To nap or not to nap...THAT is the question

Let me introduce you to me right quick :)  I am very much schedule driven.  I thrive off of organization, time lines, to-do lists, etc.  When I read/heard about baby wise, I was in heaven!!  Having my baby on a schedule OF COURSE made THE MOST sense for me.  AND the fact that Em THRIVED (still does!) off of being on her schedule was music to my ears.  She needs her sleep, and that has been the most important part of keeping on schedule.

As I shared in a previous post, the thought of going on vaca and being in other's homes, with things being out of our control was a little scary for me.  I prayed about it A LOT.  Asked for A LOT of prayer.  I came to grips with the fact that, while I was gone, I needed to of course feel Emma out for her (sleep) needs, but mostly needed to be easy going about it.  If she was OK, let it slide, put her down when we got back home, were gonna be driving, or whatever the case may be.  THAT WAS HUGE for me :) But I was ready, and away we went!

Phase I started in Indiana, and thankfully did not last long ;0 BUT it was crazy while it was happening!

I think that with all the places we were going to, none of them familiar, Emma started to go through a little attachment/separation anxiety phase with Mama.  I was the only normal, regular, consistent thing in little Miss' life over that 25 day period.  Even Papa was in and out since he was working while in Florida, then had to come back home for a bit before joining us back out in Indiana.

She has been a pretty good sleeper, generally speaking, through her whole little life.  Once she goes down and passes out she's out for the scheduled time 1-2 hours, or at night 10-11 1/2 hours.  BUT in Florida, she started waking up 2-4 times a night, ending up nursing and falling asleep with me in bed (we have NOT been co-sleepers AT ALL - this was the closest to it we got) then I'd put her back down until the next time she woke up.  It made for a pretty zombiesk first week of vaca for mama :)  When Tyler got there, and I was so exhausted was contemplating calling the trip quits early, he had the great idea of sleeping in the living room to see if that helped.  Smart man ;0  Thankfully (VERY! - can't imagine missing the rest of the trip!) it worked.  But it made me feel so awful to take up MORE of Thomas' and Steph's space!

When we got to Indy, we were able to be in a room that had a wall where we could separate where we were sleeping vs. Em's sleep space.  SO that was not an issue there either.  HOWEVER...for some reason, our PHASE - Emma started not wanting to be put down for a nap - would scream her little heart out - and started to CLIMB OUT OF HER PACK AND PLAY!!!!!!!!!!  SCARY for me for many reasons, but mainly because of the very steep staircase that I very vividly imagined her tumbling down.

I became monitor obsessed, to say the least.  (thank you Matt for lovingly pointing it out ;0).  Not resting until I could hear her sleeping or snoring.

We thought that once we got home, and she was back in the 'norm': in her crib, her house, surrounded by her things she'd easily be pacified, no longer freaking out about being put down for a nap....and I was also looking forward to being back on a schedule!  Sigh.  A few days after returning home, it was my usual schedule, Tuesday morning Bible Study and my mom stays home with Em because she's got a nap in the middle of it ;)

Since things were not yet all good in the crib hood, I was continuing to be a monitor freak - BUT I was learning what kind of screams were the ones that lead to her attempting to climb out.  BUT - I kinda forgot to tell my mom which to watch out for and just to listen intently until she was sleeping (be monitor obsessed, ahem;0).  I think you see where this is going....

(here you can also see that in her frustration, she'd taken her socks and jammy bottoms off ;0)

Yeah, so I forget the whole story, but my mom was going to check on her and this is what she saw!

About 3 weeks after being home, she finally stopped trying to get out.  We tried to tell her to just say 'mama all done' when she wanted out ;)  which posed actual napping issues for a few days, but not too bad.

As far as being back on schedule, about mid January, she finally settled back in to a new schedule.  About 3 weeks ago (Yes early Feb - BEEN WORKING ON THIS POST FOR A COUPLE WEEKS) I finally started to feel normal myself getting things done, etc.  Like always, now that things are feeling 'good' PHASE II enters.

Phase II just came about this week, and today's the first official day (AGAIN, ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO NOW).  Emma is all of a sudden not fighting through the end of her 'awake' time, clearly showing signs she's ready to nap.  Usually if she didn't take her PM nap, it was discipline city with spankings left and right until bed time.  Yes, we spank.

At 2 days shy of 19 months, she's dropped from 2 to 1 nap a day.  Sigh.  My baby girl keeps growing up.  And my 'me time' keeps shrinking down ;0  Perfect timing as I have 3 invites I'm scheduled to design over the next month, and now have less time to spend on them.  Time for mama to find a new schedule for herself!  Yes, I would like some cheese with my glass of wine ;0  Good thing the Lord's weaned me from my naps over the past few weeks, now it's just a matter of finding the time to get things done when I already thought I didn't have enough time.  Suggestions?!

Oh happy day!

***TWO WEEKS LATER***
For about 2 weeks, she couldn't always make it until noonish to go down for her 1 nap a day, so it was rough sometimes going down for a nap between 10/11, sleeping for about 1.5 hours, then putting her down to nap around 3 ish, but she wouldn't actually sleep.  As of 3/14, we are back on a 'schedule' of going down for a nap between 12-1 and sleeping for 2 hours on average.

I was really sad about it.  Feeling like I had a huge loss of productivity time.  I prayed through it tremendously for the first week, and about mid last week I started to feel like it's OK.  I'm enjoying this much better.  Timing wise, I can take my time in the AM getting situated to run errands, which we can leave for about 10 and still make it home on time for nap without having a fit;0.  It's definitely been bittersweet BUT I'm loving this freedom and extra time with Em!  And the to-do list...well, there are definitely days when I don't get very far...but leaving it all up to the Lord.  Days like the last couple of days I'm more productive now than ever.  LOVE.

OK, enough about me!  Just wanted to share about Em, my learning through it (and yes, getting back on schedule), and for the few mamas out there that haven't walked before (since most everyone has)....