How to Spruce Up Your Baby Brother

Alas, there was no "magical sleep experience" to be had last night.  Michael woke just short of three hours after I first put him down, and proceeded to wake again two hours after going back to sleep.  I was too exhausted to go through the whole process yet again, so I curled him up in the crook of my arm and sacrificed my quality of sleep in exchange for the feeble hope that I could stay in my own bed until morning.  It mostly worked.  Sleep was rather fitful for both of us, and I had to sneak in a feeding at around 5:30, but when he didn't settle down after a 6:30 am snack, Tom took pity on me and took Michael downstairs with him, where they hung out together until almost 9:00 am.  I live for those precious few hours each morning, in an empty, quiet bedroom, when I can temporarily release my insidious, insomnia-producing anxiety over being startled out of my hard-earned sleep by a baby's cry.

Despite business as usual overnight, however, Michael was in fine spirits today.  His few periods of fussiness were rather quickly soothed by a dose of Mylanta and/or a nap.  And we can officially boast of having had a completely vomit/spit-up free day.  It seems as though the Prevacid is finally kicking in.  I don't know that I'm brave enough to be optimistic just yet, but I'm certainly tempted.  And I'll take what I can get, for now.

I can definitely find the patience to let him take his time with figuring out the sleep stuff if I can spend more days seeing him so happy and independent.

Also, Abby made a new discovery.

That little Hello Kitty book she's been carrying around for the past month?  It's full of "sickers."  And they're just perfect for decorating little brothers.

I had to peel them off for her, but she placed them all herself.

And then proceeded to remove them.

Michael was a real trouper, as he always is with his big sis, even when she proceeded to put them back on again.

But Mommy had to end the fun when Michael decided that stickers looked like a pretty good snack.

Abby wasn't too keen on giving up the game, and some amount of tears ensued.  But she eventually found a good book to curl up with.

And all was well, again.