Sleep eludes us yet again....

Just when I let out a sigh of relief and am giddy from getting a full night's sleep, my arrogance comes around and bites me in the butt! A combination of things have happened in the last 3 weeks that made Justin and us revert back to our bad habits. 

After Row's return from SA, we both got sick and our coughing duet woke Justin up but we thought that's okay, as long as he's not sick. Oh boy, then Justin fell ill, fever of 39 degrees, coughing, blocked nose and to top it all off, no appetite for food or water. I have not seen Justin this sick! He didn't go to day care on Friday and spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday just sleeping and refusing to eat or drink much. For those of you who have spent some time with Justin know that he's just a ball of energy, can't sit still for even a minute, so to see him so lethargic and tired was quite something. That's when the bad habits started again....for us to get a decent night's sleep, Justin was back in our bed...to make things worse, Row still wasn't getting enough sleep so he slept in Justin's bed and Justin slept with me. After about 4 nights of this, we decided to move Justin back to his bed so NOONE got any sleep that night AGAIN! 

But sleep has improved since that night. I will not get all arrogant and assume that sleep training is done but at least we're all sleeping in our own beds and managing to get a solid chunk of sleep per night. 

Why oh why can sleep never be constant with us? For all other parents out there who have the same problem, we feel for you and welcome any advice you can share with us.

I started this post last week sometime and the new thing now is no afternoon nap! Today is the second day where Justin is quite content to play in his room quietly and not have a nap. Instead of fighting with him and stressing myself out, I have decided to go along with it and let him play in his room. So long as he's not screaming and crying at the gate, I shall leave him in his room and hope he falls asleep. 

Hide and seek

Feeding daddy

What we've been up to...

Life has been busy for all three of us. I'm busy studying for my Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education and Row has been training for his first half marathon (21km) and Justin....well, Justin's been busy growing up. 

It was quite difficult to get back into study mode and it took me a few weeks to get into the swing of things but now I'm halfway through my first credit. Just submitted my first assignment, an essay of 1500 words, last week and have a PowerPoint presentation to submit in two weeks. It's been quite the challenge to fit my studies into our routine but I have managed to find time and thanks to Row for looking after Justin on the weekends so I can squeeze in a few hours. 

Row decided to set a goal for himself and registered for his first half marathon that happened this past weekend in Hunter Valley. He was doing really well, being his disciplined self, and almost reaching his target of running a 21km stretch, so he would've done really well. Sadly, Row's grandfather passed away and he flew back to South Africa so he missed the half marathon but there will definitely be more to train for!

And our munchkin....well, he's been very busy, definitely making us toe the line. Justin's vocabulary has exploded and sometimes he'll string together 4-5 word sentences, not complete sentences but we know what he's saying. He loves repeating things over and over and needs some acknowledgement to what he's saying. We were going through a very long phase of watching DVDs but that thankfully, seems to have tapered off. But in that time, our DVD collection increased marginally and we now have the Toy Story trilogy, Megamind, Up and Kung Fu Panda. Potty training has not been progressing as he now refuses to sit on the loo at home, he only wants to sit on the mini-made-for-kids toilets at school so he'll happily tell the teachers at school that he needs to wee and will sit on the loo there which doesn't really help cos he only goes twice a week. Drop off at school improved to the point where there were no more tears and he would tell me to leave after giving me a hug and a kiss. He loves coming home and telling us who he played with and what they did at school. His friends at school are Sarah, Ugo (Hugo), Charwe (Charlie) and Woody (seriously)!!! A few weeks ago, Row borrowed a safety gate from a colleague to put on Justin's door to keep him in his room. It was getting ridiculous, Justin was waking up like 5-6 times a night and some nights I would be so exhausted I would sleep with Justin in his bed to avoid him sleeping with us. After we got the gate, Justin was ill so we held off until he was better. One evening, Row asked, "are we going to do this?" and I said yes (with a twinge of doubt). We put the gate on, Justin thought it was so cool, and we thought okay, at least he won't get a fright when he wakes up tonight. Bedtime rolled around, we read stories, tucked him in and walked out...the tears started. Justin was sitting by the gate screaming and crying and I almost caved cos he looked like a caged animal :(  The crying lasted for 45 mins and when he stopped and we went to check, he'd climbed back into bed and was fast asleep. That night he woke up at about 2am and cried for half an hour...we waited and waited and then went to check, he'd climbed back into bed. Thankfully, the next night, bedtime was easier, no crying AND he slept through. We promise Justin he'll get 2 stickers every night that he sleeps through in his own bed....sometimes I'm feeling generous and will give him extra stickers. It's been 3 weeks now and I'm hoping that this lasts, no more night wakings from Justin. Cross fingers, hold thumbs, touch wood!!!!

Always the helper

The sticker post 

Developing his gross motor skills

Justin and dad have a roar-off

On holiday in Port Stephens, while driving to the Shark and Ray Centre, Justin and Row had a roar-off in the car.

Sending emails and surfing the web

Justin received this laptop for his birthday from aunty Gill and Chris and he loves it, it makes him feel important that he gets to walk around with his very own laptop and has full control over it.

Justin the chatterbox cowboy

This zebra was a birthday present from Karen, Trevor, Ethan and Jenna. It took Justin a couple of days to get use to the zebra but as you can see, he's now quite comfortable with it and can ride it like a pro.