Crazy Sleeper

With ear protection.  Who wouldn't sleep great?

In the (200yr old family heirloom) baby cradle

Sleep, part II

"Andrew, did you want to read a story or do you want to go straight to bed?"

"Ummm... bed.  Bed, okay."

Hahahaha.  This is a boy who spent the entire day in the sunshine running up and down the driveway and refused to take a nap.

Happy Mother's Day

As my Mother's Day gift, Clara slept from 8:30pm to 4:30am last night with nary a peep.  This is 2 hours longer than the longest block she has ever slept in her life, ever (and she's only done 6 hours at once maybe three times before).  After a quick nurse, she went back to sleep and needed to be awakened at 8:45am.  Then she napped from 1:15p-4:45p.

Can't ask for much better than that.

big kid bed

On November 26, two days before his 19 month birthday, Andrew wasn't happy about going to sleep.  First, he wanted daddy to put him to bed.  Then he didn't want daddy to leave.  While he was being upset, he actually got his leg over the rail of the crib and sort of hopped into my arms, but I didn't really think anything of it - I just put him back in and told him "It's night night time."  We left him in the crib to see if he would calm himself down better without us there and went downstairs.  A few minutes later, we heard a *THUD* and the crying stopped.  We ran upstairs as fast as we could, and when we got there, Andrew was knocking on the door from the inside, saying, very calmly, "ummm.... ummm...."  

That's right, he had climbed out of his crib.  With the mattress on the lowest setting.  So that was how I found myself at 10:30 at night, taking the front rail of his crib off to convert it to a toddler bed.  Now, this was super exciting as you might imagine, and sleep for the rest of the night was all but nonexistent, especially for Travis, who is on Andrew duty at night.

The next morning, I posted to every parenting forum I frequent looking for advice on how to transition to a big boy bed.  Some said get a crib tent to keep him in there.  Some said just put him back in the crib - he probably scared himself jumping out.  Some said to go to a fun, cartoon character themed toddler bed. Some recommended the twin mattress on the floor approach.

For the second night, we talked a lot about the bed through the evening. Andrew showed me, daddy, and grandparents his big boy bed. He was super excited about the turtle that projects stars on the ceiling (which we haven't been using before).

We did the whole bedtime routine like normal. We went up and initially he just wanted to stand by the bed and play with the turtle. When I started to sing his lullabies, he crawled into bed, slurped on his bottle, and cuddled his blanket. I was like, "YES!" Then after the second song (normal), I said, "Okay, goodni..." and he was up. 

I kept the door shut and sat quietly. Occasionally I said things like, "It's time for night night. Why don't you get in your bed now?" in a calm voice. He got mad at me. He wanted to explore and play with every single thing in the room, but while he did it he was crying a growly, angry cry. I only took action when he went to the door and knocked on it or fiddled with the knob. Then I went over, picked him up, said "It's night night time," kissed him on the cheek, and put him back in his bed, which he promptly slid out of. This went on for almost an hour. Then he laid down on the floor next to the hutch and assumed a sleep-like position. He got up twice - once to get his blanket off the bed and once to get his bottle off the bed - and laid back down on the floor in front of the bed. Within 10 minutes, he was asleep. This was all with me sitting quietly in the room.

I waited 10 minutes, then I picked him up and put him in his bed and put his other blanket on him. He stayed asleep.

I went to tell Travis my triumph, and while we were talking we heard a thud, then cry. I ran upstairs. He had fallen out of bed and was laying on the floor whimpering. I put him back in bed (closer to the back rail) and patted his back. He went right back to sleep.

I was up at 2am and heard motion, so I checked the video monitor. Andrew had climbed out of bed (not fallen) and went back to sleep on the floor right in front of his bed.  So not too bad of a night.

It so happened that off all times, we were traveling to Phoenix for that weekend, so it's not like we could establish a really strong new pattern before we left.  The first night we were at a suites-like hotel (Hyatt House), so Andrew was able to have a "room" of his own.  We ordered the pack and play, but I intended to let him sleep in the middle of the king bed that was in there.  He didn't want to.  He wouldn't settle down, not even on the floor.  Eventually, I put him in the pack and play and he slept in there all night.  I thought, hey, maybe we'll just put him back into the crib when we get home, and this was all a fluke.

Nap on Thursday happened on an airplane.

