Monday, December 31, 2007

Somebody Likes Velcro...


Gus was changing Nikos' diaper, and he wouldn't stop smiling... until I brought in the camera, of course. But we still managed to capture a few of his winning smiles (you have to wait for it). Yay!

Can't get enough? I took lots of video today... Here are two more smiley ones from when Gus was playing "Earthquake" with him earlier:
Smile Video #1
Smile Video #2

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas Pictures

Playing in Grandpa Jeff's stocking


Visiting with sleepy Uncle Grant


Opening presents with Daddy


Posing with Aunt Maria


Flying Christmas Baby!


YES! A new outfit!


Trying on my new bib


Visiting with Min (Daddy's high school friend, college roommate, and Best Man)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Two Month Letter

Dear Nikos,

Merry Christmas, little man! You are exactly two months old today, which your Daddy and I find difficult to believe. The past month has positively FLOWN by-- so much faster than your first month!-- and it's amazing to see the big changes you've gone through in only a short time.

Right after you hit the one-month mark, you started sleeping in your crib-- first for naps, then at night. You looked so small when we first put you in there, and we had a tough time adjusting to the idea of not having you with us in our bedroom. But it turns out that you really like being in your own space, whether you're awake or asleep! When you're awake, you love to stare at your mobile, the little fish on your crib bumper, your name up on the wall, or our faces (if we're standing there). In the evening, you love watching the shadows that your mobile casts on the side of your crib, and you sometimes squeal when I add my own shadow puppet into the mix. You've been napping better in your crib and sleeping longer at night. We still cuddle with you in our bed for a few hours each morning, so we get the best of both worlds. And we're all happier because of this, believe me!

You've also started communicating with us a lot more, though we don't always speak the same language. You make all sorts of cute baby noises, especially during your bath or when you're on the changing table. You have the most adorable gummy grin that you have started to show us more and more often-- your whole face lights up, and your eyes smile, too! You get especially smiley on the changing table when I have to change your outfit. I honestly think you LOVE wearing nothing but a diaper. Our little nature boy!

Another thing we've noticed this month is that you have suddenly become a drool machine! Right around 6 weeks, you started drooling and making little spit bubbles (often accompanied with smiles and cooing sounds... you are so unbelievably cute!). You like to suck on your hands, and sometimes I catch you licking my bathrobe when I'm holding you. You've also started to show a lot more interest in sucking on your pacifier. Daddy and I are just waiting for the time to come when you try and put everything in your mouth. It should be interesting!

Since the very beginning, you have struck us as quite a strong little man. You love playing a little game we made up called Kangaroo: you stand (with help, obviously), bend your knees and sink down low, then jump! Whenever you jump, I lift you up into the air and you make happy baby sounds. You are the cutest baby kangaroo I have ever seen! You also have really good head and neck control, so we don't worry about supporting them anymore when we hold you. You turn your head to look at something that interests you, or to turn away from something when you're tired. Often, there are so many things you want to see that your little head practically spins as you go from one thing to another. You've even started to show interest in some of your toys. At the top of your list right now is your caterpillar rattle (we've named him Ernie). You smile and make happy noises whenever he says hello to you and gives you kisses on the cheek!

I guess the bottom line is that we're starting to see you as a real little person who wants to interact with the world-- and it's amazing! The first few weeks with you were so hard on us all as you got used to the outside world and Daddy and I got used to being parents. But every single day gets better and better. You are the most important person in our universe, and we love you from the top of your soft little head to the tips of your adorable toes (and then some!). We can't wait to see what wonders await us in your third month!

Love Always,
Mommy and Daddy

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Merry Pre-Christmas!

Since we're going to be visiting both sets of grandparents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we decided to have our own little Christmas this morning. Yippee! We even decided to try out the Bumbo chair, since Nikos' head/neck are so strong. He sat in it for quite a while without complaining. So cute! Here are a few pictures from our first at-home Christmas (I'm sure I'll have a zillion more after the "real" Christmas):





Saturday, December 22, 2007

Great Grandma Patty

Today, Nikos met one of his three living great-grandparents (the other two are Gus' grandmothers, and they both live in Greece):

