It was one of those days.
As I loaded my camera gear into my trunk, pointed my car in the general direction of Oconomowoc, sipped on my not-tall-enough soy caramel latte, and headed down the interstate, I finally noticed, “Wow, it’s pouring outside. I probably should have called the Clevenstines before I left.”
Yup. That tired.
Eh, whatever, I thought. I needed a little Rachel and Heath in my life, even if it meant rescheduling once the rain never stopped.
You see, I was running on the waking-up-every-two-hours kind of sleep. Our beautiful, perfect, precious 9-month-old was refusing to stay asleep. Every hour, or two, or three, throughout the night, she’d wake up and pretend her crib was collapsing on her. (These are the things you actually think about at 3 a.m.) Why was she waking, you ask? She wanted her parents. (Trust me.) She wasn’t sick. (This was confirmed by the previous six-or-so random visits to her oh-so-kind pediatrician.) Gracey just knew I’d come in and comfort her. She knew her mommy is one big ole’ softie who would help her fall back asleep, EVERY TIME. And this is how it had been — off and on, some weeks were better than others — for basically the past nine months.
By rocking, bouncing, humming, doing the rain dance, etc., I was doing her no favors. If it weren’t for coffee, I’d have lost my mind at month four.
In come the Clevenstines. I’ve been photographing them since their oldest was just a few days old. I know what kind of parents they are, and I love what I see. As I sat down at the kitchen table and watched the rain pound the pavement, I basically begged for a little advice. “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,” Rachel said to me. She went over exactly what she did with her children at Gracey’s age, and she swore by the results. I had the book on my dresser, but up until then, I only selectively read parts of it. The following evening, we put the book into practice. We decided specifically what we were comfortable with, and we did some sleep training with Gracey. Honestly, it was the best decision we could have made.
Gracey now sleeps about 11 hours at night, sometimes 12 if we’re lucky. Heck, I don’t even call it lucky, I call it a gift. She’s a different baby. For her naps, we put her down entirely awake and within 10 or 15 minutes of playing in her crib, she falls asleep on her own. At bedtime, we complete her routine and put her down awake — within 15 minutes tops of her mostly talking to her pacifiers, she’s out like a light. As for the middle-of-the-night wakings? Sure, she still wakes up, but she puts herself back to sleep after only the slightest of fussing. (I’m talking less than a minute or two.) And the best part of it all? She’s a happy, happy girl when she’s awake. I wholeheartedly believe that knowing your child is the most important part of this all, and after a few weeks of eliminating all other possible problems, as well as taking her age into consideration, I knew exactly why Gracey was waking up. I knew what her cries meant. But just because one method works for one child, it doesn’t mean it will work for the next. And hey, some kids need no help sleeping at all … but yeah, our little girl wasn’t one of the lucky ones. 🙂
Thank you, Rachel and Heath. You not only are one of the coolest families on earth, but you gave me my nights back! I could hug you a billion times over! But I won’t. I’ll just show you some pretty pics. 🙂
Too adorable for words, right? I KNOW. And, the beautiful antique black chest these kiddos are sitting on … not mine. Totally Rachel. Girl’s got her stuff together in the creative department. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
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