Thursday, September 30, 2010

N.A.P Boot Camp

It's 7:50 and I am already in bed, blogging and watching The Biggest Loser. Matt is having a guys night and when he asked me what I was going to do tonight I said, "Probably go to bed as soon as I get done eating." Haha. I looooove my bed! I am just now getting around to watching the season preimere of The Biggest Loser (gotta love DVR!) and I can already tell I am going to be hooked. There are some really sad stories. There have been so many that went through some terrible deaths and I can't imagine going through something like that. I look forward to seeing thier lives change for the better, and probably shed a few tears with them too!




It's not a secret that Connor hasn't been a very good napper most of his short little life. Before Brent and Rachel's wedding I decided to let him CIO and it worked immediately. He spent a whole week taking both naps (3 hrs total) without any problems. Then we had all the wedding festivities, then the fair, etc.. you get the point. Why in the world didn't I wait until after said events to start working on the problem? I don't know. Anyway, after that we had had good days and some not so good days. Then he turned 6 months old and read my post saying he had gotten better and napping and thought "Hmmph.. I'll show her!" He seriously quit napping! He would be snoring on my shoulder. I would lay him down and BAM! His eyes would fly open, legs and arms start flailing and he would smile. He was ready to play! I'd pick him up. Rock for about 2 minutes and he'd be out again. Lay him down. AWAKE! It was just like a never ending cycle.




So last week I entered him into N.A.P Boot Camp. I had really hesitated entering him in the past, because I had heard the instructor was a bit on the soft side. She hears the crying and immediately thinks he needs her. She never follows through with the plan ;) Well after a few days of him literally laughing at her once she got in the room she caught onto his little game! I hear the first week was pretty rough. He cried the entire time everyday. Towards the end of the week he was so tired he had bags under his eyes.
By Friday it brought the instructor to tears. Was she doing the right thing? Was this even going to work? But I told her to hold strong. She was doing the right thing, and I am so glad she listened to me. This week has been SO much better. He might cry for the first 20 minutes and it's never really hard crying. More of just an aggravated cry! He, of course, immediately rolls onto his tummy and turns around so that he is facing the camera. I swear he knows what it is, because it NEVER fails that he is looking right into it giving me the most pitiful little face while crying. He will finally end up crawling over to his stuffed animals and falls asleep next to them, which I think is just precious. (Oh, you know how I told you he was starting to put the paci back in his mouth? Well when I woke him up this morning he had it in upside down. It was so stinkin cute.. I just wish I would have taken a picture!) So, I wrote this short novel to say I am glad I have started this process. I know crying it out isn't for everyone and it won't work on every baby, but it was my last option (besides crawling in the crib with him and don't think I didn't think about it!). I really feel like we are on the last leg... I just hope I am right! I'm not sure I could have done it without the video monitor. It has allowed me to make sure he was ok when he was screaming at the top of his lungs crying a little harder than normal. Gotta love technology! I can only imagine what it will be when our kids have kids. It will probably be the size of a little bug and you will be able to fly it around the room so there aren't any "blind" spots. (Yes, mom. We SHOULD invent it!) And just so I don't leave you with that pitiful sad, baggy eye picture of my sweet boy, I'll throw this one in here too :)





I am having so much fun with this little giveaway. Matt has made fun of me relentlessly, but I don't care! Thanks for participating (and if you haven't, but want to, go to yesterday's post and leave a comment)! You have made this N.A.P Boot Camp Instructor very happy :)

3 comments:

Susan said...

Boy, I wish we would have had video monitors when my kids were babies! Neither of them were good nappers and I had no backbone when it came to letting them CIO! My youngest ended up sleeping with us until she turned 6!!! I'm so glad that Connor is sleeping better:)

Lana Summitt said...

What does CIO stand for?

Angie said...

After making all the sleep mistakes with Sophie, we let William CIO starting at about 5 months. He now puts himself to sleep at nap time and night (sometimes he will allow me to rock him, sometimes not...boo). But you are blessing him by teaching him to soothe himself and fall asleep on his own, trust me. And that little man is sooooo stinkin' cute! :-)

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