Teething??

So - since we got back from vacation last Saturday (and all during the week of vacation for that matter), sleeping at night has been rough.  Naps have been great, as usual - but something is definitely up with bedtime.  Over the last 7 days, John Parker has slept through the night (930 pm - 730am) only twice.  Up until we went on vacation, he had been sleeping 10 straight hours (sometimes waking once around 6 or 630 for his paci) since he was 3 months old!  The first two nights home from vacation, he cried out at 430am, 545am & 630am.  He had been doing that exact same thing every night we were at the beach, so I figured he was just readjusting to being back in his home environment (while PRAYING he hadn't developed a new bad habit).  After the second night, we took him out of his nap nanny (which he has slept in, strapped in, of course, since he was a newborn) and laid him directly in his crib.  I had been telling John that eventually he would grow out of sleeping in the nap nanny and he would let us know when he wanted to move around more at bedtime - I thought he was letting us know.  Well, the first night directly on his mattress he slept all night.  I woke up at 630 scared to death because he hadn't cried and even got up to check on him.  Triumphant, I thought I had figured out the issue and hoped he would be back on his normal schedule.  Not too fast, Hailey.

...  Wednesday, Gloria (babysitter) said she could see a tooth under the gum on his bottom, right.  Well, I've been wondering if he could be teething since he was 3 months old.  He's a big drooler and always puts everything directly in his mouth, so I have been counting on a tooth any day now for two months.  I'm still wondering if we will really see a tooth anytime soon, but this week has definitely been different.  Wednesday night during choir practice he suddenly started crying and screamed, and I mean screamed, through the song.  He finally quieted, but throughout the evening, he would be perfectly content then suddenly cry for a minute or two.  Very unlike my sweet, non-fussy baby.  Wednesday night, right before bed, he was running a very low-grade fever (around 99) and I gave him a little baby Tylenol before bed.  He amazed me and slept all night, only waking up at 630 for his paci.  Thursday, I was off, and he acted perfectly fine all day - very happy, ate well and didn't cry out during the day at all.  By Thursday night, I figured the "tooth" was all my imagination and thought Wednesday must have just been a bad day.

...  Thursday night, we were up every 15 minutes putting his paci in from 2 to 530.  Wow.  Not fun - at all.  I felt like we were back in the newborn days.  Last night was some better, but I gave him Tylenol again before bed, and he still woke up twice.  So, I'm not sure what's going on - I can't see the tooth myself, but my babysitter swears she can see one!  So, maybe in the next few days we will actually see a tooth break through and have a reason for these sleepless nights!  I hope so, because I was putting way to much stock in getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night!  Work has NOT been fun this week!

In other news, he's been eating more baby food - we've now tried bananas, apples, squash, and sweet potatoes (mixed with either rice or oatmeal cereal).  He eats 2 tablespoons of oatmeal, 1/2 oz of breast milk, and 1/2 container of stage 1 fruit at 1130 and 2 tablespoons of rice, 1/2 oz of breast milk and 1/2 container of stage 1 veggies at 330 (along with either nursing or a 6 oz bottle of breast milk at both feedings).  I think in two weeks when he turns 6 months old, I will start feeding him a little differently to ween one feeding of milk.  I LOVE nursing, but pumping is getting old - for me and my coworkers!  I hope to continue to give him breast milk until he is 12 months, but I think I'm going to cut down my pumping to once at work, and replace one of his feedings at the babysitter with only baby food while increasing his bottle at the second feeding to 7 or 8 ounces.  This will also hopefully get his bedtime a little earlier.
This is my plan:
Nurse in the morning - pump after nursing, just before I go to work
1130: 1 whole container of baby fruit mixed with 3-4 tablespoons of oatmeal and 1 oz of milk
330: 7-8 oz bottle of breast milk
630: 1 whole container of baby veggies mixed with rice and milk
9: 7-8 oz bottle of breast milk

We will see how it works out!  I have quite a supply of milk in my freezer, so hopefully I will be able to supplement my pumping with that for a couple of months and after that runs out, I will start supplementing my breast milk with formula.  Looking ahead, it looks like we will make it to at least 7 or 8 months with our stockpile!