Simple as it may seem, to most parents, having the house to themselves for an entire afternoon is a rare and exciting opportunity. We asked some hardworking mamas and papas around the country what they would do if this happened to them. The results were clever, hilarious, but mostly, just plain true. Read on to hear all of their answers and then chime in with your own response!
As you all know, major sleep issues hit my family hard in recent months. But apparently, I’m not nearly as alone as I have felt since entering NO SLEEP LAND. I always knew the world was filled with sleep-deprived parents, but man, I felt like the depths of my baby’s sleep issues were the worst I’d ever heard. It seems a lot of you are in my same boat, though, and while it makes me feel a teeny bit better, my heart goes out to each and every person who confessed to me, either publically or privately, that they are in their own personal sleep hell. It truly is so hard and I am so sorry. You know I feel your pain.
Anyway, apparently I’ve also been sleeping under a rock (or tossing any turning under one) but I didn’t know about a product called the Zipadee-Zip by Sleeping Baby Inc. until very recently. What is a Zipadee-Zip you ask? Well I’ll tell you. It’s a wearable blanket that aids the swaddle transition and is safe for baby to roll in. Now, my uber-alert Tenny never wanted to be swaddled in the first place. But I thought, we’re tried everything else, might as well try the zippy! Note: The Zipadee-zip goes up to 24m but there is also a hands-free option called “The Flying Squirrel” for bigger (12m+) babes.
A Cozy Fleece Zippy that is great for sleeping if you live in a cooler climate. These are great with just a diaper underneath. They also make great wearable blankets for stroller, car and baby carrier rides as a baby can easily be buckled in while wearing one. Retails for $38.95
While I was worried about T not having his hands free in case he wanted to suck his fingers (something he’s never done before, at least while trying to get to sleep) he didn’t seem to mind having them under his zippy. He could still move around and get comfortable. We typically put him in a big purple sleep sack that used to belong to his sister, but sleep was really hit or miss in that, too. He woke up a lot and I worried about how much he could really move and shift in it now that he’s a pro-roller. A lot of times, he seemed frustrated in the sack, so something more movable for this guy seemed like a pretty good solution.
The first night Tenny slept in his Zippy, miraculously, he did his longest stretch ever! Now I don’t want to be deceptive. We have also been working with a gentle sleep coach, but still, he’d been waking 2-3 times a night on the regular. So when I was pretty blown away at this change. No, actually… I thought it was a fluke. Now, he has routinely been waking up only once a night to nurse then going right back to sleep while wearing his zippy. It’s pretty amazing. While I can’t totally explain it, I think it has to do with the fact that his arms and legs are snug inside his zippy so he doesn’t wake himself up as much, but he can also move and shift around when he needs to.
A well-rested Tenny after napping in his Zipadee-zip!
So without further ado, I’d like to give one of these amazing sleep-helpers away to one of you all in hopes that it will help your baby and you sleep!
All you have to do to enter is:
1) Like The Mediocre Mama on Facebook and leave a comment either here or on Facebook about why you (or someone you plan on giving it to) need a zipadee-zip!
2) Share this page directly from the blog OR via the giveaway link on Facebook.
3) Like Sleeping Baby Inc- home of the ZipadeeZip on Facebook.
GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, 2/13/15 AT 9 AM.
Now everyone can’t be a winner… BUT if you head over to Sleeping Baby Inc., you can enter the coupon code “SLEEP” for $2 off a zippy of your choice anyway!
Find them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and be sure to like them on Facebook to enter their monthly giveaway!
While my pregnant self had entertained the thought that baby number two would be my “easy” baby, my “sleeper” baby, I regret to say, I was wrong. “I know how to swaddle!” I thought. “I know The Happiest Baby techniques!” “I know about white noise and overstimulation. We’ve totally got this!” BAH… HA. The only thing I’ve got is an eight month old kid who never sleeps. Not swaddled or wrapped, not in his “last resort” car seat or even in a stroller. I have the kid who watches absolutely everything and lifts his head up to look around when a floorboard creaks, even if he’s been up for hours on end. I’ve got the kid who can fight sleep like no one I’ve ever met in my entire life, conk out for ten minutes, then party all night. I’ve got the kid who wakes up screaming the second a nip slips out of his mouth or his body touches something that lacks a pulse. Having gone through an intense period of sleep deprivation with this child, I now know how important sleep is. Sleep can seriously make or break you. Not sleeping for months on end can tear your life apart and leave it like that crap in the bottom of a hamster’s cage- shredded.
Here are the fifty stages of sleep deprivation as I know them:
MM readers, Apologies for being completely MIA here. Aside from reposting work from other sites on this blog, I haven’t actually written on here in forever. Don’t blame me. Blame THIS GUY. I know he’s cute but he’s trouble.
This baby is so sweet, guys. I love him to the ends of the earth. But at seven months old he’s still pretty much a nightmare sleeper. He’s up several times a night and usually has a hard time going back to sleep. If he sleeps with me, in my arm pit, he wants to suckle all night and I end up awake for hours. If he sleeps in the crib he’s up several times a night. His sister is usually up at least twice or three times for a potty or a snuggle, too. Being awake every single hour is taking it’s toll on me. I want desperately to nurse him till he’s a year old. I actually can’t imagine stopping now that we are seven months in. I think it would be very emotional. But every time I hear about how great someone’s baby sleeps who downs a big bottle before bed, I want to throw in the towel. However, I know I’m not quite ready.
