SHHH. . . I have a terrible secret . . .

Should I change my background? I don't know--I've grown so very used to the shamrocks. And this is the absolute wrong time of year to ditch shamrocks.

That's not my secret.

This information is actually a little over a month old. I've been a little more intent on training Declan to sleep through the night than I was with the other kids. He shows occasional tendencies to be as horrid as Rheanna was, but I've caught him actually wearing down and dropping off to sleep after a long crying fit rather than growing worse and worse. So one night I was trying to get him to cry it out, and it was taking a while, and I would get up occasionally and try to soothe him without picking him up. All with no success. Then at one point Tim mumbled, "Is he on his stomach?" I thought he meant to flip him over onto his stomach (I was kinda groggy).

Being a product of fierce "Back to Sleep" training (ie. being constantly told to always put my babies on their back to sleep or risk finding them DEAD--okay, so they weren't so dramatic, and there is some evidence to support the practice) I had never put them to sleep on their stomach. But since I was, as aforementioned, groggy and also irritable, I immediately went and flipped Declan over, and he, in turn, immediately went to sleep. I do not exaggerate. The instant quiet actually woke me up all the way, and I had a hard time falling back to sleep. Plus, I kept getting up to check to make sure he wasn't DEAD. My other kids eventually found their way onto their stomachs on their own while sleeping, and my siblings were often put to sleep on their stomach, but this is the first one of my children who has so strongly preferred it.

Now if you feel duty-bound to blow the whistle on me to CPA, may I ask that you please do so very quietly, perhaps in another room . . . .


. . . . the baby is sleeping.
(I do not know why this picture is posting upside down)