Sometimes I cannot believe just how different night parenting can be from one night to the next. My last thought before drifting off to sleep is usually a plea with the Lord above to send angels to sleep with my babies and keep them safe and ASLEEP.
For months we dealt with my 3 year old ending up in bed with us 2 or 3 times a night. I would either wake to find him mouth breathing into my personal face space or else spread over my feet inviting propulsion off the bed like Max the family dog. I am happy to say that the sleep chart with stickers that I blogged about previously has been a rollicking success (I hope I am not jinxing myself) and he happily sleeps all night alone in his room again.... thank you sleep angels :)
And then there's my little one, the "good" sleeper. I know from my first child that things change month to month and sometimes night to night depending on teeth and bowels and separation anxiety and weather and the volume of the hubby's snores but it is never any easier when those changes sleep deprive momma!
I am writing this relatively rested. She nursed to sleep last night at her newly chosen 8:30 (which is a relatively new thing for us- we tend to keep them up a little later than the "sleep experts" recommend but they sleep longer in the morning and we see them more at night and it just works for our family) and did not wake to eat until 6:00. She promptly fell to sleep at the breast and is still happily snoozing away next to my husband who is home on a snow day (and it is 9). Way to go baby girl- that's the stuff books are written about!
Except that the night before she was awake pretty much the entire night! My husband took her into the spare bedroom for a few hours so I could get some sleep and then I took her to reciprocate the deal. She was whiny and restless and refused to sleep in her crib. I suffered through yesterday with sleepy dusted eyelids and a crabby countenance. Did I want to reach for a pillow? Yes. Did I want to reach for a sleep book? No.
Like I said before, it's all about stages and changes and really truly they figure it out. As long as there are a few nights of uninterrupted sleep and iced coffee drinks, I can make it- after all, when they are too cool for me I will be aching for those nighttime snuggles!
4 comments:
fyi: aaron wanted it to be known that HIS snoring does not wake up the children- I simply included snoring since all other husbands DO snore loudly in comparison ;)
AAAAAND he is not a lazy slug for sleeping till 9 today with the baby (or till 11 yesterday)
Jamie, let's write a book about us people in real-life and all of our night-time kid issues! But that's awesome that aila slept that long! Annalise has not been sleeping well for a long time now, Lucy has been better about staying in her bed using a sticker chart, and Jude who once slept great has been forgoing naps a few days of the week, waking during the night, and waking up super-early :( Love you, and your blog!
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