Operation Sleep Rule Change - abandoned

Operation Sleep Rule Change was about getting some more space in our bed in a gentle, respectful way. If you missed the first post, it's here. In summary, we were aiming to get Chubs to sleep in her cot until 3am, and then to come into out bed. Sometimes she does this on her own - the last few nights she's slept in her cot until 4:30am, but it's certainly not consistent.

It was working for a while, however things started to fall apart. Chubs was sick a lot, Dear Husband was away so I was flying solo and Chubs started waking more frequently and needing more settling. Over the Christmas break we had two trips away for over a week each which meant a break in routine.

Perhaps most importantly, the plan (that Dear Husband and I would get more sleep) wasn't working. In August I said: To be honest, Dear Husband and I aren't feeling as wonderfully well rested as I was hoping. As I supsected (but was dearly hoping I was wrong) I think at lot of our constant state of exhaustion is more to do with having a vibrant, beautiful, bouncy toddler than a cosleeping one. To resettle Chubs in the middle of the night when she is in our bed is much, much easier that getting up to feed/ cuddle/ rock her in the cot. I'm sure we all get much more sleep when she's in with us. Often Dear Husband and I don't know who brough her into bed with us or what time it was now that we aren't trying to change it.

The final straw for me was one night when she wouldn't settle in her cot. I felt so mean. I was trying to settle my young child in a cage in a room all on her own so that I could go into a separate room, and not only share that room with another loved one, but actually share a bed! Why should I, as a grown adult who knows all about object permanence and how to ask for help clearly, get to share a bed with someone I love and at the same time expect my baby to sleep on her own in a cot in a separate room? She clearly needs the comfort and closeness - this is normal toddler behaviour.

Yes, we still get a lot of diagonal starfishing and bed angels. There's nothing glamorous about waking up with one foot in your ear and the other in your back. The problems that caused us to seek Operations Sleep Rule Change still exist. However, it now seems that these things aren't going to be fixed by having me stand by Chubs' cot several times a night.

I don't regret bringing Chubs into bed with us when she was little and teaching her 'bad habits'. I don't regret feeding her to sleep, nor 'training' her to sleep through the night at weeks or months old. This is all normal behaviour. She's a happy, healthy, thriving little girl. She won't always be in bed with us, she won't always feed through the night, she won't always want cuddles during the night - well at least not from Mum and Dad anyway.

I've never heard anyone say "I wish that I had cuddled my child less when she was little". So, for the time being at least, we will continue to love, cuddle, feed, rock and sleep togetherin the big bed - just where everyone wants to be. Even if it is a bit crowded.

Gingerbread house update

Well, in short - it worked! It's not often that I can say that about a baking endeavour. Yes, I know that I'm really stretching it to call this 'baking', but it's Christmas!

I didn't have too many dramas. It came as several pieces with a massive bag of fondant. It was more that enough, even after I made mistakes and slathered it on which was good. The leftovers may or may not have been eaten/ sucked from the bag later...

It was pretty easy to build, except for the 'hold in place for one minute until set' instruction. After an hour the roof was still sliding off and we discovered that this was made in Canada. I'm guessing that a Canadian Christmas and one in Queensland have a pretty huge difference in temperature! All was fixed with more fondant and a little rest in the fridge.

It was fun sticking it together. Because it was a kit I didn't do any planning, I just stuck on the lollies as I went. (Reckless, I know.) I'm looking forward to planning one in the future. Apparantly some people do themed ones each year, I'd love to do that after a couple of years. (By the way - this is definately an after bedtime or nap time project!)

Some last minute renovations to the chimney. This is the only house I've ever had with one.

The finished product! Unfortunately after the night in the fridge some of the lollies were 'crying' but otherwise I thought that it looked really good. The kit also came with a snowman, a gingerbread man and a Christmas tree which you can see in the 'front yard'.

This is the back of the house. Much less crying from the lollies here! The middle swirly mint is what the three on the front of the house are supposed to look like.