Every night I hope the tide will turn and so far, it hasn’t. I have been telling myself for months now “this too shall pass.” But lately I feel like I’ve been waiting forever. I’ve been trying to hide my exhaustion. Trying to act normal. But at this point, I can barely even muster up the energy to fake it. For example, I’m still bra-less and it’s 3:30 and I smell like baby poop, not sure how. I’m sure it’s on me somewhere. There’s snow on the ground, but still. I also haven’t been showering… that much. Every time my husband goes on a work trip I completely fall apart. I called him sobbing yesterday. Like, hysterical, incoherent, ugly cry, sobbing into the phone. He’d been gone about five hours.
Yesterday I was so fed up, so sad, so defeated. I texted my doula (and friend). I told her I’d been crying all morning. The baby was finally asleep after hours of trying to get him down for a nap. But all I could do was sit and cry. I haven’t wanted to say it out loud, how bad his sleep has been, how hard it’s been on me. I’m so past “mombie.” I’m really feeling the strain of sleeping for less than four hours a night for months (which according to the book my doula/friend brought me, is really, extremely bad for your health). I just wanted to reach out to someone and I’m glad I did. So she came over, tried to help me get the baby to sleep (which of course didn’t work because she’s no longer lactating and the only way Tenny wants to sleep is latched the fuck on). But then she took Piper to play with her girls for the afternoon. I nursed the baby and rested with him. Then eased him into his crib and he stayed there for a short while at least.
Sometimes just having human contact, just having someone say you aren’t crazy, you aren’t doing everything wrong and… I’m sorry you’re going through this just helps so much. I’m also so thankful for the mothers of the world who have bared their souls to me and told me about their struggles, too. When the going gets tough, I need honesty more than anything. Honesty saves me. I think mothers really want honesty. Properly-timed honesty, but still. Thanks to everyone who has given me that over these past seven months. Your struggles don’t make you weak. Your ability to share and be honest and maybe help others makes you brave.
I promise to write more soon. XOXO
Recently, I went from being a mother of one to a mother of two. The first few weeks of having two children had its challenges. Everyone was short on sleep and I was constantly occupied by the newest member of the family—my infant son. But Dad stepped it up, giving big sister a ton of love and attention and I was actually quite satisfied to be clutched by this new baby round the clock. I was happy to spend my days (and nights) getting to know the tiny person who’d already occupied my body for the better part of a year.
While there was undoubtedly more on my to-do list, overall, things didn’t seem that much harder. I even told a friend who inquired about how my life was different that it really wasn’t. While, yes, there was new baby who cried in the evenings, we were still doing the same things we’d always been doing.
Now five months into having two kids, I take it all back. I’m no longer high off birth hormones and newborn fumes. The acid trip has worn off and real life with two kids—one preschooler and one infant—has set in. Though I’m overjoyed to be reveling in what I feel is my “complete family,” I can now say with complete confidence that having two kids is no freaking joke. I’ll be the first one to fully acknowledge that having one child can be tremendously challenging, as well, but here’s how my life has changed since I gained one more.
I don’t like doing most chores. In fact, during my entire freshman year of college, my sheets never made it into a washing machine once. I know, it’s disgusting and totally sickens me now, thinking of how they were a very light shade of beige by the end of the year. At some point in early spring, I almost couldn’t take it anymore and was getting ready to tear them off my bed, but my roommate made a suggestion: “Well, you’ve made it this far, you might as well just keep it going.” I was easily persuaded.
Come summer, I think I just threw them out and vowed I’d do better the following year.
But my while my “better” might have meant a few more trips to the laundromat, my hatred for doing chores, especially dishes and laundry, hasn’t subsided that much since 2003, the year I graduated from high school. I do these things now, and frequently, but I only do it so that my kids aren’t running around in filth. It appears I value their health a bit more than I did my own.
I’ve always suspected that a little too much was done for my sister and me when we were young (and not so young). My room was often cleaned for me. My laundry was washed and folded. On occasion, I rinsed a dish and put it in the dishwasher, but usually, I just put it in the sink and left it there, as if that was half the battle. I really don’t remember doing any chores as a kid… ever. And while I think there is some value in letting kids be kids, I also think doing chores as a child makes adjusting to doing them as an adult much easier.
When a parent becomes a grandparent, a series of chemical reactions take place in the human brain. This release of hormones (endorphins, oxytocin, etc) is known to contribute to what is generally referred to as “The Grandparent Effect” – grandparents doing whatever the hell they want with no regard to consequences all in the name of love.
Obviously, I’m joking, and I fully appreciate the amazing love Grandparents give. But the hormone cocktail would help explain some of the bizarre grandparent behavior I’ve both experienced first-hand and heard about from friends that seems to peak at the holidays. In fact, it’s one of the biggest complaints I hear new parents talking about: “Why do my child’s grandparents think they can do whatever they want with my kid just because it’s Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza? They should know better!” Or, to quote a friend, “Why are there candy cane flakes in my 8-month-old’s neck rolls?? She doesn’t even have teeth!”
If the grandparents are coming to town this holiday season, you may want to post this list up on your soon-to-be goodie-stuffed fridge. Or better yet, print it out and send it to them anonymously BEFORE all hell breaks loose at the “most wonderful time of the year.” Here’s what I’m telling my kids’ grandparents this winter:
Read more: http://www.mommyish.com/2014/11/25/rules-for-grandparents-at-holidays/#ixzz3K6f8mc2N
