Sleep - it's always about Sleep

I'm pretty sure that just about every mom has a single issue that consumes their thoughts about their child, an issue that they bring up every time they talk to another mom, simply because they can't help thinking about it. For me, that issue is sleep. At first it was nighttime sleep, then it became napping, and now we're back to nighttime sleep again. It's a little sad how obsessed with this issue I am.
Lately we've been having a big problem with staying asleep at night. We had gotten to the point where I would put Gabriel down for bed around 9 or 10, then he would sleep till 7-ish, with one wake up during the night for feeding. Well I decided that he was ready for an earlier bedtime, one that would allow me to actually see my husband when he came home from work, before I collapsed into bed myself. Gabriel had proven that he could sleep from midnight to 7-ish, having done so a handful of times, so I thought we would just move his feeding time, and just do one feeding for the whole night. What I neglected to realize was that this was effectively removing one feeding. It seemed okay at first, but over the past few weeks, it's just gotten more and more difficult. Gabriel will typically fall asleep when I want him to, but for the past two weeks, he has woken up every single hour until his midnight feeding. This does not help Robert and I get more time together, needless to say. You'd think I would have figured out that he was still hungry because I'd eliminated one of his feedings, but no, this simple fact did not dawn on me until this weekend. So the new solution, which is already working better, is that I do our normal bedtime routine (with one new addition! see below!), then I feed him around 9-ish when he wakes up. Then I feed him again in the middle of the night - it's been around 1am the past couple of nights. I think he's still not getting quite enough to eat at that middle of the night feeding - he's been waking up between 4 and 5 every morning, then I get him back to sleep until 6-ish. I think he just needs to get used to the new schedule still; I'm really not interested in doing three feedings at night - he's big enough that he shouldn't still need that many.
Other sleep issues that we have recently come up against deal with where Gabriel sleeps. Since we first brought him home, he has slept in the bassinet top of our pack'n'play, right next to the bed. When he was diagnosed with reflux, we were given this sleeping wedge for him. I finally took some pictures of him in it. I really wish I would have done so when we first got it, just to compare how much he's grown. As you can see, being swaddled while in the wedge is a pretty funny sight. (A friend of mine said he looks like Frankenstein's monster on the table.) He's pretty much grown out of it, and while they can make me one that he will fit in until he's six months old, I decided we were just going to end it. So for the past two days he's slept with the mattress raised, and two little bumpers on either side of him, so that it feels similar to the wedge. So far this seems to be working great.
And now for some fun, still sort of sleep-related news! We have started Gabriel on solid foods! Sunday night was the first time. As you can see, he had a great time. It was very entertaining, and I think he even swallowed some. Last night I fed him again, and he actually "ate" all that I made for him. This was only a couple of tablespoons, but still. He definitely got some inside his tummy! He really seems to enjoy eating, and we've had no bad reactions to the rice cereal. I'll be sticking with rice cereal until he's six months old. I'm going to take it really slow with introducing new foods because of all of my own food allergies. Hopefully he'll be like his daddy, and have no food allergies at all! (I mentioned that this was sleep-related because hopefully having solid food in him will help him stay asleep better.)
I will do my best to post weekly from now on. There's always something new going on. Besides everything else, Gabriel managed to get a big toe in his mouth last night! I'll be working on getting a picture of that this week.