He's Sleeping!!

It has been a difficult week, with lots of tears (and not just Micah's!) but Micah is finally falling asleep on his own in his crib!  Due to our delicate living situation (we live in a one bedroom apartment with thin walls in a building of singles & couples without kids) Micah has gotten used to falling asleep in Mommy or Daddy's arms.  The original plan was to train him to fall asleep by himself when we move to Columbia, SC this summer, but it was getting harder and harder to get him to sleep and Micah was starting to terrorize the poor nursery workers at church.  So this week Mommy said, "Enough!"  Micah and I decided to hang out at Poppop & Grandma's this week to practice sleeping.  It was really tough to have to listen to his screams - at times it sounded like being in his crib was the worst possible thing we could do to him!  Thursday was the worst - each time I laid Micah down for a nap, he cried for an hour.  It was discouraging, because I thought that it should be getting shorter by that point.  Andrew was such an encouragement, praying for me and telling me that I am a good mom and I take good care of our son.  Micah must have been working out the last of his frustrations, because on Friday he went down for his naps and bedtime much more easily!  There was still a little fussing, but it only lasted for a few minutes, and it lacked the intensity of his screams the days before.  

Today we are at home, and so far, so good!  Micah calms himself pretty quickly, and while he sometimes doesn't fall asleep right away, he plays contently with Peanut and his blue blanket elephant, and with his new favorite toys, his feet!  He discovered them a few weeks ago, but has begun playing with them in earnest within the last week or two.  I don't know why I bother putting other toys on the blanket for him 

to interact with, he's only interested in those feet!  

I am continually in awe and amazement at how God has blessed us with our son.  While it was difficult to hear and see Micah so unhappy, I was thankful for the extra grace the Lord bestowed on me to see that it was the best for Micah and that he still loved me and was a happy boy, unfazed by the hours of crying it took to get him used to falling asleep on his own.  I took advantage of the awake times to give Micah extra loving, and his smiles just warmed my heart.  The week was also difficult because we didn't get to spend much time with Daddy.  Micah and I really missed him this week!  With all the sacrifices that Andrew is making right now to provide for us and to prepare for our move, I am glad that I was able to spare him this difficult task of sleep training.  Daddy loves his boy so much, and I know that it would be so hard for him to not be able to just scoop him up and rock him to sleep.  We enjoyed a great morning together today, and have the whole day together as a family tomorrow as well.  I am looking forward to it!