To Do: Catch some zzz's

I have to admit.  I've been scared to write this one.  I hate to jinx anything.  But...

Parker sleeps through the night!!!

Hip Hip Hooray!!

It's actually not a new development.  But I thought if I shared our little secret, we would for sure be proven wrong.  That's what kids are supposed to do, right?

4 weeks (and 4 days--but whose counting) we decided we had to move Parker from the bassinet to the crib.  Since birth, he has slept right next to my side of the bed in the bassinet.  Because our other bedrooms are on the other side of the house (makes it sound like we live in a mansion, huh?), having the bassinet close was so helpful.  I'm a bit of a worrywart.  (But thank goodness for the awesome invention of the video monitor!)

The bassinet itself has a neat story.  My mom was the first grandchild when she was born (oh some 70+ years ago).  She was the first one to use the bassinet.  It since has been used by 2 additional generations on both of my grandma and grandpa's sides of the family.  Unfortunately, we don't have a record of how many babies started in this bassinet, but I'm betting a lot!  My grandpa was one of 10 kids and I know lots of my mom's cousins and their kids have used it.

Anyway, when Parker turned 8 weeks, he not only was growing like a weed and about to outgrow the bassinet, but also was becoming such a noisy sleeper!  So we knew it was time for the challenge.

Matt and I moved in to the guest bedroom next door.  The first night: Rough!  The longest Parker slept was 2 hours at a time. Eeks!

So the next night... out came the swaddle.  The result: 8 hours of sleep!

Now, it's like clockwork.  The little guy goes from talking and smiling to instantly tired and crabby.  Hmm..ok, maybe he got that from his mama!  We stall him as long as we can with a bath, a final bottle, then finally the swaddle.  We just hope they made those swaddles in like size 4T!!  But whatever it takes!

He usually goes to bed, falling asleep to the mobile and the sounds of the ocean, around 8:30 or 9:00.  And most days he wakes up full of smiles and babbling around 5:00 or 5:30 (yep, he got that trait from his dada).  Most days, I go get him and he will snuggle and snooze on my chest till 7:00 or so.

This is how he starts at night:

And this is often where we find him in the morning:

How he moves that much when he can only get there by kicking his feet like a mermaid is beyond us!

So assuming I didn't just jinx myself, you will catch the Ervins finally getting some Zzzz's at night!  Say it with us:

Hip Hip Hooray!!