Longest Week

Okay, this has been the longest week ever! What? It's only Tuesday? Michael is finally coming home at the end of the week and the days are dragging. While I can't believe we will be seeing him again in just a few days, it feels like a few hundred. The last few weeks have been busy, getting things ready before he comes home. But now all of that is done, and it's just the day to day stuff, which isn't enough to keep the days from feeling like forever. I went grocery shopping yesterday to get a few of his favorite things. Not sure if that was a good idea because I'm pretty sure those oreos aren't going to make it that long.

I am learning to nap. Maybe now with less to do, or maybe because it helps pass time, or most likely out of sheer exhaustion. Nate is still not sleeping through the night, and the usual 3-4 wake-ups are killing me. A friend suggested I just let him cry it out for 15 minutes, if he's still crying, go in and let him see me but don't touch or talk to him. I tried it for a few days. The first night worked pretty well and he went back to sleep before I had to even go in there most of the time. But the times that I would have to go in there, he would see me and then just get more upset that I was in there but not picking him up or giving him his soothies (he loves what we call "soothies"--rubbing his head and face softly, something my Grandma did to us kids as we were growing up). He ended up crying so hard that he gave himself a belly ache, which of course in pain, ended up crying even harder. So I went back to the going in every time he wakes up and putting the pacifier back in.

However last night the pacifier wasn't cutting it. He woke up at 2:30am, I put it in, and gave him his soothies until he started to drift back to sleep. But the minute I stopped, he'd look up and see me leaving and start crying all over again. I was SO tired that I thought, I'll just let him cry for a little bit and I'll lie back down in bed just for a minute. Next thing I know it's 3am and he's not crying anymore. Hmm...

So, yes I know the answer to my problem is to let him cry it out and eventually he will learn to soothe himself. But to be honest, it's hard. And knowing I still am the only one to take care of him the next day, and the day after, and so on, I do what is easiest and quickest so that I can get back to sleep too. When Daddy comes home we definitely will be working on this problem. Until then, we are counting those few days that we have left...