Sleep, Baby, Sleep

 
Well life has taken a sudden turn for the better around the Anderson household -Eric is sleeping! Hooray! After the encouragement of my dear husband and several friends I bit the bullet and decided to let him cry it out in his own bed. The results were better than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams.

On Friday bedtime was at 7:09; he cried until 8:02 but remained sleeping until 11:35!! I then nursed him, laid him back down and he only cried for 12 minutes; slept until 5:30. I nursed him again, laid him back down and he fell asleep after 6 minutes!! Hooray! And he's gotten better every night since then, only crying for 5-10 minutes before falling soundly asleep. This photo is yesterday at nap time, (amazing, he actually napped!!!) That took a little longer, a good half hour of crying, but it's brighter during the day and there's more noise in the house from Jack, etc. Last night he woke up at 1:00, I nursed him, laid him back down and he probably would have slept until morning but Jack crying at 4 am woke him up. But I didn't nurse him, just patted his back and he was asleep again in 5 minutes. Honestly, already my life is about 300% better. Darrel and I have had time and energy to talk in the evenings and work on projects together. I actually cleaned my kitchen last night and made a loaf of bread. And in the day I'm able to spend more quality time with the boys knowing that I'll have an hour to an hour and a half at 10am to get stuff done as long as I find an activity for Jack. I feel like I'm the one in charge rather than being held hostage by my child's lack of sleep. And on top of just the me time in the evening I actually get some decent sleep at night. My goodness, I have forgotten how good it is to sleep for four or five hours in a row, let alone eight!
so thanks to all those who encouraged me and told me that it was not selfish, mean or negligent to make this baby sleep, you have really, truly and honestly saved my life. :)