Turn around, bright eyes

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Last night was a night of great firsts, which was great since it followed one of the WORST NIGHTS EVER.

Worst first: Jacob doesn't respond really well to baby Tylenol. It makes him sleep but then wake up at odd times in a really bad mood. But, on the night after his shots, we really had to dope him up or else he wouldn't sleep at all. We put him down as usual around 8pm (why then? we sort of set that time arbitrarily, as we do most parenting around here, but I'm not sure if earlier or later is actually a better idea. we shall see...) and he cried but not much. Then, at 10ish, he woke up crying bloody murder, fully and completely awake. Not a good sign. And after all the shots, I didn't have the heart to let him cry it out, which, since he was so awake, seemed doubtful anyway. So I brought him into the swing, parked on the couch, and we both slept fitfully until 2am (I got a killer backache, not pretty). At that point, I fed him and tried to put him in his bed. Emphasis on tried, since I ended up "trying" every 45 minutes until 6:30am when he finally went to sleep (in his swing--the bed never worked out). Needless to say, I was exhausted, and yesterday was NOT a good day for Lilita and Jacob (there was a period during which I cried and left the room to escape his crying and avoid being any more short-tempered with the baby--like I said, bad day).

Firsts next: so, I was not looking forward to last night. And, admitedly, things did not start off well: after we fed and put him to bed around 7:30pm or so, he woke up (again) screaming and crying at 9:00pm. But this time, I decided to try feeding him on the off chance that the 4 ounces he'd had (forced down through his sleepiness) before bed weren't enough. And wouldn't you know it, after he scarfed down almost 5 ounces more, he went write back to sleep without a complaint.

Next, I tried the doctor's advice to turn the monitor down very, very low. And I didn't hear him enough to wake up until 1:30am, a reasonable time for him to eat again. When I made his bottle and brought it in, lo an behold, he was on his stomach (despite the preventative sleep sack, dang it) and protesting the fact with his signature "eh, eh, eh, eh" cry. So, I flipped him over, fed him, and went back to bed. Sadly, Jacob was unhappy for 15 minutes, so I went back in and rocked him into a much deeper sleep and put him back to bed.

Then, I woke up with a start at 5:30pm, wondering what was going on since I hadn't heard a peep out of Jacob. I checked the monitor, and he looked...odd...so I rushed in...to find him sleeping happily on his stomach! I tiptoed out, and he stayed asleep until the (relatively blissful time of) 6:30am. So, let's count, shall we: first time successfully sleeping on stomach, first time sleeping past the dreaded 5 o'clock hour, and, best of all, first time with only one feeding in the middle of the night (that 9:30pm thing didn't count because we were still awake then and, clearly, just hadn't given the poor baby enough food to begin with).