My Grandma Patty has been visiting with my parents for the past few days, and today all three of them drove down for lunch. We got off to a rough start, though... I had decided to give Nikos a bottle instead of breastfeeding him, since he was hungry and they were due to arrive any minute (I didn't want to be holed up in the bedroom breastfeeding him for half an hour when they arrived). Up until about two weeks ago, we were giving him one bottle of expressed breastmilk a day to get him used to the idea, and he had no problems taking it. So we stopped giving him one every day, thinking it was a non-issue... BIG MISTAKE! The little guy has decided he much prefers actual breastfeeding, and he has refused to drink from a bottle the last two times it was offered. He drank maybe half the bottle today, and then I ended up breastfeeding him. Before I gave in and breastfed, though, we tried for a long time to get him to take the bottle... and he was seriously angry about it. So he cried for a lot of the visit, but ultimately calmed down and got lots of quality time with his Great Grandma Patty. :)

I'm worried, though, about the whole bottle thing... He starts daycare in two weeks! Gus has this whole week off, so we're going to work on getting him back to a bottle a day. I think it might help if I leave the house completely while he feeds him... We'll see...

Friday, December 21, 2007

The Big Kids

So, my little one met the big kids today (translation: my 5th-grade students). I was a little hesitant about bringing him to see them, but I made a promise months ago that I would bring the baby to met them on the last day before winter break. And I knew that if I went back on my word, I would have to suffer the consequences when I return to work in January. Knowing this group of kids, they would harp on and on about it until I went insane. And that's not good!

Anyway, it went well! They were SO EXCITED (I had to stop the shrieking!) to see him-- he was quite the celebrity! One kid even brought his camera JUST to take pictures of him, which I thought was hilarious. Paparazzi! A bunch of them asked if they could hold him, but I ended up only letting one little boy hold him (I used the excuse that we were out of time and I had to go-- one kid who wanted to hold him was covered with orange Cheeto dust. I think not!!). I wanted to let this boy hold him because he is so totally into babies, and has a baby brother of his own that he is so protective of. Sure enough, he's a pro at holding babies! He was even rocking him gently and telling the other kids not to touch Nikos' face or hands because they could give him germs. It was so cute! The whole time, Nikos was calm and alert, and he even smiled at a few kids. Once we left my classroom, I went to visit with my coworkers in the staff lounge, where he promptly fell asleep. So we had a successful visit! After that, we came home, I fed him, and he promptly went to sleep for a two-and-a-half hour nap. Hallelujah!!

Eeeewwww... (part 2)

Well, it turns out that the post-doctor's-visit sleepiness was short-lived. After the munchkin woke up from a nice three-hour nap, things quickly slid downhill... Instead of sleeping for his usual 6-hour chunk at night, he slept for two. And then wouldn't go back to sleep, even after an hour and a half of attempting to get him to drift off! Whenever Gus would stop rocking him, or I'd stop walking around with him, he'd start crying again. Mind you, this was all happening after midnight, and we were dead tired. We decided to bring him into our bed, because we were so exhausted from constantly getting up. It finally occurred to me that his legs might be sore from all the shots, and that the pain reliever must have worn off hours before. So... I gave him another dose, nursed him for about 5 minutes, and he conked out... for maybe two hours! But then he was Mr. Crankypants again. *sigh* Gus eventually got him to sleep at around 5am (note: Gus wakes up at 5:45 to get ready for work, so he is hurting today), and Nikos and I slept until almost 8:00. Thank GOD I got to sleep in a little bit, because I am not sure I would have been able to make it through the day otherwise!

Anyhow... When we got up, I decided to feed him in bed while watching Good Morning America (does this sound familiar?). I stopped halfway through to burp him, and he SPEWED all over me, himself, and the bed. Milk was EVERYWHERE! I am positive that this was vomit (as opposed to spitting up). YUCK!!! My pajamas were so saturated that my UNDERWEAR was wet, too. EW, EW, EW! Anyway, we got cleaned up, and he seemed to be in a really happy mood. I plunked him in his crib to look at his mobile for a bit, and went to read all the paperwork we received all the doctor's office yesterday. Guess what? Two of the shots can cause temporary vomiting for a few days. This is considered a common and mild symptom. Great, huh?? And almost all of them may cause fussiness in 1 out of 3 babies. I repeat: *sigh*

