Gettin' his sleep on!

December 21st will forever be etched in the annals of Bradley family history. For it was on this day that Luke first slept through the night.

After a week of making tremendous progress on his sleeping, due to a strict nighttime regimen, Luke took it to the next level last night by sleeping from 8 PM to 6 AM! I still can't believe it happened.

When he started making noise at 6 AM, Em looked at me and was like, "He did it!" We were so pumped. Of course, the both of us woke up many times throughout the night, because since Luke's nose is still stuffed up, he would sort of hack and make a lot of efforts to breathe, which would wake us up. We would inevitably think "ok, he's about to wake up now," but he would always go back to sleep. And while there were a couple moments where he was moving around to re-position himself, he was always able to settle himself down without our intervention and go back to sleep. We were so proud of him. He didn't even cry during the night, and we never even got up out of bed once (both are firsts since he's been born)

I'm not going to get overly-excited and think that he will sleep perfect every night from now on. However, this personally gives me so much hope that one day we may actually return to normal sleeping patterns. I mean, if he didn't have a stuffed up nose, I think there would have been a chance that all three of us could have slept uninterrupted!

We continue to be in celebratory mode, although our only regret is that we didn't go to sleep at 8 AM with Luke to really feel the full impact of this historic moment. :-)

In closing, I'm sorry that the last few entries have all revolved around sleep. It's just been the biggest issue in our lives recently. Em and I went to sleep around 10:30 and you just don't know how good it feels to finally have gotten some good sleep after 6+ months. I feel like I can pick up my car!

Sick Boy and Some New Tricks

Last night was terrible. Thinking that he was almost fully recovered from his cold, we began the sleep training again. We let him cry while falling asleep on his own, coming in at regular intervals to comfort him, give him the paci and encourage him to go to sleep on his own. He cried on and off for 1.5 hours. That wasn't the terrible part.

He finally fell asleep around 10pm, after we effectively abandoned the notion of him going to sleep on his own. I nursed him and rocked him for 30 minutes and he finally went to sleep. Ahh. Then he woke up at 10:50pm. And again at 1:30am. Then at 3:00am, again at 5:00am, and finally 7:00am. So I fed him around 10pm, 1:30am, 3am, and 7am. For Rich and I, the night was a blur of getting up, rocking, swaddling, paci, tylenol, feeding, changing the thermostat, and earplugs.

We talked about whether it could be teething or wanting to practice crawling--two common things that cause night-waking at this age. But after taking his temperature this morning, I've concluded that he's just sick. :( It was 99.5 F. Not enough to rush to the doctor, but enough to give him the VIP treatment today. I let him take a cozy nap on the couch (which only lasted 30 minutes) and I've been holding him and nursing him a lot.

In other news, on Monday night, Ash and Anna came over for family night, and Luke was showing off two new skills that we've been working on. (Videos below.)

Crawling

Over the last couple of days, I've noticed a progression in Luke's crawling. For a few weeks, he's been able scoot around by mainly pushing off his legs and rolling. The key change I noticed last night is that he's starting to use his upper body more en tandem with the legs. Also, when he sees something that he really wants, he'll go straight after it and nothing will stop him. It seems that Luke's regimen of daily push-ups are finally bearing fruit.

At this rate, he will be doing power cleans and deadlifts at 6-7 months rather than 8-9 months as I originally had planned. Don't worry--I will make the necessary adjustments in his training.

Mucus Fun!

This is a good example of what happens behind the scenes in our lives as new parents. He normally screams and twitches during this exercise, but we were pleasantly surprised to see him keep it together for the camera.

Father vs Son

As you know from the previous entries, Luke got sick for the first time over the weekend. Of course, many loved ones responded with their care and concern. Well, I'm home sick today with a really sore throat. Please, don't all call at once! Seriously though, what really hurts is my pride. Let me explain.

It's easy to understand why Luke got sick. Winter has set in (today is the first snow); the cold is going around; his body hasn't built up any immunity to it; hence he was bound to get sick at some point. Yeah, I get all that.

However, I'm a grown man! I'm 30 years old! Did my not quite six-month old son just make me sick? Did that just happen? Have I not built up enough strength in these antibodies over the last 30 years to fight whatever strain just made him sick? Do you know how many colds I've had over the last 30 years? (Hint: I grew up next to a Ford Plant in New Jersey from 1982-1989. And from 1977-1981, I lived in...New Jersey)

In closing, I should be dominating my son in every area: talking, hand-eye coordination, eating solid foods, core strength, advanced usage of the opposable thumb, and more importantly, vitality of the immune system. As the previous videos have shown, I'm still ahead. I know one day he may surpass me, but I can't let it start this early.

I gotta go gargle salt water. Oh, Luke can't gargle? So sad for him!

"Sick"

I took this video on Sunday night, when Luke was still "sick." So apparently maybe he's not that sick. He's definitely seeming better today. His nose is still a little clogged, but it's no longer a mucus-fest.

Ash came up to DC on Sunday and she stayed with us last night. We had her, Anna, and Anna's roommate, Javi, over for dinner and the "Heroes" finale. (No more "Heroes" until next year!!) It's been really fun to see Ash when she's had to travel up for work. I only wish that a) it was more often, b) she didn't have to drive so far/long, and c) we had a more comfortable place for her to sleep.

I've been selling things in a Virtual Yard Sale. (Click here to see what I'm selling.) I got the idea from a friend of mine. She sent out an email to her address book with an online photo album of all the stuff she's selling and prices. Well, I didn't do that. But I did post each item individually on Craigslist and then insert the link to the album in each one of the ads. Then I told people that if they bought more than one item, I would deliver it to their home (if they're between home and Rich's work) for free! So far I've had a pretty decent response!

First Cold

So Lukie hasn't been feeling well. :( Audrey had a cold earlier this week, too, although he never even came into contact with her. Supposedly colds are very common in babies, because they have to build up immunity to all the most common cold viruses. Still it's sad to see. He looks just as uncomfortable as adults when we have colds--all sniffling and snorting and shifting. And not a lot of good sleeping! We've suctioned his nose every hour or so all day; there's no end to the mucus! And we elevated his mattress on one end so that hopefully his nose drains better.

Also, notice in the video how he's breathing through his nose. Poor guy. He's always disliked having his mouth open. And just so you know, we've temporarily paused all sleep training while he's sick. We're encouraging him to nurse often so that he gets enough fluids.