grad school+baby=distractions

I just finished the first week in my second to last class for my master's degree (did you get all that?). It shouldn't have been such an overwhelming week as the assignment was to create a simple PowerPoint, something I'm quite familiar with. There were parts of the week that made it difficult, though:
1) The 4th of July holiday/weekend was spent with family and I think I logged into my computer a total of 2 times.
2) This go-around, they've switched the weeks from Monday-Sunday (which is quite normal, right?) to Thursday-Wednesday (seriously, who comes up with these ideas?!?!). This kind of threw me off!
3) Little man. Oh, man, my little man--what to do with him?!?! He's been really slacking in the ol' nap department (probably a direct relation from too much playing over the weekend & not enough structure), then there's those darn torticollis stretches (which, by the way, we got more of at the appointment on Monday), then there's just the fact that he seems to prefer crying and/or hollering rather than the cute talking and giggles.

Let's just say that I'd had quite enough of it so yesterday when it was technically time for a nap, I swaddled him up, stuck the binky in his mouth (though I knew this was a moot point because one of his ways of showing rebellion to sleep is spitting the binky out), and shut the door ALL THE WAY and just let him cry. And cry. And freakin' cry! And then I cried, too, because I felt like the worst mom. I think he cried for a full 2 hours until it was time to eat, at which point I fed him, repeated the whole naptime routine and he crashed on his own after about 2 minutes of fake-fussing. The frustrating thing, though, is that he only crashes for 20-30 minutes at a time.

I've put all the sleep books to rest because I realized that only I am the expert on my little man. Though I have taken quite a few suggestions from the books, I think it's time for me to just rely on my instincts and take lead from little man. I'm slowly seeing improvment, though: Erich slept 8 hours last night before waking up at 4:30am to eat.

I must admit, though, that when he's in a good mood, we have lots of fun:

He's getting better at holding toys in his hands, bringing toys up to his mouth, and then...

...pretending he's an alien from another planet.

He's getting better at tummy-time, but when he gets tired he...

...goes down to rest and suck on his hand, which apparently is quite tasty.