Thursday, December 20, 2007

2 Month Appointment

So Nikos is exactly 8 weeks today, and we took him for his two month doctor's appointment. Which means he got shots, and lots of them! :( Poor little guy! He had to get four injections into his little legs: DTP, polio, pneumococcal conjugate, and Hib (Haemophilus influenza type b), and they made him drink the rotavirus vaccine. Luckily, we gave him a little bit of pain reliever before the appointment, and he handled everything surprisingly well. He face turned brick red during the injections, but calmed down fairly quickly afterward. He went to sleep the minute I started the car engine, woke up to eat once we got home, and then went right back to sleep. I'm not sure if it's the result of the shots or if it's because he has napped poorly all day (or a combination of the two), but I'll take it! (So nice after yesterday-- he was fussy and wouldn't let me put him down most of the day. My back still hurts!)

At any rate, our baby boy continues to grow nicely. His head circumference and length are both around the 50th percentile, and his weight is at the 75th (12 pounds, 12 ounces!). His pediatrician says he's doing very well and looks really healthy. She asked if he was smiling back at us yet (yup), tracking objects as they move (yup), and if he was lifting his head (he's been doing that since day 1, to an extent!). So he's hitting all his developmental milestones right on target, which is awesome! Go baby go!

Anyhow, time for me to go and watch some TV for the first time in days... Time for a rest! In the meantime, enjoy this photo of the little munchkin that I took this morning! His outfit is a little big for him, but he's still the cutest baby ever! :)

Monday, December 17, 2007

Exhibit A:


"Baby Dry" my a**!! I cannot possibly describe how much I hate these diapers (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous post)!! The poor guy has gone through four (!!) wardrobe changes today! The new ones cannot possibly get here soon enough! AAARGH!!!

*********************************

But on a happier (and marginally related) note... Alayna, my friend since we were in second grade, and her partner, Sacha, just announced that Sacha is pregnant with baby #2!!!!! This is so exciting!!! Congratulations, you two! :) :)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Crappy Diapers (pun intended!)

Ever since Nikos was born, he has used the same type of diaper almost continuously. We haven't had any major problems with this particular type, with the exception of the one time poop leaked up his back (which, to be honest, is partially his fault for blasting it up there!). Anyhow, he's been wearing the size 1's, but seems to be just about ready for the 2's. Gus needed to order a few things from Drugstore.com the other day, and he wanted free shipping, so he added a pack of the size 2's to his order-- they should arrive on Tuesday. In the meantime, we have officially run out of the smaller ones. So, I busted open a pack of another type of diaper (which shall remain nameless!). My mom accidentally bought this pack for us when she meant to get the other kind, and they happen to be size 1's, so I figured they could hold us over until Tuesday. But now I'm not so sure!

The very first one we put on him leaked pee all over my belly as I was breastfeeding him yesterday. Fun! The next two both leaked poop out the leg holes. And that's not even the worst of it (in my opinion). The worst part is that Nikos gets upset the INSTANT he poops/pees in this type of diaper. I was trying to feed him this morning, and he started screaming! He had just pooped, but it was bothering him so much he couldn't stay latched on to finish breakfast! And when he gets all worked up like that, he swallows a lot of air and has to be burped a lot (or else he'll spit up like crazy). As soon as we changed him, he calmed down. But this has NEVER happened with the other type of diaper. So I'm really annoyed... And, strangely enough, both types of diapers are made by the same company. How can one type be so much better than the other???

Anyhow, this brings me to my predicament du jour: Do I go buy more of the good diapers to last me until Tuesday? Or do I tough it out with the crappy ones until the new ones arrive? If I do buy diapers, do I get size 1's (which he might soon outgrow) or do I risk the size 2's (which might be too big)? Gus thinks we should tough it out, but I'm not entirely sure... hmm...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Fly, Super Baby, Fly!

Ok, so I'm easily amused... His little legs get so rigid sometimes!



...and because I was on a filming kick today, a bonus video! This was right after I changed his diaper.


I've been filming him using my regular digital camera... I really should bust out the nice digital camcorder we have tucked in the closet... hmm...

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Littlest Radiohead Fan?

