Sleep Smackdown

Well, Z is still out of town and I'm still tired. So last night I thought I'd try a different tactic. I fed H at his normal 7:30/8ish and put him to bed easily. Then, around 10, when I was ready to go to bed I decided to go with the dreamfeed (pick him up still asleep & rouse him just enough to eat) to see if doing this would eliminate a wake-up. Dreamfeed went well - took 3.5 oz and drifted back off to sleep easily. Off to bed I went.

At 12:15 - guess who's awake?!?! So I went to check on him. Not stinky. Not in a weird place in his crib. Just fine. Now I'm convinced little man just wants me and my trusty bottle to come & put him back to sleep. And thus the smackdown begins. I wasn't really planning on it, but I just decided to go for it. I didn't pick him up, I patted him a bit, offered a paci (which he didn't take & never will if he's mad) and then left. He got quiet for a second and then the wailing began! It was solid for about 12 minutes. Then quiet. Then on & off for another 15 or 20 or so. Then little man conked out. It was not easy. I laid there with my jaw clamped so tight I nearly gave myself a headache. I almost gave in at one point. But I reminded myself it was worse to go back in, because it would only start the cycle over and he would only learn that if he cried long enough I would come.

He was up again around 2. But it was interesting - he didn't escalate to the extremely loud wail he had been doing lately. I was able to get up, heat a bottle and then go in after I had the bottle ready. I figured at 2 a.m. it had been 4 hours since he last ate, so I'd feed him then. I took a long time feeding him, paused midway through and changed his diaper (which he wasn't too keen on since I don't normally change him in the middle of the night) to wake him back up a bit so he'd eat plenty. He took a solid 4.5 oz and drifted back off to sleep with just a tiny bit of fussing. And the best part - he didn't get up again until 6:50 a.m.!!!

As tough as all this way - I think we are heading down the right path. As much as I hate putting the smackdown - it's going to be better for HDog in the long run!

4-month sleep regression a.k.a. HELL

Well, after being a pretty darn good sleeper, H has decided to go back to getting up multiple times a night. At least 2. I was doing great with just one. One time a night was totally manageable, allowing me at least one 4 hour chunk of sleep, sometimes 5 and then another 2 to 3 hour chunk. It was beginning to feel like a normal amount of sleep, and I had learned to function pretty darn well on that.

I am back to googling every resource on infant sleep and discovering that this regression is NORMAL. Ugh. Not fun. Apparently it means he is gearing on all sorts of new skills that occur around 19 weeks, so since we are at 16 weeks as of today (yay! 4 months!), it means we've got a few more weeks of this waking up crap. Double UGH.

Henry is starting to laugh!

Can't wait to read...

Coming my way via Bookins! I can't belive someone has bought it, read it and put it up for trade already, but I'm excited! Kinda hoping it gets here before Henry & I leave for East Hampton on Thursday, but I'm not going to cross my fingers...

Good Friends

We had a really great weekend. Friday night Uncle Will & Aunt Amanda came over and watched our man H. Z & I went out together for the first time since he was born! We attended a wedding for one of his co-workers. The wedding was outside, downtown in the Rose Garden in Grant Park. Beautiful ceremony with perfect weather! Then the reception was at the Swisshotel. Really nice and good food - even if we only made it to about 10:30 p.m. We were so tired we thought we might pass out at our table!

Saturday morning, H decided to sleep late - until 7:30! Of course he chose this day, when we needed to get up and get moving to do so. We hopped on the road around 8 a.m. and headed downstate. At high noon, we, along with a bunch of other family & friends, surprised my bestest friend, C with a congratulatory party since she just finished her masters degree. She was genuinely surprised! It was so much fun! It was so great to see them all and H to meet her "aunt" ;-)

C & I love that our husbands actually like each other. And really sincerely enjoy hanging out, which isn't always the case with good friend's spouses. Obviously the men are having no trouble since they took off for several hours to the local winery and returned sufficiently drunk!