Brooklynn has been fighting sleep like crazy lately. She's always saying screaming, "No bed! Awake! Awake! No Sleep!" etc... This particular night she said that...and then fell asleep during her story. I could barely handle the cuteness. Yeah...sure you're not tired, Brooklynn.
The last two nights Brooklynn has been up at least 6 times but I think closer to 8. Sometimes she will eat and go back to sleep, and then wake up crying...other times she just wants to be held. I am exhausted. She is fighting a cold (runny nose, cough, etc.) and I'm assuming she is just having trouble sleeping, but also has been up a lot lately from all the teeth she's getting. (Ok, just two so far, but I think there are more on the way). Her and Josh have both been sick the last few days. I'm surprised I'm functioning at all. I'd say within the last 2 or 3 weeks or so she started waking up at least 3 times a night. It used to be only one at around 5 or 6...we are seriously backsliding. I hope this is just a phase. I think it was easier to deal with when she was a newborn and I expected her to wake up all the time. Now that she WAS sleeping better and now that we're back to the waking up it is so much worse. (that and when she was really little she was in our room; now I have to walk to her room and I'm bumping into everything because I'm like a walking zombie.)
I think Brooke takes after me when it comes to sleeping positions. When I was younger I apparently would take off my diaper and then go back to sleep with my bare butt sticking straight up in the air. (My parents have a picture of this proudly displayed in our family album). There is also one of me "hanging" with my legs in between the rails. Who knows what else I did. My lovely daughter, Brooklynn, is very funny in her sleep. It is almost as if she runs in an imaginary hamster wheel at night. I'll put her head facing one direction and when I go to get her up most of the time she is facing the other way. Sometimes she gets stuck halfway and will try and stretch out and can't. Then she cries for us...not because she doesn't like it. Almost like a "hey, look what I can do!" She won't fall asleep any more unless her head is jammed right up against her crib bumper, or my pillow if she is in bed with us. It's pretty cute. That is, until you realize that it's because her legs never stop moving, even in her sleep and she keeps kicking you right in the side. So funny. I sleep hugging a pillow so I don't mind; she usually just kicks Josh instead.
People constantly ask me if Brooke is sleeping through the night yet. It kinda makes me think that she already has this huge expectation to live up to and she is somehow inadequate because she isn't. I try not to let it bother me, but it still is this nagging annoyance. She is still only 3 months old, who cares that she wakes up and is hungry during the middle of the night? I'm going to feed her! When I tell people that she still wakes up a couple of times I'll sometimes get advice to try rocking her to sleep and not feed her and it will only be rough for the first few nights. OK, no. Am I such a bad parent for not wanting to deprive my child of food? Even when she sleeps through the 3 am feeding and wakes up at 5, I still wake up at 3. I'm so used to waking up with her that I don't mind at all. The few times she slept almost the entire night I would lay awake worrying about her; something must be wrong if she's still sleeping. Maybe she's overheating. So really, I almost sleep better when she wakes up to feed because I know she's OK. Ever since she was a newborn she would wake up to eat, but then she goes right back to sleep. What's so horrible about that? I actually cherish those middle of the night feedings. It's quiet, so sweet and special. I take it all in... she truly needs me in these tender moents. I'm in no hurry to give that up. So why does it seem like everyone else in the world who doesn't have to get up with her expect her to sleep all night? I just don't get it. Someday, she will. That is my ranting for the day. She really is a good sleeper, she sleeps a total of about 10 1/2 to 11 hours a night, waking up 2-3 times, and then she takes naps for 3-6 hours a day. And then she is super active the rest of the time. Here are some pictures of my little sleeping angel. I especially love the video of her snoring, it's hilarious.
