I'm Renee

coping

Stats: no weighing or measuring this month so nothing to share.

Clothes: definitely a size 1 in tees now but my little poppet is still too narrow in the waist and short in length for size 1/12-18m bottoms. He is still wearing some 00 Quicksilver boardshorts comfortably.

Favorite Foods: We are all about the squeezy fruit pouches here much to my disgust or as E calls them, 'yum yums'. Yoghurt or fruits, he isn't fussy so I keep a few in the fridge as a treat when he has eaten all his dinner. Nothing tops blueberries or kiwi fruit though and he literally inhales them.

Favorite Words: Mummy ... he will often say it in an enquiring tone or chasing after me around the yard. He also likes to just call it out in the middle of play and throw himself at me. We are also all about 'turtle' 'tiger' and the big one 'makka pakka' from In the Night Garden.

Favorite Activities: Ethan is Loving swimming on the hot Spring days we are getting so we are making the most of my parents' pool on the weekend and our passes to Wet'n Wild. He is also loving watching for planes and helicopters, as soon as he hears one overhead he starts shouting and wanting to go outside/on the balcony to see. Rhyme Time with Grammy at the library is still a big hit and he has the best time socialising, singing and dancing with other children.

Least Favorite Activities: We are back to despising nappy changes in the biggest way with all out screaming, tears, tossing and the like. Thank goodness for Huggies nappypants at the moment because trying to have him lay down is akin to pining down an octopus while its screaming at the top of its lungs at you. Bathtime is inciting similar reactions to nappy changes at the moment much to our surprise with screaming and tears until he is out then all smiles instantaneously.

His Favorite Things: his Little Tikes water table provides ages of entertainment although daddy made the mistake of sitting him on it last week so he now likes to climb up on it and sit in it himself. Shoes are a big deal too and he is insisting on putting them on just to stroll around the house. In the Night Garden DVDs and particularly Makka Pakka - does anyone know what it is with this show and kids? Honestly, every child I know is obsessed and mesmerised and E is no exception. 'Makka pakka' is all we hear after bathtime.

My Favorite Things: Huggies nappypants - see least favourite activity. The Nike shoes pictured - they are enclosed, have a velcro fastening and of light comfortable material so what is not to love? E has worn these every day since we have bought them. The good old Tupperware tumblers - I had these as a child and we use them now for E to have his milk after bathtime before bed.

Signature Moves: Trying to dip the bubble wand in solution and blow bubbles ... he hasn't quite mastered the blowing to produce bubbles. Pursing his lips in an 'ooooh' face when something surprises him. Telling off the neighbour's dog for barking with lots of 'uh uh'ing' and finger tutting.

Dad's Proudest Moment: Waking me up at 2am on Sunday night in a panic asking where Ethan is... he was sleeping over at his grandparents because we had date night duhhhh.

Other Milestones: Feeding himself, insisting on loading the spoon or fork and feeding himself at all times now. In huge news though, Ethan slept through the night this month for the very first time. Yes, we were a little bit excited about this. A true 6:30pm to 5:30am sleep with no getting up to resettle etc. It only took almost 16 months but we got there! Some nights we still have him up once but he goes back down after a quick resettle unlike just a few months ago when it was every 45-90 min wake ups with hysterics. See my night weaning post for more.

baby

A little sooner than expected but exciting nonetheless...

10:06

bedtime

Night weaning

20:53

At 14 months Ethan had never slept through the night. Yep, that's right, not one single night since birth. He has always had a strict bedtime set by him ... He likes to be in bed settling by 6;30pm like clockwork and most mornings he is up around 6am on average with a few 5am and 7ams to keep us on our toes. The longest I think he has ever slept since birth is a 5 hour nighttime stretch. ONCE.

Scott and I have coped admirably on little sleep I think but it hasn't been without its dark days. During some periods, Ethan would wake every 3 hours but at its worst, it could be every 45 minutes and the only way to settle him was nursing. Scott would try so hard to resettle him but after 30 mins of hysterics, it was left to me to nurse him back to sleep. Some weeks we would laugh and convince each other it could only get better, other weeks we resented, snapped and fought with each other. I read a million books from The Gift of Sleep, Save our Sleep, Sleeping Like a Baby and every other expert in between but none felt right for us and S wasn't onboard with anything that had a resemblance to CIO or CC.

At around 7/8 months, we started doing the one thing we swore we wouldn't. We started co-sleeping. I knew the risks and was always anti but motherhood quickly taught me that the only right way is to do what works for your family and with both of us working full time, we needed sleep. Instantly E started sleeping better with more of the 3 hour stretches and we happily settled into a routine. We still had nights with hourly wake ups but resettling was so much easier until we reached 14 months and I hit my lowest point. E wanted to feed or comfort suck the entire night without pause and I just couldn't cope on no sleep with no end in sight. We read Sears and Sears and for the first time, we were both onboard. We tried moving him to a single mattress in our room and although he went down on it ok, the wake ups continued.

I sobbed during what I had previously treasured with my son and I cringed at his touch, dreading night times and bed more than anything. Scott was upset seeing me this way but I insisted on soldiering through, wanting only what I thought was best for our boy. Finally at 2am after listening to me sob for the 5th night in a row, he threw me out of bed and sent me packing to our guest room downstairs ... Where I sobbed some more about my failings as a mother. The next day, Scott and I talked it over and agreed we couldn't go on as things were and needed to find a solution. Sears x2 offered several solutions for our demanding boy and we realised for us, it was best to take me out of the equation full stop by sleeping in the spare room while Scott tackled the settling.

The first night and the few that followed involved a lot of tears and exercise in self control ... It took all I had to block out the screaming protests, stay downstairs and let S tend to Ethan. The first few nights had 2/3 wake ups and each took about 30-40 minutes of settling. Scott told me that during those nights, he would have to wake up E up by taking him to the lounge and offering him milk then water in order to calm him and he would settle easier. After a week of this, the wake ups became 1 only and the resettling was just a matter of S giving E a quick pat and he would be back asleep in 5 minutes with no tears. A few weeks on and this is now the norm with even a couple of SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHTS! Yes, we are excited about those. His bedtime remains 6:30pm and his wake ups are still varied but the consistent uninterrupted hours of sleep are doing us all the world of good, him included.

I haven't been well recently so I'm still sleeping in the guest room while we ensure this becomes routine to E. We have also decided to keep E on the mattress in our room until we move (we will hopefully find the right house to buy soon) and then we will put him in a bed in his own room. No point messing with what is working right now and for now, we are happy with the progress and where we are from where we were.

For those out there with frequent wakers and catnappers, trust your instincts and go with what works for your family. As we have just learnt, even the worst sleepers can learn and improve so there is always hope. We found it difficult to upset E so much by night weaning but this was the best approach for our family as a whole and we supported each other through it, not deviating from the plan and confusing E.