Do I look a little tired? If so, it's because I am. Having a newborn plus other children gives new meaning to the word sleep deprived. But I am happy and am always amazed at how little sleep a person can survive on, or how much strength and energy beyond our own that parents are blessed with. At least I am not as tired as I was two months ago. =)
But then I remember the sweet moments like this, and their sweet spirits and voices, and the funny things they do and say, and the great joy that comes just from loving someone else more than yourself and doing everything you can to help them learn and grow, and suddenly I don't feel so tired!
Preston has started to sleep through the night (meaning 8:30pm to ~5am) about one out of every three nights. Not bad. The other two nights usually go as follows......
Bedtime: Nate and Jenn lay down to go to sleep around 11pm. We just get into a deep sleep around midnight when.......
Wake-up #1: wake up about 12:30am to one of the following:
1) Baylee comes into our room followed by Mckenna because Baylee either needs to use the bathroom or already has and wants us to put a new diaper on her
2) Mckenna comes into our room followed by Baylee because Mckenna wants to snuggle
So it's back to bed for both of them.
Wake-up #2: 2:30am, Preston crying, wants to nurse so I do since I'm already awake and it will take less time to just get up, feed him, and go back to sleep than to try to convince him he really doesn't need to eat until at least another couple hours. =)
Wake-up #3: 4:30am, Preston crying because he really wants to nurse this time. Apparently the 2am nursing was just a comfort nurse, so I figure again, it will just be faster and I can get to bed in less time if I just nurse him again.
Wake-up #4: 5:30am, Nate's alarm to get up for semianry goes off, then goes off at least a couple more time after each time he hits the snooze button.
Wake-up #5: 6:30am, Baylee and Mckenna in our room because they are ready to start the day. I tell them no, it's still nighttime and dark outside, put them back in their room, and lie back down hoping for one more good hour of sleep.
Wake-up #6: 7:30am, Preston and Baylee and Mckenna all up, because this time it really is time to start the day but for some reason I feel like I haven't slept at all so I feed Preston again, change all three diapers, and put on a movie in hopes that I can at least get one more hour of sleep.....
Wake0up #7: 8:30am, now that I've had over over 9 hrs of "sleep" I am refreshed and ready to start the day! =)
Sound familiar? Ah, the joys of sleep. Precious sleep.
Sound familiar? Ah, the joys of sleep. Precious sleep.
But then I remember the sweet moments like this, and their sweet spirits and voices, and the funny things they do and say, and the great joy that comes just from loving someone else more than yourself and doing everything you can to help them learn and grow, and suddenly I don't feel so tired!
OH, they ARE so sweet and worth it!!! :) And you look great!!! :) Our nights are VERY similar to yours...though Brighton does not sleep for that long of a period every 3 nights or so...I am lucky if he sleeps for 4 hours in one stretch. He usually has one longer stretch (like 4 hours), then is up about every 2 1/2-3 hours to nurse. This is pretty similar to all my other kids (except Haven who slept many, many hours a night from the time she was just a tiny baby) so I am not stressed about it. Actually, when Elijah was a baby I remember feeling stressed out about how often he woke up to nurse until one night when he was about 8 months old. "All" babies "should" be sleeping through the night by then!! (ha, ha...tongue in cheek, of course!) Since my babies sleep right next to me, one night I heard his tummy growling right before he woke up to nurse...so I know that babies do get hungry during the night (even "old" babies) and do need to eat...it's not always "just" for comfort, etc. I do the same thing, though, that you do...on mornings where I feel like I just have not gotten very much sleep at all, I have the kids watch a show while the baby and I nap. :) VERY good use of the television. :)
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