I have never wanted to sleep like a baby, given that they are up half the night, however in the wonderful world of the nursery, we have finally entered the hallowed ground of 'sleeping through'. I say this with my fingers firmly crossed behind my back because it wouldn't do to tempt the sleep fairy or she may take her magic dust elsewhere - however we have had four nights in which Charlie has slept from midnight to seven or eight in the morning.
This is good news because with no 4am feed, he's waking up hungry enough to eat an huge breakfast and that means, as all of us know who have ever tried to skip lunch after a Full English, that his stomach has been stretched to accomodate a large luncheon and then a hearty tea. This in turn makes him nice and sleepy at bedtime and while he can't quite skip that midnight snack, he can no longer be bothered to wake up before that morning poo. Sammy the new cat has in turn decided that our bed is in fact quite comfy and suddenly 4am has become very quiet around ours.
The trouble now is me. It turns out that I may be an old dog, but I have learned this new trick and at 4am I am Wide Awake. Firstly, of course, I have to pee. This is because I have gotten into the habit of drinking A Lot of fluids in order to furnish Charlie with his pre-dawn buffet. Then, because I am up anyway, it seems only rational to check on the baby. Firstly I check the monitor, because although he is a strapping horse of a baby with lungs on him like organ bellows, I have yet to be able to give up the monitor that allows me to see his breathing at any hour of the night, even though he is now mobile enough that he almost never sleeps over the sensor and most of the time it tells me he isn't breathing. This is the perfect excuse to then creep into the nursery and hover over his cot watching his pajama-clad chest go up and down. Then, I crawl back into bed strangely conflicted. Happy because I can sleep nearly a full night and oddly cheated because I no longer have my baby to myself for those few moments in the hours before dawn and instead am reduced to roaming around marking my territory like an old lion.
Still, I am getting used to it. 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is a wonderful thing and as I need all the beauty sleep I can get at this point, I am hoping that I can adjust as fast as the baby and the cat.
29 comments:
Sounds like you're coping well :)
It's like this all the way through the years - or it was for me, anyway.
As soon as you get adjusted and have one stage figured out, they move on to the next.
Sleep is good! Get it while you can. In a few months you'll be really needing it.
Like you, no one told me that having a cat could be like having another child – all full of demands and needs and such. Glad yours are both in sync for the time being, and you can enjoy a good block of sleep.
As my ma' always says – 'this too shall pass' – and that means the good things, too. So enjoy it while you can.
Hello Sparx...greetings from Canada...i happened upon your blog and i'm really enjoying it.
I hope you keep Sammy, it sounds like he has a good home with you...and at his age a good home won't be easy to find.
Love hearing about Charlie even though i've no children of my own...someday though.
Beautiful writing... will keep on reading.
I wanna see Charlie!!!!!!
This ought to go into the list of 'Things they never tell you before you became a mother' !
Very nice post !
A new stage has begun. Isn't sleep a wonderful commodity?
And don't worry. Your little fellow will always need you...just in different ways at different times in his life.
Hurray that the cat is sleeping, too!
P.S. Don't know if I've ever said, but I hail from Ohio, U.S.A.
hi, just happenchanced upon your blog and i dig it alot. i too have cats and kids, and wonder if i am a good parent, along with the other day to day that bombards us. i like how you capture it, very well-writ.
and the routine thing? overrated. my boys did well with being allowed to make some of their own decisions (i'm tired, gonna nap now), and they are more independant as a result, though that too can be a two-edged sword.
the whole thing is a lovely and painful rollercoaster that i wouldn't trade for the world.
now i will leave off being all preachy. sorry.
I so know where you are coming from ... Having finally managed to get my little one to sleep through the night I found myself waking up at 4am and unable to get back to sleep ... the husband would wake up at 5am to go to work and just around 6am when I managed to feel tired enough to fall asleep the blighter would wake up ... So strangely enough I would feel like I was getting less sleep than when he woke up for his night feeds!!
I've got two cats myself, but they spent most of their life trying to hide from my little boy who just thinks they are playing peekaboo with him!!
