jackalope and eagleye + 1: August 2008

Julian Walker is officially walking! He took his first steps about a month ago but really hasn't started walking around until last week. Thankfully, this huge developmental change has also coincided with much needed SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Julian is about 11.5 months old and has not only never slept through the night, but until last week, was getting up anywhere from 6-12 times a night. Currently he is getting his molars; definitely the top two and possibly the bottom two as well. Until he started walking recently, all things sleep related were the worst they had ever been. Eagleye and I were at the very end of our ropes with the whole sleep deprivation thing. I have been hesitant to blog about him sleeping because I didn't want to jinx our sleeping streak but it has been a whole week (knock on wood)! Granted, he still gets up 2 to 3 times a night. Even still, this is not only a VAST improvement, he also goes back to sleep immediately, which is a welcome change. I am almost starting to feel like a normal person again!

I am so proud of EE and I for sticking it out with J and his abbysmal sleep dysfunction. We are a cosleeping family and consider it an important part of our family dynamic. "Cry It Out" (CIO) is not and never will be an option. I even had someone tell me that I was a bad mom for NOT letting him CIO. Since we won't CIO, we can say that we tried almost everything (within reason) to try and help Julian sleep. You name it and we have tried it. As it turns out, it wasn't anything that we could do for him, it was something that he had to work out within himself.

Watching Julian grow has been amazing. It is hard to believe that our little baby is becoming a little boy. Since I am part-time as of today (whohoo!), I will try to get more pictures and videos posted. We don't have a blog worthy video of him walking recently. It's definitely worth waiting for the right moment since the mummy walk (hands in the air) and accompanying baby babble are pretty cute.

The countdown to our hike has begun. We have almost all of our gear and our Muir Trail Ranch resupply buckets are already on their way to the wilderness. I have been meaning to get our trailjournal started for some time now so hopefully I can tackle that this weekend. Unfortunately, we won't be able to update in real time or near real time like we did on the PCT. There isn't much cell service in the Sierras, at least there wasn't the last two times we were out there. I am really looking forward to disconnecting anyway.

We have been on some shakedown hikes but not nearly enough in my opinion. There is something about not sleeping for 11 months that takes the pep right out of your step. I think we have abandoned the super heavy Sherpani child carrier/pack in favor of a more babywearing and nursing friendly Mei Tai that a friend and fellow Vegas mama is sewing for us.

We are SO looking forward to being back out on the trail again. Back out in the wilderness where we truly belong. Hopefully, Julian will be at peace out there and this will be the beginning of a life-long love affair with long distance hiking and the glorious Sierra Nevada. The mountains beckon.......