So now that we're 10 months in, it's an appropriate time to figure out what we have done wrong along the way and decide what to do differently next time. There isn't a whole lot, and don't take that the wrong way - we don't claim to have done this whole parenting thing perfectlhy. At least for THIS baby (and we are sure that the next one will throw a monkey-wrench into everything), it has all just kind of fallen into place. The things that we thought were mistakes actually turned out alright in the end.

For instance, because Liam couldn't hold a paci in his own mouth, we used to sit there for 20 minutes at a time holding a Gumdrop (the Northside Hospital kind) in his mouth while he fell asleep. We never let him cry it out, and we started to get a bit frantic around 4 or 5 months, thinking that this was our fate for all time. There were some nights when I tried to let him cry it out, but I caved every time. I began to rethink our strategy of picking him up every time he cried. Then, magically, one day when he learned to roll over and wouldn't stay on his back and we simultaneously found pacis that he could suck on himself (and I literally said "this is my last try - if he can't hold THIS paci in his mouth, I am never buying another), he finally would put himself to sleep at night.

More recently, every time he would wake up in the middle of the night, he had to be fed before he'd go back to sleep. Also, we would feed him a bottle in his room, and he'd pretty much fall asleep right there. We were afraid that he was associating going to sleep with getting a bottle, and didn't want him to never be able to get a good night's sleep without having a bottle (eventually he'll come off formula anyway). Finally, last week one night he woke up crying, and I said "I'll go in there and rock him, but I am not feeding him." This happened twice, and he cried for quite a bit the first night and maybe a minute the second, but ever since we haven't had to get up for him until about 6:30 or 7 in the morning. Whew, that was easier than we thought (knock on wood!!).

I also started feeding him his bottle downstairs before getting a bath and getting him ready for bed. Then we read a story in the rocker, and I rock him to sleep. Again, things fell into place and this has worked out well. I was afraid that he wouldn't stay asleep and full as long if he didn't get his bottle immediately before bed, but it's working out. Also, instead of feeding him his bottle in the rocker, I read him stories. It's nice to have this time together.

My biggest mistake I ever made, and I know I have blogged about it before, is putting breastfeeding (pumping) before my own well-being. Moms these days are pressured into feeling like we have to do X and Y for our children's well-being, and if we can't we are selfish or we fall short of being the perfect mom. I have said it before and will say it again: NOTHING that makes you so unhappy that you can't give your all to your child is worth it. The best thing I ever came to realize was that I was a much better mom and had so much more to give him when I threw modern wisdom and baby books aside and did what made ME happy. I always use the analogy of the air masks on the plane, when they tell you to secure your own mask first and then worry about your child's; you can't help someone else if you aren't yourself in a condition to do so (though I would probably put Liam's mask on before mine if I were ever in that situation, probably negating my entire analogy).

Off the topic of mistakes, I can't figure out why formula smells SO BAD. It doesn't taste bad (yeah - it's hard to be a mom and never taste formula...I mean, what else do you do when the bottle nipple clogs than put it in your mouth and unclog it? The things we do...). Somehow, though, neither the powder nor the finished product taste bad, but when you dump out the formula, regardless of how long ago you mixed it, it smells absolutely rotten.

We read this book every night about twice. It is absolutely the sweetest book in the world. It's a little 8-line prayer (just to God) for every day of the week. My favorite is Sunday, which starts "Sunday in a quiet time, bless this little life of mine..." Something about the words along with the illustrations is incredibly sweet.

Anyways...proud of me for blogging like, twice in one week??