Sleeping Through the Night!

I have some great news to post... Mateo is officially sleeping through the night - and I never had to leave him crying alone in his room to get him to do it. Although he's never been a great napper, up until 6 months he was pretty good at night. Only got up 2 or 3 times, ate and went back to sleep. But when we went to Spokane, he got a taste of how nice it was to share a bed with Mommy. When we got home...every time I would put him in his bed asleep...he would wake shortly thereafter and I'd have to find a way to get him back to sleep. Neither of us was getting good rest, so I went in search of a solution. After 3 books and talking to anyone and everyone about it (and sharing a bed with him for a month)... I found our solution. "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West aka "The Sleep Lady". I read the book and decided the "Sleep Shuffle" was the way to get him to sleep. We changed the kids rooms - Mateo and Zack now in the darkest room right next to ours and Stacie in the far room. I nursed him earlier in the evening, read him a bedtime story, and put him in his crib. I sat in a chair next to the crib, patting him and shushing him and comforting him until he fell asleep. When he woke up in the night, I wouldn't pick him up, just return to my seat and help him get back to sleep. He did amazing. Never cried very hard and the longest time it took him to get back to sleep was 45 minutes. Every 3 nights I would move my chair further and further from the crib. Each night he put himself to sleep faster and his sleep stretch would get longer. It has now been 2 weeks. I give him his bath, put his jammies on, read him a story, sing him a song, put his favorite blankie up by his face, tell him I love him and walk out the door. He babbles himself to sleep in 10 minutes or less and sleeps about 9.5 to 10 hours straight. It's wonderful! I'm finally getting sleep again! I get some time in the evenings to do things for myself while he sleeps. He's also napping in there so I've been able to keep up with housework during the day. Yea Mateo! Our little champion sleeper!!

Here is what he loves to do with his blankie... he sleeps with it like this every night.

Here are some pics from the St. Patrick's Day parade last weekend. I was thinking it was his first parade, but I forgot about the bagpipe parade he slept through when he was 2 months. Im sure he enjoyed this one more. He was totally fascinated by it all.. he loves being outside.

Some things he saw...

Sitting with Sister...

"I love the backpack with Daddy... and it tastes so good!"

Mateo is noticing the cat more... he even laughs at her sometimes. Hello Nala!

Stacie took this picture... what a cute smile on that boy!

Mateo has this little basket full of toys. But what is his favorite toy? The basket itself...he always reaches right for that and tips it over. Good times, Good times...

Sweet Boy...

and would you believe Mateo is not the ONLY thing going on in our lives? Hard to believe, eh? Our house has been painted! The painters have been here the past couple of weeks. Here's what it looked like when we moved in nearly 3 years ago...

BEFORE

and what it looks like today... nice, eh?! We are finishing the backyard before Mateo's first birthday and we may be getting new windows as well.

AFTER

I love our house... it's in such a great location. Mateo and I can walk to the mall, the grocery store, the doctors office, etc. and it's such a nice, quiet street. I love that I can show the picture to Mateo someday and say there is our house where you came home from the hospital, and you can see the hospital in the background :)