Warm Weather PJs and Sleep

We've been having a bit of a cool spell, after the apex of the summer brought on some serious heat.  It was great for the beach, but now I'm ready for hoodies and stew, fall walks, and going outside without breaking into a sweat. I'm enjoying having all the windows open, feeling the breeze, and smelling the fresh cool air.  For Jules this has meant - footie PJs!  I swear nothing is cuter than a baby bum in a one piece PJ. 

Jules has been sleeping through the night fairly regularly since he hit the 9 month mark.  Unfortunately he seems to be adversely affected by the weeks that Papa works nights and is not here to do the bedtime routine.  When we realized that this was a factor (and is causing him to wake up sometime between 1 and 4 pretty freaked out, and then again every hour or so for the rest of the night) we started having a bedtime that we do together every night that Papa is here, so that when it's just me I can do it exactly the same.  So far it's been a tough ride.  I follow the routine, I sing all the songs, read the same stories, we even call Pete so that he can talk to Jules and tell him good night, and sing the Julian lullaby for him - but no dice.  Two nights ago he cried and cried when I put him down, and then was up at 1AM sad and distraught, luckily Papa was home by then and able to snuggle him.  Last night he cried for nearly an hour before he fell asleep - breaking my heart, but he didn't wake up until 7:30AM so that was an improvement.  

I know that he is capable of putting himself to sleep, and in fact sleeps better on his own than with us nowadays, I just don't know how to soothe him when all he wants is his Papa and I can't give him that.  So I'll keep on with the routine, and hopefully he will realize that he can trust me to keep it predictable for him and that Papa will be there when he wakes up in the morning.   

I have to say, this is probably the toughest thing about Pete's work, and we're lucky in that regard.  He's home with us and that's more than many military families have right now.  His wonky schedule is low on the scale of tough life in the military, so we'll just have to keep sticking together and do our best to keep the continuity there for Jules.  For now I'll keep at the solo bedtime routine and try not to lose it when he cries.

A scene from pre-bedtime playfest:

Could you resist this face? I know I can't!: