My Big Fat Mouth

So, as soon as I tell you all that OMM is sleeping well at night, he starts waking up and fussing/crying for two hours. We've been doing this for the past week, and I am so tired, and tired of it. My parents didn't explain to me just how hard parenthood was going to be. Pretty sure that OMM is suffering from a mild cold, separation anxiety, and just plain stubbornness. The good thing is CRM can sleep through OMM crying, so at least one of my children is getting the sleep he needs.

Husband has been off working 96 hours straight, he'll finally be home on Sunday. I'll be SO thankful for the company. It is lonely out here with only my two non-verbal boys. Husband will be back to work for a 24 hour shift on Monday, Wednesday, and then works from Friday until Tuesday, another 96 work "day." I'm taking lunch off on Tuesday for a much needed break. I'm going to have lunch with old coworkers, and I may even get my hair cut!

Listen to Gumba Screech!

Gumba has decided that he will only communicate through loud, variable pitched screeches. Luckily he does this only when he is happy, which is 99% of the time. I know screeching annoys most parents, but I take great joy in it. Gumba went through this faze at six months were he stopped vocalizing and it scared me, so I'd rather have deafening noises then silence any day. So, I have a video for you all, a sample if you will, of what we've been hearing at our house the last couple of weeks.

Also, Gumba has just about mastered sitting up. It was amazing how quickly he caught on. I'm sure it had a lot to do with my mother-in-law taking the time to give him practice. As it turns out, I'm the slow learner. It took me watching Gumba hit his head on the hard floor three times before I figured out putting him on the bed first would be a good idea. Luckily his head has healed and he won't have any memories of how dumb his mother is.

For Crying Out Loud

Okay, does anyone have any words of wisdom to give Husband and I, because we are, or at least I am, at our wits end. We have been blessed with a very handsome, very fun baby (during the day) who then turns into a crying, screaming beast at night. We first tired the "attachment parenting" technique, going to Gumba every time he cried or waked up, giving pacifiers, nursing him. When this failed to solve the problem of him waking up every hour or two, we finally succumbed to the holy grail method that EVERYONE boasts about, the "cry it out" (CIO) technique. We've been at it now for four weeks, and he still has nights (more then less) where we are forced to let him cry anywhere between 20-90 min at night. I asked the pediatrician why he hasn't learned yet, mind you everyone says that you'll have three difficult nights, and she couldn't come up with why he's still crying for so long. I do still nurse him during the night. I figure we either have an incredibly stubborn child, or a dumb one. At this juncture I'm not sure which is best. So, I've decided that my maximum time limit for letting him cry before we soothe him is 40 minutes. Does anyone out there have a similar experience, or have some advice to give us? We could sure use it.