Thanks for the help, honey

If whatever form the internet is taking when Owen is 15 has the capacity to access such primitive technology as we have today, I'm sure Owen will kill me for putting this photo on the internet. However, it is just TOO FUNNY not to share. Yesterday morning I was changing the baby in the boys' bedroom, and I heard from the kitchen "turn on? turn on. turn on, mommy'. I couldn't figure out what Owen wanted me to turn on, but assumed he was mucking around with the oven, or worse, had climbed up on the counter and had gotten to the microwave. Imagine my suprise when I came into the kitchen and found that the appliance he wanted to me to turn on was my pump:




I have news for you, kid. The reason it's not working has nothing to do with it not being turned on.

I'm writing this post completely exhausted. Eli started out life as a fantastic sleeper (for a newborn) but has figured out the score: why sleep for extended periods of time, when you can hang with mom and nurse all you want? I recognize the limitations of working with a newborn on sleep, but I'm determined to do what I can to foster good (read: independent) sleep habits from the beginning. So, from today on, Eli's moving out of mom and dad's room and into...I haven't decided where. At first I was thinking straight into the crib in the room with Owen, but today I'm thinking actually I'm going to put him in the living room for a couple weeks. This has two purposes: first, not to bother Owen, who is (believe it or not) sleeping through the night reasonably well right now, and second, to allow me not to have to use the monitor. Having the baby right next to the bed keeps me up all night because babies are loud, even when they don't need anything. And the baby monitor is just as loud. If he's in the living room and our bedroom door is open, I'll hear him when he's really crying but, because of the white noise of our humidifier, I won't hear him when he is just fussing around or talking to himself. I'm also going to take a hard line with the all night mom-buffet. Eli is the size of your average 3 month old right now, so there is no reason, none at all, that he would need to eat any more frequently than 3 hours (and that's being generous). Owen I really did let nurse 'on demand' but Eli will only get that privelege during the day. I'm also trying to figure out if strategically deploying a bottle (which we need to introduce soon anyway, so as not to have a daycare disaster on our hands) can help discourage nighttime eating and encourage nighttime sleeping. This is a work in progress, and clearly I have a lousy track record, but we'll see how it goes.