The Hillian Collection

Sammy used to take the best, most glorious three-hour naps that have even been had by a sweet.little.angel.baby on this earth. But when we started nap training--earlier, even--he, for some reason would consistently wake after an hour or so into his nap, and sometimes, he could be lulled back into sleep but sometimes not. Sigh. It really cuts into my productivity to have to stop what I'm doing to go in and soothe him back to sleep every single nap. And yes, we tried letting him try to soothe himself back to sleep (we're talking giving him hours to soothe cry himself back to sleep extreme wakefulness); it was unsuccessful.

So we hoped that by going to him as soon as he wakes mid-nap for the past week, while he's not fully aware of everything yet, and trying to soothe him with our hand over his tummy, we could get him used to sleeping through three full hours again. And today he did it. Hallelujah! Let's hope this becomes a consistent habit again by the time little Seanson comes. That would be glorious, indeed.

Here's Sean going in to rescue Sammy today. Sweet snuggly little thing.

After I had to throw out the beautiful flowers Sean got me last week, Sammy decided to spoil his mommy with a fresh bouquet from the grocers because he knew how she loved having flowers around. Okay, so maybe his mommy only asked, "Do you like these, Sammy?" after deciding on them herself, to which Sammy replied by simply staring at the bouquet as she placed it in the cart. But, hey! I take it however I can get it.

Also, it's been about a year since Sean and I have played each other in Monopoly (a game we both love), but I totally kicked his P90X butt tonight! I love winning. And my husband. But mostly win--I mean--my husband.

It's kind of hard to tell, but he's got two in one hand, one in another and one in his mouth. There's another two floating somewhere in the crib. Oh man, this kid makes me laugh.

It took about 45 minutes until he finally laid his head down tonight, but only because he propped himself in a sitting position for the longest time (think 30 minutes), with his little head nodding off and snapping back up. There was hardly any crying once the door was closed on him, but he was very, very sad during Sean's entire reading/singing/lights-out routine. All in all, I'd say this has been a delightfully successful endeavor. Now I'm off to read as many chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo as my eyes will allow me tonight. Sleep tight, little Sammy.

(You'll notice I moved the monitor today to a more effective vantage point.)

Not quite sure what I did to deserve this. I married and mothered myself some good ones. As soon as I finish this, we'll be off on a family morning walk. Life is good today.

ETA: There's always a catch. Mommy had to clean up the mess that was the kitchen afterward. :-) Not complainin'. Just sayin'.