::crickets:: um hi!

So, I fell off the face of the Earth. Sorry about that. Last you heard from me we were going to the anatomy scan. Well, turns out Tommy was to be a big brother to a boy! We were super excited! I love having a boy so two boys could only be better!

It's a boy!!!

Since then, I've finished up the school year and spent some amazing time with Tommy this summer. Being a teacher is kind of amazing in that I get weekends, holidays, and summers to spend with my family! We bought a summer membership for My Gym and Tommy has really enjoyed that. We have gone twice a week all summer. It was really great for me since we had a pretty hot July and My Gym is air conditioned! It was a way for Tommy to run off some energy, spend some time with other kids, and get out of the house.

Ball pit!

Jump jump jump!

Caterpillar swing

Before we knew it, it was Tommy's second birthday! It's amazing how quickly time has flown. My baby is 2??? He's obsessed with anything Mickey Mouse or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so we decided that would be the theme of his small birthday party. I was 38 weeks pregnant on his birthday and wasn't up to throwing a huge party, plus I don't believe in throwing a huge party every year. Birthdays are important to me but parties aren't. We invited our parents, grandparents, and siblings over for some pizza and cake the weekend before his birthday which fell on a Wednesday this year. Tommy loved being the center of attention and had a blast opening his presents and eating cake.

Mickey boy!

A pinterest inspired treat

Opening presents (my belly is huge!)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake made by my friend Erin

Mmmmmmm

On Tommy's actual birthday, we started the day with a birthday donut and went to a bounce house place nearby. It was great because other than one 3 year old and his mom, we had the place to ourselves! There are 3 bounce houses, one giant obstacle course inflatable, and one giant slide. Tommy had so much fun running around and jumping!

Weeee

Jumping with dad

So brave to go down such a huge slide!

Me and the birthday boy!

 We came home and Tommy took a nice long nap. He opened presents from us and we ate dinner. The plan was to take him to get ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop but during dinner I started to have some contractions (more about that later) so we pulled out a leftover cupcake from the party the previous weekend and stuck a candle in it. I don't think Tommy minded much!

So there's an update. That brings us to the night of Tommy's birthday, 12 days before my due date with baby boy #2. I'll end here so I can dedicate a whole post about that part of the story!

Jealousy and Anatomy Scan

Our anatomy scan is scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon! Eeeeeeeeee

Ok, anyway. 

My cousin DJ and his girlfriend Jennie had a baby boy, named Keaghan, in February. They brought baby Keaghan to Easter dinner at my parents' house this past Saturday and it was Tommy's first introduction to him. He ran right over to the carseat while DJ was taking him out. Tommy kept pointing and saying baby! 

When my mom was holding baby Keaghan, Tommy watched. When I held Keaghan, Tommy stood close by and watched. When my dad held Keaghan, Tommy freaked. He went up to my dad and cried "Pa! Up Ommy! No baby!" 

Eventually, DJ, Jennie, and baby left to go home. Tommy excitedly waved and said, "bye baby!" no less than 20 times. I think he was excited to have the attention back on him!

The funniest part was the next morning. When he woke up, Tommy called for me like usual. When I went in to get him he looked at me and asked "bye bye baby?" I cracked up and assured him that the baby wasn't there anymore. I think Tommy is going to have a tough adjustment to having a new baby in our house in 4 more months!

Ees boy or ees girl?

I can't believe I'm 20 weeks pregnant already! This pregnancy seems to be flying by, especially now that I'm not dealing with all day morning sickness. This Wednesday is the anatomy scan! When I made the appointment 4 weeks ago, it seemed like it would take years to get through those 4 weeks but we've been so busy that the time flew. 

This morning, Tommy was sitting on my lap and I was talking to him about a few things. He pointed to my belly and said, "baby!" and ripped up my shirt, proceeding to blow raspberries on the "baby." I told him that in two days we would find out if the baby is a girl baby or a boy baby. I've asked him before what he thinks it is and he's completely ignored me, I'm sure he had no clue what I was asking. This time, however, he looked at me and said, "ees girl. Ees Abby." (Tommy adds "ee" or "ees" to the beginning of a lot of sentences and phrases) I quick turned to Bill and asked if he heard, he had and we both laughed! 

My mom is convince it's a girl and has been since we told her I was pregnant. Now Tommy agrees apparently! The funny part is that while Abby is the name of his favorite daycare teacher and presumably where he got that part from, Abigail is one of the names Bill and I have casually thrown around as a girl name for a future female baby. 

Well, I guess we'll find out if Tommy is right in less than two days!

19 week check in

How far along? 19 weeks, 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +6lbs total
Maternity clothes? Most. I still have two pairs of nonmaternity pants that I can wear and one pair of jeans that I can wear using the hair tie trick. I'm still trying to wear my looser tops. For some reason, maternity clothes seem so frumpy to me this time, even the ones I loved last time around.
Sleep? I'm sleeping pretty hard lately. I have been falling asleep on my left side and only moving once or twice all night.
Best moment this past week? Feeling the baby moving like crazy!
Sex: The big scan is set for April 3, 4 more days!
Belly button in or out? In, but there's a big bump on one side.
Movement: Lots of flutters, rolls, and the occasional kick or punch.
What I miss? I really want a drink.
What I'm looking forward to this week: The anatomy scan!
Milestones: From babygaga.com, "Your favorite womb-hijacker is suddenly huge, at 10 inches in length!"

Picture: 

Trying to be thrifty

I haven't written a post besides a pregnancy check in in quite some time. My friend Lauren over at Our Little All-American Family is a financially savvy momma and she has been posting tips on how to live more frugally. She has inspired me to take a closer look at our finances. With baby #2 on the way, finances are going to become tighter between daycare, diapers, etc. We have been putting extra money on our mortgage each month to try to pay that down more quickly plus all of the extra costs we are going to be faced with, it's time to start being more aware of our spending. 

Food: This is the area I chose to focus on first. Bill and I have never been very good at making shopping lists aside from the items that we were out of. We would grab a few things for meals in our weekly shopping, but run to the store close to our house to get items for dinner, or take out, multiple times a week. I've decided to start meal planning. It took some convincing but Bill has agreed with me. He's used to eating whatever sounds good on that particular day and deciding our meals a week in advance was foreign to him. 

We discuss meals on Saturday and Sunday for the week and I go to the store to buy the ingredients on Sunday. We've decreased our food bill by A LOT. Between meal planning and buying food for Bill to take lunches with him. We have cut our food bill by almost 40%. Bill is a delivery driver and works long days. He would grab a coffee before work (still does, that was our compromise) then stop once or twice for food throughout the day spending between $10 and $15 each work day (4 days per week). Now I buy sandwich meat, bread, and snacks for him at the store weekly at a cost of less than $20 per week. 

One positive side effect we didn't plan on, was the fact that having a meal plan takes away a lot of stress each night. We know what we're eating and one of us will make the meal without the back and forth conversation of "what do you want for dinner?" "I don't know, what do you want?" There's less time spend running our for ingredients and more time spent as a family. 

This has been GREAT for our finances and good for our family too. 

18 week check in

How far along? 18 weeks 5days
Weight gain/loss: +6 pounds total
Maternity clothes? Most of my pants are now maternity but I've been trying to wear loose tops without needing to go to maternity yet. Most of my maternity clothes are pretty stretched out from last time. I bought one new pair of pants. 

Sleep? Needing slightly less lately.  

Symptoms? Lightheaded in the mornings. Eating a little snack or drinking some OJ helps.
Best moment this past week? I've been feeling lots of movement and Bill has felt it too!

Food cravings: Nothing in particular. 

Sex: We will be finding out April 3, I keep going back and forth on whether I think it's a boy or girl.
Belly button in or out: In but puffy. I actually think its cute!
Movement: Lots!
What I miss? Being able to hold Tommy for longer than a minute or two. The muscles in my stomach start to feel strained very quickly.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Keeping this baby growing!

18 week check in from last pregnancy. 

Check-in (16 weeks)

How far along? 16 weeks 5days
Weight gain/loss: +5 pounds total
Maternity clothes? Most of my pants are now maternity but I've been trying to wear loose tops without needing to go to maternity yet. Most of my maternity clothes are pretty stretched out from last time. 

Sleep? Needing slightly less lately.  

Symptoms? Lightheaded in the mornings. I've started needing to eat a small snack before getting up again.
Best moment this past week? I got to hear the heartbeat this week! I'm also feeling more movement lately. 

Food cravings: Sweet potato chips...mmmm

Sex: We will be finding out April 3, I keep going back and forth on whether I think it's a boy or girl.
Belly button in or out: In
Movement: Sporadically
What I miss? Clothes that fit well. Regular clothes are too tight, maternity clothes are too big.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Keeping this baby growing!

