Where is Harrison and what have you done with him?

To put it plain and simple...Nights suck!

Harrison has been waking up crying in the middle of the night for several days now. Sometimes we hear a whimper and he can sooth himself to back to sleep...but that is becoming less common over the coarse of this past week. Thursday night was the worst. He got up more times than I can count. First we rocked outside on the front porch. Then we rocked inside. Then we slept on Mommy. Then we slept next to Mommy. Then we slept in our crib. Then we slept in the bassinet. Then we slept in the swing. It was a long night as I just established. Last night was no exception as well. 2:45 am I got up with him...he was bright eyed ready to play as I dragged myself out of bed.  He can be comforted by rocking and attention so I think we can safely say this isn't an ear infection, teething or an illness, but rather a phase he is going through.

Of coarse I have spent all morning and the past mornings googling this behavior. In most the reading I have gone through suggests that babies go through a phase like this beginning anywhere from 6 months to 10 months. Perfect.

Experts suggested the Ferber Method. The Ferber Method is a fancy name for letting him cry it out. It suggests a regular bedtime routine and when this frequent waking occurs to let Harrison cry for 5 minutes and increase the crying time up to 25 minutes in the coarse of 2 weeks  (if sleep training takes that long).

I actually let him cry himself to sleep for about 5 minutes Thursday night...but the rest of the night didn't stand a chance.

I am not exactly sure how the future of this will go. This whole Ferber Method is controversial. And, for myself I don't know if this is something I can train myself to do.

Stay tuned as I am sure I will have more to report on in the coming days.

Our Mr. Harrison has also become not a fan of long car rides in the past two weeks as well. After the drive back from the cities yesterday and last Sunday. There is no certainty when our next trip to the cities will be. All together it's a four hour drive and the 2 hour crying/crankiness is not worth any trip (evening shopping).

Despite this new found struggles as a parent... He is totally worth sleepless nights and not to peaceful car rides!