Sleep, Cake, Insects, and Babies

Last night, we started sleep training for Finn. It's not that he is a terrible sleeper, but he was continuing to wake up multiple times a night to eat and he just doesn't need that any longer. I realize this is as much my fault as it is his 'cause, let's be honest here...if he woke up and my choices were to be up with a crying baby or feed him and go back to sleep, I was going with the latter option. Hopefully this training will also help him stick to more of a schedule, at least for night time. Sooooo last night... to bed at 7:30, 11:00 dream feeding, woke at 2:00am to eat. I didn't feed him and instead just comforted him... for an hour and 45 minutes until he went back to sleep. Then he woke at 6:45, nursed, back to sleep without much fuss and woke at 8. Despite the nearly two hour awake time in there, I think it went really well. He wasn't crying that whole time, and I wasn't holding him, so I wouldn't call it difficult. We're following the Sleep Lady's methods which require that I stay in the same position (in a chair by his crib for the first three nights) until he is asleep. What I learned that wasn't in her book is that I need to have a glass of water and some tissues nearby. I was looking for something to throw at R, asleep in the next room, so that he could get me what I needed. The reward came in the morning when I fed Finn and he looked up at me with the most wonderful look on his face...like I am the absolute love of his life, which I guess I pretty much am at this point. He wasn't even all that interested in eating, but was just completely obsessed with me. I guess that shows that he didn't really need to eat at night but just liked to use me as his security blanket. His new security item is that little stuffed elephant from his cousin, Laura (one of many elephant lovers I know). Yes, I am a jerk who busted in on his nap today to take that photo and, No, I did not pose the elephant - either he got up on his own, or Finn stood him up like that. Seriously. He was lying down when I put him in there.

In the kitchen this week, I baked up some delicious Chocolate Chunk Coffee Cake. It had been on my to bake list for a while, just a simple recipe from the back of the Domino sugar bag. I made two large loaves instead of using a single tube pan, used dark rather than semi-sweet chocolate, and omitted the nuts. It reminds me a bit of Funny Cake (I'd be surprised if any of my readers knows what that is).


Earlier this month it was a bird's nest on the back porch. This week, it is a hornet's nest on the front porch. This is what spring is bringing me. Again, we were lucky to find it early and it has already been sprayed and will likely be removed tonight.
However, it also seems like 'tis the season for babies. This month I learned that two friends are each expecting their first baby and I am so excited. Ever since I had Finn, I've been wanting someone I know to go through it. I mean, I was happy for other women before I was a mother, but now there's just an extra element there that makes me even happier. Also, I want to make baby things for them, but that's nothing new.