He may not look very much like me, but I think Nikos may have inherited my (excellent) musical tastes! :P I had my follow-up doctor's appointment this afternoon, and it took longer than expected. By the time we got back in the car, it was almost time for the peanut to eat-- and he was NOT a happy camper! Even listening to the Baby Bach CD wasn't working-- and that can usually calm him down (or put him to sleep) in about 5 minutes. He was crying and crying and crying, but I kept playing Baby Bach in hopes that it would work its magic. No such luck! But then the CD finished, and my changer switched over to another CD before I realized what was happening. That CD happened to be The Bends, by Radiohead-- one of my veryvery favorite albums of all time and one that I'd been listening to a LOT in the month or so before Nikos was born. And guess what? He became quiet almost instantly!! I thought maybe he had just worn himself out and fallen asleep, but NO! A quick check at a red light revealed that he was completely alert and calm! He started fussing a little during the second track, but calmed down when I skipped to track three:

Radiohead - High &...

I couldn't believe it! The rest of the ride home was so peaceful... I don't know if it was a fluke, or if the music was familiar to him from when he was still in my belly, but it was so cool! And such a nice change of pace for me (I love Bach and all, but a little grown-up music is good for my mental health!). This theory still requires further testing, but HOORAY for now!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Yay!

THEY FIT!!!!


I had begun to convince myself that my knuckles were simply larger than they used to be, and that I'd need to get my wedding rings re-sized if I ever wanted to wear them again (a depressing thought, especially since the band is engraved). But no! I can totally get them on and off now. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Earlier, I was changing Nikos' diaper, and he was making his happy baby sounds and smiling. I went to kiss him on the head, he looked right at me, and (very softly) said "hi!" I know it's a total fluke, but it was SO CUTE!!!! :)

Eeeewwww...

So we got off to an interesting start today...

Nikos woke up at 8:00 (he let me sleep in a little, hooray), and I changed his diaper. He was acting hungry, so I decided to feed him in my bed while I watched "Good Morning America" on TV. As I was scooting myself back up against the pillows and into my feeding position, he decided to spew. He spit up all over the front of my pajama top and bottoms, all over the front of his clothes, on his hand, and he managed to hit both his feet. He's never spit up that much before-- maybe it could actually be considered throwing up?? I need to look that up. Anyhow, there are two distinct varieties of spit up: the kind that looks like milk and the kind that looks like curdled milk. And of course it was the curdled kind. Yuck!!

Anyway, I really wanted to avoid getting the spit-up on the bed linens, because they're much more of a pain to change than my PJs are. I very carefully grabbed a burp cloth, wiped Nikos off as best I could, and laid him down on the bed so I could take my pajamas off and put on my robe. Just as I was about to pick him up again, he did one of his Power Poops. I needed to change his outfit, anyway, so I picked him up and headed for the changing table. But guess what?? Poop managed to leak out and get onto both the sheets AND the duvet cover. Eeeewww!!!

But wait, there's more! I thought the poop had leaked out one of his leg holes, which is what usually happens when he leaks. I laid him down on the changing table and pulled the onesie up over his head. I left his head resting on it like a pillow. That's when I realized that the poop had shot up his back and out the top of the diaper. The back of his onesie was all poopy. And guess whose head was resting on the wet, poopy spot???

Needless to say, I washed him thoroughly and put all the poopy items in the washer. Oh, that was another thing-- I started the washer and THEN realized that it was already full of clean clothes that I had forgotten to move to the dryer. It's amazing how much laundry I've been doing lately!

Anyway... I had to laugh, because when all was said and done, Nikos was so happy and smiley! As I dressed him again, he was smiling and squealing "ba!!" My guess is that his tummy was bothering him, and he felt much better after emptying himself from both ends.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Fetus Friends!

I went to a small get-together at my coworker's house last night, and was finally able to get some pictures of Nikos with Owen, his fetus friend! They'd met outside of the womb before, but Nikos was super cranky and pictures were out of the question. Anyway, here they are!


What a difference four months makes, huh? Nikos looks like such a shrimp compared to Owen! :P It's strange to think that this time last year, Kori was finally telling everyone she was pregnant. And I was about to become pregnant (in January). How times have changed!!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Say Cheese!


What can I say? Cutest baby in the universe! :)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Superboy


Check out that neck extension! Our little peanut has almost total control over his head and neck now. He also likes to "stand" with me holding him, then he bends his legs and jumps. He's got some serious baby muscles! Go baby go!

As an aside: Today he is exactly 6 weeks old, AND it's his name day-- sort of! He's not baptized, so he doesn't technically get to celebrate yet, but December 6th is the day of St. Nicholas. So Xronia Polla, little pumpkin!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Light!

