(Prepare for a major unleashing!)It seems like the days have blurred together and I am going backwards in time to months and months ago when we used to rock Caleb to sleep and he would take 30 minute naps and not sleep through the night. The difference this time is that he is not in a crib-he's in a bed. And we aren't rocking him to sleep we are just in the room. He is not 6 months old, he's almost two. And he's only waking up once a night (so far) and taking one hour naps or two hours (if I'm lucky). And this silly little cycle we are on, has once again brought us to 'sleep training' although it seems like we are always having to do 'mini' ones after travel. But this time it is different. It seems that after a week down south with my family and a week up north with Dave's, Caleb has forgotten (or has become quite stubborn) how to go to sleep ALONE in his big boy bed. As in he won't walk himself back to bed from the door after crying awhile like he used to, and he won't stay in the bed and he
definitely won't fall asleep unless he is in the bed. I almost wish he would fall asleep at the door from exhaustion. This kid has become
resilient. We have tried many different tactics- of which none of those have worked. And so for the past week or so we have gone back to the basic
CIO with check-ins. But Caleb still has not gone back to his bed on his own, and he has not fallen asleep on the floor. Each check in he walks back to bed lays down and after a half hour to an hour of this Caleb stand at the door cry/us check in/walk to bed/ leave/ caleb run to door, cry/ repeat... he finally closes his eyes as we put the blanket over him. Now our problem, I think, is pretty obvious, since we are in the room doing a check-in, when he finally closes his eyes so quickly the whole purpose is defeated. We need to let him go on and on and on I suppose, continue the check ins, and let him keep crying till he gets it. And leave even if his eyes are closing. But I'm not sure my heart can handle more than an hour of him crying at the door! SIGH. BIG SIGH.. I am beyond frustrated and emotionally
depleted. Hence-the BIG BLOG BREAK. Now should I even mention the ironic part? He is so happy! Like, all day.
TTs? Not too bad. Fussy? Not really. Silly,
smiley, and happy? Almost all day. I don't get it. Can we just have everything working well at one time? Great sleep, great health, great teeth? Those three things are NEVER ALIGNED I tell ya! If he's sick he's sleeping fine, if he's sleeping great, he's fussy, if he's teething, he's sleeping fine but fussy. I don't get it. But then again I think I realized that the day we brought him home from the hospital and life took on a whole new meaning of the word, HAPPILY UPSIDE DOWN. So, we're upside down right now, and I'm hoping we figure out this whole sleep situation before brother comes along. But even if we do figure it out, I laugh. Because I know next month- we'll be upside down all over again. But happily upside down. And more sleep deprived than we are now, so I'll take what I can get!!

Caleb on his way to swim lessons. I guess the thought of water makes him sleepy