The Sleep Wars....

Well, we're fighting the good fight down here in Chattanooga. At the end of last week, Kirk started working really hard to get Sam to take naps on her own during the day. Sam was not such a big fan of that plan. She likes to be held and doesn't like to nap unless she's touching one of the two of us. That wasn't too much of a problem when we were both home all day. But now that it's just Kirk, he needs a little more flexibility. Here's how Sam would like to sleep 100% of the time:

And it's tough to put her down when she looks so cute! But, like I said, we're fighting the good fight to help her establish some independence. Unfortunately, the result is that when you don't let her nap with you, she refuses to nap altogether. When she refuses to nap altogether, she gets overtired and starts fighting sleep - even at night. And that's not good for anyone...

So we have a girl who used to be a pretty good sleeper (especially at night) and she's become a real bear when it comes to naps and bedtime! We now have to work for anywhere from an hour to two just to get her to sleep at night. Then when she wakes up, she doesn't like to go back to sleep. It's been a long week of trying not to cave in to her desire to sleep with us or to be held when she naps.

I think we have started to turn the corner - she is definitely getting better at comforting herself without needing Kirk and I to run in each time she makes a peep. I also think that Kirk and I are also getting better at recognizing when she is just talking to us (or cussing us out more likely) and we can let her be for a few minutes and when she is really upset and we need to go in. We have learned that our baby monitor has the remarkable ability of picking up every little sound and making it seem like she's the most miserable baby in the world - then you walk in and she's actually asleep. Did you know babies could cry in their sleep? Amazing...