14 week check-in

How far along? 14 weeks 3 days
Weight gain/loss: +2 pounds total
Maternity clothes? Not yet but I feel like I'm going to have to make the transition soon. Everything is getting uncomfortable and the hair tie- belly band combo isn't that comfortable for me. 

Sleep? Needing a lot. I'm very tired. I go to bed right after Tommy every night. 

Symptoms? The nausea has subsided some. I still wake up nauseated some mornings but it isn't lasting all day anymore. I have some food aversions still but not as bad as before.
Best moment this past week? I think I may have felt the baby moving!? The last few evenings, I feel little flutters from deep within. I'm pretty sure it's the baby but it's hard to tell since it really could be gas...

Food cravings: Sweet potato chips...mmmm

Sex: We will be finding out, I keep going back and forth on whether I think it's a boy or girl.
Belly button in or out: In
Movement: Maybe?!
What I miss? Being awake and having energy. My house is a wreck and I can't seem to get myself up to do anything about it.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Keeping this baby growing!
Milestones: Baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb!

Week 12 check-in

How far along? 12 weeks 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +1 pound total
Maternity clothes? Not yet but I feel like I'm going to have to make the transition soon. Everything is getting uncomfortable and the hair tie- belly band combo isn't that comfortable for me. 

Sleep? Needing a lot. I'm very tired. I go to bed right after Tommy every night. 

Symptoms? The nausea has subsided some. I still wake up nauseated some mornings but it isn't lasting all day anymore. I have some food aversions still but not as bad as before.
Best moment this past week? I had another appointment this week. My doctor tried to find the heartbeat with the Doppler. He poked around for a while but only heard my own. I was afraid he was going to make me wait until next appointment but to my delight, he said, "let's cheat, I'm going to grab the ultrasound machine!" So I got to see my little baby again and he/she was kicking away! The heartbeat was strong and I got some more pictures :)

Food cravings: Pizza and French fries. Not the healthiest of cravings... 

Sex: We will be finding out, I keep going back and forth on whether I think it's a boy or girl.
Belly button in or out: In
Movement: Only gas...
What I miss? Feeling awake!
What I'm looking forward to this week: Keeping this baby growing!
Milestones: Baby is practicing breathing now!

Week 12 check-in from last pregnancy

Check-in (10 weeks)

How far along? 10 weeks
Weight gain/loss: +1 pound total
Maternity clothes? No, although my "fat pants" are starting to be tight. I took out a pair of work pants from after I had Tommy that have an elastic waist and I'm wearing them about 3 times each week...

Sleep? Needing a lot. I'm very tired. 

Symptoms? Very tired, very vivid dreams, nauseated all day, food aversions to most everything, thirsty but only for lemonade, getting light-headed if I don't eat every couple of hours, getting light-headed when lifting my arms over my head like in the shower or drying my hair, big bloat belly in the evenings. Basically, I'm still kind of miserable...
Best moment this past week? I went to my first OB appointment! I had a quick ultrasound and everything looked great :) My doctor gave me an EDD of 8/19 so I'm a day ahead of where I thought I was. We also told our parents over the course of the past week. 

Food cravings: I had a random craving for egg rolls, fried rice, and a lime slushie. I got the egg rolls and fried rice but couldn't find a lime slushie. Target had a cherry Icee and that hit the spot!
Sex: We will be finding out, this week I'm thinking its a boy. I've had a few dreams where it's a boy lately.
Belly button in or out? In
Movement: Only gas...
What I miss? Not having morning sickness!
What I'm looking forward to this week: Getting closer to the second trimester!
Milestones: Heartbeat may be detected via a doppler!

Week 10 check-in from last pregnancy

Weekly check-in (8 weeks)

How far along? 8 weeks
Weight gain/loss: +0 pounds total
Maternity clothes? No, I'm lucky I recently dropped a few pounds. My pre-preg clothes are kind of roomy still.
Sleep? Needing a lot. I'm very tired. 

Symptoms? Very tired, nauseated in the morning, food aversions to most everything, thirsty but not for water, getting light-headed if I don't eat every couple of hours, big bloat belly in the evenings, Irritable Bowel Syndrome flare-ups (not sure if that counts). Basically, I'm kind of miserable...
Best moment this past week? Starting to think about making room for baby #2. 

