He's Home!

Monday Matthew came home. He was gone basically a month. This was the first time he has left us since Maxim was born. I know it was hard on both of us but we got through it. I knew Max had grown and changed and had more skills since Matthew left but you forget everything. Simple things Matthew would notice.
Before he left Max could roll over and everything but now he'll roll to his stomach and stay awhile without crying and scoot around and then roll to his back and so on. Matthew was very impressed. Also Max can be left on his play mat and entertain himself. I had forgotten that before Matthew left Max was happy if you were actively playing with him or holding him. I think the biggest thing is Max is now on a routine. It used to be that even if Max had completely fallen asleep in your arms as soon as he was put down he would wake up. Now we have the routine of he wakes, feeds, diaper change then plays for about 90 minutes gets swaddled falls asleep for at least 30 minutes and then it all starts again. The biggest improvement is even if his eyes pop open in your arms while you are transfering to the crib or once you lay him down he goes back to sleeping without a whimper. Sadly, he still hasn't slept 7-8hrs since July but when it now only takes 15 minutes to get back to bed when he wakes in the middle of the night it's not bad. Maybe in a few weeks we will try to get him to sleep 7-8hrs again or maybe he'll start doing it soon. Right now the longest stretch is about 5hrs at night.
I am so glad for Matthew to be back it is a huge help. I had missed him so much.
421