Updates

First of all, the weekend continued in loveliness...I want to record it so I can look back and remember what a weekend SHOULD be like, when we inevitably regress to our  more-exhausting-than-work-days chore-fest weekends. After my "me time" on Saturday we got the kids ready and headed across the street to the bar/restaurant and had a lovely dinner and some beer. We came home and put both boys to bed and watched some more Downton Abbey before bed. Sunday we all hung out in the kitchen as G & I started our prep for the week---cooking up stuff for our lunches and B's, cooking for dinners, organizing and finishing laundry. Then we all went to the park, dog & all, and B got to run around for over an hour. Then quick lunch & on to nap time. G & I tried again to watch a movie but B didn't sleep much so mission aborted. We brought B downstairs to play and G finished up all our cooking/prep. G & the kids Skyped again with MIL while I put away laundry and took a nice long shower, washed and dried my hair, etc... Then I took the dog for a long walk and we all had dinner together at home---a lasagna we had already made & put in the fridge got popped into the oven an hour before dinnertime & was ready to go! Bedtime for boys and more Downton Abbey (and some wine!) for the adults. Sigh. So nice :)

Update on the sleep shenanigans: Saturday night we hemmed and hawed about whether we would start the official sleep-training or whether we just wanted to get through the night (figuring that the sleep-training would be more exhausting than a normal night). We decided to wait but when we heard L's cries through the monitor at 11:30 (after JUST getting to bed), we decided to go for it. G went down and patted him every 15 minutes. We turned off the monitor and set an alarm for the 15 minute mark so we could snooze in between. He went down 4 times...by the 5th alarm, he had stopped. He woke again around 5:30 and I brought him to bed, nursed him, and we all slept again until 6:30. Sunday night he slept until 4:45...at that point I thought he might be hungry so got him right away (I know!!) and nursed him and we all slept until 6:15. Monday night, awoke at 4:30. Let him cry for 20 minutes (set the alarm again), he had already stopped. He woke up at 5:50 and we all got up for the day.

From the beginning we had been putting L down awake, after a bath (every other day...had to cut down because of eczema) and nursing; if he nursed to sleep I would wake him and swaddle him & sing a bedtime song before putting him down, with a loud fan for white noise in the room. Around 3 months I also added in a short bedtime book. Usually he would coo a bit and fall asleep. Sometimes cry for 15 minutes tops. So we'd had that part right. It was just the middle of night wakings.

Update on L's reflux: I think the h2-blocker is working. There is a LOT less spitting up. Also, he is just much happier---back to his old smile-y coo-y squeal-y self, which he hadn't been since mid-January. This morning he spit up the medicine and then got fussy and started spitting up his milk, too...so I guess the medicine IS doing something when he gets it in.

Finally, some happy news to report! OK done pumping, back to work...