Well, it's official. At the risk of totally jinxing myself, I think it's fairly safe to say that our little guy has finally become comfortable sleeping in his crib. We have been putting him in there "drowsy but awake" every time now, and he drifts right off to sleep. He even likes to hang out in his crib when he's not tired, because he gets such a kick out of his mobile (he really concentrates on it, which I find pretty entertaining to watch). Nighttime sleeping continues to go pretty well for us, too, with him only waking up once or twice to eat, usually at around midnight and then around 5am. I can totally handle that!

Now that his sleeping has improved, I am seeing improvement everywhere else... For one, my mental health is 1000% better! Just this afternoon, we were taking a walk through the neighborhood. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I was really enjoying just being outside and feeling the warmth and breathing the fresh air. I thought back to only a few weeks ago, when I took the same walk. I was exhausted, felt stretched to my limits, and walked as quickly as I could, fearing that Nikos would start to cry at any second (and then I would start to cry, too). I was really miserable!! The only way we could get him to nap then was for him to fall asleep on one of us... and since I was the only one home during the day, that meant he took his naps on me and gave me zero time to myself. I still don't have a TON of time to myself, but he's taking much better naps and sleeping in his crib. I actually get time to do things like, say, eat lunch! And post on this blog!

I've also noticed that his crying has changed somewhat. Before, it seemed like all his cries were full-force, "I-am-miserable-and-you'd-better-do-something-about-it" cries. There's a lot more differentiation now. When he's hungry, he puts his fist in his mouth (I think it's so cute!) and makes little coughing-type cries. When he just wants to be held, he does what I call his "fake" cry-- he kind of whimpers, off and on, but doesn't seem to be too disturbed. When he's tired, he yawns... and if I can catch him then, he'll go to sleep without crying. If I don't, he cries really loudly and arches his back, eventually calming down if I hold him and sit in the rocking chair for a while. The worst is his "I'm-in-pain" cry, which he does sometimes if he's trying to poop, fart, or burp. His whole face turns red and he screams bloody murder, but it all ends as quickly as it started once he takes care of business.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's getting easier every day (though it certainly isn't "easy" by any stretch of the imagination!). It's also getting more enjoyable as he notices people around him. I love how he calms down when I pick him up, and how he buries his face in my neck when he's tired. I also love the happy little noises that he makes when he's nursing, and how he gazes up at me and sometimes smiles. I am finally getting something back for all the hard work I've been doing, and it is AWESOME! So there was a light at the end of the tunnel, when I was feeling so depressed a few weeks ago-- I just didn't realize how quickly we'd get there.

And finally, the picture of the day: his best Shrek impersonation:


(yup, that's a baby-sized tie-dyed shirt... so cute!)

Monday, December 3, 2007

Sleeping, Churching, Reading, etc.

So this weekend was a busy one for us! For one, we continued with our mission to get Nikos sleeping in his crib at night-- and it's working! The second night was a little rough, but last night (the third night) was pretty good! He only woke up to eat at around 1am and then slept until 5am. I think he's gradually becoming more comfortable in his crib, which is a good thing. This afternoon, I even tried putting him down for a nap while he was still "drowsy-but-awake," like all the baby books say I should. When I peeked in on him ten minutes later, he was totally asleep. And he has stayed that way for 2 hours now! I'M SO HAPPY!! Not only did I get a lot of my online Christmas shopping done, but I could see that the little guy was so very tired and desperately in need of a nap. So now everyone is happy!

Part of the reason he's so tired, I think, is that he had such a long day yesterday. We drove up to Orange County so that he could receive his 40-Day Blessing, a tradition in the Greek Orthodox Church. Basically, a baby and its mother are not allowed into the church until 40 days after the birth, and then the priest performs a short ceremony to welcome the baby and re-welcome the mother. It takes place after the normal Sunday service, so we got there and had to wait in the entryway until everyone was gone. Then the priest came out and performed the blessing, which took about 5 minutes total. So why, then, was Nikos so tired? Let me tell you about our drive that morning!

