Where's my sleep?

So it turns out that cold is a sinus infection. Last night I spent propped up in my bed with Little Man asleep on my chest (thank you Lauren@HoboMama) I didn't sleep well but at least Little Man did. Tonight he'll probably be in bed with me too, since it worked to help him sleep.
My poor husband tried to help us last night but Little Man just wanted Mama and made Daddy sad even though he finally said Dada instead of calling Daddy, Baba just the night before.
Hopefully tonight goes better even though it's nearly 9:30 and I haven't started bedtime but am allowing him to sleep on me in the living room. So wish us luck.

Colds suck

Colds, stuffy noses, coughing, congestion etc. suck. It's 6:30 am and I've just now gotten Little Man back to bed. He's been in my bed since 3 am because every time I shifted myself to put him back in his crib he'd cry and we would start all over again.
Every year around this time both myself and my husband have stuffy noses. We go through tissues as if we had stock in the company. But we are adults and are able to blow our noses repeatedly and move on with our day. Little Man though is another story. Any attempt on our part to clear his nasal passage ways is a stimulus and probably pretty weird to a little baby.
The bulb sucker works great but you know what it is probably like to have post nasal drip sucked up past the back of your throat? Probably tickles and feels pretty gross.
The battery operated sucker doesn't have as much suck power to it and that's probably for the best being that it winds up sucking the skin around his nose more then in his nose. It just takes to long and makes a weird noise so I don't blame him for shaking his head "no" while I'm doing my best to extract more snot.
I have a humidifier going in his room unfortunately he has the warmest (read driest) room in the house. Even when I walk in there I feel it. I'm torn between closing the door so the humidity can build up or opening the door to balance that room with the rest of the house.
Typically I apply Vick's Baby Rub before bedtime. Which really helps him. He didn't get that tonight because Daddy did bedtime and forgot it. I'm a strong believer in external aromatics helping to alleviate stuffiness. I sleep with a lavender filled stuffed lamb every night to fall asleep and on really bad nights I have a eucalyptus and mint frog. I can't wait until he can have one of these in his crib.
So finally around 5:30 I broke down and gave him a bit of children's , used saline spray, the suckers (both kinds) and nursed him to sleep. Hopefully he will get a few good hours and then he can sit in the bathroom while we take our showers.

Spoke too soon

So I'm tired and happy. Little Man woke twice last night and wanted to snuggle and nurse with Mama. So for now at least I think I'll sleep peacefully if yet interrupted. Off to work after I pump again.

A little sad

So for the past two nights Little Man only nursed from one side and only got up once last night. I thought I would think this is great after three straight weeks of struggles to go to bed and then two to three wakings during the night but now I'm not sure.
Granted my supply has dipped so this extra opportunity to pump at night and somewhat fuller breasts in the morning has helped these two mornings but...I'm sad that I'm missing out on the nursing time. I didn't realize how important it was to me.
I never set a goal as to when I would end breastfeeding I just felt I would nurse as long as he wanted to unless there came a situation that I wasn't able to continue. But lately weening and extended breastfeeding have been on my mind. (Check out Breastfeeding Moms Unite) How does it all work. No one I know has done extended breastfeeding except one cousin in England but we aren't all that close and she was a stay at home mom.
I also now worry that one day he will self-ween and I won't be ready. I know he still values it because he bumped his head today and immediately reached for "milk-milk" and settled right down.
Still not sure which is better though: his needing it more and my lost sleep or his needing it less and my worried heart.

Getting back my sanity

So now that I've had my first full week of no field hockey after work I'm seeing improvements. My supply had dipped so low that I had run out of freezer back up milk and had to resort to supplementing with formula for three bottles a day. (I wasn't to heartbroken about this but it wasn't my first choice of nutrition for Little Man).
This morning I was able to leave the five bottles he needs plus an extra 5oz. Another plus of coming home earlier as I had mentioned in my last post of getting more nursing time has brought about another return to normalcy. He actually slept from 9:30-9am. He hadn't done that in quite some time and had been getting up three to four times a night to nurse. Even though I love nursing him it was getting a little desperate with the lack of sleep and my long days. So now that we have the extra two hours together I can relax a little more and worry about one less bottle a day. So really big extra points for having more time with him.

So nice (sigh of relief)

I'm finished with my season of field hockey and it is so nice to pick up Little Man 2 hours earlier then I have been. I get more nursing time and that means less bottles to worry about and more cuddle time.
It also great because it was getting pretty scary for me. I was having a lot of difficulty keeping up and I was having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night when he'd get up to eat. So now I can breathe a little easier and pump better and most importantly spend time with my Little Man.