You're killin me smalls

Wow... that's all I can say. I'd wager that may have been one of the worst nights we've had since Niall was born. He woke up at 2:30 with a poopy diaper (which has been happening a lot lately- not sure how to control his bowel movements to my liking), and decided not to go back to sleep until 5:30am.

Once I changed him, he had that crazed look in his eye and I knew it was over. Slumber Party- minus the slumber. He was ready to play and nothing was going to stop him. I really hope he grows out of this pooping in the middle of the night thing, because it's next to impossible to keep him in sleep mode once you pull him out of the crib.

It's one thing when they're a month old and you are expecting not to get any sleep. You're mentally equipped to handle the all night ragers- and holding onto the shred of hope that you'll get a few naps the next day while he's doing the same. But it's quite another when he's almost 8 months old and has been sleeping from 8:30-6:30 each night with no interruptions.

So, first I sat with him for a while, rubbing his back... noticing that he had no interest in laying down, but crawling all over me and pulling my hair, instead. At that point, I decided it was tough love time- back in the crib whether you like it or not my little party animal. But the screaming was just so loud and so incessant.

I started going through that checklist in my head...

• Is he wet? No, I just did that.
  
• Is he hungry? If he is, he's going to have to get over it because we haven't done middle of the night feeding since he was 3 months old. I'm not getting sucked into that habit.
  
• Is he gassy? Possibly, but I'm guessing it would have come out when I was holding him for a half hour rubbing his back.
  
• Is he in pain? Could be teething, so I gave him a small dose of infant tylenol, which he proceeded to spit all over his chin and chest.
  
• Is he tired? This is probably the most likely, so I'm just going to have to let him tire himself out.

I couldn't believe this went on for 3 hours. Everything we've accomplished, all the progression has gone to hell in a handbag. What if this happens again tonight? And tomorrow?? No, I can't even think about it. I won't.

Speaking of handbags, Niall was crawling around the other day and got tangled up in my 20 pound diaper bag... but that didn't stop him from getting where he needed to go... (It's always nice to end on a happy note)