Sleep Deprivation Techniques

Sleep Glorious Sleep. My dear old friend. When will you be back?

I remember sleeping in late, laying in bed with my husband and asking him. "Are you sure you want to give this up?" Wow, that seems like ages ago. Now we negotiate who will go get our son out of bed and who will get 20 more minutes of sleep. He always calls for Mommy, so 8 out of 10 times I gotta go. Sleep is just a faded memory.

I started waking up every two hours from my second month of pregnancy. Something was pressing against my bladder and I had to go. I waddled over and tried not to miss the toilet. My son did not sleep more than two hours at a time until he was 10 months old. At that point he was only sleeping a whopping 4 hours at night. As soon as I put him in his crib I would run to my bed and try to get as much shut eye as possible. He started sleeping through the night at 12 months. Do the math. That is 7 plus 12 months=over a year of no sleep. Some people can do with just a few hours of sleep a night. I am not one of them. My sweet salvation and the best piece of baby gear that any mother can get is a swing. This is the best invention ever for pacifying a crying baby and for extending the sleep time. I value every minute. Even as I write this I am keeping an eye on the camera that is focused on his bed and as he moves I say a little prayer to God that he does not wake up. Now he is a fantastic sleeper but an early riser so the trick is to get him to sleep earlier because no matter what time he goes to sleep, he wakes up at the same time everyday. I haven't needed an alarm clock in 4 years.

I have come to grips with the fact that motherhood means never getting a good night sleep again. Yawn

I wish all of the new Moms out there sweet dreams!

When Are Your Parents Going to Pick You Up?

I've always loved children. I like to play and be silly. I love to teach them new things. I love that soon their parents will be coming to pick them up.

I remember those first few days and first few weeks with my newborn son. The days seemed like they would never end. He was a good baby. It was me, it wasn't him. I'm an only child and used to the world revolving around me. I wasn't spoiled. My mom was a single Mom and we had just what we needed, but I wasn't used to having to spend every minute concerned about someone else's needs. Everyday was about breastfeeding, playing, changing diapers, taking a walk outside. I could barely do anything else. No time for showers, peeing, eating and certainly no sleep. It is true that as the days pass you fall more and more in love with your child. This is a mechanism designed by God to ensure that we don't kill our young like other species do. Everyday I looked into his eyes I loved him more and more but for those first few days; Day turned into night and night into day. I just kept going as if somehow I knew that soon his parents would come and pick him up.