milestones and sleep training and body parts, oh my!

ahhh. excuse me while a breathe a deep sigh of relief. i survived one of the craziest weeks of my life, and came out virtually unscathed. sure i'm still busy, but i'm grounded. not getting on another plane for 4 months, and when i do it will be of my own decision.

like last week, i'm blogging with a glass of wine in my hand, but this time it's homemade cabernet and i'm settled comfortably on my couch with my husband and son a few feet from me, the little gobbles talking to his paci as he pulls it in and out of his mouth in attempt to fall asleep. he'll make it to his crib eventually, but we're waiting until he's a but more tired. tonight will be the second night of sleep training.

on monday our little boy hit the 8 month mark. after he recovered from being ill last week, he not only began full out crawling, but also stood up in his crib forcing us to lower the mattress, got his big boy carseats installed (still rear facing of course), and developed the ever feared separation anxiety. any time hubs or i leave the room, gobbles will start to whine and, when we happen to leave him in the crib in a dark room, the whine will quickly escalate into a full on wail. clean diaper, check. bottle fed, check. hugs and kisses, check. but as soon as we step away from the crib, the wailing begins.

wow. this kid is smart. for months any sign of a whimper i'd be by his side, what's wrong little boy? don't worry, mommy will make it all right. what have i done? because of this, monday night we decided it was time. though it broke my heart, we realized that 8 months is old enough to cry just a little at bedtime. besides, now that the man is crawling, it's not safe for him to come into our bed when he is restless.

after i gave him his bedtime bottle and got him all snuggly into his crib, the training began. as soon as i stepped away the crying started. i walked quietly out of the room and settled into bed to watch the monitor. the next 9 minutes were pure torture as i watched my son flail his arms and legs and cry to the point of hysterics. i also realized that this is exactly what i do when hubs and i have those rare fights where i know he's right, but i cry so hard i hyperventilate, and subconsciously i know it's all for some attention. gobbles is definitely my son.

when time was up, i went in, rubbed his belly, bent down to give my baby a kiss and tell him i loved him. his crying ceased with the initial touch, and started back up with full force as i exited the room. i think i heard a little laugh escape in the moments i was soothing him, he probably thought to himself, ha, now i've got her. the second 10 minutes were shortened to about 7 because he got to the point where he was so angry he threw his paci out of the crib, and i felt like i had to retrieve it. the next set gobbles decided to crawl all around his crib and stand up and scream, so he lucked out at the end of that one, getting a big hug before being put back down. finally, somewhere around the 40 or 50 minute mark, after 5 visits of reassurance, the wail slowed to a small whine before quickly fading into a rhythmatic snore.

he slept well through the night, which he does a few times a week, but we're hoping this will teach him to not expect to be brought into our bed on the nights he doesn't sleep well. from everything i've read it only takes 3-4 nights of this until you have a happy, self sleeping baby. unfortunately last night and tonight he fell asleep in our arms on the couch before we had a chance to play cry it out.  last night on the few occasions he did wake up, he cried for a few minutes and went back to sleep on his own.  here's to hoping that will continue.

if the sleep training doesn't work out after a few tries, then we'll move on and try other methods. but in the meantime, we're hoping this will translate into his daytime behavior as well so he will learn not to be upset every time we leave the room. he'll soon realize that we would never leave him, every minute of my day is spent in anticipation of coming back to him. i definitely cannot get enough of my baby, who is slowly but surely growing into a little boy with a big personality.

Hey Momma!  You forgot to tell them my greatest milestone -
 I discovered my tongue!!!

Hey Puppy!  Why don't you help me bust outta this joint?

Ew mommy why would you pierce something like this? did that affect your pllffffttt sounds???
It was high school little buddy. Mommy thought she was cool once.  Don't worry, she now embraces her dorkiness and accepts her position as a mommy.  just without the mom jeans or the mom haircut.  Because then daddy would leave her.  just kidding.
ok maybe if i got the haircut he would, but don't worry, this hair hasn't changed since 6th grade.  we're good.

Da da da, i'm not listening!  You talk way too much mommy,
 just look at my tongue, it's AWESOME!

Ok, ok, tongue's away!  Let me out now??