Baby Signs

Our friends MacKenzie, Jason and Corbin came over last Friday to loan us some luggage for our trip to Ireland. MacKenzie took some pictures of the boys playing together and posted them on her blog. These are the pictures I found on her blog.

So I know that I have not signed for a few years, but I do remember this one! Where did my child learn this? Daddy? Froggie? TV? Is he in a gang?

Corbin didn't think it was funny and was working up a smack down! Connor, on the other hand, is just a ham!

So the whole sleep thing has really been weighing on me. Everyone else's kid sleeps in their crib for massive amounts of time (to me anything over 30 min. is a massive amount of time). I've talked to Connor about all this. I've asked if he read the baby books that say he should be sleeping in his crib for 12 hrs. at time now. I mean he had 9 months to get ready for this gig..what was he doing in there?

BTW, I just had to stop because he woke up after a typical 30 minute nap.

Anyway, I have tried many things to get this kid to sleep for longer than 30 minutes. We have taken the front rail off his crib and put a bed rail on so that I could climb in with him to nurse him to sleep in there. 30 minutes later...awake and screaming. We moved his crib into our room. We switched sides in our bed so that the crib was right up against our bed. I spent the night rocking, patting and nursing him to keep him asleep. He did sleep for 2 2-hour stints though. Then the next night I spent 2.5 hours trying to get him to stay in there for more than 10 minutes. He screamed and cried. I let him cry for about 10 minutes while I took out my contacts and brushed my teeth and it then it took me 15 minutes to get him to calm down enough to put his head on my shoulder. I finally just gave up and took my side of the bed back so I could get some sleep.

So yesterday I decided to move the crib again so that I can keep my side of the bed. Then if he's dead asleep I can move him to his bed. Good idea right? Well, each time I thought he was deep enough to move, he'd wiggle and cry. So I never moved him. But I did let him sit in there while I took a shower. He seemed happy.

I'm not up for letting him cry it out. I know that concerned friends and family (and all the baby books) tell me that I should let him cry it out, but they don't have to live with him. He does not know how to soothe himself yet and therefore I do not feel that he's ready for the crib. He doesn't sleep for more than 30 minutes without me. I don't know why but it seems to be a deep need of his to be close (kinda like Sophie). But I feel like I'm doing something wrong by keeping him close to me even though everything about him says that I'm doing something right. He is such a happy baby these days...which is very different from the baby we brought home from the hospital. We all get the sleep we need and I have the time (thank you Dave) to meet his needs during the day. And yes, I know, having a baby sleep in your bed isn't good for your marriage...but he does sleep for 30 min. alone!

So, I'm sure I will continue to struggle with this issue. And I know I will continue to work on it, but for now I just need to let it go and say, "This is what's best for my baby and it works for us!"