Baby took a sudden turn for the super difficult at night.

Evidently, this is called the four month sleep regression. Lots of development business happening with the little guy, and long chunks of sleep (read: 4 hours) is out the window. Baby is sleeping in one to two hour chunks at night, tosses and turns after 4am in the morning, and wreaking havoc on Mama. Welcome back, extreme sleep deprivation!

We are trying many things and there appears to be hope. Targeted bed time is six to seven pm now, which has helped. We’re also getting lots of advice on how to sleep train. The main strategy is to gradually get Baby used to sleeping on his own. This potentially undermines my favorite thing in the world: papa time! But it’s worth it to teach Baby how to be a better human, and it’s not like we’re not allowing him to sleep on us anymore. Just starting to be more strategic.

In more positive news, he’s the best little baby in the world. His neck is getting stronger and he’s powering through tummy time like a warrior. He’s more aware of his surroundings every day, and likes to look out at the world. He’s now a fan of facing out in the Baby Bjorn. We went on a walk the other day and he fell asleep holding my thumb. Yes, I took a picture:

Awwww the sweetest little thing!

In other news, my unemployment days are numbered. Found a place I’m excited about and it seems to be working out. Not sure yet about timing, hoping to have the rest of this month before going back to work. Bittersweet, with a lot more bitter. End of month is when Mama’s official leave is over as well, and she is even more against going back (and possibly will not). Lots of question marks surrounding this at the moment, and we won’t know exactly what the coming months will look like for several more weeks.

Happy New Year! Our household slept right through it.