sleep

I’m not a parenting expert by any means, but I am a parent, and I absolutely must share this tip. Over the past several weeks, Micah has begun waking up earlier and earlier. She used to sleep until 8:30 or even 9 every. single. morning. Without fail.

Sigh.

I didn’t know how good life was.

Then she began waking up at 8 a.m.

Then 7:45 a.m.

Then 7:30 a.m.

Then 7:15 a.m.

Then 7 a.m.

Until finally, Monday morning, she woke up at 6 a.m. As I stumbled sleepily {I’ve never pretended to be a morning person} to her room, I marveled at how bright it was in the house.

Then it dawned on me. Literally.

Micah was waking up with the sun. As the days have gotten longer and longer, Micah’s sleeping hours have gotten shorter and shorter.

Later on in the day, I rummaged through our linen closet and came out with a dark brown sheet. I hung it over her curtain rod and crossed my fingers.

The next morning, she slept until 8:30 a.m. And the next, 9 a.m.!

Victory!

So, for what it’s worth, here’s my parenting tip of the day: If your baby is waking up with the sun, shut the sun out of his room. It’s that simple. Life is much better now that we’re back on our old sleeping schedule. Pulling out that sheet was the best idea I’ve had in a while!

Until next time, grace and peace.

I call a do-over. Today has been a bear of a day, and it’s only 1:45 in the afternoon. It started out way too early, but that’s only because I stayed up way too late doing random things that I should have done when normal people are awake, but since Micah’s awake when normal people are awake, I have a hard time completing all the tasks that I think I ought to do.

Like balance the checkbook.

And pay the mortgage.

And wash dishes.

And put away the four dozen pairs of shoes that have collected in the den.

Stuff like that.

So anyway, I crawled into bed at 1:48 a.m., Dennis rolled out of bed to go to work sometime around 5 a.m., and Micah woke me up at 7:36 a.m.

I’m not exactly sure how long she’d been awake. She was cooing and talking to herself, and since I had been dreaming about my sweet daughter talking to me, I’m pretty sure that she had been awake for quite some time.

I pried one eyelid open to look at the clock.

Then I did what all good mothers do.

I rolled over and pretended that I didn’t hear her.

Don’t act shocked.

You know you do it too.

But then she became more vocal, so I dragged myself out of bed and tried not to fall asleep while I fed her.

Then I counted down the minutes until it was time for her morning nap.

Because then I could go back to sleep.

In case you haven’t noticed, Sleep and I are good friends. I like to hang out with Sleep for an obscene amount of time. When I don’t see enough of Sleep, I make life miserable for everyone around me. Trust me, you want me to spend time with Sleep.

So when the hands on the clock inched past 9 a.m., I decided it was time for Micah to close her eyes, because that’s what I wanted to do.

She had a different idea about that.

Apparently, she decided that she didn’t need her customary two-hour-long morning nap.

Today, about 30 minutes was enough.

Thirty minutes.

Let that sink in.

Do you know how difficult it is to get a good nap in 30 minutes?

Do you know how impossible it is to take a nap and get something else accomplished during that time?

Eventually I gave in and rescued Micah from her cage crib.

A couple of hours later, and she finally gave it up. I hope she stays asleep for a good long time.

Doesn’t she know that I have about 153 things to do today?

Now I can actually start working on getting some of them done. Like writing on here. Only 152 left.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Parenting is such a difficult job. We always try to do what’s best for Micah, but sometimes what’s best is no fun at all. Micah slept through the night at two months old. By the time she was three months old, she slept between 11 and 12 hours every night. Without fail. It was glorious. Then she turned four months old and started getting restless. Then she hit a growth spurt and I nursed her twice during the night. Then she started sleeping again. That lasted for about two weeks. Then she got her first tooth. And the night waking began again. It’s not good for those of us who like to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.

Over the weekend, we began Operation Cry It Out {OCIO}, and it was purely awful. The first night, Micah woke up at 11:32 p.m. and cried until 12:23 a.m. She woke up twice more before 6 a.m. and cried for about 30 minutes each time. The next night, Micah woke up at 1:31 a.m. and cried until just after 2 a.m. Last night, we also began weaning Micah from the swaddle that she loves so dearly. When I wrapped her up for the night, I left one arm out. It’s a dangerous move, because she’s fully capable of removing the pacifier from her mouth, but she’s not yet mastered the art of reinserting it. She fell asleep without any problems, and we rejoiced {silently, of course} in the den. She slept well – only waking up once around 4:30 a.m. But apparently her free hand did some damage during the night; her little eye has a scratch underneath it. Poor thing.

My point in all of this is that I know we’re not alone. Parents everywhere finally resort to letting their child cry it out. It’s a painful step to take. Heartwrenching, even, when your child cries and you don’t answer.

But let me just say this.

My body appreciates the sleep. I think Micah’s does too. Everyone needs their beauty sleep, right? And let’s face it: everyone has to learn how to put themselves back to sleep sometime. Now is Micah’s time. Next step? Releasing her other arm from the swaddle. We’ll see how it goes.