Sleep saga continues, plus strolling all day

This is a very long update and I'm too tired to edit it down - I'm sorry. Thanks for reading anway. ;/

So, the sleep saga continues. It's been a little over 2 weeks since we took Cooper off of the Singulair and for the first week it seemed that he was progressively improving both naps and night time sleeping and was back to 2 hour stretches of sleep (I know, how crazy is it that 2 hour stretches all night long is actually an improvement!) but in this past week he's begun to slide back to the old pattern of being up every 60-90 minutes. Last night he was up EVERY HOUR even though he'd had Tylenol before bed because of the shots. I have had enough of this craziness. I suppose if I had someone here with me every night it would be a bit more tolerable because we could take shifts but that is not the case - I'm alone most nights because of Bob's job (not his fault, just a fact) so I get no quality sleep at all. I might sleep lightly for 45 minutes and then WHAM he's up again...I never get into REM sleep. I'm so sleep deprived that I go from being highly emotional (crying at the sight of a driver cutting off another driver), to angry (yelling at said driver(s) and sometimes at the dog and cat), to being totally resigned to suffering from sleep deprivation side effects forever and will never be the productive and sharp gal I once was. Gah!

This morning I "woke up" (in quotes b/c I basically was awake all night long) angry - really angry about this sleep nonsense. I remember thinking "I'm really pissed off." LOL I knew immediately I needed to get Cooper and I dressed and out of the house for some fresh air and activity so that I wouldn't be couped up in the house with him and frustrated. I know it's not his fault and I would never "take it out on him" but I am afraid that my exhaustion might cause me to fall asleep when he's not in the safest place - like if we were hanging out on the couch watching TV or something...so into the public eye and fresh air we went where I'd need to be 'on my toes'.

First stop: Starbucks drive-thru for a venti skinny vanilla latte. Next stop, check the hours of the UPS Store (I had to ship out something I sold on eBay) - they weren't open for another hour so we moved on to the next stop: Old Navy to shop for vacation items for me and Cooper since I had a substantial gift card to spend there. Once finished at Old Navy, I strolled Cooper up and down the giant shopping plaza and into just about every store there was. He's wonderful in the stroller - he is super observant and loves to stare at just about everything there is to see outside and in stores and any other "new" place we go into. Besides Old Navy, we made purchases at Michael's crafts and Toys R Us. By then it was time to head back to the UPS Store, but not before changing a majorly poopy diaper in the rear hatch bed of the car - yup there's some TMI for ya. ;)

Next, we headed over to Whole Foods to pick up some yummy stuff at the gourmet food counter. As we entered the store we were nearly run over by an old guy that works there - he was pushing the carts back into the store from the parking lot. We had approached the door and were within 3 feet of the door when he came barrelling up behind us. I turned to see what the noise was and he looked me in the eye and STILL proceeded to cut me off with his carts! I was stunned because he almost ran into the stroller! At the check out line this same jerk tries to push past me while I'm in line and I decided to say something to the cashier. As I told her what he'd done (and she'd witnessed the incident of him at the check-out line), the gal in line behind me spoke up and said "oh, yes, he is downright reckless out there". The cashier pledged to report our complaints to the manager. If I wasn't so exhausted and lacking in the free time department I'd write a letter about it. I decided I'd rather blog tonight than write complaint letters that will just get my blood boiling.

Once home, we let the dog out, had some lunch (tuna sandwich for me, pears and pineapple for pooper), and then we headed out in the stroller again for a walk in the neighborhood - it was a gorgeous sunny and warm (upper 70's) day here in southern CA - finally! With all the running around and fresh air and walks I managed to wear him out and it was time for a nap.

I decided it was time for him to nap in his crib. I knew this was not going to be as easy as putting him in the crib since he's used to sleeping on me, Bob or the nanny all the time. So I prepared myself for a rough go of things. I darkened the room, turned on his rain sounds, rocked him til he was really sleepy (but not asleep) and set him down in the crib. He sat straight up and started yelling at me LOL. I let him yell and whine for a while as I sat next to the crib and shushed and patted him and he was having none of it. He laid back down and rolled around, rubbing his face in the mattress and whining. Then it escalated to true crying and then he started with the screaming and that's when I had to pick him up (can't let him scream because of the stupid reflux). Within 30 seconds of picking him up he was sound asleep. So I put him back in the crib and he stayed asleep...for 45 minutes! ;) I laid down on the floor next to the crib so he'd see me when he woke up in hopes that he'd just fall back asleep but that wasn't happening so when it appeared he was not going to put himself back to sleep I picked him up and took him into my bed with me for another 45 minutes since he'd skipped his morning nap and both of us were exhausted.

After our nap was over Bob called to check in on us. I told him about our night and the day thus far and told him I can't keep this up - I'm hitting a wall with the sleep deprivation and we need to do something. He agreed. I told him that a former colleague is having similar issues and has hired a sleep consultant that is going to their house next week and she'll be letting me know if it helps them and if it does we will probably hire her too. The suggestions in the no-cry sleep solution book haven't helped Cooper stay asleep and we can't do cry-it-out so we need an in-between solution asap and we need an "expert" that can help us implement a solution and coach us through it so that it's done right and we don't give in to old habits.

While we wait to find out about the sleep consultant we made a pact that we will try to get the crib sleeping habit underway, even if it means one of us sleeps on the floor of the nursery so we're close and not stumbling down the hall every hour when he wakes.

Once that conversation was over, Cooper and I headed back out again. This time to the Town Center mall and shops for a stroll. In the mall I stopped at a cushy chair and decided to feed Cooper his solid food dinner - figuring he had an audience and might actually welcome the food instead of fighting me like he does at home - after all, the audience was all he needed the night before. Sure enough, it worked. He ate 3/4 container of baby food as the chair massage guy made funny faces at him and talked to him. Seriously, he opened his mouth for every spoonful, didn't try spitting it out, and didn't whine or fuss one bit. And go figure - there I was in a chair next to the chair massage station, while the chair massage guy was not busy and chatting it up with the baby and I was so tired I didn't even think to actually buy myself a chair massage while sitting there LOL. Unbelievable.

Cruised the mall, then cruised the plaza outside. Went in to Borders to find yet another book on sleep training and that's when Cooper decided he'd had enough and started whining and throwing his stroller toys and banging his hands on the stroller tray which I've never seen him do before. We had to leave without finding the book. I swear, that kid KNEW what I was looking for and he's determined to not sleep through the night. LOL

Well, I'm determined that he WILL sleep through the night, and he WILL sleep in his crib and both will happen asap. Somehow.