Good sleeper gone bad...heeeeeeeellllllp

so up to a couple of months ago life was good and I didn't know. Evening was like this:
Daddy would get home from work and play with little guy until 6:30
6:30 massage and bath
7pm feed and bedtime.
3am night feed
7am wake wake

I remember complaining about it a couple of times and wondering how life would be whenever he started to sleep through the night. These days I think the gods were disappointed with me not understanding I had gold and decided to give me a hard time.

evening routine these days?
Daddy comes home from work to moody baby and mumy - often with a headache as well as a bad back - and plays with little guy until he starts screaming because only mum will do.
6:30 whatever much of a massage we can manage before he starts to kick off + bath or just a wash down on days when my back is just too achy for me to hold him in the tub
7pm seat down with now screaming baby for a feed then down to bed - not always that straight forward
10 and/or 11 and/or 12 and/or 1am and/or 2am and or 3am and/or 4am and/or 5am night feed
6am wake wake to a grumpy mummy who wish she her lovely good sleeper would return from wherever he is at the moment.

take last night as an example, he woke up at 11pm  - just as I got into bed after being silly enough to watch telly for a bit longer than i should have. Daddy always tries to comfort him and calm him down, if nothing helps then mum gets up to feed him to sleep. 11:30 I was off to bed until 2am when he kicked off again. This time as it wasn't even 3 hours since he fed, I rocked him to sleep. 3:30am night feed. 4:30am - only 1 hour after feed - he was wide awake smiling and giggling as if it was morning, mummy already panicking rocks him to sleep. Baby was just too full of beans and it took me forever to get him down AND of course he woke up as soon as I tried putting him to bed. By 5am I gave up and fed him to sleep once again.  by 5:30 I was back in bed only to be woken up at 5:50. This time he was doing his happy screaming so I left him to it but it wont lasts for a little while until it turns until an angry scream. By now baby is fed and changed and just there isn't anything else I can do. I very well tried to switch off the monitor and let him cry but my hormones since to overwrite my brain and that sort of thing just doesn't work for me. For a little bit I let him cry then daddy - who luckily booked the day off for today - went to his aid. No much can be done so he brings baby over to our bed. For about 20 minutes I was able to lay there while baby played until he kicked off and once again I rocked him to sleep.

Now here we are, me with a massive cup of coffee - the only one of the day as god forbid baby has any more caffeine than that - and little guy is playing happily like a baby who had a lovely night's sleep. How?????

Just for the record, I've tried giving him a bottle to see if that helps him settling for longer, he just won't take it at all.

If you've been there please I beg of you, leave me some advice, any ideas, anything!  If you are there, do share your story. We might find solace on each other's misery. But be ware, this is a rant post and THAT'S MOTHERHOOD FOR YOU or GET USED TO IT YOU WILL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN just won't cut it so if that is your comment then sod off  don't bother.

Simple pleasures

When we moved to the flat where we live now I was 8 months pregnant so a lot was left to be sorted later on and since we knew Harry was going to sleep in our room for a while, the nursery was one of those things. Since we decided to move him to his own room, this weekend was dedicated to get the nursery sorted. So for most of the weekend David was potting around moving things from one room to another as well as putting up baby monitor, smoke and monoxide alarms. We still have a few bits and bobs to sort out but tonight i could already rock away on my comfy chair singing lullabies during Harry's last feed for the night and I have to say that felt so good. Our bed time routine have always included songs and cuddles but my back and knees were so much more relaxed - before I used to just seat on my bed and have him resting over my crossed legs - that I had the time to feel the loveliness of the moment and just enjoy the gentle motion myself.
Such a chilly day and with all this rain it was impossible to get myself out with Harry. Poor little boy stuck at home all day, that being said he did have a good few kips today which isn't his normal thing so not too bad. Definitely a duvet day for him. Not for me though;  it doesn't matter the weather, to me is always baby day but again since the other half is at home on the weekends at least I've managed to catch a bit of a kip as well which helps recharging the energy.
To finish off what turned out to be a good day - opposite to Saturday when Harry done a whole lot of crying and didn't want much to do with anything that didn't include staying in my arms - I felt the need to declare autumn well and truly started and cooked ourselves a lovely butternut squash soup with slow cooked chicken thighs and rosemary and garlic croutons. Yummy.

Just to relive my times as food blogger here is a the quick recipe for tonight's dinner:

stir fry some finely chopped onion, carrots and celery (I used frozen ones as these days I'm trying my best to save time and still cooking good food) add a whole butternut squash peeled, seeded, cleaned and chopped until about 1 inch cubes.
Add vegetable stock and cook for about 10 minutes. On the meantime chop some bread into cubes and toss them in olive oil, rosemary and garlic powder then bake in hot oven for about 10 minutes or until golden, you might want to turn them once.
When the squash is cooked put it on the blender with  1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a teaspoon of honey then blend it into smooth, this time I also added some creme fraiche for extra silkiness.

The slow cooked chicken (2 thighs and 2 drumsticks)  were on the high setting of the slow cooker for about 3 hours, I took the skin off and season them with rosemary, garlic power, sage and thyme (all dry herbs) and cooked it on a bit of chicken stock which later I added to the soup to give it an extra flavor.

Well, that's all really, not looking forward to a very wet week and the challenges of going out with little one on this weather but as always I'm sure somehow things will fall into place once again.