We were having bouts of some SERIOUS sleep issues with my girls. They were not going to sleep at night and then when they finally would fall asleep they were up and down at least 4-5 times a night. My friend recommended a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. The book's a bit extreme, but she swore to me it would make all the difference in the world so I read it and we are FINALLY experiencing reasonable sleep. We still have occasional night waking, but it's at most once a night, and it happens much less frequently.

Good luck! I know it's not fun! 

I just have to share the story of my day...

My middle child turned 2 today and I asked her what she wanted to do for her special day. She told me she wanted to go to the train station (there's a little museum there with locomotives, etc.)

So I loaded up the three of them and headed for the depot. As I pull up, I realize that I have no stroller for the baby, so I figure I'll just take him out of his car seat and put him in the baby bjorn. As I do this I see that he has COMPLETELY pooped through his pants. So I go to change him and while I have plenty of diapers, I have no wipes...so I run to the nearest restaurant and grab a couple of napkins and I used napkins and bottled water.

As I am changing the baby in the back of the car, my girls climb into the front driver's area and start ejecting CDs from the player and placing them in the basin of my center console. The birthday girl then proceeds to climb on top of the basin and PEE all over the CDs so much so that they're FLOATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You've got to be kidding me....all the same it's her birthday and she really wanted to see those trains so we change clothes and continue on to the station.

We walk into the main area and walk up to the window and ask about the museum and the lady says, oh, it's CLOSED today. I started to laugh, probably a bit hysterically and figure I have nothing to lose so I launch into my story and BEG her to let us just look at the trains for a minute. She did it! What an AMAZINGLY nice woman. So we looked at trains for two minutes and loaded back into the car and headed for home.

I am EXASPERATED by this time, so I put on Cinderella and let the girls watch a little TV. At some point they got into a little tiff and my three year old hit my two year old and when I asked what happened she says, "Well, uh...mom, there's a movie on and now's not the time to talk about this." 

It's only 4:30 PM now, I am counting the minutes until my husband gets home.... 

Antygamma-have you read the book The Mommy Myth (or something to that effect) it's about how commercialization has made us all CRAZY in our pursuit to have the best, be perfect, etc... That no longer do people perceive anything to be ok unless it's sanitized and shiny.

If that blog hit home, I think you'd find the book enjoyable! 

I think it just depends on the parent. My husband still follows our almost 4 year old up the playground equipment and we have two others. I also have a girlfriend who is the parent of an only child and she is very lenient with what she allows her child to do, never unsafe, just way more laid back than I could ever be.

I do however find myself allowing my younger daughter to do much more, much earlier without thinking about her age as much...I don't know if it's because she's tagging along with her big sister so I trust it more, or if because her big sister made it through that I trust she will too.

I think no matter what you'll always worry about the first one more, because they are the ones doing everything for the first time...

This happened in my house when my middle child turned 19 months-there are posts somewhere about it because I was EXASPERATED! What we ended up doing was something my mother said she saw on supernanny and is also referenced in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth.

You go in one time and lovingly put the child back down with kisses, hugs and reassurance and explain that this is the last time you'll do this, that you love him/her but sleep is important. After that you let them fuss for a minute then you go back in, you do not acknowledge them, you don't make eye contact and you gently put the child back down...repeat until it works. The first nights it will take FOREVER, but the amount of time it will take dwindled and dwindles until it's no longer a problem.

The key is to not get emotional in any way-it's so hard to not to break when they're screaming "mommy!!" but in the end I think it's for the best.

We did this until our sleep problems subsided and I don't feel like my kid's any worse off for it and she actually goes to sleep without a fight now. 

My first two are 18 months apart and then my second and third are 20 months apart and I really like having them so close. If it's so unfortunate that I MUST go to the grocery store with all three of them people look at me like I'm insane, but other than that it's wonderful.

Some days it's incessant and by the time my husband gets home I am a little crazed. My house isn't spotless, my car's a mess, I haven't used a blow dryer or makeup in 2 years and I let them watch TV, but they're the BEST thing in the world and my girls mean so much to each other and the baby's just kind of along for the ride right now (which I do feel bad about).

My girls LOVE each other, they play so beautifully and if one of them is at my parent's house, or at preschool the other one asks the whole time when her sister will be back. They love the baby too, they will lay on the floor with him and talk to him and give him toys.

We're a little messy, but we're really happy...it's hard work, I've learned to simplify my life and be happy at home with the three of them.

Good luck! And in my experience, with the subsequent children that difficult newborn stage that seemed to last FOREVER with your first flies by. My baby is 5 months old now and I just don't know where the time went. 

We were driving to Albuquerque a few weeks ago and we noticed that my 2 year old (my itty bitty two year old), who usually snores like a 6 foot man, was not just snoring but gasping and choking in her sleep. At that point we decided to take her to an ENT. We went this past week, he looked in her throat and without flinching said, "those have got to go now." He said her tonsils and adenoids should come out as soon as possible. I immediately called my pediatrician, who I trust implicitly. Her response was that if the ENT (who she knows and trusts) says they need to come out then she has the utmost faith in him.

I am freaking out! It's not so much the idea of her tonsils and adenoids coming out that bother me, it's the anasthesia. Have any of you been through this with one so young? 

Thanks so much!

I have used both kinds. I love Robeez, they're so cute and great for fat feet. I think the hard soles must be harder for them to walk in when they're first learning because they just kind of plop their feet down, but I know I put my oldest in hard sole shoes as soon as she could take a step (maybe even before).

There are these great shoes that you can order from a website called angelcovers.org

These shoes are inexpensive (relatively) and I think all the proceeds go to help orphanages. The soles of these shoes are rubber and super flexible, and the upper part is a pretty durable leather. I cannot believe how well they held up.

The coolest part is that they have squeakers in the soles, so every time your child takes a step they squeak. It was real incentive for my middle child to start walking. Also, it's a dream come true on those occassions where you MUST take all your children with you to the grocery store. I can let the girls walk and I don't have to keep a constant visual because I can HEAR them two steps behind me. If the squeaking stops, I know trouble's afoot (like an apple being pulled out from the bottom of the bin, and the entire case rolling to the ground).

The good news is the  squeakers do come out.  They're great shoes.