Bedtime Cuddles

As I've mentioned before, we used the Ferber method to sleep train Gavin when he was five months old.  We've had pretty substantial success with it -- he usually sleeps 9 pm to 9 am with one wake-up (usually at the six hour mark).  Things are a little rougher than usual lately (thanks to teething) but generally speaking, I'm pretty happy with the fact that Gavin now puts himself to sleep in his crib and also manages to let us sleep in from time to time.

The downside of the Ferber method is that we no longer get to rock Gavin to sleep.  We no longer pick him up for the middle-of-the-night cuddles.  A lot of the bonding we did before bed has been replaced with self-soothing.  Stephen still has his nighttime routine with the baby...but it's something I'm not really a part of.

SOMETIMES, though, Gavin needs a little pre-bedtime nap...  Tonight was one of those nights.  Stephen had class until 9:45, so I went over to Steve and Ashley's for dinner.  Gavin was SO fussy the whole time, so after I took him home and gave him a bath, I let him sleep in my arms for about a half hour.  It was so nice just holding him as he slept...looking down at his little mouth sucking a binky that wasn't there, haha.  :)  It's the very definition of bliss.  He is SUCH a funny little boy -- always getting into things, babbling, grabbing.  But in that moment he was so soft and sweet.  It was the perfect way to spend the quiet moments before putting him to bed.

Anyway, I know I can't make a habit of letting him sleep in my arms -- Stephen and I really enjoy the fact that we're FINALLY getting some solid sleep -- but as a special (early) birthday treat to me, this was pretty darn close to heaven.