Trying to get a nap...

We parked the car for about 15 minutes last week while waiting to pick Colin up. I was on the phone and when I hung up, I had 3 sleeping kids in the car (apparently, summer can wear you out!).
I HAD to take a picture of Connor napping because as a stomach-sleeper, I have TROUBLE getting comfortable and sleeping anywhere beside my bed. I can absolutely understand that this was the most comfortable position he could find. I felt bad when I had to wake him up before I could drive home. I know vehicle safety has necessarily come a long way but I remember sleeping in the front seat with my head next to the steering wheel as a kid.
Sweet Dreams Connor!

New Day

I have been meditating on this passage today.

Lamentations 3:22-23
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Last night I was up again in the middle of the night for almost 3 hours, 2+ hours with Cooper and then 30 minutes trying to get back to sleep. Cooper has not been my best sleeper. He used to wake up 4-5 times at night. By working with him and trying many different things, we again have him consistently waking up only once at night (in the last month). Unfortunately, every time we get him to this point, he gets a cold, a burn (see previous post) or cuts teeth and then we start all over. Sleep training is not easy and in the newest phase, he is fighting and mad; he got stubbornness from both parents.
Last night I was left frustrated and crying myself. I mean, including pregnancy, I have slept thru the night about 15 times in the last 19 months. And there are days when I finally hit the wall (figuratively). Add to that that we have been in the midst of the 2010 DC Blizzard read "locked in the house" and I was miserable. But today God gave me Lamentations 3:22-23 and I was reminded that He is Enough for me and this too shall pass. I had my most productive day in the last month and I felt Great. God is Good and I am glad for mercies beginning afresh each morning.

Time to Have Some FUN!

My recent Facebook Status: "contracted all night. Now, no contractions, no baby, no sleep. Doctor's appt this afternoon." The next day's Facebook Status: "slept great- amazing how well you can sleep when you are not contracting! Seriously, I feel wonderful; I have just never had: every 3rd night, all night, false labor. This is new---guess the 4th child has to be different somehow. ;)"

NOW, I have slept really well 2 days in a row and I am 100% back to my completely happy pregnant person attitude. I have to admit it was very strange for me to be so discouraged and frustrated; amazing what sleep deprivation does to you. I had experienced 4 or 5 nights in 9 days with little or no sleep and had definitely reached my limit.

I have said all that to say that now that I am back to Happy Pregnant Person Status. I am ready to have some fun. So, we are going to have a guess the baby's weight contest. We have never done this but we have also never been pregnant this long before!

Here are the facts for you to consider when making your guess:

Colin was born at 39 1/7 weeks and weighed 7lbs 8 oz, I gained 26 pounds.
Connor was born at 38 2/7 weeks and weighed 8lbs 4 oz. I gained 26 pounds.
Sybella was born at 39 weeks and weighed 7lbs 10oz. I gained 27 pounds.
I am currently 39 3/7 weeks and I have gained 28 pounds (so far). Cooper was estimated to be 6lb 4oz at the 36 week Ultrasound. I am scheduled for an induction on Tuesday April 28, 2009.

The rules:
1. Guesses must be posted before time of birth. (And it could be anytime between Now and Tuesday, April 28.)
2. One guess per person.
3. Guesses may be posted to the Blog OR Facebook.
4. The winner will be the person who comes the closest to Cooper's birth weight, WITHOUT going over (this is like The Price is Right folks).
5. I am the Final Authority on who the winner is--and there will be no appeals.
6. There will be a prize, likely a gift certificate. AND, I reserve the right to not mail it out until Cooper is 3 months old....just in case 4 kids is as crazy as I am imagining.
7. By entering the contest, you are consenting to have your picture posted to this Blog and Facebook, especially if you live local and I can get a picture of you with Cooper.

Let me know if you have any questions and Happy Weight Guessing!

Sybella's 'Baby'

Over the last few weeks, Sybella has had increasing interest in caring for her baby doll. In fact, we even attempted to help her give her baby a name this past week. After many suggestions, she settled on "Baby." However, this weekend she took caring for baby to a new level. Sybella started the new practice of taking her Baby Doll to bed with her. It is rather cute if I do say so myself-- Sybella and her baby say "night, night" and drift off in to dreamland.

Sweet Dreams Sybella and Baby!

Napping

I am the first to admit that since I entered the work force a while ago that there have been occasions where after lunch I was dragging and wanted to take a nap. Today around 11am I was walking by an office and the guy was face planted on his desk! The door was wide open and he wasn't hiding his sleep issue from anyone. This is not his picture...I did not have a camera with me and secondly I would not post his face on the internet and create a difficult situation for the guy.

It's been another busy day and I am getting ready to leave the office and head off to one more meeting before driving home. Napping is great (on the weekends) as a matter of fact I love to nap! But, I have this fundamental problem with napping on the job. Just struck me a funny and kind of crazy so I thought I would post something on the blog.

Sleep?

By: Sharon

I got this article via my RSS feeds. It is from Reuters and was posted at MSNBC -

WASHINGTON - With late-night TV watching, Internet surfing and other distractions, Americans are getting less and less sleep, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
And all this sleeplessness can be a nightmare for your mental and physical health, CDC experts cautioned, calling sleep loss an under-recognized public health problem.
Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.

The CDC surveyed 19,589 adults in four states. Ten percent reported they did not get enough sleep or rest every single day of the prior month, and 38 percent said they did not get enough in seven or more days in the prior month.
The CDC survey was conducted in New York, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island, asking people how many days in the prior month they got insufficient rest or sleep, without asking specifically how many hours they slept.
But the CDC released nationwide data collected separately showing that across all age groups, the percentage of adults reporting sleeping six hours or fewer a night increased from 1985 to 2006.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Children ages 5 to 12 should get nine to 11 hours and those 11 to 17 need 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 hours. (more of the article located at the link above)

**So, no judgement here, as it is 12:01am and I am no where near going to bed yet. In fact at 10:40pm I went to ask my mom something and couldn't believe that not only was she asleep but our house guest was asleep as well. Clearly I know which group I fall into; how about you?

**The bigger questions are: Do we buy it? And do we care?

Personally, I have found with three young children, it's not about the the number of hours of sleep, it's about the number of uninterrupted hours of sleep.

Have a great night's sleep (for however long you sleep)!!