Food cravings: Not craving anything. It's more like I'm tolerating certain foods. Mostly carbs. Proteins are grossing me out.
Sex: We will be finding out, this week I'm thinking its a girl.
Belly button in or out? In
Movement: Only gas...
What I miss? Not having morning sickness!
What I'm looking forward to this week: First appointment with the OB on Thursday! I can't wait to see our baby and to be reassured that everything is going well.
Milestones: Our baby is moving his/her little arms, legs, fingers, and toes!

Week 8 check-in from first pregnancy

Hello there!

So we have some news...Tommy's gonna be a big brother! Now this blog is not followed by anyone I know in real life so I'm gonna trust you to keep it a secret!

I tested positive on December 8 and believe I'm due August 20. My first OB appointment isn't until 1/10 so I'm basing this off of the first day of my last period.

When I was pregnant with Tommy I did a weekly check-in and I'm going to try to do the same this time around. Judging by my lack of posts for the last 4 months, I'm not super confident. Work has been CRAZY busy this year and Tommy is RUNNING around our house and getting into everything. Well here we go!

How far along? 7 weeks 0 days
Weight gain/loss: -2 pounds. I'm happy to say that I'm 14lbs below where I was when I found out I was pregnant with Tommy :)
Maternity clothes? Not yet
Sleep? I'm very tired. It's not as easy to get the extra sleep this time around.
Best moment this past week? Being on vacation from work.
Food cravings: Carbs
Sex: We will be finding out, not sure yet.
Belly button in or out? In
Movement: None yet.
What I miss? Not having anxiety :/ I've been having a lot of anxiety about becoming parents again and being able to handle it all.
What I'm looking forward to this week: Going back to work and getting back into my routine.
Milestones: Our little one's fingers and toes are beginning to form!

7 week check-in from pregnancy #1

We have a walker!

Tommy took his first real steps today! I was really hoping he'd start walking before going back to daycare since he's the youngest in his new room and I have this fear that he'll be trampled. Plus I wanted to be sure to see his first steps, myself. Thank you Tommy for doing this for Mommy!

ps. Please ignore my voice, I was a little bit excited...

We did it!

Transitioned to whole cow's milk (WCM), that is! After months and months of a dairy sensitivity, Tommy has FINALLY grown out of it! Our pediatrician told us to hold off until 15 months to transition but I really wanted to give it a try before I went back to work in case we were up all night or something. We started with 2oz of milk in one bottle for two days. Then 2oz of milk in one bottle and 4oz in a second bottle. Then slowly added more and more and after a week and a half, we dropped the soy formula completely! I'm so happy. Tommy's now eating lots of different foods with cheese and even ate almost a whole cup of Greek yogurt for lunch yesterday! I'm so happy, and the monetary savings aren't bad either ;)

Dressing my Post-Baby Body

Tommy is one whole year old now and I really haven't bought much in the way of clothes since having him. After he was born, I wore maternity clothes for quite some time. Then, I wore my pre-pregnancy clothes that were all bought over a year prior. This summer, I've worn a mom uniform of shorts and t-shirts. Work starts up again in a couple of weeks and I realized that my wardrobe is looking pretty drab. Luckily, I was given two gift cards for my birthday back in June and my mother in law was dying to take Tommy for the day while Bill went on a day trip with friends.

Armed with gift cards I arrived at the mall. I went to Loft first as it has always been my favorite store. They give a 15% educator discount on regular priced items and occasionally you can get cashier to give it to you on sale items too ;)

I really did not find much there, however. I bought this shirt and sweater. I feel like I spent WAY too much on them but really liked them.

Then I went to a few other stores finding absolutely NOTHING that I liked and/or fit correctly. I looked in JCPenney, Francesca's, New York & Co, Forever 21 (though I walked in and walked back out because I was too overwhelmed), J Crew, and finally The Limited. The Limited was running a 40% off the whole store sale. There, I bought a shirt, two pairs of pants, and a purple infinity scarf that doesn't seem to exist on the website:

And that's it. That's all I found. I'm doing alright for pants because I have a couple other pairs that are still in decent shape but I'd really like to get some more tops. About 45 minutes away there is an outlet mall that has a Banana Republic Outlet where I usually find nice clothes. I think it's time to take a trip out there. 

It's just so frustrating to try on item after item and hate the way they look or having them not fit at all. I'm on the upper end of regular clothing stores, wearing a size ((gulp)) 14 or 16 pants and usually XL shirts. I have a large chest so often, shirts fit wrong either being too tight in the chest or fitting in the chest but being too loose everywhere else. I was hoping to find some looser tops with more fitted pants and it seems like none of the stores I visited carried those styles.