Thursday night, we were again in a Hyatt House with the same set up - Andrew with his own room.  I put him right into the pack and play, assuming he'd want to sleep the same way.  He climbed right out of it.  O_o    At that point I was pretty convinced that we were never going back to the crib again.  So I went in and put him on the king size bed, and laid down on it myself.  To my shock and surprise, he laid down with his blanket and bottle , held my hand, and went straight to sleep.  He slept on the king bed all night long!

For Friday nap we had moved hotels.  This was a standard studio hotel room.  I ordered the pack and play but after he climbed out of the one, I took the "mattress" out of it and put it on the floor with some pillows, his blanket and his stuffed toy.  I laid on the floor next to his pallet and Travis laid on the floor in another part of the room.  We turned all the lights off and drew the curtain.  We had quiet time for an hour, but he just wouldn't settle.  He napped in the car for about 10 minutes on our way to dinner.

Friday night, we tried the same strategy as the nap, only I was in a bed with Clara, and Travis was on the floor next to Andrew's pallet.  Andrew settled pretty quickly, within 10 minutes, and Travis was able to move to the bed for the rest of the night.

Saturday, nap happened on an airplane.

Saturday night we were home again.  I moved the crib over by the platform in his room, and I moved the twin mattress Clara has been on  so far into his room in the "bed" space.  Travis and I laid down in his room with him until he fell asleep.  He thought it was SO MUCH FUN that we were there, and took about 45 minutes to settle down.  But eventually he fell asleep on the twin mattress on the floor.  I could tell by the video monitor that he moved off the mattress (to where?) and then back on to it during the night.

The next day for nap, we were upstairs around 1:30, and he wanted to hang out in his bed with his animals.  I asked him if he was ready to nap and he didn't argue, so I got the bottle.  I said, "You try to go to sleep or have some quiet time, and I'll be back to check on you." And then I left the room and closed the door.  He tried the door knob, but didn't really protest.  No crying at all.  Within 5 minutes he was cuddled up with his blanket and within 10 minutes more he was asleep.  He had to be woken at 5pm.

And then Sunday night, he again seemed ready to hang out in his bed, so I put his jammies on.  I asked him if he wanted to go downstairs to read books and see daddy, but he didn't really want to.  So I got his bottle and came in the room and closed the door.  I asked if he wanted to read a book in his bed, but he was ambivalent.  Then he asked me to turn the light off.  After a few minutes he came and laid down next to me (I was sitting) on his mattress.  I sang him a song, and then said, "okay, goodnight."  He got a little upset, but not bad.  I told him I was going to leave but I'd be back to check on him if he needed me, then left.  He cried and tried to open the door.  After about 2-3 minutes of crying he settled and pushed the button on his glo-worm about 8 times.  Then he laid down with bottle and blanket and fell asleep on the mattress.

After that, we dismantled the crib and moved it into the master bedroom for Clara to use for awhile, leaving only the twin mattress on the floor in his room.  For the first few days, it went pretty much like that - we assured him that we were nearby and would come if he needed anything, and then he would cry for about two minutes before settling down.  After that, we got to where we are now. 

Sometimes it takes him 10 minutes of listening to glo worm and lighting up his turtle.  Sometimes it takes him an hour of wandering around his room, playing, singing, hugging his stuffed toys.  But he's sleeping in the big boys bed now and is really proud of it.  And I can't believe how grown up it makes him seem.

Clara's First Camping Trip

Our philosophy on doing stuff with kids is to do it "early and often."  We hope that our kids will become good travelers and also that they will love the outdoors!  Andrew went camping three or four times last season as a baby, so we were eager to get Clara out there and try out our "camping with two" strategy.

We headed out to the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area south of Bailey, near where we go to cut our Christmas trees every year.  This is a really nice area with plenty of flat land, and lots of National Forest land that is eligible for freedom camping. 

To handle the two under two thing, we brought two tents - one for the girls and one for the boys.  We set them up a significant enough distance apart that a nightwaking by one shouldn't effect the other.

Andrew had a ton of fun exploring the surrounding area.  We brought some trucks to play in the dirt.  He is really becoming fun, and I am super excited to spend more time with him in the great outdoors!  He's so curious and full of the joy of discovery.  I'm really looking forward to this part of having kids.

So as the sun was going down and we started getting ready for bed, I realized that I had forgotten to pack Andrew's bottle of milk, which is the way he relaxes to get to sleep.  Oops.  We had a brief conversation about whether we should just go home at that point, but we decided to give it a shot.  There was about a 50/50 shot that once asleep, he'd make it through the night.  (Ah, optimism!)

I went to sleep with Clara, nursing her to sleep in the girls' tent.  I could hear Andrew over in the boys' tent for a very long time.  Singing, chatting, changing positions...  He finally wound down and dropped off to sleep around 10p.  So far so good.

