Schedule, Shmedule

Up until now, we haven't really had a schedule. I try to space feedings three hours apart, but that's just an average, and the feeding times vary. Eamon also hasn't really had a bedtime, although for awhile it seemed to happen most often around 8:00 no matter what we did. Now we seem to be falling into a pattern, and I'm digging it. I'd like to help facilitate it.

Mornings are the most consistent. They look something like:

7:00 wake up, play in crib while Mom and Dad doze and listen to the sweet sounds of a happy baby coming through the monitor
7:30 nurse
8:00-8:30 cuddle in Mom and Dad's bed, then play on their bed while Mom gets dressed and does her thang
8:30-9:00 downstairs with Mom (I eat breakfast, feed the cat, etc.)
9:00 back upstairs for first nap
10:30 (or so) nurse
11:30 nap
12:30 (or so) solid food

From there it varies. Since he usually takes such short naps, there's often a nap every two or so hours. So either three or four a day. Yesterday worked out very well, with naps at 9:15, 11:30, 3:00, and then I nursed him to sleep for the night at 6:30. (He didn't stay down though. TJ ended up rocking him for quite awhile, so it was probably 7:30 by the time he really went down. But then he slept straight through until 7:00 this morning!) The night before he ended up needing a nap at 5:00, which sort of screwed up bedtime.

Ever since our last night in New Orleans he's been sleeping through the night like a champ. And I'm not talking six hours, I'm talking eight, eleven, and twelve hours at a time. I'm enjoying it while it lasts, because I know it won't last forever. The two to three weeks leading up to our trips were hellish. He was waking up every two to three hours, and our first two nights in Florida it was every hour. He has no signs of teeth yet, but we feel like his gums hurt at night, and he also seemed to be having gas troubles a few weeks ago, when we first started solids.

I don't know, I go back and forth between wanting to have a strict schedule and wanting to just sit back and let whatever happens happen. It would be easier if I strongly believed in doing it one way or another, but in truth I think I fall somewhere in the middle. Maybe I should just own that, and then I wouldn't feel as insecure as I do sometimes, especially when talking to moms who are either super schedule oriented or not at all.