Adventures in Sleep Training an Infant with a Sick Toddler in the Next Room

The title kind of sums up my weekend.

Sam is 5 months old... and was waking up regularly every 2-3 hours throughout the night.  I would nurse him, but it was obvious that he wasn't really eating anything.  For the last couple of weeks I have just been waiting for a mellow weekend with no plans so that we could dedicate some time to sleep training/night weaning.  I just wasn't sure how to do it with a toddler in the next room...

The plan that Jacob and I came up with was that we'd put everyone to bed as normal around 8:00 (Sam goes to bed just fine, it's the waking up that's the problem).  If/when Sam woke Emily up, the plan was to move her to the couch in the living room at the end of the hall, hoping that would distance her enough from the noise and she could get some sleep.  Here's what actually occurred:

8:00 - Sam goes to bed with a little bit of whining, but is out within 5 minutes.
8:15 - Emily goes to bed... and by "goes to bed", I mean that I leave her room and close the door... we never really know what she's going to do in there.
8:45 - Emily comes up crying that she fell out of her bed.  I put her back to bed and tuck her in.
9:30 - I hear coughing, and then crying.  Jacob goes to check on Emily, sure enough she's puked all over her room.
9:32- Jacob takes Emily into the bathtub for a quick spray down while I try to clean partially digested hot dog out of a white shag rug.
9:40- Jacob bundles Emily up in a blanket and helps me with clean up.
10:00 - Put Emily back to bed, and tell her that, if she needs to throw up again, the toilet is an excellent place to do so.
11:00 - I can't keep my eyes open any more... Sam should be up soon, but I'm fading fast.  Jacob agrees to take the first "shift".  I go to bed.
11:45 - I hear Sam crying and Jacob going in to him... then I hear more coughing and crying... then I hear Jacob scurrying around... then I hear Sam crying... then I decide to get up and help.
12:00 - Sam's gone back to sleep, I'm tucking Emily and Jacob in on the couch in the living room with a big bowl next to her head (Jacob decided to sleep on the couch with her in case she got sick again).  This last time she threw up she must have heaved a few times... and ultimately ended up in the toilet (she listened!  Just too bad she threw up twice on the way there.. lol).
5:30 - Sam wakes up, I go in to feed him, he goes back to bed.
7:30 - The day begins.

Annnnddd... it just occurred to me that these were the events of Saturday night... we actually started on Friday. lol  See?  I'm exhausted!  So... back tracking to Friday... I went to bed and Jacob did everything.  He stays up super late any way, so he took care of "progressive waiting" until 2:30 when he came to bed... and it wasn't that bad.  I think Sam was ready for it just as much as we were.  He did wake Emily up, and she did end up sleeping on the couch.

Sunday Sam slept until 3:30 and then decided that he didn't want to be asleep... or awake for that matter.  He was just whining in his crib with his eye closed.  I think it probably took about half an hour for him to fall back asleep, though, he was not really crying... just the whining.

Monday morning I woke up feeling a little "off".  My stomach was bothering me.  I dropped the kids off at day care and then came home with the expectation that I'd work from home... that didn't happen.  By 11:00 I was back in bed (between visits to the bathroom) and didn't really get horizontal again until Jacob and the kids got home around 6.  Yay for day care germs.  =(

When Emily got home, though, she did ask me if I wanted a stuffed animal and then played a "song" on the piano to make me "feel happy".  =)

Five Months!

Weight/Length- At your 4 month check a couple of weeks back you weighed in at a little over 17 lbs... but, of course, I can't remember the length now.  I know that you were in the 55% for length, 72% for weight and 99% for head!  My big-headed little man!  =)

Eating- Still eating well, as is evident by the baby pudge.  =)  (for which I'm very excited as your sister never really got the pudge!).  We've tried to offer you a couple of "people food" items, but you are still refusing.  It's kind of funny as you'll put anything and everything else in your mouth... just nothing that is food like.

Sleep- Slowly improving... we did some sleep training this weekend (more to come in another post) and last night you slept for a 7.5 hour stretch... just which it hadn't started at 8 pm!

 Clothes- Still wearing 6 month sizes... though we've had to discard some onesies that don't have a big enough head hole.  ;)

Personality- Still quite a happy little man... unless you're being ignored.  It seems like you need to be constantly engaged (I remember the same with your sister).

Likes/Dislikes-

-You like your chew toy... I've thought that you were teething for the last month, but still no teeth!  not sure what's going on!
-You like, no LOVE, your sister!  You laugh so hard at her and love to pull her hair and poke at her.  ;)
-You like to the roll over... even at bedtime when it's totally inconvenient... especially since you can only roll in one direction so end up getting stuck up against one side of the crib.
-You like to sleep on your side... we're a family of side sleepers.  =)

-You don't like normal foods... you make some pretty interesting faces when we offer you something edible.
-I can't think of anything else that you don't like right now...

Milestones-

-You can roll from back to front now!  But only to the left... lol
- You went on your first family vacation to Bend.  =)  You did ok (I was pleasantly surprised at the mellow car ride), but refused to sleep in your pack and play... so, instead you spent too nights in your car seat.  =P
- You went to your first birthday party!
- You went to your first Easter egg hunt and saw your first helicopter!