Nap, will you?

The napping struggle is still on. Turns out the ear infection didn't help train him to fall asleep for naps. It was just feeling poopy. He does fine with 1 nap and at night, so my guess is that the second nap is going the way of the dodo. However, most babies give up the morning nap, right? Not the afternoon nap! Oi! So Dan is struggling with figuring this out. Weissbluth, Ferber, anyone - help!

Other than that we are looking forward to his first birthday. Cake! It may be because we are dieting and would like cake ourselves, but I think it will be fun to see him try to figure out why frosting is so good yet too rich. Maybe a fruit cake would be better. I'd appreciate ideas if you have them.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Remember the best way to celebrate is to show affection every day BUT V-tine's!! (Shh. Don't tell Hallmark or DaySpring!)

Ciao for now!

dogsitting and other adventures

we are in the 'burbs dogsitting for my parents. it's a nice respite - well in a way. christian doesn't sleep nearl as well and he wakes up earlier than usual (4:50am today). and we are tied to the house in order to feed the dog every 12 hours - he's diabetic. but there is more than 2000 square feet, cable, and laundry services:)

christian has made some strides in the last week - literally cruising along the furniture, squatting to pick up something then standing up again. he now waves - well he bends his fingers down in a goodbye type of wave. he does it when he's laying down, waking up, when he's in the high chair waiting for his sippy cup... it's very cute. i

what isn't so cute is his inability to fall asleep on his own for his naps. well, it probably isn't an inability but a willful determination not to sleep. we go through the nap routine, place him in the crib - he immediately stomps his feet, says 'no, no, no, no, no,' gets up screams, etc. we've tried various sleep philosophies. they all stink! we are hoping that our wills are stronger, but it's hard to listen to crying for so many hours a day.

to end - i just can't believe he's almost 1! we are looking forward to his continual development, especially talking. but trying to enjoy where's he's at as well (though seriously, fall asleep and stay that way for at least an hour!)

pray for us! and for some sleep...

Sleep

Christian slept all night last night!
But I'm not that encouraged. Yesterday, Dan had an awful time getting him down for naps. I think he only slept an hour during the day. So I put him down at 8:30-ish for bed. I went to bed shortly after (just to make sure I had some solid blocks of sleep). And at 4AM I woke up with a start. I went to his crib and had to wake him up to nurse. I did so because I was scared he'd wake up for the day within the hour. But he didn't. He fell asleep again (he didn't really wake up while nursing) until 6:30!!!

I haven't felt that rested in so long. What a blessing!

I just pray that this is a shift in his sleep patterns. Though, I don't want Dan to suffer just so I can sleep well.

Christian is 8 months tomorrow. He's really trying to crawl. And he's just so active and fun. He's starting to cuddle more and to reach for us. It's sweet.