Oh well, I'll keep looking and focus on looking at cute clothes for Tommy, he looks great in everything ;)

Update: Progressive Waiting Approach

I mentioned before that I read Dr. Ferber's book and tried the Progressive Waiting Approach (CIO with check-ins) with Tommy. I am happy to say that it has been an overwhelming success! The first night he cried for 41 excruciating minutes. Every night after that, the amount of time has decreased and now, just over a week later, he goes down without crying at all!

This is the bedtime routine we've adopted:

• bottle while sitting in the chair in his room, lights on, and no going to sleep
• brush teeth
• read a book
• hug and a kiss and lay down in his crib

and that's it! I wanted to be sure to have a routine that could be implemented anywhere, by anyone. I put him down for the first 7 nights and had Bill do both nights this past weekend. I was concerned that he would have trouble adjusting to Bill but because he followed the same routine, it went over perfectly! 

The first night I did check-ins at 3, 5, 7, 10, and 12 minute increments before he fell asleep. By the third night I stretched it out to 5, 10, 15 minute increments and after that, I never had to go past the 10 minute increment. 

I had decided to only use this approach at bedtime and to continue to get him down for naps however I could. After a couple of days he started refusing to be rocked to sleep for naps and either fell asleep while drinking a bottle, in the car, or by being put down in his crib awake. The wonderful side effect of this is that his naps have stretched out some. He was driving me crazy with his 40 minute naps and while some of his naps are still short, he usually gives me at least one longer nap a day. 

Cry it out methods aren't for every baby or for every family but I am so glad that I did this with Tommy. We had a set back last night when he woke up multiple times with teething pain and all it took was a hug and a quick pat on the back and Tommy put himself back to sleep. Prior to using this method, I'd either have to rock him back to sleep which usually took at least 20 minutes, or bring him to our bed where no one would enter a deep sleep.

It has been wonderful for us. I highly recommend reading Dr. Ferber's book, Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems prior to trying this method if for no other reason than the reassurance that what you are doing has research to back it up. When Tommy was screaming so hard the first two nights, having the book there to reference was a huge help.

I'm a big Dr. Ferber fan now!

My baby is 1!

From this

To this!

I can't believe it's been a whole year since we've been a family of three! Tommy is: 

• crawling
• climbing
• cruising
• saying ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba, uh-oh, ba (ball), cl (clock), k (book)
• can clap
• raises his arms if you say hip hip hooray
• claps to "If you're happy and you know it"
• touches his head and belly if you ask where they are
• puts himself to sleep at nap and bedtime (more on this later)
• waves hi and bye
• gives kisses
• blows kisses
• shakes his head no if he doesn't want something
• has 7 teeth with 3 more pushing through
• pets the cat and the dog
• and so much more!

I love you Thomas Harrison! I can't imagine my life without you!

Sleep Training: Day 2

I was so tempted to skip today but I knew I had to just do it. With Bill being out of town, I've had dinner at my parents' house both last night and tonight. I sang silly songs the whole way home so that Tommy wouldn't fall asleep in the car. It worked but he was super tired by the time we got home, right before his 8:00 bedtime. Last night I pushed bedtime back by 30 minutes as Ferber recommends for the first couple of nights, but figured that Tommy was sleepy enough tonight that I didn't need to. 

I brought him to his room, changed his diaper and gave him his bottle with the lights on, talking to him the whole time to keep him awake. After the bottle we brushed his teeth and went back to his room to read a book. I read a different book tonight than last night and looking back, I wonder if I should have read the same book for consistency's sake thought I doubt it really makes much of a difference.

After the book, I said, "night night Tommy, I love you" and tried to lay him down in his crib. He immediately started crying. 

8:04 Laid him in his crib
8:07 First check
8:12 Second check
8:21 Third check
8:31 Fourth check. After this his crying was sporadic.

8:37 Crying ends completely and I assume he went to sleep after 34 minutes, down from 41 yesterday.

Tonight he seemed to realize that I wasn't going to pick him up. Each time I went in, he grabbed my shirt and tried to pull himself up into my arms. He would snuggle his head into my stomach and try to soothe himself that way. Each time I left, his crying would increase in intensity. What made it especially difficult was that our dog, Hojo, was being a big pain in the butt. He kept pacing outside of Tommy's room, walking from our room to the hallway and back, nails clicking, because he wanted to go outside. When I finally gave in and let him out, he started barking immediately which was annoying since there is a window in Tommy's room that looks out over the backyard. Then Hojo wouldn't come back inside so I had to run outside after him and try to usher him back in the house (which is why there is a 9 minute slot instead of a 7 minute). 

