Sleep Deprivation

I'm not sure whether or not I'll get more sleep or less sleep after my mom goes home to Minnesota. The baby still does not sleep more than two hours at night and to top it off it seems like he becomes more fussy every day that goes by these last couple of weeks. Well, sometimes he'll sleep three hours if I'm really lucky, but mostly two and sometimes just one. A couple of friends have explained to me that their mothers or mother-in-laws, when they visit, will offer to take the baby all night long, claiming that they can rest when they get home and the mother can't. I even know of a grand-mother of two babies under one year who will watch the grandkids by herself for a whole weekend. What a luxury for those parents! However, because my mom lives so far away, our visits are more like vacations. We do a lot together and take a lot of photos during them, so I think they are actually a bit more exhausting for me than life normally is.

Lets do a replay of last night or any night:

7:30 Begin toddler's bedtime process, baby is colicky at this time also

8:30 Leave toddler in his bed, baby starts to relax and get sleepy

9:30 Toddler sleeps after leading him back to his bed about 10 times in the past hour

10:00 Mommy lies down

10:30 Mommy sleeps

11:30 Baby wakes (change, feed, burp, swaddle, sleep--takes about 20 - 40min)

12:30 Daddy comes to bed, mommy usually wakes

1:30 Baby wakes (change, feed, burp, swaddle, sleep)

1:45 Mom falls asleep but baby cries, reinsert pacifier

2:30 Baby sleeps after having rocked and reinserted pacifier several times

3:30 Baby wakes (change, feed, burp, swaddle, sleep--takes about 20 - 40min)

5:30 A repeat of what happened from 1:30-2:30

6:00 Toddler wakes, someone brings him warm milk in a sippy cup to entice him to sleep 1 hour more

6:30 Toddler wants to go downstairs and play

7:00 Baby wakes (change, feed, up for good)

So, at night I started thinking . . . I bet I get out of bed 30 times during the night. Last night I counted: 20 times. I feel okay this morning. I think the nights during which I get up 30 times are the nights when I am almost in tears in the morning, put the crying baby on my husband's side of the king bed, insert earplugs, and try to sleep, unsuccessfully. Anyway, we put our first son in his own room at 6 weeks. My mom leaves tonight, so we'll try to put the baby in his own room tonight, at 7 weeks old. When my dad comes to visit, we'll have to move the baby back to ours. But, I not sure with this baby whether moving him will make the nights more or less sleepless.

Alright, posting photos of my mom's visit is going to take more time. I apologize, but you're going to have to check back later for those. Beleive it or not, tomorrow (Day 1 of Week 8) is the first day that I will watch both of my children for the entire day all by myself. I'm not sure how this has been post-poned for so long, but I guess we have all of our visitors and babysitters play dates staggered just right. I'm kind of excited to see how I and the boys do together. I think we will do just fine.