This was the first one I'd made and I enjoyed it. I'd love it to become a tradition in our family. It's not something that Dear Husband or I have ever done in our families before. It's very hard for us to get excited about Christmas, but it's something that we really want to make special for Chubs. I'd love to have her 'help' decorate as she gets older, and for gingerbread at breakfast to be a Christmas time treat. (Incidentally, she loved the icing but had a mixed appreciation of the gingerbread itself.) I thought that the kit biscuits tasted quite nice, although I may change my mind after I've made one from scratch!

So, all in all, a successful venture, which makes a nice change!

4WD cleaning up tip

It looks like we won't be going 4WDing for the forseeable future, unfortunately.

Whenever we return from a trip, I wash the snatch strap before putting it away. To do this easily and effectively I put it in the washing machine. I wash with a very small amount of detergent (less than a quarter) and with cold water and extra rinse. Line dry it very well before packing it away.

A snatch strap is a critical piece of recovery gear, especially in sand like on Fraser Island. They aren't cheap either, so make sure you look after it. Some snatch strap care tips:

- Wash and dry your strap completely when you return from a trip before packing it away
- Inspect it before and after every trip for signs of damage. Better to discard it and replace when you are at home than to have it snap when you are doing a recovery and leave you stranded or worse, injur someone.
- Keep it in a bag instead of rolling around in the car where sand and dirt can damage it. That's a good place to keep your gloves and shackles too, just make sure that you can get to it.
- Attaching the snatch strap to the car and leaving it there is really only necessary when doing a water crossing. If you get stuck while doing a water crossing, then it may be hard to reach your recovery point, and seconds count. By the time that you have found the recovery point, attached the snatch strap and run it to your recovering vehicle, then both the car and then engine may be flooded. However, in the case of sand or mud it will usually be easy enough to attach the snatch strap if and when needed, rather than leaving it attached and wrapped aroung the bull bar or roof racks. When exposed like this it experiences more wear and tear than necessary and may be more of a hassle. Sometimes it's easier to snatch a car backwards, so if you have attached to the front then moving it will be necessary anyway. So to preserve its life, only attach when and where needed.
- Ensure that shackles are cared for well. Only use rated shackles and don't drop them or bash them about. Again, it's preferable to replace a shackle at home than to have one break and become a missle when doing a recovery.

Have fun four wheel driving, and as always do it safely!

Linked

Keeping the mozzies away

The mosquitoes are out in force, especially when we were visiting the tropics. I don't like spraying Chubs with insect repellent, especially just before bed. Some things which work for us:
- using roll on insect repellent rather than spray makes it more contained and less likely for her to breathe it in. I'd rather get it on my hands than in her lungs.
- wipes. We found sime insect repellent -soaked wiped (like baby wipes) which made wiping down her arms and legs easier than spraying or rolling. They were pretty expensive though so we used them sparingly.
- in the evening before bed, we put her in a long sleeved romper (pictured) and then put her shoes over the top. It was so hot that she was sleeping in just a nappy, but we put this on while we were enjoying the evening oursite. No need to spray her for a short period of time or to wash the insect repellant off before bed. The shoes over the top looked a bit silly but kept the suit clean and dry - win!

Cloth nappies while actually travelling

As a follow up to the earlier post about travelling and nappies, we have used disposables every time on our actual travel days. The most we have travelled in one day is an 11 hour drive, and we have also spilt this drive over two days. We use mostly cloth and sposies at night and as spares, but using disposables on the actual travel days is so much easier. Being able to toss a wet or dirty nappy when flying means less to carry, and when driving it's one less thing in the car. I've also been worried about washing when travelling for more than one day. When staying away from home (especially in a caravan park) then soaking overnight in the machine and hanging out to dry on the next travel day is not going to work. Nappies aren't like clothes where you can save the laundry up for a week. The ease of the rare use of sposies like this is totally justified in my opinion. We also use sposies all day on the day before we travel (when leaving or when coming home) so that I don't have dirty nappies left at home needing to be washed, or travelling with a big bag of poo.

Cloth nappies (diapers) while travelling

 

We’ve been using MCNs since Chubs was a newborn, and have travelled several times with and without them. Here’s the decision making process that I think through when deciding to take them or not.

 

Trips where we didn’t take the MCNs and used disposables only

-          When Chubs was 14 weeks old we flew 800km to visit my in laws for 10 days. Dear Husband had some work at the time as well.

