Monday, August 27, 2007

I need to sleep

Enough is enough. I am so freaking tired (by the way - my three year old now uses "freakin" on a daily basis). I need to sleep. It has been six months since Fifi was born. The last 3 months of pregnancy were tough and sleep wasn't really an option. So, I really haven't slept a full night's sleep in well over 9 months. And I am tired.

The first thing strangers ask when they approach a baby is, "How sweet, is she sleeping for you?" They typically assume, since I have two other children in tow, that she has to be and move onto some more random baby questions. I usually don't answer, because, who really wants to listen about your baby's sleep routine and progress?

I have no routine and we haven't made any progress in 6 months. End of story. I have tried. Really I have. She had a runny nose at 4 months. Later a severe case of diarrhea when we introduced foods. Then she had a blocked tear duct that took weeks to clear. Once that cleared - her runny nose came back. Then it took all of our 2 week Chicago vacation for her two bottom teeth to come in. And here we are at 6 months. Time flies when your body is excreting strange fluids at all ends.

My 6 month old sleeps like a freakin 6 week old. I can't take it anymore - so yesterday I set out to put an end to it. We are back from vacation, school time is approaching, we do not have diarrhea, runny noses, blocked ducts, and I think we have some time before the next sets of teeth come up. I put Fifi to bed at 8pm. She was up at 12. I sat next to her crib until 12:55 watching her cry. I flipped her over every time she went on her tummy and started slamming her newly pierced ears onto the crib spindles. I was so glad that my husband agreed we needed to "train her together" and "teach her who is boss." She was screaming. She was wailing. She was, it sounded like, really dying. Needless to say, she won, and I brought her into our bed at about 12:56, I curled up around her and inhaled her glorious scent. Do you know what my third born did? She actually started to purr - like a cat - purr out loud - really loud. It was so sweet and I actually smiled - it was 1am. I woke up super tired this morning with an over scheduled day of activities - and I started to think - she is really smart - she was really playing me from the first cry at 12.

Parenting is supposed to get easier with every child, right? Wrong. I am clueless. Do I let her cry it out? Should I dust off all the sleep books I read with Lola? Should I start taking some sleeping pills?

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