In the middle of the night (2am-ish?), I was awoken by Andrew's cry from across the clearing.  Unfortunately, his method of getting back to sleep after a wakeup was also to have a bottle.  And unlike going to sleep initially, which he does happily, night wakeups are scared and upset affairs.  I ran over to the boys' tent and offered to switch places with Travis, to think that maybe Mommy had the touch to get him calm enough to go back to sleep after Daddy tried his best.  A few minutes later, Clara woke up to be fed, so I was nursing Clara and trying to comfort Andrew... and they were both keeping each other awake.

So that is how it came to be that we packed up camp at 3am and drove home.

We used to say that it counted as a night of camping if we made it until dawn.  Maybe with two kids, that criteria needs to be a little looser?

Two (or Three) Items

#1)  We went for a walk before dinner.  A little ways down our road there was a snake in the road - a pretty big snake, mostly stretched out.  I've seen garter snakes up under our trailer so I was like, okay, no problem.   Since it was in the middle of the road, I assumed it was roadkill and was bracing myself for snake guts... but it was a whole snake, and as we approached it, it flicked it's tongue.

At that point I was like, "Okay it's alive.  It's a BIG alive snake."  Then I looked at its tail.  "Is it a rattler?  Oh my gosh it's a rattler."

In eight-plus years of living in Colorado, I had yet to see a rattlesnake.  We weren't even sure we'd see them up at our place due to the elevation or what have you.  But it was.  A rattler.  Confirmed when Travis poked it with a long stick and it coiled up into striking position.  (Why yes, we are the brightest bulbs on the string - why do you ask?)  What freaked me out the most was that the entire time we were around, it didn't rattle - stealth, ninja rattlesnake.  Fantastic.

We returned home after that.

#2) First night with the video baby monitor- I'm fascinated.  I can see that this is a neat tool that could help us solve some sleep issues, instead of the crib being a black box.  But I also feel like a creepy stalker.  Made worse by the fact that I kind of wish I could take a screenshot of him sleeping and post it to Facebook.

Bonus #3) Dee-licious dinner tonight - like healthy, Indian hamburger helper.  So fast and easy too!  It's called keema.  Check it out.  We used some CSA tomatoes and chilis.  Added some Cholula for extra kick.

That's all for now.  I have a pile of actual important-to-record-for-posterity blog posts to finish... but that's too overwhelming for the sheer volume of it.  So this is what comes out instead.

First Haircut

My husband had been hassling me to cut the boy's hair since he was about 10 months old, and I was like, "Babies less than one don't need their hair cut!!"  But I had to admit that as the weeks rolled by, he was looking rather hobo-like, especially with it coming over his ears.

We made it past his first birthday, but just barely.  He looks SO grown up now with his new 'do, it kills me.

It turned out a touch crooked in the front, but it's not bad for my first effort, especially on a squirmy worm who didn't want it done!

Before: shagmeister

Here we go... sucking on a washcloth makes it better

Wetting the hair down

That wasn't so bad, was it?

Aftermath

The back cleaned up real nice - no more rattail!

After a bath

In other news, I think I can officially tell you that we have a good sleeper.  It only took 11 months to get here, but in the past month, Andrew has begun sleeping through the night with only a wake up (that he can usually handle himself) at 4:30am.  He has also gone to a single, very consistent 2.5 hr nap.  We've had some ups and downs, but for the most part, it's been a month of this, and I'm willing to call it the new normal.

We've also got a ton of new teeth coming, but none that have poked through yet.  It looks like two or three molars and at least one cuspid could be here any day.  (I always say that, and then it's two months before anything pops through.)  Luckily we haven't had any more teething "symptoms," so we're just looking forward to better chewing ability.  :)

Miraculous Sleep Update

I am almost afraid to post this.

Two nights ago, Andrew slept from 9:30pm until 7am with no assisted wakeups and only one cry-out (around 6am) after which he put himself back to sleep.  I was SHOCKED, but knew that it could be an isolated event.

Last night, he slept from 8:30pm until after 7am with only one assisted wakeup (1:30am), and *that* only required a minute or two of backrubbing to fix.

Could this actually be... a boy who sleeps at night???

Additionally, he seems to have almost completely night-weaned himself.  This has been going on for a couple weeks.  Where he used to drink the better part of a bottle sometime between 1am and 4am, over the past couple weeks, he slowly decreased that to just wanting to "wet his whistle" at each wakeup...  And now he pushes the bottle away entirely.  I have read so much about difficulties with nightweaning and how a night feeding can stand in the way of full nights of sleep.  I never imagined he would drop the bottle at night completely on his own!  And he did the same thing with the pacifier! 

