Dare I say it?

Nick has...*gasp* slept completely through the night since Friday. And when I say completely through the night, I mean 10-12 hours through. Can I get a hallelujah?!

Let me back it up. On Friday afternoon Todd, my Aunt Sis, Dad, and my brother went out to play golf. So my sis-in-law and I went over to Mom's (Nick came too) and had an array of delicious appetizers and a few glasses of wine.

The golfers got home shortly after 8:00pm. Nick was just polishing off his last bottle of the evening when they got home, so naturally he quickly snapped out of his milk coma at the sounds of his daddy, grampa, tio, and GAS (what we're calling his Great Aunt Sis...hilarious, no? We like it).

Nick entertained the masses with his giggles and smiles and screeches for a short while, but quickly passed out in GAS's arms. We all sat around on mom & dad's back porch enjoying the beautiful, cooler weather we've been blessed with, and before we knew it, it was after 11:00pm, and poor Whinnie was sitting at home crossing her legs and wondering if this was like the time we told her she was going to camp, only instead we took her to a kennel where she was crated for 11 days and when we finally came back to get her she moped around the house for two days to be sure we knew she was pissed. Oh yeah, that was just two weeks ago when we were in Myrtle.

Anyway, Nick slept the entire car ride home (having been asleep since before 9:00pm). He woke up briefly when we got home, and I quickly changed his diaper, and rocked him for maybe 5 minutes before he was back in dreamland. I laid him in his crib and ran to our room to hop in bed before he woke up...and sure enough? He slept all night. Granted, I heard him fuss a few times, but I chose to let him fuss to see how long he would do so -- and that combined with my lack of sleep and several glasses of wine helped to keep me semi-comatose, so the fussing didn't phase me as much as usual. And you know what? He put himself back to sleep each time. By 7:00am he was awake, but we weren't quite ready. So Todd went and scooped him up and brought him to our bed. I planned to just lay there staring at him until 7:30am when it was time for breakfast, but we all (including whinnie) accidentally fell back asleep until 8:30am. It was GLORIOUS.

I was certain that was a fluke night, but wasn't too concerned seeing as Nick was spending the next night (Saturday) at my parents house for his first overnight stay (while we went to a concert), and if he wanted to wake up several times in the night while visiting them, so be it -- we wouldn't need to get up with him -- Gramma would! But lo and behold, he slept all night again at their house.

This time I was CONVINCED it was coincidence and that he just was really tired -- well that, and I was certain he preferred sleeping in the Pack 'n Play. But Sunday night? Again, out all night. In his crib!

And then last night? AGAIN! In fact, he slept so hard last night, that at 7:20 this morning, I panicked that we were going to be late to daycare, and had to go in and wake him up. Something he does NOT enjoy. He must get that from his momma.

He is really starting to get mobile, rolling back and forth, but he still prefers to sleep on his back or on his side with one arm draped across his forehead. So long as he can find a comfortable position, and find his thumb to chew on (no, we still haven't mastered the sucking of the thumb, but at least it has found his mouth) when his pacifier falls out, he'll soothe himself back to sleep.

So far, I'm feeling relieved that the earlier fussing and string of sleepless nights were not in fact due to separation anxiety, but more probably due to teething and the 6 month shots that left his legs bruised, red, and swollen for two days.

I'm still knocking on wood that this good sleep sticks around. He's always been such a great sleeper, so I was shocked to have those few nights of sleeplessness...which in turn left me feeling pretty helpless not knowing what was wrong. But now I'm pretty sure I've figured it out, and if he gets shots at the 9 month appointment, I will be armed with Tylenol -- and I'll be sure to take a nap myself that day in preparation for a long night.

Now let's see if I jinxed myself...will he sleep through the night tonight? Stay tuned...