Fred

After two (or was it three?) weeks of screaming at naptimes and bedtime, I was at my wit's end. Joey was having the hardest time going to sleep. Instead of just closing his eyes and doing it, he would just cry. And cry and cry and cry. He would be obviously sleepy -- rubbing his eyes, sucking his thumb, a little fussy -- besides the fact that it was the normal time for a nap or bedtime. Then I'd pick him up or we'd walk into the bedroom and he would just scream.

We tried everything -- waiting until he was super sleepy, trying to catch him before he was too sleepy, trying to be extremely consistent on the times, different rooms, bottle, no bottle, warm bottle, cold bottle, singing, no singing, music, no music, rocking, no rocking, lights, dark, just letting him cry it out...you get the idea. Nothing was working. Eventually he would cry himself to sleep -- but not without us both getting extremely frustrated in the process.

After a day of feeling especially sad, hopeless, exhausted, frustrated, like I was the absolute worst mom ever, I was not in very good shape. Especially when your baby is a younger sibling, sleepy time is your cuddle time. You can't count on many other times during the day that you can just make the other ones fend for themselves while you do nothing but rock, cuddle and enjoy your baby. (Well...it works that way most of the time anyway...) And thinking that Joey is probably our last, I just want to soak up every precious little baby moment that I can. I felt like I was being robbed of all of that. My cuddle and enjoy-my-baby time was being replaced by screaming and frustration. Let's just say that I was pretty teary that day that it all started to soak in.

What in the world else could I try? Hmmm...I was sitting in the rocking chair trying to think while Joey was screaming in my ear, staring at the laundry on the bed... One of Micah's softies was there. Could it be? Would that help Joey, too? I picked it up, praying Micah wouldn't barge in and see. Joey immediately grabbed it and started rubbing the corner on his face. Within a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to catch him thumb...and that calmed him down enough more that a few minutes later he was asleep. Oh! My! Goodness! I could hardly contain my excitement and was working hard to hold that seed of hope in check. Had I found the answer? (No, the softie in the picture is not Micah's -- I didn't dare take the chance to wake him up that day. You get the idea, though!)

Micah's softie worked a couple more times that day and the next -- not immediately, but it didn't take long. I went to Target that next night and bought a softie for Joey, the same as Micah's but a different color. Micah would not be happy if he knew he was sharing softie. (Softie is one of the only things in this house that doesn't have to be shared.) By the next night, the reaction was almost immediate. Joey acted sleepy, we went to his room, shut the door, gave him his softie, he got his thumb, he went to sleep. No crying! Now, I'm no stranger to this baby thing. I know this could all change at any moment, but for now I am enjoying my baby cuddles once again.

We've had to come up with another name for Joey's softie...two softies would get way too confusing. After my post on Micah's Softie (click here) a few days ago, Bret informed me that the name "Softie" was almost too girlie. He was glad it was something a little different, and was super glad we weren't calling it "Lovey" or something like that...he had gotten used to "Softie" but it had taken some work. I had been proud of the name -- because it was a little different and it wasn't too girlie. Uggh! "Okay," I said, "we'll call Joey's softie Fred." Don't know if "Fred" will stick, but that's what we've called it so far! Well, actually, Conner didn't like "Fred," he said we should name it "Sam." We called it "Sam-Fred" for a couple of days, too...

I haven't stockpiled multiples of Fred yet. I'm still waiting to see if it's going to become an absolute necessity. Dragging around a blanket everywhere is a little bit annoying at times. I'm sure dragging around two will be, as well. But I'm enjoying my baby cuddles again, and if it means that Fred becomes a part of our family... Welcome, Fred!