After horrendous baby sleep for nearly 11 months, it seems like some things are finally going the easy way!

Obviously this could go back again in a heartbeat - two steps forward, one step back and all that.  But we are just coming out of the 45 week regression, and it should be another 6-8 weeks until the next one, so... maybe this will stick for a while???

Just in time for us to rest up before we have to deal with newborn sleep again!

Ten Month Update... And Some Other Stuff

Happy 10 months to my beautiful, happy, friendly, independent little man!  We weighed him last week at the birth center when I went for my midwife appointment.  Looks like he has clawed his way back up from 17lbs at 8 months (7th%ile) to 21 lbs at 10 months (39th%ile).  That's right people - a four pound gain in two months.  No wonder we've had poop!  And he's still eating like a horse!


Oh, and we got the 7th tooth the other day (lower left lateral incisor).  The 8th can't be far behind!


I think we may be done co-sleeping again, this time.  And this time I think it might be for good, barring special circumstances.  He is very restless and distracted when co-sleeping lately, due to his new mobility, and I seem to disturb him a lot (not to mention what he does to me!).  Last night he slept all night in his crib, and had two wakeups at 1:45a and 4:30a, which were easy - a quick bottle and back to sleep by himself.  I think that might be a record - if not, it's only happened one or two other times.  This is great timing for sleeping on his own, because I want him to be a fairly independent sleeper by the time Baby Girl (BG) comes - a new interloper will need to be in my bed!


In other sleeping news, Andrew has given up the pacifier.  He just won't take it anymore.  Which... is really fine, because this seems like an awesome time to wean him from it and not have to worry about a struggle with it later.


The one behavioral thing we are dealing with right now is biting  He seems to bite to communicate that he needs something.  Tired? Bites.  Wants a snack of solids? Bites.  Wants mommy to come down on the floor and play? Bites.  Maybe it's related to the recent/upcoming teething.  But I can't help but think it's at least partly that he needs more ways to communicate.  I've started expanding the signs we use (adding "eat" and "tired" to "milk" and "all done."  Also hoping to add "potty" or some variant soon), and have been trying to be more consistent with them.  He hasn't made any signs back yet, but if I make the sign for milk (which I've been using since he was 4 months), he whimpers and kicks his legs: "YES THAT'S WHAT I WANT, ISN'T IT OBVIOUS???"  Hopefully this is just a teething/communication phase, and not a "We have a biter" revelation.

Also, fascinating cloth diaper development.  In the past, I have just used the Kirkland Free and Clear laundry detergent from Costco for my diaper laundry instead of springing for any special soap (which the diaper makers generally recommend, and it's been working fine.  Well, Travis went to Costco a couple months ago and picked up a bunch of ALL Free and Clear instead - there was a coupon which made the name brand cheaper than the Kirkland brand, so he thought, "Score!" and stocked up on it.  So we've been using All for like 6 weeks now, maybe two months.  

Well, you also might remember that ever since Andrew got back on the eating-not-starving track, he's been pooping up a storm, and having a lot of poop-splosions.  Well, since that time, the diapers have been more stained and way way way more smelly.  Smelly to the point that vinegar was no help, and stained to the point that bleach was no help.  Seriously. Of course, Andrew started eating well... about two months ago.

It finally occurred to me that the smelly, stained diapers could possibly be related to the switch in detergent and not the sudden volume of poop.  So I picked up some more Kirkland detergent this week, and tonight was my first load of diaper wash going back to the Kirkland brand.

You guys, it was like night and day.  There is NO SMELL.  The stains that were there, and I assume were starting to set in are much lighter!  I can't even believe it!  I would never have believed that a name brand like All was worse than Kirkland - let alone WAY WAY worse.  I feel like I should apologize to Costco.

Anyway that's my story.  And the lesson is: diaper stains and smells got you down?  Try switching detergents!  I recommend Kirkland!

Here are some recent pictures of our guy:

Oh and On Pine Hill (heh) last week we got 7-8" of snow when 1-1.5 was expected.  After it warmed up and the slabs of snow started sliding off our metal roof, this is the gnarly ice sculpture we got to enjoy for a while.

Fun times!

Sleep Independence Day

Last night was pretty incredible in terms of sleep.

