Please, someone tell me how to get this song out of my head now…

I wanted to let you all know that I'll be off for a month (part work, part vacation). I'll still be posting though. I've got some back-logged posts that will be automatically uploaded while I'm gone and I'll be writing a bit while I'm away. I expect that I'll be able to post at least 2 entries per week, maybe 3. But I WON'T be able to get to any emails for a month. So, if you do have questions you want me to address, feel free to send them along, but I won't be replying for about 5 weeks or so.

In the meantime, I'd be thrilled if you used the comments section to support one another through some of the huge transitions you all are going through. I hope the posts I'll be putting up in the next month feel relevant to many of you and that they spark some great discussions.

Also, if you haven't already joined and you'd like a forum that might feel more comfortable for casual discussions, come by our Facebook page and join the group as a "fan." (Either search for Bed Timing — two words — or just click the link). Some discussion boards are already set up and anyone can start new topics. Also, any new ideas about how to structure that space are very welcome.

Hope you all get some well-deserved rest and fun in the next few weeks!

Real post coming later today… I just had a quick few questions for those of you willing to delurk briefly. I'm relatively new to this blogging thing and I'm wondering about the lack of comments on most of the posts (the hits on the blog are reasonable, but there's almost no comments on most posts). I'm totally fine with that being the way this blog is going to roll if it comes to that (I really enjoy writing here and the emails I get, although I'm behind in responding, seem to suggest that this is a good forum for answering people's sleep-related questions). But I did want to make sure that there isn't anything blocking people from commenting (with the LARGE caveat that I was a lurker at most of the blogs I read when I first stared reading them, for a variety of reasons). So, a couple of questions for those of you willing to share:

1. I've had two people email me about problems they've had posting comments. These seemed to be technical problems (they'd post, and then their comment would disappear when they'd refresh). I've tried to find the problem, but I can't figure it out. But I also don't know if it's just a bug in someone else's software or computer and not a Typepad problem. If you HAVE had this problem, and you still are experiencing it, I would REALLY appreciate a quick email (bedtiming@gmail.com) letting me know this is the case.

2. Is this just not the type of blog you would comment on because it's largely "information" being put out there rather than a personal blog per se (the latter may seem more like a conversation and this blog may seem more like a one-way distribution of research or something)?

3. Are there topics that you're interested in that I haven't covered and therefore you don't really have that much to say on the issues I've posted?

4. Are you just so damn sleep-deprived and brain dead that the thought of putting a few words together on a public forum fills you with horror?

5. Am I just overthinking this and I should just get on to the "real" posts already?

Any and all thoughts are very welcome (critical or otherwise. Really.)

The books have arrived in Germany, where they will now be sent out to those of you who have sent me an email expressing interest. Here are the actual costs:

Book: $16.50 CD / 10.63 euros (I can't give the Amazon discount, but I won't be charging for shipping from Canada to Europe, so that's how you're making up the cost)
Shipping in Europe 2.70 euros
Shipping in Germany 0.85c
Book mailing envelope 0.70c

So total cost in Germany: 1.55 euros (shipping within Germany) + 10.63 euros (book) = 11.13 euros
Total cost to the rest of Europe:  3.40 euros (shipping in Europe) + 10.63 euros (book) = 14.03 euros

If you would like a book sent to you, please email me ASAP. For those of you who have already emailed your requests, I'm sorry to ask this, but could you RESEND your request so that I'm absolutely sure I'm not missing someone (when I first started the blog I might have been a little less…organized with the emails. I basically ran my inbox like a drunken teenager who just discovered Facebook. I'm much better now. Really.).

Remember I asked if anyone was interested in a place (on or linked to this blog) that you could go to talk to other sleep-deprived parents who were either in the throes of sleep training or just in survival mode during one of the transition periods? I got some great suggestions in the comments section about the pragmatics of putting up such a forum. The only problem is that I seem to be tech-dumb. I tried a few options and they all seemed to either be too difficult for me to figure out, not quite what we're looking for, or I had to pay for it (I run this site on my own without the support of HarperCollins or my "day job" and I don't have any ads on this site, so the out-of-pocket stuff can get a bit stressful). This Meebo thing (at the bottom left of the blog) seemed to be as close as I got to what we're looking for, but I have to be signed in at all times so that everyone else can also get into the chatroom… and that's just not possible for me to do 24 hours, round the clock.

So… I'm wondering if I could ask for some help from the Internets. Can anyone out there hold my hand through the process of getting this chatroom up and running? I'm happy to use any program that will facilitate this goal; it just has to be VERY easy for everyone to use and cost nothing (or almost nothing… I don't mind paying a small start-up fee, but I can't afford monthly or regular ongoing fees).

I've just sent out a batch of books to our very generous volunteer in Germany. She will subsequently mail out the book to all of you who have written me with your address in the EU and beyond. When I have a better sense of the timeline and total cost (considerably lower than ordering through Amazon.ca), I'll put up a follow-up post. If you live outside of N. America and want the book but haven't sent me your address yet (via email, not the comments: bedtiming@gmail.com), I've sent a few extras to Germany, so the first people to get me their names can still jump on this shipment.

