Sleeping Like A Baby

Oh man guys, I think Pierce has finally figured out this whole going to bed thing. And it's marvelous.

Pierce weaned himself from his bottles a few weeks ago and now only takes a sippy, and for some reason that's come to make things so much easier. Our bedtime now goes like this: once he's ready for bed we take him into his room and turn on two lamps- 1 is for reading, 1 is for sleeping. We sit down and read 2-3 books and cuddle with his blanket, then once we're done reading we turn off the reading lamp, kiss him goodnight and lie him down in bed with his sippy cup. While he's drinking his milk I lie on the floor next to his crib (or John, whoever is putting him to bed), he finishes his milk, rolls over and goes to sleep. Now, there might be some tossing and turning until he's tired enough to sleep, or some standing up in his crib, but the biggest change is that he lays himself down and puts himself to sleep. 

Some nights are really fast, some nights can take about 30 minutes, but we've only had one bad night in weeks. WEEKS! Can you believe it?! John wishes Pierce didn't need us to lie next to his crib, but I feel like this is such a small detail it's not even worth thinking about. Half the time we end up falling asleep before Pierce anyway haha. 

I am so thankful that we can mark this down as a parent success. I've had so many parents tell me to just let him cry it out. "It's hard, but it works" is what they'd all say. If it's "hard" for me to just sit there and hear him scream when every fiber of my being is telling me to comfort him- then I'm not going to sit there and just listen to him scream. I absolutely refuse to let my baby cry for me and not go to comfort him. He wouldn't understand why I'm not coming for him- I do during the day, why wouldn't I at night? He would be confused, and sad, and his heart would hurt. I won't do that to him. I think it's so important to listen to your instincts as a parent, and mine says to avoid CIO by any means necessary.  Not to mention all of the negative health effects that come from crying it out.

 Basically, I could rant and rave about the whole CIO method all day long, but in the end my sweet little boy who hates to go to bed is now going to bed peacefully. He feels safe; he feels comforted (when/if he does get upset I still go him, I'll always go to him), and he probably feels in control of his sleeping which is great. And all of this was achieved by gentle parenting. 

Hallelujah! 

Seriously though, how could anyone not run and comfort this adorableness if he's crying? Every time baby boy, I will every time <3

Picture Blog

It just dawned on me how long it's been since I've posted on here. I'll give you all an updated picture (or pictures) of my sweet 10 month old (10 months already! Can you believe it?!)

this boy and his pacis...

 my son in a nutshell: beautiful curly hair, huge grin, and loves to be naked

I love my boys <3

10 Months and Still Struggling to Sleep

It seems as though every time we figure out a bedtime routine for Pierce, that routine lasts about a month before he decides it doesn't work for him anymore. I don't know what else to do about his sleeping but every nap and every bedtime is a struggle.

How could my son hate sleep so much? 

I've never let him cry it out. Not once. I don't believe in it. I don't feel right about it. I just don't think that's what's best for us. We were doing well for a while. We had a nice routine where I'd sit in his glider and feed him a bottle, then I'd lay him in his crib on his tummy and just pat his back until he fell asleep. That still works sometimes, but more often than not he tosses and turns and seems like he just can't get comfortable. I don't know how that could be possible. We've ended up putting our nice sheets on his crib mattress so he has a really soft sheet. We put a padded quilt under his sheet for more cushion. We really have tried just about everything. 

He fought today's nap really hard. He just kept crying and crying, not wanting to sleep at all even though his eyes were closed. Eventually I had to walk away. I went into another room for only 3 minutes and you would have thought that the world was coming to and end in his room. So I went back in, picked him up, and rocked with him in his glider and he still fought me. Eventually he gave in and fell asleep, but I just don't understand why it's so hard to get him to go to sleep. I've wanted so badly for sleep to be a positive experience for him, but it hasn't happened that way. 

Let's chalk this whole sleeping thing up to a mommy fail. 

Looking at him while asleep, you'd never guess the struggle it was to get him there. He just looks so calm and peaceful. 

first time sleeping in a tent. that's a whoole other story ;)