Best Valentine's day ever. My parents came up to visit and see the house for the first time that weekend which was fantastic. They watched Timmy and we got to go out and enjoy a PEACEFUL dinner at Cheesecake Factory, the best food I have had in a very long time. It really helps when you can actually take the time to enjoy it. Joe, nominee for the best husband of the year, got me a full hour prenatal body massage. Sheer bliss. Shame that I had to come home afterwards... I had told Joe I was making valentine's gifts for the whole family and he was so nice to say that he was excited when he was secretly terrified that I was going to crochet him another hat. Nope, not this year! Instead, I made the whole family (Mikayla included) matching flannel pants. I will have to get another picture with Mikayla in hers, they are still a tad big for her. Not to mention impossible to get on. Hope y'all had a great V day also.
Tim slept the whole night for the last two nights and when down like a charm. He wakes a little too early for us, like 5:30am, but I think that will slowly get better. He still refuses to nap willingly so after this I'm off on another exciting car ride to no where.

ToVah hit the nail on the head - much to our surprize and delight there was no puke fest on night three. We followed the usual nighttime routine and he was so mellowed out that he actually peed on me when we changed him - something that hasen't happened for a VERY long time. He fought to go into the crib but I still kissed him goodnight amidst his protests and left. I braced myself for what could be another long night. By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs the crying had stopped and I could hear alot of "getting comfy" noise over the monitor. He didn't wake up till around 12:30. After a quick cuddle back in the crib he went. When he didn't want to lie down I reminded him that mommy needs to sleep in her bed also. He immediatly pushed me away and gave me his special car. It was like he was saying "go to bed mommy, you can use my car tonight." I left and could hear him flop back down as I was closing the door. He slept till 6:15 and woke up happy. Huzzah!

He refused to take his nap today. I'm refusing to get bummed about it and hoping that when everything levels out that the naps will return. I also refuse to let him give up his nap yet - I really need that recharge time!

By the way - is everyone's spell checker not working or is it just mine?

Also, my default blogger is now coming in only in German until I sign in. I don't speak German. Does anyone know how to fix that?

We bit the bullet and decided to resort to some truly tough lovin for Timmy. We tried a "nice" method of helping him get to sleep without being held for several days and he only got worse. It included our usual bedtime routine and then sitting outside the crib until he fell asleep. Would have been great if it had worked. We are now back to the hated but effective milner-ferber method, patent pending.

Night #1 we entered at 30 minute intervals to comfort, clean up the puke, and reinstall in crib shrieking and crying. It took over 2 hours for the little devil to finally be so exhausted he fell asleep on his own. He woke again at 1am and immediately fell asleep the minute I sat in the glider with him, after a few minutes I was able to slip him into the crib and then stay nearby until it was safe to sneak out. He woke again at 4:45 am and Dad was unable to satisfy him. Ended up sleeping on mom till 7:30 in the recliner.

Night #2 it only took about 45 minutes for him to decide it was time to go to sleep. Huzzah. The puke cleanup after 30 minutes wasn't terrible either, regardless I'm glad I have several sets of sheets. He woke at 12:45am this time and I attempted the same procedure as the night before. He cuddled and snoozed and was alright being slipped into the crib until I tried to creep out the door. He was fine as long as I was there by the crib. After three such attempts we decided to let him whine for awhile. He wasn't all that upset, just wanted mom. After listening to him call for Mommy for an hour I returned at 2am for a brief cuddle and explained that this was the time that mommy needed to sleep in her bed and he needed to sleep in his. He let me put him in the crib and I left. He whined for a few more minutes and then we didn't hear anything else till 6:30 - an acceptable time to finally call it a night.

Night #3 - Tonight. Any guesses?

True to our geeky selves we installed an infrared camera in his room to see just what he was doing for a few nights. We later returned it to the store because the signal was so strong it knocked out our wireless network - much more important. We were amazed to see the little stinker hanging out on the crib rail for almost an hour. If he had better balance I think that he would fall asleep standing there, he almost did a few times. He would doze off and start sliding and then jerk awake and jump for a few minutes and then begin calling again. I'll keep telling myself that being strong willed has many good points.

I still have to take him on a drive so he will nap. At least half of the time I can get him into the crib after a short drive and then have some boy free time to enjoy. Not going to tackle this problem until the nighttime issue is resolved.

It's said that a pregnant woman will sleep less and less comfortably in the last weeks of the pregnancy so that when those long sleepless night with the new baby roll around she will be ready to handle the extra stress. That is not my problem. I sleep great thanks to the memory foam mattress - which I highly recommend to anyone, especially pregnant women! My problem is that Timmy has decided to not sleep in his crib without a fight. He decided this a week ago and has been a nightmare ever since. Before, we would do our bedtime routine, have a nice snuggle in his glider, tuck him in and he'd happily roll over and doze off. Two or three nights a week he would wake up or get bored about 20 minutes later and we'd repeat the snuggle - no problem. Yes, he was still waking at night most days of the week for a quick drink and snuggle - but it was never a fight or a problem till now.

Now he dosen't want to sleep in his crib. He'll still snuggle and do his bedtime routine like always but when it comes time to put him in he starts panicing and clinging. We let him whine and carry on in the crib alone for at least a half hour before repeating. For the last few nights it's taken over an hour of crying before he'll be exhausted enough to sleep in the crib.

That wouldn't even be a huge problem if it were just that. His night wakings are affected as well. What used to be a two minute snuggle is now an agonizing experiance. He just wants to sleep on my shoulder in the glider - not comfy on the belly! Sometimes we can let him hold a favorite toy and he'll be distracted enough to go back into the crib and sleep. This morning at 4:30 it wouldn't work. Tried being nice and working with what he wanted till about 5:00 when that wasn't working we got tough and put him in regardless of the screaming. That lasted until Timmy puked because he was so mad. At 5:15 Dad climbed into the recliner with him and turned on Teletubbies. At 5:17 Tim was whining and insisting on Mom. I trade dad so he can get a little more sleep before getting up at 6:30 for work.

I wouldn't even mind waking up early if I could get a nap later in the day, but guess what! He won't nap anymore either without a car ride. I insist that he try for at least 30 minutes in the crib before anything else. Yesterday he wouldn't let me transfer him to the crib and wouldn't go back to sleep.

Agggggh! We've gone from averaging 11 hours a night and 1-2 hours of napping everyday to maybe 7-8 hours total.

Starting to get desperate, does anyone have a simialar experiance that they have solved?