When Xan was about 5 weeks old Dan and I were positive that we had made a horrible mistake. We were both only averaging about 4 hours of sleep a day - naps included. We didn't know how this was happening since Xan slept all the time. The problem was that he was waking up every hour, so it was impossible to sleep more than 15 minutes at a time. Add in the fact that we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off every time Xander so much as squeaked and really, we were just screwed. Then we saw the video Happiest Baby On The Block. It was a life changer. The very night that we watched it and started using the techniques Dr. Karp demonstrated, Xan slept for 4 hours straight. Then a few days later it was 5, then 6 and so on. By 2 months he was sleeping between 8 to 10 hours at a time, what wonderful times those were... If we could group marry that guy, we totally would. I just wish we had seen it before he came.
Anyway, around 5 months that all changed, he started waking up earlier and earlier and we went back to feeding him every 2 hours or so at night. Fortunately we had the night feedings down cold by that point so we were able to sleep better - or so one might think. During all of the clamor of having a new baby I had completely forgotten about the crazy insomnia I usually suffer from.
Once awakened, I find it very hard to go back to sleep. So now, I really only sleep during the first half of the night when he sleeps for about 4 hours, then I just kinda lay there and stare at the ceiling and practice being as present as possible, you know, until I can't take it anymore. Then I leap up and storm downstairs and snuggle the snot out of the first kitty I find. The cats love this new arrangement. Me, not so much.
This isn't how it always is, every week or so I get a few blessed hours with my secret boyfriend Morpheus. Dan is really a champ too, if I get less than 4 or 5 hours he tries to let me sleep in in the morning if at all possible. What a guy. So the sleep thing is something we haven't conquered yet, but it does seem like we are winning more skirmishes than we were before. We are at the point where at all times there is at least one parent that isn't dangerously sleep deprived. Though its still tough enough that I've started extolling the virtues of being an only child to the Xan man. We'll see...
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