When I put Andrew down in his crib, drowsy but awake, he didn't cry to be picked back up right away.  Instead he spent a half and hour wriggling around, settling and resettling, trying to find the perfect position in which to fell asleep.  The only time he got upset was when I left the room for a minute, to see if I was distracting him too much.  He didn't even need much patting or back rubbing, or cheek stroking.  Mostly he just wanted to hold my hand and know I was there.  And then finally, he drifted off to sleep... all by himself.

And then, if that wasn't crazy enough, when he woke up at 12:30am, I merely rubbed his back, said "night night," and held his hand and he drifted right back off.  Then at his feeding wakeup at 2am, after he took the bottle, he rolled over and groped for my shirt.  He didn't cry or ask to be held.  It took another half hour for him to find a position he liked, but... he did it again, to sleep all by himself with minimal intervention from me.

Looks like he may become an independent sleeper before his sibling arrives after all!!

Sleep training

Because we've had to wean to formula due to low milk supply, our nighttime strategy has become problematic. basically I've been side-lying nursing whenever he wakes up so we can both go back to sleep as soon as possible.  However, since the onset of low milk supply, he's been waking up 6-8 times a night, and since we've begun the weaning process, it's even more often than that.  Last night, for example ended up being 11 wakeups, with some sleep intervals only 20 minutes.  Obviously this is neither healthy nor sustainable for him or me, so something had to change.  I've been happy to continue to try to night-nurse him, just to ease the transition to weaning, but really, I can't live with this schedule much longer.

I've been working on updating our go-to-bed routine, to move the feeding part earlier and then not nurse or feed to sleep.  I was hoping that once he realized we weren't going to nurse to sleep, this would catch on for the rest of the night.  Going to sleep initially without nursing worked fairly well right away.  There was a bit of protest, but mostly he'd just eventually roll over and close his eyes.  However, he was waking up earlier and more often demanding to nurse, so that plan sort of backfired.

Last night he went less than two hours on his first block of sleep, and then he demanded to nurse.  Some light bulb went on in my head and I realized that we were going to have to make a change.  So I decided that I wasn't going to nurse him.

Boy, was he MAD.

He cried in my arms for about an hour.  Then he cried in Travis's arms for about a half hour.  Then he cried in my arms for 20 minutes before finally accepting his fate and dropping off to sleep.  He had wakeups for bottles at 12:45am and 3:45am and a short "oops I shouldn't be awake yet" wakeup at 5:30am before waking happily for the day at 6:30am.  He didn't ask to nurse again all night.  And he's been in a great mood all day.

I have all sorts of mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I do think that ultimately it was the right call to quit night nursing cold turkey.  The sooner he moves on, the sooner we can try to reestablish some sort of workable sleep schedule.  And it was really important for me to be there with him while he was upset.  Hopefully this was the worst night of this thing and it'll get better from here.

A Weekend of Firsts, part I

Earlier this week, daddy was enjoying some asparagus. Andrew wanted to enjoy some too.  He didn't end up having too much of that or the banana we offered the next night, but he did enjoy some of a waffle this morning.

 On Saturday, we headed down to Colorado Springs to meet up with Uncle Tyler, who is on TDY in Pueblo.  We met at Colorado Mountain Brewery to watch the Falcons take on the Broncos at Boise State.  The game wasn't a W, but we kept it close enough that if our defense had been healthy (like having ANY starters at all on the D-line) we just might have been able to pull it out.  Uncle Tyler told us about his rigorous pilot training - sounds stressful and exciting.  We are very proud of you!

We then took the opportunity to earn some "hits" in the US Airway Grand Slam mileage earning promotion and crashed at the Comfort Inn in Colorado Springs.  We took advantage of the indoor pool and Andrew went swimming for the first time (in his zoogie cloth swim diaper).

At first he was not too sure at all...

...but in no time he was kick-kicking away.  He has a great flutter kick and a great froggie kick, and I could feel him pushing himself around against my chest.

We are right in the middle of the 26 week sleep regression (thank you Wonder Weeks for making us feel not crazy!), and so the past few nights have been really challenging.  His body wants to keep practicing rolling over, which he has been doing more and more - didn't think that was possible! - even stringing multiple rolls together to move around the room.  He's also been scooting, especially on his back, attempting to sit up by himself, and he looks like he could take off crawling any second.  To top all of that off, I think his first tooth is just about ready to break through (it has not broken the skin yet, but is bulging up in his gum).  So there are a lot of physical changes and developmental leaps going on for our guy right now... and his sleep is suffering for it.  Hopefully it'll only be another week or so and we'll be back into normalcy.

