Big Boy Bed!

Aiden is sleeping and has been for days now in his big boy bed. We were going back and forth as to when the best time would be to move him. He never attempted to climb out of his crib, but I did want him out long before the new baby took over his domain. Last weekend was it. I got his new room assembled and we decided to give it a go at naptime. He's a CHAMP! We placed a twin mattress and boxspring on the floor and let him do his thing. We don't have rails on it so if he falls off, it'll be a short trip to the ground. So far so good though!

Bad Ninny!

Ok, so we have decided that it's finally that time...to rid Aiden of his pacifier. He's been a 'sleep only user' since he was one and now that he's about to turn two, it's time for it to be GONE.

Last night, was the night! We tried cold turkey before and it didn't work so this time we decided to do the cutting of the ninny!

Luke snipped off the end and when we handed it to him he looked at it, looked at us, then looked back at it and tossed it away.

We thought, "wow, that's easy" but such was not the case.

We resumed the nighttime routine and when we left, he cried for a bit but then went to sleep.

I couldn't tell if he tried to sleep with it or not, but he DID sleep through the night and seemed well rested this morning.

Fast forward to nap time today!

Once again he didn't seem too happy about the "broken" ninny but I left him to it. He cried for a little while and then there was silence. After about 10 minutes I decided to peek in on him with the monitor and discovered he wasn't asleep at all. In fact, he was very much awake and talking. I listened very closely and all of a sudden I saw him pull his paci from his mouth, hold it out in front of him and say "bad ninny, no!". He did this over and over again for some time. At one point he even began to discipline his monkey.

He never ended up going to sleep today. He actually began to cry hystericallly after being in his room for about two hours so I gave in and brought him out.

This evening was successful. He went down after only fussing for about five minutes.

I'm keeping my fingers cross that this is it!! NO MORE NINNY!! NO MORE NINNY!

Why won't he just sleep??

Aiden is now almost 11 months old. He doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night and should be sleeping straight through until the morning, but that doesn't seem to be the case. On and off now for the past month or so he has been waking up at random times throughout the night. I have tried to let him cry it out on several occasions but he will sit in there FOREVER and cry (of scream). A few times I have gone in and picked him up (I know..that's bad) and rocked him to sleep but when I go to put him back in the crib, his eyes spring oven and the whaling begins again.

Last night was the worst. It was two thirty when I rolled over and looked at the clock. I decided that going in there was NOT what I needed to do so I let the crying go on. AN HOUR LATER, he was still crying and the only thing that would stop him was to nurse. He's at that age (and has been for some time now) where he doesn't need to eat at night but it's the only thing that will quiet him and I can't be up all hours of the night listening to him scream his little lungs out. I just don't know what to do at this point. Part of me wants to just let him cry, turn on the radio to drown out the noise and go back to sleep. Part of me thinks he will grow out of this. I guess only time will tell...in the meantime I will do whatever it takes for momma and baby to get as much rest as possible.

What a sleepy boy!

I turned around for a second to clean the dishes from a dinner of veggies and applesauce and when I turned back I saw this....

Sleep!!!!!

All I have to say is YAY! For the first time in who knows how long I got five and a half hours of CONSECUTIVE sleep! Apparently the Ferber sleep method is working for Aiden. He fussed for about two minutes last night and then fell right to sleep. I went down about an hour after he did and then at around 4:30 this moring I jumped up out of bed and ran to his room thinking that something must be wrong. To my surprise, there he was sleeping so peacefully. I wanted to pick him up and give him the biggest hug and just scream thank you as loud as I could...but of course I didn't, I wanted to go back to sleep!

It really is amazing how much better they feel in the morning after getting long hours of sleep themselves. The last two mornings I haven't even heard him, he is just playing in his crib and he is so happy when I come into the room. He looks up at me and smiles and it makes my heart melt. Again I say...MOMMYHOOD IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!!

Mrs. Tracy's Daycare

We are offically one week into our new daycare routine! As most of you know my little sister Danielle has been our nanny since Aiden was 8 weeks old. She has done a fabulous job with him but she is about to have a little one of her own so we were happily forced to find a new day care provider. This wasn't easy..but I found a wonderful woman who came higly recommended by a mommy in my neighborhood. She runs a licensed daycare center out of her home. It's only been a week but we are very happy with everything so far. Aiden seems to be adjusting well too, although he really isn't able to tell us otherwise right now.

Financially it's a bit of a strain but we will make it work. Due to Luke's schedule, he will get to spend 6 whole days a month with Aiden so that will save us a little $$ and Aiden will get quality daddy time too!

On a side note...we have stopped swaddling Aiden at night and we are giving the Ferber sleep technique a try. Last night was the first night and he fell asleep after only 10 minutes of fussing (not crying). I'll keep you posted on how it goes!