Noise

I envy those of you that have silence all night through and have decent sleep, that would be a luxury.

I think since living in my hell hole house the last six years I haven't slept well at all which has been made worse after having kids.

For instance last night Joel woke at 1.20am got him back to sleep then I hear the neighbours moaning and groaning while having sex which is made worse by their crappy squeaky bed. After that it was rummaging through a wardrobe. A little quiet after but its not completely silent as I can hear road noise and a fan going at the local take away. 

Once I do drift back to sleep I here Ollie moaning but think he's still asleep same with Joel. It then gets to 6am and I hear a neighbour getting ready for work as I can hear the shower and toilet flush. Half hour or so later I hear the other side getting out of the crappy squeaky bed then stomp downstairs to bang kitchen cupboards.

After nights like that with constant wake ups I just can't focus but both kids woke up at the same time this morning needing nappy changes and Ollie demanding I play........urgh! 

These days are so long especially when I'm on my own, I just can't wait for bedtime again in hope I get more sleep.

Stress Head

Joel - 9 Months

I now have a 9 month old and a nearly 2 1/2 year old and my god life has become stressful.  

With weeks of sleepless nights that I posted about a month ago - Sleep Regression, which has settled down but I can see that the little guy has more teeth coming so I'm expecting it to come back. My toddler has been really awful lately to his brother and just will not listen I get a lot of 'NO don't want to', No mummy' or I get laughed at when I'm telling him off. It's so frustrating.

Ollie - 2 years

I'm starting to feel I need to go to work and be me as I am not getting any time to myself at the moment I am longing for a full day just by myself - no kids and no husband just me to be me would be lovely.


I feel guilty saying it sometimes but doesn't everyone need alone time.

Baby Sleeping

Joel slept through til 5am this morning he hasn't had a night like that for so long. The past three weeks I have been getting up 2-3 times in the night which has made me feel exhausted maybe I've been feeling it more cause I've been getting pretty stressed with Ollie's behaviour which you can read about in previous posts so with that and not feeling I'm getting a breather. I'm also eating more rubbish food as a comfort see Need To Binge post.

Anyway he fell asleep at 9pm downstairs, I was going to give him his last feed of milk but he obviously didn't need it. I did give him more food (not milk) at dinner time as he seemed to want it as every time I stopped he whimpered. 

8 hours straight was brilliant, great shame I stayed up to watch big brother - what a fool.

OMG....I Had Sleep

I'm amazed at Joel he's only three and a half months old and he only woke up once during the night last night woohoo! Which meant mummy actually got some sleep.
The two nights before he woke up at 2am then around 6am which was also pretty amazing for his age. I do wonder though if it is because he's catching up on sleep as the night before that he had an awful cough which meant he constantly woke up so that night both of us didn't get hardly any sleep so you can imagine how I was feeling the day after having an active nearly two year old all day as well :(

Overall he's a quiet, content little boy and not much trouble at all. He loves to watch Ollie and me going about our day and he responds with lots of smiles. He's so different from Ollie as a baby as he was hard work from day one with crying all the time, never let us put him down and would never sleep much until about 14 months, he was and still is exhausting.

First Night On My Own

For the last 10 weeks since having Joel I have had my hubby around day and night. He got up with Ollie while I tended to Joel throughout the night, he has been doing most of the cooking and housework. He now has a new job and the next two weeks is away on training so it's all down to me to sort the boys, cooking and house uh oh! I've been spoilt having the help for so long.

Last night was my first night alone in probably years so you can imagine it was pretty weird.
My mum and dad helped me get both boys sorted for baths and bed so I wasnt completely on my own. Both boys were asleep by 9pm so I thought I'd get an early night but actually didn't until 11pm as those lovely neighbours of mine had their tv blaring - so inconsiderate. Anyway I was woken at 1.45pm by Joel for a feed then shortly after Ollie started crying so I went in and stroked his head and put his covers back on and then didn't hear another peep, of course Joel woke a couple more times but all in all it was a successful night. 
 


For the rest of the week I have friends popping in for lunch almost every day so I still won't be completely on my own. I thought if I didn't arrange meet ups I'd have no hair left by the end of the first week by pulling it out lol!

Sleeping

Joel seems to have a better sleeping pattern at the moment with the odd unpredictable night but he tends to fall into a deeper sleep between 10-11pm then often wakes between 2-2.45am and mostly he will stay in his Moses basket during this time. After this first wake up it can then be two hourly wake ups so fingers crossed as time goes on it will last a little longer as from 6am he tends to wake up properly which I find too early.

Ollie tends to go to bed between 8-8.30pm then can wake between 8-9am but again we also have the odd unpredictable nights where he wakes up once or twice through the night and wakes up around 7am in the morning.

