We're starting "sleep training" this week. She is nearly 7 months old and is still up multiple times a night to eat and Mom and Dad are tired. So we are going to limit her to one nighttime feeding, and we won't pick her up the other times she cries. What we will do is comfort her when she cries, while leaving her in the crib. Hopefully over time this will teach her to go back to sleep on her own, instead of needing to be picked up and fed every time she wakes up.
We have been very busy around here lately. I've been applying for jobs everywhere and completing training for substitute teaching here in town. Jay has to turn in his written dissertation material in about a week. His oral defense will be Dec 1st, so he will have two weeks to prepare for that. He's pretty much working 'round the clock these days. I'm almost always asleep before he comes home, often around 1:00. Not getting much sleep at night doesn't make this any easier for him. He has a much harder time falling asleep after Anja wakes him. Sometimes he just stays up and works. Once last week he left the house at 5am to go to work because he couldn't sleep anyway (I of course was completely unaware). I'm suffering from sleep deprivation too, but I can usually fall asleep eventually after getting up to feed her. As hard as this is, it is still not as hard for me as the last month of pregnancy was, when I couldn't sleep at all because of the heartburn and reflux. Broken sleep is still better than no sleep, although 7 months of broken sleep is no picnic. At least Jay will be done soon, and we will laugh about how hard these few months were. But we aren't laughing yet!
We have two leads on jobs right now. I had a phone interview last week for a job in northern Virginia (outside DC) working for a land trust group; they are calling people back this week to schedule in-person interviews. Jay is a finalist for a job in Petaluma, CA working for a Bird Observatory. I'm really interested in the Virginia job, but I'm not keen on the area (super expensive and big city lifestyle). Jay's job lead is in a really interesting area, and I'm pretty sure I could find something out there as well, so I'm pulling for the California job, but we're not ruling anything out yet. We should know more in a few weeks. Meanwhile I have two temporary jobs lined up here that can start in a few weeks.
2 comments:
Wishing both of you well as you job search. Of course you will be greatly missed, but either job sounds pretty great.
I also applaud your decision to teach Anja that night is for sleeping. It's better for her and you, too. She has wonderful parents!
With Love,
Carol
Sleep training is a bear, but well worth it, for you and for Anja. I wish you lots of luck. It's not too bad once you get started. :)
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