Oh Sleep!

Well well well.  So this is what it is like to feel semi-rested.  Semi.... :)  I am actually getting 3-4 hours of sleep at a time now.  Not consistently, but it is coming along.  Maybe it will help my blogging.  :)

I tend to take pictures of Isla when she does sleep, because she is so dern cute!  Here she was playing with her cloth diapers and then just went off to dream land.  

Let me just preface this by saying that Isla has been a horrible sleeper from day 1.  From 20 minute cat naps at max, to just a few hours here and there at night, she is a 24 hour party animal who disregarded the saying "sleep like a baby."  I joke about it, but let me tell you the first 3 months were like a crazy nightmare in regards to lack of sleep.

Isla and I have been co-sleeping/sleep-sharing/night time parenting for the past 5.5 months.  Sometimes she slept in the co-sleeper next to our bed, but most of the time she ended up in the bed, snuggled up to me like a happy bug in a rug.  Say what you want about sleeping with your baby, but I am here to tell you it is awesome.  It is really one of the coolest feelings to have that baby right next to you, warm and protected.  It made breast feeding a lot easier.  Our family got a lot more sleep (relative to all of the other parents out there who had sleeping babies), and we were able to care for Isla easier during the night.  Plus, it is natural.  But you can read about that sort of parenting on your own.  Everyone has to find their own way.

Another napping picture...this is Isla taking a nap before "school."  It is so hard for me to wake her up sometimes because she is just so peaceful!

As Isla got older, her needs changed (as did mine because I was falling apart from no sleep).  She has always been a very, very light sleeper, but she started waking up many times a night again like she did as an infant.  As in every hour.  Waking.  Up.  And guess who else woke up?  Not Dave, because he went to the other room to get some real sleep.  Now she has never been an all night sleeper, but waking up every hour?  The all night nursing was leaving my drained.  I just couldn't stay open 24 hours anymore.  (and babies that feed from the breast eat differently than babies that take formula, so it is normal to nurse during the night.  Breast fed babies are not designed to sleep 12 hours without waking when they are so little).

Light sleeper + cold nights + teething + rolling everywhere and new skills = crazy

After the 3rd recent week of waking up 6-8 x a night and nursing Isla because she would not be comforted any other way, we tried the crib.  I started sleeping in the bed right next to the crib so I could be there to help her calm and transition to sleep.  So far so good.  We only had to nurse 2 x the past two nights and maybe 1 other reassurance snuggle, and that is huge progress for us.  So we are still close together at night, but not bed sharing, which has effectively let the employee at the all night diner (me) go on break some of the night.  :)

So....yippee to some more sleep around here!  It seems to be working out for us both, and that is what parenting is all about.

And, as I learn to be a better parent every day to Isla, I realize that time is moving way too fast.  She is just growing before my eyes.  The pictures below are of her first bath when we had her home and her last bath this week.  Is there anything better than a naked baby?  So sweet!

It will be interesting to see how my workouts change with a little more sleep in my pocket.  My next race is a trail half marathon in 2 weeks.  I have been working my tail off on the dreadmill treadmill, and I am excited to see how much easier this half marathon feels from the one I did at the 4 month mark in November.  2014 is just around the corner.  I am so excited-  it is going to be my year!  ;)