Light at the End of the Tunnel?

We had an interesting night last night. Since Amanda never took the bottle, we were determined that Sam would need to learn so we could get an occasional night out. We tried him with the bottle and expressed milk a couple of months ago and it was a big success - he didn't even bat an eyelash, just drank down the bottle (and a bunch more frozen bags full, too!) without a second thought. "Great," we thought, "this will be easy!". But we haven't kept up with the bottle, mostly because I have found it difficult to keep pumping on a regular basis.

Last night there was a work-related seminar/networking event that I wanted to attend - since it seems likely that I will be job-hunting in a few months, I thought it would be a good idea to keep up my knowledge and see some of my colleagues. Plus, I knew that even though it's work for me to get out for the night, it's important that we get to the point that we can leave the kids once in awhile and get out by ourselves. Since Jeff is also out on Mondays, we arranged for my mom to come look after the kids and I've been diligently pumping to make sure I had enough for the 1 or 2 feeds that would be required. I fed Sam before I left at around 4:30 pm and crossed my fingers!

Well, surprise surprise, he completely refused the bottle. However, my mom said it seemed like he wasn't really that hungry - he was mad when the bottle was in his mouth, but wasn't screaming for food otherwise. She, Sam, and Amanda sat in front of the tv for awhile with Sam in mom's lap and he just drifted off to sleep. When Jeff got home he just picked him up and put him down in his cradle and he went right to sleep. I got home a few minutes later and he was out like a light.

I figured he'd be up shortly looking for food, since he hadn't eaten since 4:30. It was one of those "do I wait up or go to bed" moments, but finally fatigue won out and I headed to bed at around 11 pm. Good thing, because the little monkey slept until after 3 am!! I can't believe he went close to 12 hours without eating...it just reinforces for me that when he wakes up after only 3 hours or so at night, he really doesn't need to eat. He went right back to sleep after feeding and didn't get up until 6:45 am, which was great!

And, also surprising, he's been much more pleasant today. I actually managed to get him down for a nap at 9:30 am or so, and just now he has actually gone to sleep in his crib! For the first time! The first nap was only 30 minutes, and I don't hold out much hope that this one will be better, but I'm happy that he has settled in his crib. We need to work on moving him into his crib for nights soon, but I've been reluctant to do it while his sleep has been so messed up.

So now we need to work on getting him to take a bottle again. I've got a bunch of milk stored up, so I guess we need to have Jeff feed him at least every couple of days. Our next challenge will be Jeff's work party, which is next weekend. We've got my parents lined up to babysit again, but it will be a longer evening, so we need to make sure he won't be screaming until we get home!