Breakthrough!!

Holy *(/ç! we've had the most perfect day in forever!! Last night he moved his nightly wakeup even earlier - to 8:30 and we realized we had to do something...so we decided to reimplement crying-it-out. It really sucked...really. He cried really hard for a full 15 minutes. Then we went in and replaced the binky, picked him up for a little cuddle and put him back in with a kiss. He cried for another 13 minutes...then proceeded to sleep until 6 am!!! (With one 11pm dream-feed where I basically feed him in his sleep). I was freaking amazed when I woke up and looked at the clock. That's been followed by our amazing day.

Check my boy out:

Awake at 6 - quiet play in his bed until 6:15, eat at 6:30
Nap from 8 til 9:30 (CIO 7 minutes) - quiet play in his crib until 10:00, eat
Nap from 11:30 til 1 (CIO 3 minutes) - quiet play in his crib til 1:30, eat
Nap from 3 til 4:30 (CIO 16 minutes...awake at 3:25 for binky replacement & re-swaddle, talked to himself 13 minutes) - quiet play in his crib til 4:45, eat
Walk from 5:15 to 6 incl. 20 minute powernap
Bath & eat
Sleep at 7, talked to himself for 9 minutes.

All day he's gone down AWAKE...and his naps are 1.5 hours again!!! G and I are both a little shocked at how amazing today's been. He didn't even cry when he woke himself up during his nap or when we put him down for the night. (Thank you Baby Whisperer & Healthy Sleep for the combined solution we're currently attempting.)

We fully expect progress to be a spiral - so tomorrow's probably gonna suck...especially since we're having to try to fit the new schedule around our trip to the consulate in Zurich to get Dylan's passport & social security documents.

But we've at least been given a sign that it CAN work.

On other news...G and I decided tonight to try and maintain the evening family walk. We're gonna try to go for a walk with him every evening around 5:30.



We also decided to implement a couple's night out every 2 weeks. So that once a month we go out just the two of us, and once a month we go out with friends. Best laid plans and all...but I'm excited at the prospect.

I've now had 2 mommy/baby meetings at my house since we've been back, too. The most recent one last Thursday had a really great turnout! (Especially when you consider that it'd snowed pretty crazily the night before and I live on a mountain...I expected most of them to stay home because they didn't wanna drive on my hills). We had 9 mommies and 9 babies + 1 toddler...it was fun! All the mommies are super excited by the idea & thanked me for starting it up. They're slightly amazed that I'm still considering doing it despite working 4 days a week (I am, too - especially since we don't have a cleaning lady anymore). But I really would like to build up a mommy network, so I'm gonna do it anyway.

And I'm sure you've all seen it on my facebook, but here're our stats from his 4-month check-up: he's 25 inches long (50th %), weighs 14 lbs 4 oz (75th %) and his head's 43.5 cms around (90th %).



Shots were not so much fun...it was much harder to comfort him this time than it was at his 2-month shots. He also had his second case of stranger anxiety at the doctor's office. It's official...he's afraid of everyone but his dad and I. He did okay at the mommy/baby meet-up, I'm assuming because it was at his house. But he's doing it fairly regularly everywhere else, like at his grandma's house (although she tells me it's much better once I leave).

Dylan made his first attempt to do SOMETHING on his belly today...not quite sure what but he was trying. I laid him on his belly on Vanessa's bed before his bath - facing the edge so I could talk to him. He crunched up his legs and pushed off, did it a couple times and almost managed to push himself off the damn bed...almost looked like he was trying to belly crawl. I was a little amazed. I guess rolling over's not too far around the corner. :(