9 Hours....

Ok, this weekend was full of firsts....
Friday night, Lucas spent the night at his Grandma Kim's. This was his first sleepover without mommy and daddy and I slept through the night for the first time in 2010. We both did great. Kim kept Lucas so Erik and I could get up and go to the Georgia Tech Homecoming festivities and game on Saturday. It was a fun day and great to see my family! (they came down for GT, too... seeing how my dad and brother are alumni) I could not wait, though, that evening to give my little man kisses and hugs!

Saturday night, Lucas did not sleep well at all... got up like 3 times and then for good at 5am. yikes! (Seeing how he slept from 8pm-5am straight at Kim's, I was a bit perplexed)
SOOOOO, I watched the sun come up while I was reading about babies and their sleep patterns, habits, methods, etc.... and came to the conclusion that we need to let him try crying it out. I received some great advice confirming that we should give this a try. It also prepared me that it was going to be tough.

Last night, We did all routines the same and put him to bed drowsy, but still awake. (We got in the habit of rocking him because we loved it) We opened his closet door to a crack so he had a nightlight. He had tylenol for his teeth, a full tummy, and a clean diaper. We were ready to wait it out, no matter how long. Gulp. He started screaming and it was awful.... for three minutes. Three minutes? Three minutes. OMG. Even I could handle that.  I went to check on him a while after, just to see and he was peacefully sleeping.

When he woke up at 11pm (a new habit because of teething? I don't know, but a favorite of his lately), we let him cry... he screamed and it was awful... for 5 minutes.

Then, when he woke up expecting to eat about 3am, I was prepared for the longest cry ever. He screamed and it was awful... for 10 minutes.

Moral of the story? We all 3 learned he can do this... and all three slept better because of it. Lucas slept for nine hours straight interrupted only by 18 minutes! That is a record. I am proud! I hope tonight is even better... I hear three nights is the magic number it takes before he will sleep straight through. We shall see!  :)