Sleep? What's that?

Noah has definitely helped Tyler and I learn the importance of sleep. Sometimes from good experiences, and sometimes from not so good experiences. Last week, a friend suggested that if Noah is not sleeping through the night, that he is probably old enough to cry it out, where you just let the baby cry until they fall back to sleep because they finally realize that they are fine. I have never really been a fan of this method, one because I dont like hearing my baby cry, and two because I can't sleep through the crying, so I might as well wake up with him anyways. However, I was finally to the point where I didn't really want to wake up at 2:30 anymore, and last Friday, I took the plunge. I let him cry. Tyler even asked before Noah even woke up if we should switch sides of the bed so that I wouldn't be tempted to go get him out of his crib if he woke up. We were really going to go through with this. I of course said no, that I could handle it. So he, of course, woke up at 2:30, and we let him cry. I tried to ignore it, and it was hard. But he only cried for about 30 minutes off and on, and then we fell back to sleep until 7! From then on, he slept through the night Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...and then Wednesday came. He woke up at 2:30. Ty said, let him cry. 30 minutes later, he was asleep. And then
last night. My poor boy. He woke up at 2:30. 30 minutes later, he was still crying. Hard. He was not going to go to sleep. But we let him cry. And cry. And cry. Finally I said, Ty, he is not going back to sleep. So I got up and fed him, and that seemed to do the trick. I wrapped him back up, put him in his crib, went back to bed hoping to fall asleep quickly. Then the crying started again. I thought, I fed you, loved you, what else do you need. Then we realized that the night before, we had noticed that his top two teeth were starting to kind of sprout through, and it clicked his gums must be sore, and he is crying because he is in pain. We gave him some Tylenol, snuggled on the couch with him, and he quickly fell into a comfortable sleep....finally. Again, my poor little boy. I feel so sad that he has to go through things that put him in pain. So the story continues... My alarm was set for 6:55 so that I could be to work by 8:00. With 4 hours of sleep, waking up at 6:55 was not what I wanted to do, so I naturally turned the thing off, crawled back in bed, and fell right back into my deep sleep. The next thing I know, Tyler's alarm clock is going off, and I feel much better. Until I realize what time it must be. 8:05!!! I am 5 minutes late for work already and I just woke up!!! I quickly call my boss in a panic and he doesn't answer, so here is my message for him. "Boyce! I heard my alarm go off, but I was tired, so I turned it off and went back to sleep! I just woke up and am 5 minutes late, I will try calling you on the school phone!" I called the school and Deanna, one of the secretaries who saves me all the time, answers, I tell her the same thing and she tells me to just get ready and she will go cover for me. My aide was supposed to be there, so I tell Deanna that she knows what to do so just go make sure that she can get in and I will be there soon. I get a call back saying that my aide called and said she was throwing up and really sick. How comical. Thank goodness it is Friday!! That is all I have to say! Needless to say, everything ended up working out in the end, my boss was totally understanding, and now it's the weekend.