two steps forward, one step back.

two steps forward, one step back.  sorta sums up sleep training.  bennett had been doing great with sleeping through the night.  on occasion we'd hear him stir and fuss around 4am, but he'd go back to sleep within a few minutes or so on his own.  well, the last few nights, he's been waking up multiple times a night again and the poor guy is just wailing.  his little tooth is pushing its way through and is obviously giving him a pretty hard time.  when i've gone in his room he's crying but his nuk is in his mouth, so i know he's in pain and not just unable to soothe himself back to sleep.  it's so hard because there's not a whole lot we can do for him, besides give him infant tylenol/advil and teething tablets.  he doesn't even really calm down when we pick him up or rock him.  plus, we really don't want him to start to need us to help him fall asleep again.  i'm struggling to find a balance between staying consistent with our routine, but also being flexible when something else (like teething) is going on.

if parenting doesn't make you feel completely clueless and full of self doubt, i think that means you're doing it wrong.  in that case, i'm really good at parenting.

i'm hoping that tooth breaks through soon and gives ben some relief and all of us some sleep again.  but i guess either way we'll just be biding our time until the next one decides to make an appearance.  i'm really starting to wonder if teeth are even necessary anyway.

two steps forward, one step back is also the perfect way to describe my weight-loss attempts lately.  i seem to be losing and gaining the same pound over and over the past few weeks.  i've been going to quite a few classes at the gym, so i'm hoping that i'm putting on some muscle.  my clothes are feeling looser, so that's a good thing too.  i do tend to focus too highly on the number on the scale, so i know i need to get over that.  but for such a long time i was losing weight fairly consistently, so it's frustrating to see that it's tapered off lately, despite adding in intentional exercise.  hopefully by staying persistent i'll start to see the number move in the right direction again soon.  consistency is key with weight loss, sleep training, anything i suppose.

admittedly, my frustration with stalled weight loss may also have something to do with the fact that i watch the biggest loser and they're honestly disappointed when they *only* lose 4 pounds in a week.  in my head i know that 1) they have far more weight to lose than i do, and 2) i have slightly more on my plate (in more ways than one, i'm sure!) than they do.  they work out 6+ hours a day and are literally responsible for little else while they're on the ranch.  if only...  i work 40 hours a week and have to cook, clean, take care of a baby, maintain relationships, and manage many other priorities.  so, i guess i should feel pretty good if i make it to the gym a few times and manage to cook a few healthy meals in a week.  if i could lose 4 pounds this month, i'd be thrilled.  so, that's my goal.  4 pounds by march 19th.