Andrew also supervised the carving of his first pumpkin this weekend, but that gets a post all to itself in Part II....

To sleep... by himself

It is a momentous day.

Yes, you say, that is a sleeping baby.  Ah, but this is a sleeping baby who just *put himself to sleep*.  AHHHHH!!!!

Now if you ask Travis, he will tell you that this has been going on at naptime for quite some time, so what's the big deal?  I didn't realize how consistently Andrew was going down for naps.  Travis puts him down in the crib, then straightens the room while Andrew plays with his blankets, and slowly, baby drifts off.  I have been in charge of the nighttime bed routine for a while now, and though we've been working on "getting to sleep by means other than simply nursing to sleep," I would never have dreamed I could put him down awake and he would just go to sleep!

So, tonight Andrew signaled "tired" around 7.  We diapered and PJ'd.  Daddy read Goodnight, Moon.  We nursed downstairs on the couch.  He was super drowsy/drifting off when he finished, but he woke up again as soon as I put him down in the crib.  Like wide awake, not this "drowsy but awake" stuff.  I tucked him in and gave him his Air Force taggy blanket.  He fussed, so I gave him his pacifier, and then said goodnight.  He stirred, kicked, and talked a little while I filled the humidifier tank.  I needed to call in reinforcements from Daddy, since I was unsure of what else I should do.  We talked quietly in the loft outside Andrew's room and tidied up a bit there, and within 5 minutes.... our boy was OUT.

I have heard the theory that if the conditions are the same when babies wake up at night as when they were put to bed, they will be able to fall back asleep on their own.  So I will be anxious to see how our wakeups go tonight.

Seriously, I thought it would be a year until we were at this point.  Great job, Daddy!  Great job, Andrew!

Sink Navy

This week we headed out to Maryland to see Air Force football beat up on Navy.

First we had a bit of a mileage run -- Andrew and I flew to San Diego before heading back to Denver to pick up our flight to BWI.  We were actually planning to hit SFO too, but the marine layer there had one of the runways shut down, so we bailed on it.  It just so happened that Grandma Mary Ellen and Grandpa Jerry were in San Diego at the time on their own little adventure, so we were able to meet up with them at the Red Carpet Club between flights for some cuddles and to demonstrate new rolling over skills.  

Back in Denver, we met up with Daddy and watched airplanes from the RCC there for a while:

For the football game, we had general admission/standing room only seats.  Navy has this cool grassy hill area where you can put out blankets and enjoy the game.  We arrived just shortly after they opened the stadium (10:30a) to stake out a primo spot - high in the corner with a good view of the field, on a flat spot so the baby wouldn't roll down the hill, against the concrete wall so we had a backrest, on the Air Force side, across from the middy corps.

Nursing with our view of the field.

View of the grassy hill/standing room area.

After taking an early lead, Air Force allowed Navy to catch up in the second half, and the game went into overtime.  Our special teams blocked their extra point attempt after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved their field position back after the touchdown play.  Then we scored a touchdown and made the extra point... for the win!  Final score - Air Force 35, Navy 34.  Much too close for comfort!!

The weather was cool and overcast all day, but it started to lightly drizzle during overtime and while we were waiting for the shuttle bus back to the car.  Ah Football weather!  Cold rain is easy to endure when you are the victors!

Gathered for the Air Force Alma Mater: "Toast to the Host"

 After the game, we drove over to Gaithersburg to visit friends Dan, Jaya, and two-year-old Maya.  Andrew had fun playing with some new-to-him toys, and a new person, even though I'm still not sure he comprehends the existence of other beings besides himself yet.

On Sunday at the hotel, Travis was watching Andrew.  Andrew was playing and rolling on a blanket on the floor while Daddy was working on his laptop.  All of a sudden it was quiet: Andrew had fallen asleep *all by himself with no intervention* on the floor! And proceeded to sleep for about an hour!  There is hope!

Also on the flight (nonstop) back to Denver, he impressively went right down to sleep at his usual bedtime.  We did the sleep routine - diaper and sleeper, recitation of Goodnight Moon, nurse, sing Scarborough Fair and Away In a Manger - and he fussed.  I put him in the car seat, and gave him the plug and he proceeded to close his eyes and drop right off!  Unfortunately, he woke up on the shuttle to the parking lot and had a hard time resettling in the car, but this is tremendous progress.

He's had some seriously good nights of sleep recently, and I think we are in the lull of restfulness before crawling and teething.  Good job, Bug.  Mama appreciates it!