Baby sleep (or lack thereof)

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. (that's a 'yeah', not a 'yee-haw') So much for my smugness on sleep training. It's not going so well. For the past three nights I've gotten a total of about 6.75 hours of sleep. Naps aren't too bad, but night time has been nightmare-ish. We've got a good bedtime routine going, but once again, after 30 minutes or so he's awake and difficult to comfort. Wednesday and Thursday night I was up at least 15 times each night, comforting, patting, and putting the paci back in. I think this is at the core of our problem: the paci. So I decided to mix it up last night. He didn't nap well during the day, and was very tired by bedtime. I fed him at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30, then tried to put him down without the paci. He babbled in his crib for a while, then the fussing began. I knew he wanted his pacifier, but stayed strong. I patted him in the crib, and stroked his head. The crying began in earnest. It was that cry that tugs at your heart, where I knew he was asking "Where's my pacifier and why can't I have it? Why? WHY?!?!?!?" I held him and rocked him, talking to him and stroking his head. After about 30 minutes he quieted down and drifted off to sleep. He was pretty quiet (exhausted from the crying) and I went to bed at 10:30. I then got up at 12:30, 2:30, 4:15 and up for good at 6:30am. I know that sounds horrible, but I consider it a good night, as he never really fussed that much - I knew he wanted the paci, but I let him eat instead. I don't want to encourage nursing all night, but what's worse? Getting up 15 times a night to pop in a pacifier? Or getting at least 2-3 hours of sleep with feeding in between? I vote for the 2-3 hours. I'm hoping that once I get the OK from the doc to give him solids, he'll start sleeping longer and more deeply. We'll see how things go tonight and for the next few nights.



In other news: We went to a neighborhood children's parade for 4th of July. After that, we had a quiet day at home, with an all-American meal for dinner: cheeseburgers, potato salad, corn on the cob & apple crisp for dessert. We let Malaina stay up late to watch fireworks (we actually had a decent view from the porch) and then I took her for a walk to see the fireflies. She kept asking if Tinkerbelle was there. It was really special to see her wide-eyed response to telling her the fairies were out. I spun a little story about the fairies and why they were out (saying hello to each other), what they were doing (looking for something to eat), and why you can only see them in the summer (they hibernate like bears in the winter).

Big Sis and Little Bro.

The start of the 4th of July neighborhood parade.

Good buddies, enjoying a 4th of July treat.

Malaina on her bike, all decorated for the 4th. This was shortly before she had her first crash landing. She collided with a boy on a bike, ending with a scraped knee and and scratched up face. She was a trooper, and one Strawberry Shortcake bandaid later, she was feeling better.