Payne in the AK: Big Things Going on Here

Well, I've been debating whether to post this or not, because it seems as soon as I get excited about something, it changes - wow this sounds like I'm leading up to a baby or big move or something, heck no, that's not what I'm talking about, we are very content and happy with where God has us here right now - my exciting news is that Jonathan is sleeping through the night!! This has been an ongoing battle for us for a few months now. He started out great, sleeping through the night young, around 8-10 wks, but at 5 months decided that wasn't for him anymore, so I went along with it, being pulled into a long downward spiral of waking up once, then twice a night and a few weeks ago I was at the end of my rope emotionally, physically and mentally and couldn't do it anymore. So, after some good encouragement from a good friend of mine, I decided it was time for tough love. I had to just let him cry it out. We knew this would be hard, because he is, I would say, strong willed, and will cry for up to 2 hours, that's the longest I had let him go, who knows how much longer he would go. So, when he woke up rather than feeding I just gave him the binky, and kiss, and laid him back down, of course he stood up immediately and stood at the side of his crib and cried, but I left him and turned his music on also. Also, I would turn off the monitor and set my alarm for an hour or two later, to just check. Needless to say, he was always asleep when I would check later. After just a couple of nights, the crying became less and then we even went to no waking at all!! He is going to bed a bit earlier, but that's ok, and waking earlier, which is fine too with me, it actually works better than his 9:00 wake ups. So, we are at 2 weeks of this now, and he has been a happier baby, eats better during the day, and mommy and daddy are happier too! :)

The other big thing that I think I can officially claim now is that we have a walker!!! He started taking steps a few weeks ago, and then got up to about 4-5, then a week ago got up to about 10 steps at a time and then yesterday he just realized that he could keep walking. He still crawls some, mostly what he does is find somewhere to pull up on, then walks as far as he can, then when he falls will crawl some again, pull up on something and walk more, he still hasn't figured out how to stand up on his own. It has been so fun to figure out this new "trick" of his and he gets so proud of himself!

So, those are the big things here :)

Oh, he is also loving to talk on the phone - it's super cute, he will take the phone and hold it up to his ear and babble babble babble, yesterday he was talking to daddy on my cell phone, and just started walking around carrying the phone and talking away - don't know whose behavior he's imitating there :)

He is also trying to climb on things, stairs, he also loves that there is a ledge under the oven, where the drawer is, and when I'm not looking, will get his foot on there, and use the oven handle to try and pull himself up on, needless to say, there is a natural punishment when I don't get there soon enough, as he falls backwards when the oven door opens, yes, I am going to be looking into an oven lock :)

And, the fridge has a great leadge to climb onto and anything else he can find. :)