My heart aches....but it is a good thing

Wow.....it has been crazy around here for the past 2 days. Kyle and I are walking zombies, but we are trying to get this problem resolved before things escalate even more. You see, little Gavin has not wanted to sleep in his crib since the day we brought him home. The bassinet only lasted for a couple of weeks. He loves the swing, and will sleep lovely there. But, wouldn't we all? I mean it is like an adult having a hammock. I could sleep there every minute of every day if you let me. So, this has left us with no other choice but to put the little squirt in our bed with us. He is now 7 weeks old. So, for 7 weeks we have cuddled and loved it. But, honestly I don't think my back can handle it anymore. I would position my body into really funky positions so the little guy would be the most comfortable he could be. Great for him....bad for Momma. I do have to say though, he started sleeping 5-6 hours at a time when in bed with us. But, I knew this had to change. We can't go on with him in our bed any longer. Let me pause here in the story and say, I am not judging those who sleep with their kids by any means. I am just simply stating what needs to be done and will be best for my family. So, please don't take anything I say as a judging statement or think that I am trying to give "parental advice." I will be the first to tell you, everyone has their own ways and styles of raising kids....and I am huge on not judging others for the way they do things.

Anyway, on with the story. So, Kyle and I thought about how we can change this little guys sleeping habits. A lady at Kyle's work gave him a book called Baby Wise. I had heard of it before, but never gave much thought into reading it. Personally I am not a huge fan of baby advice books. Again, I think every parent has their own style of raising their kids. My style is just straight up trial and error and experience. But, I thought Lord help me....if this kid doesn't get out of my bed soon, I am not going to be able to walk (back issues.) So, I started reading. It is actually a good read and they seem to know what they are talking about. Basically it says to get the baby into a routine of eating every 2.5-3 hours (Parent-Directed Feeding vs. Demand-Feeding.) Then keep baby awake for 30 minutes playing, talking, cooing, etc (fyi...I love this part....my favorite.) Then, you lay the AWAKE baby in bed and they will learn to fall asleep on there own. It stated that some babies will cry for 5 minutes others for 45. Just keep checking on them every 10 minutes or so giving them comfort, and then leave again. So, since my child hates his crib so much.....he took that 45 minute window to the extreme. That is where VERY SAD MOMMA comes in. It is so tough to listen to your baby cry. The book says it can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks for baby to finally be used to this. Are you serious....can I last that long? All I wanted to do was go pick him up and lay down with him. But, that is where I get in trouble because we are breaking this bad habit (of mine.) So, the poor guy cried and cried. This is so hard for me to hear because he is such an awesome baby. He never cries during the day....never cries at bath time.....never cries in the car....never cries playing....so on and so forth. Daddy was a lot stronger than I was. I had to go outside and stuff because I couldn't listen to the meltdown.

Conclusion..........yesterday SUCKED! He hated the whole "tough love" crib thing and so did I. But, here comes the happy part of the story. After a VERY long night of doing this routine over and over.....he finally started to feel more comfortable in his crib. After I feed him this morning, I laid him down....he cried 10 minutes....and was OUT COLD! I started to think this book may have a point.

Wish us luck....I think we are on the road to la la land for little G, but I don't want to speak to soon. It is time for him to eat now, so I need to go get him. Let the fun cycle begin again! *SIGH*