I think my ideal would be 8pm to 8am but that's never going to happen with both at the same time. It's mad really as I'm always tired but I still tend to go to bed around 11-11.30pm so I miss a chunk of sleep I could have but I blame that on the hubby as he stays up until then.

Lazy Sunday

Ollie and daddy sleeping

Most days we wait for Ollie to wake up before we start our day which was 8.30am today then I do the normal mummy routine of getting breakfast for everyone and play a little with Ollie as well as feeding Joel, but none of us got dressed until midday today even daddy and now everyone but me is having a nap and I'm the one who gets less sleep how does that work.
I just can't seem to fall asleep because my neighbours have decided to put crappy music on that is far too loud which just makes me angry so I thought I'd rant on a post......oh I hate having inconsiderate neighbours and paper thin walls you just never have any peace. Now is the perfect opportunity to get some sleep as BOTH terrors are asleep which never ever happens typical.

Joel sleeping

I left this post earlier as I spoke too soon and both woke at the same time and both as grumpy as each other.

I remember Sundays in my twenties I used to get up in the afternoon after a late night before and just laze about with no responsibility oh to have a day like that again. It'll be years until that will happen again :(

My Baby Boy is 7 Weeks old

Yet another week has passed where are these weeks going. 

Joel weighed 11lb 14oz on Monday so I must be doing something right although he is a bit of a piglet with feeds as mentioned last week. I think he has had yet another growth spurt this week as I've had many days of hourly feeds again so I hope it starts to die down now.

From last Friday turning 6 weeks his night sleeping has been better as from 10-11pm he can sleep up to 5 hours straight but mostly with me holding him. We had a break through last night I let him fall asleep on me then I put him in a sleeping bag in his Moses basket just before 11pm, he did wake up when I put him down but I used a dummy and a music box from a slumber bear a friend lent me to try as it activates womb sounds. I don't know if it was the sounds, sleeping bag or dummy but he slept until 1.40am in his Moses basket yay!
When he woke up I went to feed him but he fell asleep straight away on me until 4.35am so really that was over 5 hours sleep. I tried putting him back in the moses basket with the music box and he was ok for 5 minutes but got fussy and cried. 
 It's a start though as I can't expect a miracle over night. I'm happy he can sleep 5 hours straight no matter if I'm holding him or not as with Ollie this did not happen until he was at least 5 months old.

I NEED SLEEP

This little bundle of joy called Joel is not letting me sleep, I thought growth spurts only last a day or two but I'm sure this one is on a permanent growth spurt with regular feeds every 1 - 2 hours if I'm lucky it can go to 2 - 3 hours but even so he doesn't like to be put down some days he can last about 30 minutes in his moses basket or chair before waking and screaming to be picked up but some days it's 5 minutes, it's exhausting.

I have started to crave being alone as I need a break from it. If its not Joel demanding feeds or to be held its Ollie needing my attention. I knew it would be hard having two little ones close together but on top of dividing myself between the two I'm just not getting enough sleep so I'm irritable, moody, emotional, stressed and my patience has gone out the window but I'm surprising myself how I'm carrying on with just about 3 hours sleep some nights and that is often broken sleep.

The joys of being a parent :)

Dreaming while pregnant

I had a very weird dream last night, baby was moving in my belly a lot then I could see a hand clearly then a foot then his / her face protruded out. I could actually hold the baby which was a little freaky, it was like baby wanted out but not in the normal way.

It went on I think I was at a work place not my real work though and a midwife came to see me who took blood but didn't have a room to examine me. I didn't sleep long enough to know what happened.

Maybe this means baby is ready to come out or maybe not who knows. I have had some strange dreams during this pregnancy some baby related others not, but recently sleep has been so rare I'm surprised I actually had a dream at all.

Only 1 week and 5 days until due date.

Why Does It Have To Be So Difficult

Little man is being very difficult at the moment, in the day he moans constantly which is so draining and at night he is so active it can be 11pm before we actually get him to sleep. I just don't know what to do half the time.
We have always had problems with him sleeping but at one years old you'd think that would be behind us. He is so unpredictable, for a few weeks he started to go to bed by 8.30-9pm which was amazing as we actually had a couple hours of mummy and daddy wind down time and he sometimes slept through until 7.30-8am which was a dream but since he's been Ill at easter we are lucky to get him in his cot by 10pm it's so stressful especially as you get rudely awaken by either a crying Ollie or noisy neighbours at stupid times in the morning.

I'm exhausted especially now I'm back at work. When I get home mummy mode has to switch on but in the evenings and at weekends I just want to sleep but I can't so I end up being very grouchy and snappy. I hope things change as I don't know how I can carry on like this.

I never imagined that being a mummy would be so difficult.