We've now had 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep! Yay!

The only downside? I'm now paranoid as to whether J's ok or not! I'm still in the habit of waking up at the times he previously fed overnight and as he's so quiet (his monitor only picks up noises if he is snuffly or wriggling) I always end up checking on him to find that he is 'sleeping like a baby' and I feel slightly foolish (not to mention cold!) for having got up and checked on him.

Is it just me or is this common?

On the upside, during the day J is much more alert, more laid back and generally much happier, spending more time gurgling away or playing with his toys on his playmat or bouncer. That also means more smiles and there is nothing I love more than to see his smiley face. Its the best sight in the world to me.

Any parent looks forward to the first time their child will smile and we were no different. Initially we had the windy 'smiles' where it was very much a case of is it or isn't it a proper smile? - J was holding out on us, and then over christmas when he was about 6 weeks, we had the first proper smiles - the best present of all -but they were fleeting and hard to catch.

Now of course he's smiling much more and we can actually get it on camera, its also great fun pulling faces at him trying to get him to smile. Talking to him and repeating back his noises is another way we do this and I also blow raspberries which he absolutely loves.

Now we're waiting for the next development milestone - his first laugh. Again we've had moments where noises he's made could be a laugh - but then its also possible that they weren't. Hopefully it won't be long.

Here's one of J's smiles to brighten up your day :-)

Just a quick post today - J slept through for the first time last night!

We put him down at 9pm last night and after some initial tears he slept through till 7.30 this morning.

I do think its because of the bedtime routine we put in place for him. We do the 'bath, bottle, bed' routine and have been doing this for a week now ever, since he moved from his moses basket into his cot in his own room (we didn't have space for a cot in our room).

Our routine is as follows although times are approximate:
8.15 Bath with daddy (unless daddy is working)
8.25 Into mummy and daddy's room to be dried, dressed and cuddled
8.40 Into J's room - lights are dimmed, ewan the dream sheep is turned on (lullaby mode) and he is given his bottle - I also keep conversation with him minimal and quiet so as not to overstimulate him.
8.55 Goodnight kiss and then bedtime - Put J into cot, change ewan onto running water mode and turn cot mobile onto night light mode only - this is the fisherprice rainforest mobile so it also plays rainforest noises which he is content with. I also offer him a dummy but he doesn't tend to take it. I then turn off his bedroom light and step out shutting the bedroom door behind me.

Sometimes he will start crying once I've gone. I leave him a few minutes (no more than 5) to see if he will self settle and if not I pop in again, Sssh him, offer the dummy, say goodnight and step out again - even if he is crying.

He usually settles after this giving us the rest of the night to ourselves and I have to say its been working well since we started this! (touch wood). If he then wakes during the night crying for a feed, I put the lights on dimly change if necessary, feed him with Ewan's lullaby mode on and keep conversation minimal. Once finished I then put him down again with Ewan's running water mode and the night light, offer the dummy then leave.

It was nice not to have to get up but it messes with your body clock when you are used to waking up in the night to feed your baby and then don't need to. Last night I woke up at 2am and I could hear J fussing so I used the bathroom and went to check on him - he was half asleep and still fussing so I went back to bed, fully expecting to be woken up by full crying within the next 20mins or so for a feed. I was wide awake and lay there waiting but he settled himself and went back to sleep and I fell asleep too. Not sure if last night was a one off but I guess I'll find out shortly as we are currently midway through the bedtime routine.

Sleep tight!