A Happy Ending

Quinn is cutting more teeth this week, and it has been a challenge. I was starting to get used to a consistent sleep schedule and longer stretches of sleep at night, but this week everything has changed. Monday night he was up every other hour and then on Tuesday the drool and drippy nose started. This kid has been a faucet. I keep a bib around his neck and it gets soaked within an hour. I have been doing laundry specifically to get all of our bibs washed. Tuesday night was difficult. He was so stuffy he couldn't lay down at all. I sat with him in the recliner for a while, we tried inclining his pack n play, and I made a little makeshift bed in the kitchen so I could prop his head up on a pillow. We did not get very much sleep that night.

That brings us to Wednesday night. He fell asleep around 9:30 and was able to breathe through his nose. I was looking forward to sleeping in bed that night because I thought things were finally going to get better. Quinn and I slept in the bed while Christian played his game for a while, and Chris even tried to lie down on the futon to let us keep sleeping. Quinn woke up at 1, and I thought it would just be a routine feeding where he eats and falls asleep right after. Chris went to bed, and I fed Quinn. He fell asleep on my chest, and I thought for sure he would be able to sleep in his bed. I set him down and that's where things quickly escalated in a bad direction.

He woke up and started crying so I took him back out into the kitchen to put him to sleep again. This task has been a lot more difficult because he hasn't been taking his bink while cutting teeth. Long story short, he ended up crying for 2 1/2 hours. We tried everything. Rocking, patting his back, rubbing his ears and head, lying him down on a pillow, Chris took him outside to settle him down, singing, snuggling, he would not settle down. He was so tired I thought he would just fall over, but he kept it up. Finally I scooped him up and set him down on our bed which I didn't want to do because I wanted Christian to be able to sleep. I sung him a little song and he was out within 5 minutes.

I told Chris we were all sleeping in the bed, but we were both hesitant. After laying down for a minute I thought I could move Quinn to his bed. As it he read my thoughts he sat up like toast out of a toaster. I put him in his bed anyway because I was out of ideas.

I hate to admit this but we have never let Quinn cry himself to sleep. I always hold him or lay next to him while he's falling asleep. I didn't know what to expect when I put him in the pack n play, but I was hoping for a miracle. At this point it was 3:30 in the morning and Christian hadn't had any sleep yet, and he has to get up for work in the morning. Quinn stood up in his pack n play,  and I could hear him flopping around. I thought at least he wasn't crying because Chris and I were both at our wits' end. Suddenly his jabbering shifted into a higher pitched sing song voice. He sang with inflections and notes of different lengths. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He went on for maybe two minutes, and I couldn't help laughing to myself. My baby was singing himself to sleep. Once he was asleep he didn't shift, move, or make a sound until he woke up at 9:30. I was so grateful.

No matter how frustrated I get with Quinn he always finds a way to melt the frustration away and make me laugh. I know he's just a baby and doesn't do anything on purpose, but I love that there always seems to be a happy ending to his little bouts of difficulty.

First Word

I have an exciting "first" to report for baby Quinn. Yesterday we were doing our usual and playing with his toys when he stood up using the recliner to get a better look at Leeroy. Quinn has been especially vocal lately with his gibberish and I have just been waiting for the first purposeful "momma" to come out, but alas, Leeroy is the object of his affection, so of course, Quinn's first directed word was towards him. While Quinn was looking at Leeroy I was telling him to say "Hi kitty kitty," like I always do. Much to my surprise and sheer joy, Quinn copied what I said and greeted the cat. It was a little muffled and slurred, but there was no mistaking what he said. Christian didn't believe me when I told him so I again told Quinn to say "kitty kitty," and even Christian won't deny what he heard. Am I jealous of Leeroy? Very. But I am overjoyed to see Quinn growing and learning to do new things. And Leeroy better look out because next time I may be a little slow to stop Quinn from getting his tail.