Halloween Preparations

Today we were practicing our trick or treating behavior. Last year Noah gave all the candy back and some people were a bit offended. I was hoping to convince him this year to at least keep all of the candy in the bag until we got home. We've been practicing chewing his tri-chew dipped in melted chocolate in feeding therapy and he has licked a few chocolate bars, but he's never ever even considered putting an actual food object in his mouth. Much to my surprise after he had trick or treated a few times he pulled out a 3 musketeers and asked me to open it. Here is the result...

Maybe next year he'll actually consume the chocolate.

Sleep

When Noah came home from the NICU he slept 4 hours per 24 hour period, and not all at once. Three days later he was readmitted to the PICU and we were relieved to have a few days to catch up on sleep. Grandma saved us by getting an Amby hammock and things started to improve.

By the time Noah was a year old, he was sleeping about 12 hours per 24 hour period - a record. Unfortunately due to growth concerns we were still feeding Noah every 3 hours around the clock, so while he was getting more sleep, we really weren't (especially my saint of a husband who did the middle of the night feeds).

We were desperate and in need of sleep when Noah entered the intensive feeding program at Children's hospital. Slowly Noah came to a place where (with the help of Duocal and Polycal) he could consume enough calories during the day. It was so wonderful to finally after 2 years not have to wake our child to eat.

Things went ok for a while. Noah never slept as much as other kids his age, but he napped in the afternoons so I could get a break and would sleep 8 or 9 hours at night. Then he started school. Whether because of overstimulation or stress, some unknown allergen making his reflux worse, or just his age he started sleeping less, having trouble getting to sleep, and waking during the night.

When he finally gave up his daily nap last March things went from bad to worse. Some days Noah will sleep fine, but on others he's up for hours in the middle of the night. Screaming? No, not Noah. Singing. The first few times it was cute. Hearing my deaf child's sweet voice over the monitor was pretty great. But it's not so cute anymore.

I need a nap.