Elusive Sleep

I’m going to venture a guess that if not every mom-to-be, almost every mom-to-be is told to rest up before the sleep deprivation really occurs (once baby arrives). Luckily, my daughter was a great sleeper. We went through the initial period of nursing every two to three hours, but within a few weeks had a solid routine and baby girl was sleeping through the night. We did have a brief hiccup around the four-month sleep regression, but she loves her sleep and I will treasure that for as long as I can. Fast forward to my son, who was pretty much born sleeping. When others asked “How is he?”, or “How are you sleeping?”, my biggest concern was he slept too much and needed to eat. Naturally, I felt guilty admitting that was my biggest problem.

Then my husband left for six weeks of training for work when the little guy was six months old. Of course, he was a growing little boy and conveniently woke up between 1:00am-2:30am every morning for two weeks straight. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but when the alarm goes off at 4:30am and the three dogs, two cats, and a sugar glider need tending to along with two children to feed, dress, and get in car seats by 7:00am for daycare drop off and work- it presented a little bit of a challenge to my sanity. Thank goodness for coffee to keep me alive during those hour long commutes. Good news though! I upgraded little man’s diapers to “night time” diapers, and he magically slept through the night- during the week. We’re eight months in and for the most part, he still sleeps great! I still haven’t figured out why he wakes up on weekends, but I’m keeping the magic and mystery alive. It keeps me guessing if today will be the morning I wake up at 2:00am to nurse the little guy back to sleep, or if today is the day I can sleep through the night.

Well, the joke is on me. When the little guy does sleep through the night, we conveniently have three dogs that occasionally need to regurgitate something on the new vinyl wood floor (that husband is dedicated to protecting). Or, my daughter will conveniently wrap her sock monkey’s tail around her finger causing her to wake up and scream in a panic. The most convenient part about sleep, is there is absolutely nothing convenient about it. Having a chaotic household means I covet my sleep when I can get it. I make extra cups of coffee to function throughout the day, and to enjoy the time I get to spend with my family. Interrupted sleep is the new normal, and I’m conveniently okay with it.