a landing:
Also, we played on the blanket a bit which resulted in his first laugh while awake! It was so amazing! He has the cutest laugh! He grinned real big and laughed several times as I moved his arms around and sung little songs. Finally, at the usual 9pm, I carried him into his room, swaddled him, sung to him, and laid him down. He smiled at me as I said goodnight and walked out. I haven't heard a peep since, so I'm assuming he's asleep. Why does he do so well at night but have so many troubled afternoons (with or without work crews outside)? I don't know, but I'm grateful it's not the other way around. So there you go, all's well that ends well.
5 comments:
Sam and Hannah both love the airplane game. Sam has gotten to the point where he says 'Try again' after every time I put him down - it's pretty funny. The thing that worked for us to get both Sam and Hannah to stop crying was the balancing buddha or balancing baby circus act. They both loved standing on their feet on my hands and balancing. (Though Sam did like it better than Hannah did.) They have both grown out of it now, though Sam still loves being thrown around.
Take heart - your second bay will sleep through it all. Usually, only the first baby is noise sensitive.
I love the photos of Benjamin and your thoughts about motherhood.
Julie
Justin - I remember your baby buddah trick. You and Brandon were both quite the masters. However, AJ and Kellie always seemed quite nervous about it. :) We haven't tried that move just yet. He's still a little too young.
Julie - good point - I guess the second one will constantly have Benjamin's noises to deal with, right?
ACK!!! I know what you mean! I hated the lawn maintenance at the condo. It was alwasy during nap time (and you remember what a little time clock Lucas was) so I couldn't avoid it. But most days it was during the middle of the nap when he was sleeping soundly.
As for second children...I don't think it matters, she still is woken up by her brother, but at least she does better on less sleep then he did
One more thing-Sofia slept horrible naps for the first several months and really good at night as well. I wouln't fret, just keep being the great mom that you are and one day you'll realize that he is napping better....really, it only just gets better :)
Laura
I read a lot of books about sleeping babies when I had trouble with James. He slept through anything once he went to sleep. Anyway I always thought it odd that sometimes naps were perfect and night time was a struggle and then night sleep would be great and naps were a struggle. The books say they are two kinds of sleep. Still seems odd though.
Brooke
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