Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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JennGM
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Posted: May 30 2006 at 12:58pm | IP Logged Quote JennGM

I'm tired. Probably not the same tired as many of you ladies with young nursing babies, but still, I'm not getting good relaxation or sleep. It's affecting my mothering and our relationship.

Our son sleeps well...once he goes to sleep. He's 2 1/2. He is easily stimulated and fights going to sleep, since he was a wee one (he RARELY ever slept in the car even). He's curious about everything. When we put him to bed at night or nap it can be hours before he just falls asleep. There's too much to do. We have always had a bedtime routine, naptime routine...he thrives on routines, but he still fights the sleep.

Lately he's had bad congestion and runny nose from pollen allergies. Really bad. I know his body is worn out. Even skipping naps...still not falling asleep for a long time. He wakes up in the middle of the night all congested, runny and itchy nose...he's not sleeping well. It may be his age, but he's acting irritable and ornery and totally not like my son. I think he's tired!

So, today I pulled out the bookshelf in his room. No more books in his room. He's like his mommy...he loves his books, and they call to him at all hours. Dh and I have been in disagreement as to whether it's not enough stimulation and exercise and too much sleep, or too much stimulation in his room. So I'm trying the books. I think he's at the age where he still needs a nap, so I'd like to preserve that if possible.

But at night there's one little problem I'm wondering if anyone has advice. He likes to be covered (completely, head to toe), but he's in a toddler bed which I cannot find top sheets without annoying characters or pay a huge fee (I'm thinking maybe making something soon). He has his special blankets he's very fond of which are crib size, but he's also wiggling a lot.

So, we get cries out in the night, sometimes he's half asleep, wanting to be covered. So we stumble out of bed and cover him. Any suggestions on keeping a little one covered?

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marihalojen
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Posted: May 30 2006 at 1:17pm | IP Logged Quote marihalojen

Jenn, I'm with you on the annoying character aspect. I absolutely put my foot down on characters on Dd clothes, room, toys, stuff. I remember making two flat sheets out of 1 larger sheet rather than have Baby Goofy on her bed. Or if your son won't stay covered with sheets yet, could you make a light sleeping bag out of a larger sized sheet? Fold in half and sew three sides, maybe leaving the third side sewn 3/4 of the way up? (Well, of course one side would be the fold...so only two sides would need actual sewing.) That would give the feel and heft of sheets rather than the heaviness of a sleeping bag...

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ALmom
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Posted: May 30 2006 at 2:51pm | IP Logged Quote ALmom

How tall is he and how tall is the bed. Toddler beds often use crib mattresses - and the dc is actually too big for the bed. This never occured to me until a mom with larger than average dc, mentioned that they have to move dc to regular beds to get sane sleep in their household. We are beginning to wonder if this is some of our problem with sleep with our 3 yo. It's too tight for all 3 of us in our bed and he wiggles incessently. He is on a crib mattress on a jury rigged bed in our room, but we have just about concluded that he needs the extra wiggle space of a real bed.

Maybe this isn't it. If not, just use any old top sheet for a single bed. It's larger than you need but as a top sheet it won't matter. Also you can use larger than toddler bed size blankets, etc. for sufficient covers. We do this all the time as we are just not buying new sheets right now!

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Sarah
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Posted: May 30 2006 at 3:06pm | IP Logged Quote Sarah

I'm WAY to tired to keep dd2 in another room. She's in a toddler bed that I roll next to my bed at night. I use whatever comforters I have in the house.

At night I roll over and re-cover her. In the morning I roll the toddler bed back to the corner.


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JennGM
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Posted: May 31 2006 at 11:03am | IP Logged Quote JennGM

Oh, thanks for all the advice. I don't think he's too big for the crib mattress yet, Janet, but we actually are planning to switch to a twin bed. It's about time, I think.

Removing the books from the room was a huge, huge step forward yesterday. He fell asleep easily for his nap and slept well, and also for bedtime.

I didn't sew or cut a sheet since it was so late, but I took a Queen size top sheet and folded in half. I put this on top of his bed and tucked in the rest at the bottom. He just loved it. Dh wondered why I didn't do this before, and I told him I got the idea from the ladies here. So simple a solution....why didn't I think of it before?!

So thanks...we are progressing. Ds is much happier and in a better mood today...night and day difference! As for me...I slept in until 8:30 am...as long as he slept. I'm refreshed, and just finished cleaning out the laundry room and organized the shelves and purged and cleaned....

SO THANK YOU for your help!

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amyable
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Posted: May 31 2006 at 11:42am | IP Logged Quote amyable



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Jen L.
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Posted: May 31 2006 at 3:11pm | IP Logged Quote Jen L.

Hooray!

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teachingmom
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Posted: June 01 2006 at 12:38am | IP Logged Quote teachingmom

Glad things are better, Jenn. I just thought I'd add that we use a toddler bed here too. We use the crib mattress for the bottom sheet, and I took a few regular white sheets and cut them to size and hemmed them for top sheets.

It's been a few years, and I can't remember very well, but it may be that one twin sheet can be made into two toddler bed top sheets. Do you remember if you used a twin size sheet or a larger one, Jennifer?

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