By the time Tommy went to sleep, my nerves were fried. I see it as a good thing that it took Tommy less time to go to sleep tonight although every minute felt like an eternity. Hopefully tomorrow is even shorter.

Oh, naps! I brought Tommy to my parents' house at 10am and he hadn't napped yet. My mom gave him a bottle at 11 and he fell asleep while eating and took a 2 hour nap. He seems to nap really well at my parents' house which might have something to do with the blackout shades they have in the room with their crib. I'm going to invest in some for Tommy's room in our house and see if it helps. He also took a 30 minute nap this afternoon, part in the car and part in the crib.

Alright, let's hope that he sleeps well tonight. Once I got him to sleep, I poured myself a glass a wine. I'm feeling much more relaxed now and am ready for bed. Night!

Update

We made it! Tommy fell asleep on his own last night and slept through until 7:00 this morning! Woohoo! I've decided to hold off on changing his naps just yet. After reading the naps section of Ferber's book I've realized that we really need to make some major changes to the nap schedule. I think that nighttime sleep training plus a big change in naps would be too much right now. I'm going to continue with the nighttime training until I feel like it has become a good routine then I'm going to work on naps. As it stands right now, Tommy takes a 40ish minute nap at 9:00am and another one at 1:00pm. Then I try and keep him up until bedtime at 8:00pm. He used to take another nap at 5:00pm but it has started to interfere with bedtime. I have tried pushing back the morning or afternoon nap a bit but it hasn't really helped. I think I need to really make an effort to push them both back or cut him down to one, solid nap. I haven't decided which to do yet so I'm going to think about it.

PS. I should add that Bill is totally on board with whatever I decide is best. He really doesn't have time to read Ferber's book (along with some attention issues when it comes to reading) so I've been explaining it as I go through it. When it comes to doing any research regarding Tommy, Bill defers to me!

Progressive Waiting Approach

After putting it off for a while I finally decided it was time to do some sleep training. Tommy has really been fighting bedtime lately, especially on the nights that Bill puts him to sleep, and he's been waking up in the middle of the night again. Naps have been really hard and I figured it was time. I waited until this most recent tooth came through so he wouldn't be dealing with teething pain. He's not currently sick and I didn't give him any dairy today at all. Bill is out of town for a guys' weekend so I decided that this is my opportunity to just do it. I downloaded Ferber's book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems and furiously read as much as I could today. That's how I am, I make a decision and I just do it. If I mull it over, I wimp out.

I went to my parents' house for dinner and Tommy dosed off on the way home. I woke him up, played with him for a little while, and brought him into his room at 8:20 instead of his normal 8:00 bedtime (a Ferber recommendation). I fed him his bottle with the lights on and I talked to him and recited nursery rhymes to him to keep him from falling asleep. After the bottle we quick brushed his teeth (something he loves lately) and read a Thomas the Train book that he likes. Then I gave him a big hug and told him that I love him very much and that it was time for him to go to bed. I said, "night night Tommy" which will be our bedtime phrase, turned of the light, and put him in his crib. Of course he started bawling. 

8:37 Put him in his crib and said goodnight.
8:40 First check.
8:45 Second check.
8:52 Third check.
9:04 Fourth check.
9:08 Crying stops and he went to sleep. We don't have a video monitor so I wasn't able to see him but I know he went to sleep sometime after he stopped crying.

A couple of observations: it was really freaking hard to listen to him crying especially because he has really started to say ma-ma this week and he kept yelling it out. What was even harder was when he stopped saying ma-ma and switched to da-da, like he gave up on me and thought Bill could come "save" him. The strange part was when he stopped crying. He slowed some, stopping the gut wrenching screams and moving to more of a moaning cry but still crying with force. Then he just stopped. He must have just dropped with exhaustion.

So now he's sleeping. I'm really hoping that he just sleeps through the night because I really don't want to deal with this in the middle of the night! I really hope it helps. I was supposed to go meet Bill tomorrow with the other girlfriends/wives but part of the reason I'm not going is because I don't want to leave him overnight with my parents again. Last time he freaked out for 2 hours while they tried to put him to bed. I feel like it was definitely time to try something. I just hope it works well.