life with a new baby
Posts tagged sleep
Grumpified Grumpy Grump
Aug 30th
I attempted in vain to lay Nathan down for his nap… he’s not having it, however. He has been rubbing his bleary, sleepy little eyes since he woke up this morning, protesting everything that I did with squirming and grunts of dissatisfaction.
However, he started out in a great mood this morning with a huge grin and scissor legs. We spent some time “talking” to each other for which I was rewarded with ton of happy, wet kisses. After feeding him, I put him in his exersaucer to play and that’s when he sprouted red horns.
He did not want his exersaucer.
He rubbed his little eyes, looking at me imploringly through his tears. I picked him up and cuddled him, but that didn’t help. I was doomed. I made a mistake by putting him in the exersaucer, unaware that was not what my little dictator wanted to do. I couldn’t console him, so Paul played with him for a while. Then they sat together and watched Blue’s Clues, but that didn’t even make a difference. Nathan wanted to be a Grumpified Grumpy Grump and had absolutely no intentions on being anything else. I gave him some rice cereal, and the little guy was so tired with a full belly that he could barely hold his head up, so I laid him down for a nap.
Initially, he was content… for about two minutes… then all hell broke lose. That kid can scream like there’s no tomorrow.
Seriously.
He flails his pudgy little fists, chin quivering, feet kicking, socks flying off his feet like shrapnel as if I had hung him up by his ears or something. Fortunately, he’s not like this all the time. It’s usually once every few days. After today, he’ll be a sweet, happy, gurgling little angel for a few days until the cycle repeats itself.
From one extreme to the other; that’s a baby for you.
An Unexpected Gift
Aug 27th
Patiently letting Mommy sleep
Nathan woke up earlier than usual today… 6:15 am. By the time I changed his diaper and fed him, it was after 7. I was bleary-eyed and staggering around the room, intoxicated with the lack of sleep. I decided to attempt to put Nathan back to bed so I could hopefully snatch a few more precious minutes of sleep… if he’d let me. Nathan will only sleep in his swing at night, so I took him into our room and tucked him in. I eagerly crawled back into bed, gradually falling asleep to the sound of Nathan cooing in the background. An hour and a half later, his noises escalated in volume, signalling it was time to get up.
“Honey, how long has he been awake?” I asked my husband, since he was up shortly after I put Nathan down, getting ready for work.
“He’s been wide awake the whole time,” he replied. I couldn’t believe he actually sat there and let me sleep. I doubt he was consciously letting me sleep, but it was a nice little gift. What a great kid!
Until it Sleeps
Aug 24th
Nathan, 4 weeks, sleeping in his swing
Sleep.
It’s a commodity around here.
When the opportunity arises, I grab it like an addict grabs for her drug, saliva dripping from my mouth, tasting the anticipation.
Nathan has made it clear, however, that he does not share my sentiment. The past few days, Nathan has decided to rip up his previous sleep schedule with a vengeance, tossing it around in his pudgy little hands and molding it like play-dough, creating a whole new schedule for us to live by.
Ah, my little benevolent dictator.
Previously, we would wake around 8am, then he would nap around noon for about an hour and a half in his crib, and then around four, he would nap another hour and a half. The past few days, on the other hand, Nathan decided he wanted to get up earlier and not take a nap at all during the day.
That made a grumpified baby and a grumpified mommy.
I attempted in vain to put him down for his nap during the usual times, but it was met with animalistic howling, screeching, and other ethereal sounds that I didn’t know a human being could produce. I tried rubbing his head, singing to him, lovingly patting his back… all to no avail. He simply did not want to sleep. There is only so much yowling a mother can take before she caves to the heart-wrenching pleas. As soon as I picked him up, all sounds of anger abruptly ceased. His face lit up with a huge, toothless grin and he planted an open-mouthed, drooling kiss on my cheek.
My little guy is learning how to manipulate quite well.
Today, I initially planned to not put him down for a nap at all, but when I saw his eyes become glassy from sleepiness, I jumped at the opportunity and laid him down in his crib. He didn’t so much as whimper and slept for three solid hours. Perhaps he desires one long nap a day rather than two short ones. Perhaps he doesn’t want to nap at all. He becomes very grumpy when his nap is later in the day or when he completely forgoes his nap, but I’m fine with that because no matter how grumpy he gets, I know that sooner or later, sleep will come. Even if it’s not until his bedtime, he will eventually sleep.
And so will I.
Ode to the Monster that Eats My Sleep
Aug 21st
There is a nasty monster scurrying around here who eats my sleep.
Try as I might to catch up on my sleep, this gremlin scampers in and, as quietly as a predatory cougar, steals it. I can imagine how it must hover over me while I am peacefully snoozing, rancid drool oozing from its yellowed fangs, remnants of its last victim’s sleep still decaying on its thick, sharpened claws. I can see its eyes roam hungrily over my head as I snuggle contentedly under the covers, glinting in the pale moonlight with anticipation at the very thought of causing yet another foggy day.
The total accumulation of stolen sleep over the past 6 months is catching up with me. I all too often find myself walking around in a thick, misty fog, stumbling over my own two feet, forgetting the simplest of tasks, stuck in my own little world of Imaginations Gone Awry.
I miss the days when I was young and full of energy, able to go a night without sleep due to cramming for midterms and finals while in college.
I also miss those days because I was skinny, flat bellied, and stretch-mark free.
Those days are GONE, and I am morbidly aware of that fact.
Now, as I am rapidly approaching 30 with no brakes, each minute of missed-out sleep follows me around like a cancerous black cloud, occasionally raining putrid torrents of misery down upon my head.
And the head of my husband. And every single other unlucky critter to cross my sleep-deprived path.
To the monster who keeps stealing my sleep, you are a bad, bad sleep monster and I hereby fire you. You are ordered to slither to another slumbering household in another dimension and infect them with your bad-mood slime because this mommy is tired of being tired. You will be defeated, you little monster.
You and your little dog, too.
If you don’t leave this realm, I will maniacally dismember your rotting limbs from your scrawny green body, piece by piece, and I will wear you as my second skin, like a trophy.
My bed is beckoning. This time, odiferous sleep monster, you will not be crouching under the bed, quivering with excitement.
Look out world. Here comes some magical days filled with bliss and boundless energy!
Recent Comments
Aww thanks, Tina, it was good to see you too! I wish I could have talked to you more... I ...
I'm sorry you all had a rough go yesterday, but it was good to see you both :) I have ...
Thank you, I appreciate that. It's so cool to hear people say that we look alike... I've been told there ...
Awww... what really nice photos! You two look so alike, especially with the way you smile.