First Time At Church

We haven't been to church since our cub was born. I've caught some sermons via Internet but we have not physically stepped foot into a church for a little over 3 months now. Our cub is so unpredictable and particular that we didn't want to go only to leave seconds after arriving. My church does have a nursery but I have yet to leave my little one with strangers so I have been very apprehensive. Well, we went to the 11:30 a.m. service at Corpus Christi this past Sunday. This is the husband's childhood church. He went to daycare and everything at that church. He learned how to drive in the church parking lot. I'm sure it's weird but cool to now enter that church with his baby son.

 The cub did better than expected. He had no choice he was sleep for most of the service. Being the new mom that I am we packed EVERYTHING in preparation for this outing. I brought his usual diaper items and added two blankets, a thin and thick one, and his travel bed. We sat in the overflow/cry room created specifically so parents could still be a part of service. We chose an area that would allow us to put down his travel bed and allow him to nap. My arm strength is improving but I'm still not there yet where I can hold him for an hour or two straight. Talk about muscle endurance. When he woke from his nap he stayed calm for approximately 5 minutes then his light fussing began. He allowed us to make it through Communion. We left right afterwards missing only the very end of service. Next week we'll try our usual church. It would be so much easier to take him to the nursery but like I said...I'm apprehensive. Plus I don't know what to do about his things. Do I have to mark each item with his name? It will only be for an hour and thirty minutes but I am totally freaking about it. The aisles at my church won't allow for his travel bed. We'll see how this goes on Sunday.

I've stated before that step by step things are becoming easier. The cub still wakes once in the middle the night for a feeding. We are developing some form of a schedule. The part that is still a little rough sometimes is bedtime. My cub does not self soothe and we usually rock him to sleep at night. When he has trouble drifting off to sleep he becomes quite irritable. Well the other night he became irate and the husband and I had no patience left so we turned on his mobile and laid him down in the crib. We walked out his room to our room and turned on the monitor. My cub loves music so we knew he would be calm and quiet and while the music on the mobile played. We both lay dreading the moment the music would stop and be followed by the cries of our cub. Well, I finally heard his cry but it was five hours later and time for his feeding. He actually drifted off to sleep on his own without us rocking him. I was elated. I tried it again the next night but...FAIL. I don't know what I did wrong. Well last night was Super Bowl Sunday so I took on full baby duty allowing the husband to enjoy the game. The cub and I read a book and played until I started to see the visual signs that he was tired. I  took him to his crib, turned on the mobile, prayed with him, then left the room. He maid a few little fussy noises, no crying, then silence. He self soothed and fell asleep on his own. Dare I try for two nights in a row....