Sleep

From the time Nolan was born it was pretty clear where he liked to sleep; on mom or dad or cuddled up as close as could be on our sides.  We allowed this.  Not only allowed it, we enjoyed it.  As the weeks passed our boy grew bigger and with the added inches and weight came a lot more movement.  We commented frequently how he could move so much yet be sound asleep.  The more he moved, the less sleep we got.  After awhile it seemed Nolan wasn't sleeping as well either and he was starting to wake up more often during the night.  So a couple of weeks ago we decided to make the transition to the crib.  Once we made the decision we started reading about the different ways to go about getting our boy to sleep in his crib as painlessly as possible (which really means how to do with as few tears as possible, from both Nolan and me).  There are a lot of books out there on this subject, which made me feel better because I can't tell you the amount of time I have thought about sleep since he was born.  Should we put him down?  Is he tired?  Should we wake him up?  Is he napping too short? Too long?  Is he getting enough sleep?  And on and on and on... 

We decided to wait until this week because Nate is off from work.  So last night we went for it. We followed Ferber's method which has you go in at certain time intervals and console them without picking them up.  I must say that it was hard, extremely hard.  Nolan cried a lot.  I cried a lot.  Nate was a trooper and checked on both of us frequently.  Eventually Nolan drifted off for a couple of hours.  Woke up.  Cried some more.  Drifted off for a couple more hours.  Woke up.  Cried.  Repeat.  But, we survived the night!  The first night is always the hardest, right?  And the little man gave me a huge smile when I picked him up from his crib this morning, so hopefully he won't need counseling in years to come because we abandoned him in his crib.  He is in his crib again tonight and hopefully it will involve fewer tears...from both of us.

Santa Monica 5000

Last summer before I was pregnant with Nolan, Nate and I were in pretty good running shape.  We had just finished the San Francisco half-marathon and were looking for another one to run in the fall.  Then we found out I was pregnant.  I still ran those first few weeks, but I took it nice and easy. Then morning (ALL DAY!) sickness took over for ten long weeks and my weekly miles faded away and stayed gone until just recently.  Lately, we have been wanting to start up again and with our awesome new jogging stroller we have the chance.  We are running a 5k in October and Nolan will be joining us as well!  The couch to 5k plan is assisting us in getting back in shape.  It is super easy and starts with a mix of running and walking which is a great way to ease my out of shape legs and stretched out tummy back into the swing of things.  Nolan seems to enjoy his jogging stroller, most of the time he falls asleep!

About to go for a run...

AWAKE...in the middle of the night

Nolan woke up to eat in the middle of the night which is still pretty common for him.  He normally eats and goes right back to sleep.  Not last night!  Last night he decided it was time to be up for awhile (almost 2 hours!).  He was quite happy and gave Nate and I a lot of smiles.  Eventually he drifted off back to sleep...

Here is Nolan hanging out in bed during the pre-dawn hours: