Sorry, no new pictures.  I will get some more soon.  I’ve been so consumed with sleep issues lately that I have not been taking pictures.  Will is sleeping wonderfully at night.  I could not ask for anything better!  He goes down by 10:00 (sometimes earlier, like last night-7:30), and will usually sleep between 7 and 9 hours.  He’ll wake up to eat in the early morning hours and then goes back down for another 2-3 hours.  If he is awake after eating, I can still put him in his cradle (as long as he has burped well) and he’ll fall asleep on his own with minimal crying.  Because of his success at night, I am surprised and frustrated that we do not have the same success in the daytime.  I can tell when he is tired, so at least that step is mastered, but when I put him down he has been crying for over half an hour and getting too upset to calm himself.  The week started out wonderfully, with crying less than 20 minutes each time.  But as the days went on, it seems like it is getting harder.  I rock him for about 5 minutes than put him down either very drowsy or just asleep.  But he wakes up and cries until he works himself up to screaming, red in the face, tears streaming mad.  Then I end up getting him up and rocking him to sleep and putting him down much sounder asleep.  I am considering not dealing with the crying for now and trying again in a couple weeks.  Perhaps he is not ready yet to learn this skill.  It is making me extra stressed to hear him cry, so I think the best thing for now is to take the extra time to rock him to sleep or let him sleep in the swing when I don’t have the extra time.  He is 10 weeks now.  According to the last book I read on sleep (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child), 12-16 weeks is when they more consistently began to have a longer morning nap.  So perhaps some of that will happen naturally, just as his night-time sleep habits have.

In other news, Will has begun to spit up/throw up a lot more the last couple of days.  It has actually coincided with the greater naptime struggles, so perhaps that also could be related?  If he continues this new trend, I will be taking him in for a weight check, but hopefully it is a passing phase.  He is eating fewer times during the day and I am going to try to stretch him a little longer between feedings to see if that helps.  He’s been doing 2-2 1/2 hours apart during the daytime, and he could probably go 2 1/2 – 3 hours, so we’ll see if that helps any.

Well, pray for our sanity, and for my wisdom to do what is best for my son.  I want him to learn to soothe himself to sleep.  I believe that is an important thing for him to know.  But I don’t want to push him so hard that I am making more stress for all of us.  Otherwise, things are going well here.  Elise is enjoying school, dance, and AWANA.  She has even been more willing to stay in childcare during church and Mothering Matters (something that we had been struggling with).  I am enjoying my roll in Mothering Matters and my new responsibilities here at home.  Unfortunately, I have not learned the art of balancing them with housework, so my house is quite the mess, but that will happen eventually.  We are all getting fed; clean clothes are usually available (though you may have to check the dryer or the couch to get them); and school is getting done.  Those are my priorities as of right now.