Sleep Savvy

It seems like the theme of my days lately is SLEEP!  Ever since (and even before) we started "sleep training" Dominick he has been sleeping from 830 til 10 or 1030 ... AM!  On top of that he takes 1-3 hour naps every day.  I am completely in shock by this.  I mean, he never really got up super early like some kids, but to be sleeping until 10 am is strange.  As far as I knew ALL babies were early risers.  I thought it was something ingrained into them!  Hey, if it ended tomorrow and he all of a sudden started getting up at 7am I would not be surprised.  I feel like this is just some sort of phase that he will grow out of, because sleeping until 10 AM is truly too good to be true!

Anyway, as of Sunday we started to let Dominick "Cry It Out"...it was a rough night for me because I didn't set out to do that night in particular.  I knew we would do it in the next coming weeks, but that night I was rocking, and rocking, and rocking and ROCKING.  I just couldn't rock no more!  So my nerves got the better of me and I made a very spontaneous decision to lay the suckler down and let him fall asleep on his own.  Within 10 minutes (more like 1 minute) I regretted it.  Not because I didn't want to hear him crying, which of course is heart-breaking, but because I wasn't fully prepared to make that my last official night to rock him to sleep.  He cried big time for about 30 minutes, we went in every 8-10 minutes.  By the 40 minute mark he finally passed out.  The rest of the night I spent with a knot in my stomach and a heavy heart.  I couldn't shake the feeling.  I was not ready to say goodbye to watching my little baby drift off to sleep.  WHY did I make such a big decision!?  I didn't want to revert back to rocking and confuse the poor booger.  By the time I went to bed I couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a huge meltdown.  After getting it all out I realized I don't have to totally give up our routine, I just have to tweak it a little bit.  We still sit in the rocker, we read our ni ni book, I rock him for a few minutes and tell him how much I love him and even sing a song or two.  If he's particularly silly, we even still play our silly night night games: Get The Tickles Out and Baby Monster/Monster Baby.  I feel much better with my decision now.  He only cries for the few seconds it takes for me to lay him down, kiss him and walk out.  By the time the door is closed behind me he has tapered down to a slight whimper then he is out like a light!  I am so proud of my little man.  He is such a good little boy.  He adapts to every and any situation like a pro! 

OK, that was a long story, sorry!

In other news, he is almost ready to take off! He glides around the house, holding on to any and everything and even takes a step or two on his own.  No official walking yet, but I can see it in the very near future!!

Well, off to get some rest, watch a show or two then get some sleep.  Tomorrow is a big day. We get to see Auntie Jenn :) We haven't seen her since New Year's Eve!!!  So, it will be fun!!