-          When Chubs was 5 months old we flew 1000 km in the other direction for a five week stay; also with Dear Husband’s work.

 

Trips where we have used mostly disposables and a few MCNs

-          When Chubs was 10 months old we drove and had two nights in an apartment at the beach (100 km)

 

Trips where we did what we do at home – ie mostly MCNs with disposables as spares and at night.

-          When Chubs was 18 months we drove 800km to visit my in laws for 10 days.

-          Shortly we will be going to a remote island for a week; I plan to take MCNs then.

 

So how do I decide what to take?

1.       Swimming

If we are somewhere where we will be swimming, the at least a few MCNs is a must. Since we use pocket MCNs, they readily transform into a swim nappy – just leave out the insert. Disposable swim nappies are expensive and wasteful and regular disposable nappies explode when the polymer crystals expand, spilling the crystals ev-ery-where.

If Chubs is in her clothes and an MCN (even with the insert) then it’s generally no worries for some impromptu water play. The MCN with the insert will sag, but it won’t explode with icky chemicals everywhere.

2.       Luggage

When going by air, then the MCNs may need to be left behind. Each time we have flown with Chubs we have been going to major cities where disposables are easily purchased. By the time you add a portacot, stroller, car seat and nappy bag to all your usual travel gear (keeping in mind that a lap child has no extra luggage allowance for her clothes) then fitting in a few days’ worth of MCNs might be too hard. Whenever we have gone away and taken MCNs we have been travelling by car.

If disposables can’t be easily purchased at your destination, then cloth is probably the way to go as reusable cloth will take up less room than single use disposables, especially if you are going for a week or more.

3.       Washing facilities

At home I have my MCN washing routine down pat, and that’s one of the things that makes using MCNs so easy. However, if the washing routine falls apart then it very quickly comes a disaster. One trip (when we were away for five weeks) we were in a serviced apartment with a combination washer dryer and no hanging space. Thank goodness I hadn’t taken the MCNs. The washer dryer was a disaster – it took over four hours to dry a half load and was too noisy to have on at night.

Recently we drove to visit my in laws and we were sleeping in their rumpus room; the laundry is a sectioned off part of that room. This meant that I couldn’t do what I normally do, ie run the nappies at night. It was all ok in the end, but it’s something else to consider.

Another factor is drying – if you plan to line dry, what will you do if it rains for days on end?

4.       Availability of more

When we head away for our remote-ish holiday, nappies will be available if we run out but they will be very expensive and possibly in short supply. I may not be able to get the brand or size that fits, they might be sold out that week and they will be over three times the regular price. I will be taking disposables for night time and spares, but the reusable MCNs will hopefully guard against having to buy more.

5.       Environmental impact

One of the main reasons that we use cloth is for environmental reasons. To head to a World Heritage Listed National Park and leave behind 50 disposable nappies which take hundreds of years to break down didn’t sit well with me.

6.       Ease of use

Our MCNs are pull ups, which is a huge help for a mobile toddler. Especially in summer, a standing up change underneath a dress is so easy. The disposables we use aren’t pull ups so we can’t do that.

7.       Aesthetics

The most trivial of all my points, but I do think that cloth looks much nicer under skirts and dresses than sposies.

Gingerbread House

 

As previously discussed, I'm not much of a baker AT ALL, but I was thinking that it might be nice to make a gingerbread house for Christmas. I thought that it might be a nice thing to do each Christmas, and I spent quite a long time looking at images to get ideas.

 

I originally planned to make the hose from scratch, however I have chickened out for my first try. I found too many horror stories about walls collapsing and house falling, and that was without considering the fact that I can't cook and it's very likely that I would burn it. We will be away for Christmas at a fairly remote location, so just popping down to the shop for more ingredients would take more 24 - 36 hours and about $150 extra expense.

 

Since that all sounds like too likely a disaster, I went with the kit; for $12 I got this one. I've never used one before, but hopefully this will be a nice first time.

 

Some people do one every year and make them spectacular and even themed - I would love to get to that stage down the track! So I am guilt-less-ly easing my toes into the metaphorical water this year -hopefully all will go well!

 

Update here - it worked!