Friday, July 30, 2010

Night-Night and NO sleep

Since about May, Savannah has had a real hard time sleeping through the night. She wakes up 1-2 times sometime between the hours of 12-4. It wouldn't seem like such a big deal if she were a newborn because it would be expected, but because she is 1 and a half, Aric and I are scratching our heads going....what happened??
At first we attributed the sleepless nights to her ears. She had ear infections back to back to back before we got tubes. Once the tubes were in, she did ok for a couple of weeks....
Then we went out of town and I don't know about other kids, but Savannah doesn't do to well sleeping in an unfamiliar place. We caved and ended up putting her in the bed with us while on a trip. We were desperate! Well, that definitely didn't help things because as soon as we got back, she wanted to sleep in our bed, so when she started waking up in the middle of the night again, we knew we had to let her just cry it out. That worked for a few days....
Then she got sick. (tummy virus) That was no fun for her or us. We felt so bad for her because she wasn't holding anything down, we put her in the bed with us again so we could be prepared if she got sick. She got better but kept on waking up in the night so, we just knew we HAD to let her cry it out....
Then we went out of town again and well, you can probably figure out what happened. Yep, we had to put her in bed with us. This time is was from our most recent trip to NC. We were basically in a dorm where the walls were pretty thin and we felt bad just letting her cry as it would probably wake up the whole dorm.
Since we have been back she is still waking up crying in the middle of the night. Last night she woke up 2 different times and both times she probably cried at least 20 minutes.
Aric has been WONDERFUL in that, anytime we decide to go in and change her diaper or just check on her real quick, he gets up EVERYTIME! (with no complaints) We are trying to cut back on that a little because we don't want her to get used to him going in there all the time.

Savannah never has a problem going "night-night" (as we like to call it around here). She will go to bed without any kind of fight. Honestly, we have been spoiled, because as an infant she always slept so soundly. Now it is totally different and with Thomas coming in a month, I'm afraid we are looking forward to many more sleepless nights. Of course it will be expected with Thomas when he wakes up crying, that is what newborns do! But when he wakes up and Savannah wakes up...that is going to be interesting.

Let me also mention this...you would think because of her restlessness at night, she would be very tired during the day and would want to nap all the time. WRONG! She is just as happy and playful during the day and will take at least one nap during the day lasting a couple of hours.

(BIG SIGH) This is something I know we will get through, but it is hard. I do realize though, that we are extremely blessed and if this is the only problem we are having right now, then great! We may be a little sleep deprived but I am so thankful for my family and all of our many blessings that God shows us every day.

Happy Friday!!

Emily

Saturday, July 17, 2010

And we're off....

well, by 11pm tonight we will be off; to Black Mountain, NC. that is. We are embarking on a trip with the Prattville YMCA Leaders' Club to a conference at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly called Christian Values Conference.
Every year we usually make this trip to NC it is for a conference called Blue Ridge Leaders' School. It is basically a week long school (literally, they have classes and periods) to help develop all kinds of leadership qualities and attributes amoung teenagers. All Leaders' Clubs with participating YMCA's around the southeast usually come to this school, totaling about 600-700 kids.
This year, we did not attend the Blue Ridge Leaders' School and are looking forward to this Christian Values Conference. The Montgomery YMCA is THE organizer of this conference. This will be the first time the Prattville YMCA and the Montgomery YMCA will be attending this conference together. FUN TIMES!
I have attached a link here

http://www.ymcacvc.org/

In case anyone reading this is curious about this conference.

Working with teenagers has definitely been an eye opener for me. First of all, I would have never thought that I would be working with/ministering to a group of teens, EVER! I know how I was when I was a teenager and when I first joined Aric in working we these teens, I was terrified! The Lord really helped me to overcome my fears and as of right now, it has been over a year since I started with Leaders' Club and I feel like I really have been blessed by this experience. Not only have I learned a lot about myself but I have also learned a lot about teenagers these days. (makes me feel real old sometimes)

Oh! Yes, if you noticed in the opening sentence, I mentioned we would be leaving at 11pm. That is NO typo. We will meet up with the Montgomery YMCA kids at 10-10:30, at which time we will board one of two charter buses and then depart at 11pm! Did i mention that it is about an 8 hour bus ride? We will be arriving early in the morning and hopefully be somewhat rested. The ride back will be the same way. I am praying this trip goes as smoothly as possible. We will be taking Savannah and some friends of ours will be taking their 22 month old. 7 month pregnant lady, 2 toddlers and a bus full of teens (with some adults chaperoning) traveling in the middle of the night will make for an interesting trip. Please say a prayer for us, not only for safe travels but for the teenagers that will be attending this conference. I am praying that God will reveal himself to them and show them greater things. (about His kingdom and His will in their lives)

Have a fun and safe week everyone!

God Bless!

Emily