Sleep

Isla has never been what I would consider a stellar sleeper. She has been in with us...in our bed that is...since she was a wee little one. I was a sucker and wanted some sleep. And it kept going from there. I didn't tell too many people because, after all, I didn't want to deal with the judgement. A baby, in my bed. I know the judgement is washing over you just reading that. But allowing her to lay next to me all night and have marathon nursing sessions allowed me to get some sleep. But I knew this was going to change. It needed to change. And change it did after our little trip to Napa. The first night we were gone, Isla woke up three times for my mom and only took a bottle one of those times. The second night, she only woke once. Her first night back with us, she woke a whopping seven times. Exhausting, right? I would like to say that was out of the norm, but it wasn't completely. Anyway, after that, Ian decided we had to get her out of our room. So, I kindly explained to him that he needed to get up with her because when I did, she would smell my milk and go postal until I fed her. 

After two nights of Ian getting up with Isla, she was much better. I would like to say some grand thing like she sleeps for twelve hour stretches, but that is just so not true. But still anything is an improvement. Isla is sleeping in her bed every night and wakes about two times a night to feed. It is a commitment on my part to drag my sleepy butt into her room and feed her back to sleep, but I am not into letting her cry it out, so it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. Even with that willingness, teething/the 9 month regression or whatever else you want to call it, still can take a toll on me. And I still don't understand how after a crazy night, Isla can wake up with a smile on her face and I can wake up not knowing what way is up. Seriously, there was a day last week that I felt awful. Worse than ever. But thankfully, Isla does throw me a bone every once in a while and slept all the way through until 5:30am on Tuesday night. Of course, I had to pay for it on Wednesday night, but thats another story. And I won't even get into Connor's new habit of waking at night. 

After the past nine months that I have had (plus those restless months while pregnant), I am convinced that sleep deprivation is the way to go in terms of torturing people. Forget that illegal water boarding, just sick some crazy babies on those fools and they will crack in no time! Come on, most war criminals are men. And we know men aren't cut out for this stuff. Insert evil laughter here.