What a great blog!! Not sure how I accessed your blog today, but I am impressed with your writing style, and how you are handling motherhood. Yes, the little cherubs do grow, faster than we know, and at some point faster than we're ready for. Have Fun. I hope I can remember how I accessed here, to come back and check in again. Enjoy. FC
I just remembered!!?? Your listed under 'blogs of note' on the dashboard, are you aware of this - distinction!!
"8 hours of uninterrupted sleep..."
This made Bossy think of that movie title, "Girl Interrupted" -- which made Bossy realize that the title, "Mother Interrupted" is actually a redundancy.
Bro leaves blurt for sparx his sis
For he lives in silent bliss
No feline disturbs the sleeping hours
No bleating child, not yours, not ours
For DINKS can always sleep through the night
And wake to the silent, diaper-free, noise-free, caterwaul-free, stress-free and selfish morning light.
I found your blog today under "blogs of note." I have really enjoyed your recent posts and I will surely be back later to read some of your older ones.
I have a 6 1/2 month old baby and I know what you are talking about. She WAS sleeping through the night, but as of the last month she has decided that it is much more fun to be awake from about 1am-3am. Anyways- even if she does sleep, I am up wondering why she is sleeping and if she is okay. Well, I have rambled quite a bit. I'll be back later to do some more reading.
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I'm new to this and just posted my first blog. I came across your blurts and have not laughed so much for ages, superb writing and all so familiar. I still check my children are breathing before I go to bed and they are nearly 10 and 7 and check again if they sleep later than me!
I'll be checking back x
Wish for Charlie.
:-) I just keep coming back to read more. Oh sleep is over rated anyway, who really needs it. Think of it this way, as he gets older you'll go through it all again, waiting up for him to come home from night clubs, wondering which girl he's with.. All the good stuff to come, the teenage years.. ahh. Ha ha.
Try emptying your bladder before bed, and if you do wake up during the night don't get out of bed, your body will soon get used to not getting up at 4 and will sleep soundly through again. Just needs to reset your body clock.
I haven't had a good night's sleep in about 13 years (the age of my oldest). My two little ones (kinder and preschool ages)are to blame for my last few years of sleep deprivation and I see no relief in sight in the near future. Well, maybe sending them to grandma's this summer will help, but then I'll probably be awake wondering if they're OK without me. You can learn more about us at itsnoteasybeingqueen.blogspot.com
Eight hours of interrupted sleep is someting few people in your position get to experience. So The Baron asks that you simply cherish the hours you do get.
My first two babies were like angels.Slept through the night at 1 month old.THen came the third..
SHe gave me such a hard time. She is now 5. For the first 3 years I did not know what even 2 hours sleep felt like. ANd then when she eventually slept through my brain/body was so accustomed to sleeping in 2hr lengths that I still kept waking every two hours while she was sound asleep.I am infact still struggling to sleep through..Oh the joys of motherhood..Would not trade them for the world tho.Loved your blog!
I like the way you write about simple things. Go on, it´s very nice to read your thoughts
Don't worry...before long Charlie will be a teenager, and you'll be back up at 4am wondering where he is...
Hello,
I stumbled across your blog and LOVE it as I am a new mom and can relate. My baby doesn't sleep through the night yet, but we tend to do a lot of co-sleeping because it is easier on me. Thanks for the fun read and I will keep reading!
hi!
i chanced upon your blog and I love it.Very refreshing!
So, I happened to find your blog because (like some before me I would venture to guess) you were spotlighted.
Well ironically, its 5 in the morning. I am here awake, because my body is trying to tell me I don't need to sleep. While I have no little one of my own for a reason to be awake, I have gotten quite accustomed to this nocturnal life.
Well, my comment to just say hi, just turned into a little bit more. So I hope you the best of luck with continuing to get much sleep.
This is one scene, in my ever constant life is a play metaphor, that I think I would like to come back and watch sometime.
Sincerely yours,
Kasinova, the Notorious
I love this post...my baby just started sleeping through the night too. Gave up the 3 am feeding & oddly enough I am still wide awake at that time and creeping into his room! I just can't get enough of him...nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby! Glad I am not the only one feeling this way!
i still remember that day when my twins girls BOTH of them started sleeping through the night it was such a beautiful thing and now they don't usually wake up untill 9-10 in the morning
Good blog! I can see why you're "noteworthy." You should write a book.
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