Who doesn't spend Saturdays playing in the creek?

 Saturday afternoon Riley and I climbed under the bridge in our neighborhood and played in the creek. I really like that this in our neighborhood because we can climb down there and it feels a little like my childhood in Louisiana :) Snakes you might ask? That was always part of the excitement!
We lived near "The Creek" growing up. Summer days always involved walking or riding our bikes to it. Fishing off the bank. Looking at the turtles. Throwing rocks. Letting the dog swim.  And once (where were our parents?) we drug an aluminum boat to the creek and rowed down it. How many water moccasins did we see?? A lot. But we saw them in the backyard too.

Oh I almost forgot....

I haven't officially announced this on my blog....

But Riley is going to be a big brother around October 8!

I'm about 12.5 weeks now and am feeling much better. I had a rough 6 weeks or so where it was difficult to get off the couch each day. I don't remember feeling that way for that long with Riley, it was definitely worse than any  memory I had. But finally it's passing, and on to the getting chubby part I guess. We're excited and grateful for the opportunity to bring another little one into our home and can't wait to see what the future holds!

Re- Plea

I know I have made this plea before, but HELP. I am at my wits end with this kid and sleeping. Everytime he's put in his bed he screams like he's been beaten and won't go to sleep. He'll easily scream for an hour each time. Every night and nap is a battle. I've read the books, articles, talked to the pediatrician and nothing works. Whenever I'm told what to try he finds a loop hole. (For example when he was younger if we let him cry he threw up all over his bed every night.) I think it's possible he's just never learned to self-soothe. He would never take a pacifier or suck his thumb and only recently seems fond of a stuffed animal or blanket. We've done "cry it out", which I HATE each time, 10+ times. It takes a week or so to work and then only lasts for a couple weeks before he's back to his old shenanigans. Each time has been more emotionally traumatizing for me and I don't really have any interest in doing it anymore since it's so awful and doesn't seem to have lasting effects. But what does that leave me? Do I quit complaining and cuddle him to sleep EVERY night? What's 10 minutes? Except then it's 20, and then 30 and then he realizes I'm going to hold him and still doesn't go to sleep.
To make matters worse, the past couple nights he's woken up and won't stop crying DURING the night. I draw the line there. Something's gotta change! So give me an idea!! I'm dying over here.
Ideas I have:
1) Take away his nap. Perhaps he's not tired enough at night? Except he seems tired, and once he's asleep still takes his 1.5 hour nap and after he's thrown his fit every night and finally falls asleep at 11-11:30 he sleeps late. So it seems he still needs the sleep he's getting.
2) Put him in a toddler bed. I've kept him in his crib because he doesn't climb out, so why transition if we don't have to? But maybe it would make him feel less trapped and more independent to climb in his bed himself? Perhaps we could start laying by him in a toddler bed?
All ideas/opinions welcome! Please!