Yay for Sleep!

I am sooooooooooooooooo grateful to be out of the sleep deprivation stage. This week I've had to let Ian cry twice because he's awakened prior to 6am (on Sunday morning he woke up around 4:30 and yesterday morning around 5:00). Both times I let him cry, he then slept in until around 7am! WOW! That definitely reinforced by decision not to let him get up before 6am. It's rather easy to let him cry right now because all I have to do is lie on my left side, and then I can't hear a thing (since I can't hear out of my right ear). Tuesday night was amazing. I did get up at 5am to make sure none of his limbs were outside the crib. He keeps pushing the breathable bumper down and then his arms or legs get stuck. I went back to sleep, and he didn't wake up until 6:55. AMAZING! I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in bed that late over the past two years. Part of what made this a miraculous morning was that Nadia didn't get up until 7:30am. She usually gets up at 6:30. Considering she had gone to bed earlier than usual on Tuesday night (due to the green beans), it was particularly unexpected that she'd sleep in so late. This morning Ian got up at 6:15 and Nadia got up at 6:30. Ian had gone to bed at 7:15 so he slept 11 hours straight! Way to go, Ian! His naps are still usually only 30 minutes long (sometimes as short as 20 minutes!), but at least he's now doing much better at night.

Because Ian usually gets up before Nadia, I've been nursing Ian in our bed right after I get him up. I love that. I went to Walmart yesterday to stock up on formula as we were almost out. Most of the time I don't feel badly about bottle feeding Ian, but buying formula still is a rather emotional experience. I get frustrated because I really, really wanted him to be primarily or exclusively nursed. What I kept reminding myself was that at least he's still getting SOME of my milk every day. Some is better than none! I also remind myself that he'd probably still be a super skinny baby if I wasn't supplementing. I am grateful that he still nurses a few times a day. Hopefully we can continue for four more months!

The fact that Ian is sleeping more means that I have now been staying up later. I am really grateful to no longer need to go to bed at 8pm. I am not a night owl, but I don't like going to bed THAT early. I'd like to go to bed around 9pm, but the last few days I've actually been staying up later than that (last night I went to bed a little after 10pm). Even though I went to bed that "late," I don't feel tired today. PTL! After months of having horrible headaches, it's really great to not feel awful when I get up in the morning. Now that I am getting enough sleep, I want to start working on adding a few things into my weekly routine including exercise. I still need to lose more weight. My class ends next week and then I have two weeks off before the fall semester starts.