Thanks for all your interest!

For everyone who has written about how to get Bed Timing in Europe or the surrounds:

Alright, I think we've come up with the best solution possible, with the generous help of a reader. I'm going to send a stack of books to someone in Germany who will act as our "distribution hub." This will address the main two problems with getting the book off Amazon.ca: the shipping cost (which will be considerably lower because I'm sending a bunch of books in one bulk package and then each of the books will be sent within Europe) and the shipping time.

What I need from those of you who have already written to me and from anyone else that's interested is for you to EMAIL me <bedtiming@gmail.com> your name and address. If you email instead of responding through a comment here, your details will be kept confidential. I'll let you know as soon as I know, how long the book will take to get to you. In terms of price, I would imagine that the book plus shipping wouldn't cost more than about $20 or about 14 Euros. I won't know for sure until I've shipped the total number of books and get a sense of what it will cost me. The (very kind) volunteer from Germany has a paypal account, or e-cheques can also be used, so paying will be quite simple.

So, if you're interested, email me ASAP so I can get these books out to all those interested quickly.

For those of you who have written about getting the book in the U.S.: There are no immediate plans to distribute the book in the U.S. The book can be purchased on Amazon.ca and shipped to the States with much less hassle than Europe. So if you'd like the book, just click on the link to the left.

Thanks for your patience!

For those of you who live in Toronto and are interested in meeting other Moxie-inspired mothers in the area, we're organizing a little evening get-together this Wednesday, May 6, around 7:30. If you're interested, leave a comment and we can figure out somewhere downtown to meet that would be easiest for all of us.  I know this is last minute, so if you're interested in this sort of get-together but can't make this time and date, please leave a comment with preferred dates and times and we'll set up a second meet-up soon.

We can also do a daytime/park outing with all the kids in tow as well.  What would you prefer for the next one?

Hope to see some of you in person soon!

I've heard from several readers who want to get their hands on the book but can't because they live outside of North America. Either the price is completely prohibitive to ship the book to where they live or it's simply unavailable. The book is not currently available in e-book format and won't be for a while, I suspect (this is entirely out of our hands). So… I'm trying to figure out the best way to get these books to people who want them.

The only thing I can think of is to purchase the books here in Canada and ship them to who wants them. The shipping costs will be less than Amazon charges, I'm sure. I suppose I can set up a PayPal account for these costs that people can pay directly to me. Does anyone else have any other possible solutions? This seems like such an odd and low-tech solution.

Also, could I possibly get a "head count" of how many people would be interested in this sort of arrangement? I've received some emails and some comments, but I'm not sure if there's anyone else that would be interested. If it's just 8 or so people, I'm happy to do the shipping myself and get the reinbursement through some easy payment method. I feel a bit funny about getting into the nitty-gritty of shipping costs, but the book itself is only $12 Canadian, so it's really this shipping detail that's stumping all of us.

Next up, a post about the 8-11 month transition. But before I get to that, I'm wondering if anyone has some expertise they could share with me about how to set up a "space" to vent and commiserate "live" during the wee hours of the morning. I've heard from several readers about their interest in having a place they could go as an offshoot of this blog to talk to other parents going through similar trials and tribulations either during sleep training or just simply during the no-sleep stages of parenthood.

I've investigated a couple of options, but I'm not sure how to proceed. I had this idea that I could just have a link to a place that people could go live and use instant messaging/texting/SMSing — something like that. But apparently that's not that easy to set up as part of a blog. The other option would be to put up a post every night and leave the comments section open to anyone and everyone who wanted to "meet" there over the loneliest hours of parenting. That seems like the easiest solution. But I'm new to this. Anyone have any other ideas how I could facilitate this?

So… do you guys listen to Radiolab? I've been addicted to it for a while now — you can get their free podcasts at ITunes and the Radiolab webpage. The show is described as being about curiosity, with each episode an "investigation — a patchwork of people, sounds, stories all centered around one big idea." It's one of the few unique and shining examples of story-telling, science and entertainment all coming together to produce a feeling of wonder and wow in listeners. Topics that have been covered include: Memory, Laughter, Music, and Sperm (who knew they could be so interesting). I love it.

And how does this relate to babies and sleep you might ask. A while back they had an episode about Sleep — there's a short version and a longer episode. If you have some time (oh, like maybe during the 3rd feeding session of the night), pop this into your ipod or listen to it on your computer. It starts off with the producer, Hannah Palin, documenting in intimate detail, the sleep deprivation she faced with her 18-month old. It really drives the point home about how hard it is to parent and function generally on no sleep and how brain dead we can become from the months of never. ever. sleeping. The baby's cries alone on this recording sends me right back to my own personal hell of sleep deprivation. And then there's some cool science talk that's just plain fascinating about the importance of sleep for memory, learning, and so on.

If you get a chance to listen, let me know what you think…