"Roll with the punches - tomorrow's a new day."
My title is a quote from the movie Jerry Maguire. For some reason, that quote always pops into my head when I'm having a bad day, week, season...
This past week has been tough. I finally figured out that Audrey is cutting another tooth. This time, she is having a much rougher time. She has a hard time going down for naps and sometimes even a hard time going down at night. She wakes in the night but is not hungry - she just cries and then whimpers and then falls back to sleep.
Last night, I decided to close the doors between our room and hers. I can still hear her if she cries really loud or screams. It's just that the night wakings, where she'd cry but then put herself back to sleep, were keeping me up and there was nothing I could do to stop them from happening.
It took me all week to realize this was best for Audrey and for me.
Plus, I read in "What to Expect the First Year" that it's ok to let her "cry it out." I just have to check on her and try not to intervene too much. If I intervene too much, bad sleep habits will form. So I slowly started to back off. When she'd cry initially, I'd rub her back or tummy and "shhhh" her. When she'd cry again, I'd just just "shhhh" her and put on some gentle music. When she'd cry again, I'd only listen and sure enough - back to sleep she went.
These night wakings are frustrating but I also read that it's a sign of growing up and it's totally normal. So! We roll with the punches... tomorrow's a new day.
It's a good thing Audrey is so fantastically adorable - it makes tough weeks all the more bearable!