The problem with breastfeeding is that you can't (legally or safely) do it while riding in a car. So I defrosted some of the milk I've been storing up and prepared a bottle, thinking I could feed him while he was in his car seat. Well, he was NOT HAPPY about that, and I could hear him swallowing a lot of air. Of course, I couldn't successfully burp him without taking him out of his car seat, and he started screaming (presumably because of some massive air bubble I could do nothing about). So I asked Gus to pull over, and he decided to stop for gas, since we'd need to refuel at some point, anyway. I burped the kiddo, but nothing happened. Then I thought I smelled poop, so I figured I'd take a look in his diaper while we were stopped. I opened the back of the car, laid him down on his changing pad, and saw that there was only a teeny-tiny amount of poop-- generally meaning that the mother lode isn't far behind. So I left the diaper on, but unfastened. Meanwhile, Gus had started filling the gas tank and was helping by getting the wipes out of the diaper bag. ALL OF A SUDDEN, the gas overflowed and started spraying all over the place!!!!! Gus managed to grab the nozzle and shut it off without getting too much on himself (in his nice church clothes). I turned back to look at Nikos, and he had managed to fill his diaper AND do some serious spit-up in a split second. I changed him and wiped the spit-up off his face while Gus went to tell the manager about the problem with the pump. He (Nikos, not Gus!) was crying, so I picked him up and put his head against mine... Only to realize that he had spit-up all over the side of his HEAD, not just his face! So I got spit-up on my face and in my hair. It was truly a fine moment. Truly.

Anyway... the blessing went well, as did our ride back home. He had to have another bottle, which I had brought with me in a cooler, but we stopped to burp him and had no problems. He slept most of the way home! Once we got home, though, my book club members arrived for our meeting, and he was once again surrounded by people. And if that wasn't enough, Gus took him to our friend Tony's house to meet his family, once our meeting was underway. So he met a LOT of people yesterday, and managed to do so without too much crying. I'd say that's a pretty big accomplishment!

And, for the record: using a manual breast pump in the back seat of the car while on the freeway is NOT FUN. Though it is an excellent arm workout. Nonetheless, I went out and bought the cigarette-lighter power adaptor for my pump today. Hallelujah!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

I Did It...

"I did it," she blurted out, "I tasted my own breast milk!" (Sorry if that was too much information for some of you!) ha ha!! I had been planning to try it all along-- I mean, this is what I'm feeding my baby, so shouldn't I know what it tastes like?? And a lot of books recommend tasting it if you're planning to pump and freeze milk for later on (which I'm doing). That way, you can tell if it's spoiled. Anyway... Despite my curiosity, I still had to sort of "psych myself up" for it. It's hard to get over the fact that, well, it came out of me! But guess what? It's not bad!!! It tastes like cow's milk, only thinner and sweeter. Almost like coconut milk. I can see why Nikos prefers it hands-down over the formula he drank in his early days. The smell of formula alone is enough to make me sick!

And that was my weird-but-true moment for the day. Goodnight! :)

Woohoo!!!!

Up until now, Nikos had been napping in his crib, but spending the night in our bed. It wasn't something we had ever planned on doing (I had originally planned to put him into his crib right away... ha, ha!!), but with all the exhaustion and late-night feedings, we were ready to try anything! It worked out really well, especially once I mastered the art of nursing him while lying on my side-- I could just roll over, feed him, and go back to sleep! We justified it by saying he was still too young to form bad habits, and that Dr. Sears was in favor of a family bed (though it seems like most sleep theorists are NOT). Still, as nice as it was to wake up next to his warm little body, we knew we needed to reclaim our bed and start getting him used to his crib.

So, we put him in his crib last night. We had fully prepared ourselves for a restless night. Gus even planned on just staying up and watching TV for as long as possible (thus making it easier for him to go and get Nikos if he started crying). That plan didn't work, and we both fell asleep at around 9:30. BUT... Nikos slept in his crib until a little after 1AM, when he woke up hungry! We brought him into bed with us so he could eat, then Gus put him back to sleep in his crib (that was the hard part-- it took probably 40 minutes). He slept for another three hours in there before waking up hungry again. At that point (it was almost 6AM), I fed him and he slept in bed with us for a while until it was time to get up.

Anyway, the point is that he slept in his crib for seven hours total last night!! It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. I slept better, too, which made me realize that I'm always a little "on edge" when he sleeps with us (I don't want to smoosh him!). I know that not every night will go so smoothly, but it wasn't bad for his first time! Hooray!