Turned the corner

Something amazing happened this past weekend. A major breakthrough on the part of Jude Hammy.

I called my sister, Lauren, last week and complained that Jude was still, at 3 and a half months, waking up normally twice a night to eat, and sometimes waking up more than twice just to cry and try to get me in his nursery to say hello (which I've been refusing to do!) She suggested that I stretch out his feedings during the day to see if that would translate into the nights, and it worked! I'd been feeding him every 3 hours or so, and last week I pushed it to 4. He was completely fine with it, which sort of surprised me and made me feel stupid at the same time. I feel like that extra hour gives me so much more freedom during the day and makes our outings more leisurely. After only 2 days of this new schedule, Jude Hammy slept 10 hours without waking up on Friday and Saturday night. The first morning, when I rolled over and looked at the clock, I panicked and pushed Ted out of bed to go make sure Jude was still alive...he was. When I realized how long I had been asleep (8 hours straight), I could have wept with joy. The last 8 hour stretch was June 3rd, the day before he showed up. I've chalked this revelation up to the fact that it was probably more my fault than Jude's that he wasn't sleeping for long periods of time, and I am happy to accept the responsibility if it means the situation is on the mend.

What else? We've moved his bedtime back a bit, starting his bath at 8:30 and he's normally dead asleep by 8:45. This time seems to work for now, so we'll keep it until he shows signs otherwise. It's a little strange and boring on Friday nights when he falls asleep, and Ted and I are stuck in the house, staring at each other and wondering "What now?" We need one of those million-piece puzzles or something...

Saturday morning I had a lovely aromatherapy massage, which Ted bought me for no good reason other than the fact that he's wonderful :) Then we went Costco-ing, then went to the driving range for a bit before the weather got bad. On Saturday night, we dropped Jude off with his Gramp and had dinner and drinks with our friends Dan and Bethan and Travis, who came up from Louisville. We also tailgated with them on Sunday before the Colts game, and I think Jude really enjoyed his first tailgating experience! He wasn't much of a beer drinker, but he plays a mean game of cornhole, attached to Daddy in his baby bjorn! He missed his afternoon nap due to Colts festivities, and only slept 8 hours without waking on Sunday night, although he went back to sleep for a couple more hours after that. Its a work in progress, but I have faith that we'll get there with the sleep.

Ted likes the picture below. He says it means Jude is a bona fide Mosey, laying on the couch with his hand tucked into his pants.

Did I ever mention how much we like our neighbors? We know most of the people on our street, and its impossible to stroll with the baby and not have someone come out of their house to see him. One of our neighbors, Nancy, is just in LOVE with Jude and is going to watch him next week. We talked with her last night, and I think we're going to work something out so that she watches him every other Thursday for a few hours so that I can get some writing done, kid-free.

In other news, Jude sucks his thumb. It's kind of a new thing. Although he's been sucking his whole hand/several fingers at a time for a while, finding the thumb is a big deal. It's a rather loud activity, but it keeps him busy in his crib for a while when he wakes up, so no complaints here. Plus, its pretty cute :)