I'll start with a purely happy account: Friday night while at the Leightman's home, we brought them dinner since they brought Baby Ari into the world, He started to, very clearly, say "bob" and "baba" in response to Joey moving his lips in that shape and pattern while he was changing his diaper. They both found it quite hysterical! I found it adorable. Then Aaron and Baby Ari took their first bath together! VERY cute experience!
On Thursday night, August 12th, Aaron slept in his bed all night for the very first time! I had no idea when I would feel ready to have him sleep there. Joey and I were perfectly content to have him beside us where we could hear him, see him, and just be near him. BUT, he had not been sleeping strait through the night for the past three weeks, and each of the two times a night that I nursed him between 10pm and 5 am, he went back to sleep in his crib this time. Friday night, Aaron's second night in his crib, we decided that we should try letting him cry for a little while before feeding him to make sure he was actually hungry. You see, before having kids, I thought for certain I would let them "cry it out." Then I met my son and we both just felt that this was not right for him. I never had any reason to feel that he should be allowed to cry as he has always being a champion sleeper and kid. He started sleeping 8 hours around 7-8 weeks old and was sleeping 6 hours at 6 weeks, 5 at 5 weeks, etc. He would go to bed with us at 10pm and wake up at around 6am to eat and go back to sleep till 8am. No problem there! We also LOVED having him sleep in our room. But once started to cut his first teeth (and possibly hit a simultaneous growth spurt) he began to wake up every 2-3 hours like a newborn! I was totally fine with this for a week or two, who says when you have kids that you will ALWAYS get 8 hours of sleep? They are kids, afterall, and learning. But after 3 weeks of this, sad to say, I simply could not function anymore during the days. My relationships (friendships, and even my marriage) were suffering, my personality was suffering, and Aaron was even suffering. He was not his chipper self and spent a lot of the day cat-napping and rubbing his eyes. Joey and I prayed about what we should do, but I didn't really feel good about any of the options. I feel judged or bad about myself as a parent either way. Bad that I am not the mom I could be when I am exhausted, and bad that my child would be left to cry alone and think God knows what about why we are not holding him.
So anyway, Friday night we let him cry, but Joey held him the whole time. He cried for 30 minutes and you could hear in his voice that he seemed to be very frustrated to have daddy holding him and not be nursed back to sleep as he has been for the past 3 weeks. After 30 minutes I nursed him and he was back to dreamland instantly (this was all at 12:22am after going to bed at 9pm (3hrs 22min of sleep). He then woke up at 5am, so I fed him right away (5am is 8 hours after 9pm, so OF COURSE he is allowed to eat then if he would like to).
Yesterday, Saturday, we fed him as much as we could all day. He nursed 7 or 8 times and ate 3 meals (cereal, green beans with bananas x 2). Then I put him to sleep at 8:15, nursing him like always, but he didn't fall asleep, he just played quietly in his crib until he started to cry. This was the crappy and VERY rough part. We had some friends over, so I decided (with Joey) that a good plan would be for me to pump and have Joey give him a bottle with some cereal in it. This way if he were still actually hungry he could have a nice thick meal to hold him over. Well by the time I finished pumping and was ready to pass the bottle to Joey, Aaron was asleep! This was MUCH faster and seemingly less aggravating for Aaron than the previous night when Joey held him while he cried. So the bottle went into the fridge. That night Aaron didn't wake up till 3:45 (much better than the last few weeks). So Joey and I prayed and let a little bit of time go by as we interceded for him before going into the room and waited to try and see if he was hungry of just stirring and trying to get comfortable maybe. Within 15 minutes he was fast asleep again by himself. He did not wake up until 6:15am!!! And not screaming either, just little fusses. I nursed him and he went right back to sleep. He slept on his belly all night too! Something he has NEVER done before.
Now I have to say: I do not regret not doing this "let the baby cry" thing sooner. Aaron didn't need it up till now, and even now only having done it two times I HATE it. This was NOT fun or easy or comfortable. I also do NOT feel totally confident in myself or this whole method. BUT it did work and Aaron still woke up all smiles and love yesterday morning and I expect he will do the same today. And I know that out of this process I am getting my sanity back to be a better mommy to Aaron today, wife to Joey today, and friend to everyone else!- Without medication, so that is a huge thing for us all.
Thank you Lord for our baby! PLEASE help us to make the right choices.
A few little beautiful memories of my life right now: Seen to the left is my lovely Sunday Pot Luck Dinner Group out bowling on a couples date night. 
To the right you will find the two most handsome guys I know. I LOVE this picture. Daddy-Baby love is so sweet! 
This is my little munchkins' new (but rare) sleep position... unfortunately I didn't know I still had the wrapping over my phone camera! 
Much more clearly shown here you can see his more typical position of rest! I LOVE these random memories and thought I should share them with the blog world. More to come! 
