Napping!!

Surprise, surprise, another post that revolves around sleep. I told you I was obsessed. But in this case I have mostly good things to report! Gabriel has decided to create his own naps during the day, right on schedule. According to the books (I know I shouldn't rely on what I read so much, but I can't help it), he's supposed to be developing two long naps, with a possible short late afternoon nap. And he's totally done it! I was just focusing on getting him down for at least 45 minutes after he'd been awake for an hour and a half or so. But he sort of shifted into these one and a half hour to two hour naps within the last week. I've been reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, and he makes a big deal about "protecting the naps". He gives tips on how to get your child to take these two naps, and then stick with them for as long as they need them. I'm pretty stoked that we've already passed one step. Next is making sure he can actually fall asleep on his own. Currently we don't have much of a problem when it comes to falling asleep, but he does always do it while we're snuggling, on my lap. At least I've broken the rocking him to sleep habit!! So for naps, that's the next step. But I'm very happy with where we are right now.
This is Gabriel after he woke up from a recent nap. The funny thing about this picture is that he's turned himself completely perpendicular to the way I laid him down. And the blankets with the little bunnies on them? Those are supposed to act as bumpers on either side of him, simulating the wedge. He didn't seem bothered by all this movement - this was one of the long naps. I've since put the little music box/white noise maker in one of the cubbies below where he sleeps, now that he's become such a little mover. So no more cords in the bed, don't worry!
In further sleeping news, we have spent the past two nights trying the cry it out method, in very specific circumstances. Like I said, we don't have much of a problem falling asleep, although that is something we will work on in the future. The problem is the "night waking", and I don't mean for feeding. Gabriel will simply not stay asleep through the night, with the problem being the worst before midnight. I decided that I was tired of spending my evenings fighting to get him back to bed. So on Sunday night, when he woke up around 8 o'clock, I didn't go in to put him back to sleep. Of course he cried . . . for two and a half hours. So that was absolutely no fun. Once he fell back asleep, I went and checked on him, and he looked surprisingly similar to how he does in the picture above. He woke up again an hour or so later, which was a feeding wake-up, so I fed and changed him. He fell immediately back asleep and slept for eight hours without waking up. This seemed miraculous, and I was hopeful about future nights. Last night was terrible however. He didn't cry the whole time, in fact he had many quiet, talking to himself periods. But he didn't fall back asleep for three hours. After those three hours, I finally just picked him up to feed and change him. And then he woke up every couple of hours for the rest of the night. Of course, we don't want to have him crying it out when he's still sleeping in the same room as us, and Robert has to go to work the next day, so after midnight I just do my normal soothing back to sleep routine. So we're kind of a mess. Maybe I should have waited to try this until he is in his own room (which will happen soon, in the next couple of weeks). I am just so so tired of dealing with his waking up all the time. Dr. Weissbluth says that if babies are getting enough sleep, night waking should go away on its own - so protect the naps and put them down for early bedtimes. I'm going to try again tonight, but I'm giving it only two more nights, and if there's no improvement, we'll put the crying it out method on hold until he's in his own room.
Okay, that should be everything I have to say about sleep. In other news, we stopped the solid food feedings. I only did it for about a week, but he was having a lot of problems with his reflux and sleeping, and the solid food was not making it better, and was maybe making it worse. He recently started refusing his medication by clamping his little jaws shut (see picture), so I now have to force it down the back of his throat. But at least he's getting his full dose now. We went through a few weeks where that wasn't happening. So now his reflux is bothering him less, so we may try the solid food thing again soon. He at least seemed to enjoy it.
Other than the night-time sleeping/waking thing, we've been having fun. I was really sick last week (apparently breastfeeding just makes you more susceptible - I even got three cold sores!), but Gabriel managed to fight it off. He got a fever for one day, and was lethargic for a couple days, but he didn't get really sick. During that time however he started making this face. It's combined with heavy breathing through his nose, so it's really funny, even though he doesn't seem particularly happy when he does it. I thought maybe his nose was bothering him. I think that may have been the case, because he's been doing it less the past few days. I don't know if he appreciates us laughing at him and making the face back at him every time, but it's kind of hard not to.
Gabriel is sitting up really well, and all the time. He lets me know he's done eating by clenching his stomach muscles and trying to sit up on his own. I still put him on his back and his tummy for some play time, but for the most part we do this. I just vary the location and the toys involved. We also use the exersaucer, but not as much. When he's on his tummy he tries to crawl - he lifts his butt up off the ground and gets on his knees, but then of course he can't go anywhere. He's still not rolling over, but he's getting closer to doing so, and he actually seems like maybe he wants to now. He falls forward sometimes when he's sitting up, and ends up on his tummy. Usually its when he's trying to get something that's out of reach. I think that's what's going to get him crawling more than anything else!
I think that's about it - hopefully next week I will have positive things to report about nighttime sleeping!! Meanwhile, enjoy some more pictures. This is the hoped-for picture of Gabriel munching on his toes. And this is Gabriel with his friends Avery (left) and Brian (center). I get together with their moms Merrie and MJ (and one other mom Jennille and her little girl Piper) about once a week. Merrie recently went back to work, so we'll be seeing her only once a month or so from now on. I'll also be getting together with the ladies I met in my PEPS group (another new moms group) on a weekly basis, so maybe I'll have more to say about them soon.