Yarn Along and a Toddler Who Never Sleeps

First cardigan status: COMPLETE



I still need to steam the leaf placket into shape, but I'm ridiculously proud of this little cardigan! I had psyched myself out of knitting anything harder than a hat for way too long. I loved knitting this little sweater for Evie Rose. It'll come in handy in the fall/winter. Notes on this are here.

When I finished - Jamie asked me very sweetly if I was going to make him a sweater. The only way to respond to such a request is to cast on one for him.



I haven't gotten far with it. It's bottom up this time instead of Evie's which was top down. It's such a pretty deep green. I need to start messing with my photographs. Any editing tips are appreciated. I cannot ever show the actual colors of my yarn. I stink at photography though, so it may just be that, haha!

Right now - I have been thoroughly enjoying reading Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis de Sales. I'm also working my way through Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

And now - for something completely different:

Evie Rose. This child doesn't sleep, y'all.

Ever.

Okay - she sleeps, but only in small spurts.

I know she is starting to cut some molars, and I am aware that I was totally spoiled by Jamie's awesome sleeping skills. She had just started sleeping in a bed with Jamie (a big, queen size bed in our room...Yes, we have two in there,) and now all of a sudden she's up a million times a night. She's 18 months old. I'm wondering if it's too early to try night weaning or if it would be madness to even attempt such a thing. She's okay during the day, naps well on her own in their bed...but night time - from midnight to 3:30am she's up about every 15-30 minutes. Every night this week. I have tried teething tablets and even motrin.

Nope.

Still up.

She's never had a problem with anything I've ate or she's ate from what I can tell. I had to cut a ton out with my son when he was super little, but never had to cut anything from my diet with her. What do y'all think? Phase? Teething? I'm not wanting to wean her entirely...I'd even be okay with once a night if she still wanted to do that...but 8-15 times a night? I feel like that's a lot for someone her age...

Again - Let me know what y'all think. I appreciate the opinions. ***

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along and Nicole's KCCO.

***Please - remember, no mommy wars. I am just looking for suggestions on what I could try to help us get a little more sleep. Let's not attack each other. I'm sure y'all will be sweet. Any attacks or negative comments will be deleted. I'm not going to have that sort of thing going down on my blog.***

Comments

  1. Such a sweet cardigan, well done on its completition. I'm afraid I have no great words of wisdom for you to help Evie Rose sleep better.

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  2. Beautiful cardigan!! As for colors & photo editing, my computer and/or camera came with software for photos, which may or may not be helpful for you. I have the app PicStitch on my iPhone, which has color editing. My sister loves Adobe Paint Shop Pro, but I know the Adobe Suite is expensive....

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    1. Thank you! I don't have a smart phone since it would be useless where I live (spotty cell reception...tricky wi-fi at best.) Hmm...I might need to look into Adobe Suite. It might be worth it...then again, maybe not, haha!

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  3. The cardigan turned out so nice--great job! I am a terrible photographer and have a very ancient inexpensive Kodak digital camera, but my son (he's 20) showed me how to fix up my pictures using photo gallery, which apparently came with my laptop. It is easy to use and allows you to adjust the brightness, shadows, color, contrast and saturation very easily (I have zero tech skills and I can do it!).

    I have five children--all well past the nursing stage, but it seems to me that around 18 months some babies just love the comfort of nursing all night long. I never had any luck with forced weaning (I always gave in! LOL). I wish I had some tips to offer for helping little ones sleep through the night. I do remember it being *very* tiresome. The wisdom I have to share is that the years with our children pass very quickly. Don't rush them, and don't worry overmuch. She'll be on to the next stage before you know it.

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    1. Thank you so much for your reply! I am the type that would cave as well - so it's good to hear your words of encouragement. It seems less work not to force wean, but I am just so very tired today. As you said - It'll pass...quicker than I want it to that's for sure. I think encouragement is what I needed most :) Thank you for the photo tips too!

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  4. Since my daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was 2 1/2 years old, nor did she nap, I feel for you. Since each child and family is different all I can say is this too will pass. I am an empty-nester now and it is awful quiet around here.

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    1. Thank you! Sometimes it's hard to remember such things when we're in the thick of it. :) I appreciate the encouragement.

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  5. I became pregnant with THing 2 when Thing 1 had just turned 2. Thing 1 still nursed thru the night, every night. I was concerned that Thing 2 would come along and I'd have TWO children trying to nurse at different times all night long. Thing 1 LOVED to nurse - it was his go-to thing.
    Anyway. I night-weaned. I think I mentioned during the day that starting the next night, the nummies were going to sleep, too, and they'd be awake again when the sun came up. I'd nurse him to sleep, and then when he woke up, I'd offer him water, and a cuddle, and a finger to suck on. I think it took a week before he stopped asking.
    I did also try to make sure he had a bedtime snack on the off-chance he actually was hungry. Another friend used to keep water and dry Cheerios at the side of the bed (and yes, then she had to wean off the cheerios, but at least she could sleep thru her kid eating a few cheerios at 2am).
    Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution" works for many families, as does this: http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html (both are gentle - they aren't "Sleep Training" with "cry it out" alone in a dark room).

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    1. Thank you for the tips and the gentle night-weaning ideas! I very much dislike the idea of "cry it out." I may your tips if this continues. She was only up 3 times last night...which feels like heaven compared to the million times of this last week.

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  6. Oooooh my gosh. Where to start? Firstly, I am in awe of your mad knitting skills. I've been wanting to learn for ages. Secondly, I'm in LOVE with the name Evie Rose. Beautiful! Thirdly, you have stricken terror into me talking about toddler sleep habits. I'm imagining Margot's terrible sleep stretching into eteeeeeernity, and that is terrifying. Like you with Jamie, I had to cut quite a bit out of my diet and am just now trying to reintroduce staples like gluten, dairy, and nightshades.

    Yikes. Oh! I had a fourth- are you loving Nourishing Traditions? I definitely learned a lot from it and really changed many of my cooking habits. I was always very whole foods minded, but NT inspired me to dig deeper and try pumping sourdough, kefir, and fermented veggies out of my own kitchen. Awesome.

    Anyway, sorry I'm no help to you. I just wanted to pop in since you stopped by my blog. :)

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    1. Don't be scared! She night weaned ridiculously easy! She still wakes, but is generally easy to get back to sleep too.

      I am mostly a self-taught knitter. I learned from youtube videos and one long knitting basics session with an old friend of mine.

      I've been fairly whole foods minded since my husband (then fiance) and I realized diet was playing a major roll in my health. We started weeding out a lot of the processed food and such. I've been wanting to read Nourishing Traditions for awhile now. I am really loving it! I'm planning on attempting sourdough soon.

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