Did I set myself up for failure?

I didn't know at the time that I would be doing myself a huge disservice when I let Benjamin sleep with us. When we stayed at Johnny's mom's house during the holidays, Benjamin slept in bed with Johnny and I. No big deal right? He always sleeps with us when we stay at Johnny's mom's house. Boy oh boy I was wrong! Did I unknowingly set us up for falure by letting him sleep with us for a week?

Our old routine (pre Christmas) was to bathe at 8:00 PM, nurse around 8:30ish and fast alseep by 9-9:30ish. Once he was alseep in my arms I would transplant him into his cradle and then check on him every half hour or so. No problems. He would wake around 1 or 2 AM to nurse and most of the time if I stayed awake while nursing I would put him back in his bed until 6ish and then move him into bed with us. It worked out nicely and had taken me awhile to get him into this routine.

Well, while we were on vacation we left Benny with Johnny's mom for an evening and she could not get him to stay asleep. She fought with him for several hours and finally when we came home both Benny and Melody were sleeping in our bed. She said that she got B to sleep but he kept waking so she brought him into where we slept so he could smell us in the bedding and viola! He slept fine!

Now the story goes as this: I cannot get this little boy to sleep in his bed or anywhere else without me for that matter now. He bathes at 8:00, nurses at 8:30ish and drifts off to sleep just fine. I get up to transplant him in his bed and wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. He is awake and wailing. I move him to our bed and ta-da... yep, he sleeps-he sleeps long enough for me to get ready for bed and then he is happy as a lark! Naps... oh naps.. he will not sleep longer than 30 or 45 minutes unless he is sleeping on me or right next to me.

His night time sleeping bothers me a little because I never really sleep for fear of one of us rolling over on him and Johnny hangs onto the very edge of the bed most of the night while Benny and I take up most of the space ( we are getting a new BIG bed!)...but for the most part I enjoy cuddling with him and when I wake up in the morning he is usually staring me in the face with a smile. I love those little moments. But this nap time stuff has got to change.. pronto! This kid has got to nap without me so that I can accomplish things around the house without feeling guilty for putting him in his bouncer while I work! And, naps are the only time that Johnny and I are alone... and all parents need alone time! I cater to his teething and give in when he wants to nurse for an hour which is mostly comfort sucking. I feel like he needs the comfort during the "rough time" in his life but I wish that he could sleep on his own.

I am currently taking suggestions!!!!! I don't know what to do!