The Quiet Hours

It is just after midnight, and KatyBeth is asleep in her crib. I dare to hope that this is a sign that my recent attempts to shift her schedule are working, but I'm sensible enough that I have to admit that this has not been going on for long enough to establish a pattern. I probably should go to bed, about now, as I had a really bad night, last night, but I need a bit of time to enjoy the quiet. Baby didn't go to sleep until about 1:30, which put me to bed around 2, only to have a major "fidgety attack" that left me unable to sleep. The solution to this is to lie down somewhere where I can stretch out, and fidget until the pent-up feeling goes away, and I finally fall asleep, if only from having expended all the extra energy twitching about. Problem: the place I used to do this, before KatyBeth came along was the futon in the "guest room", which is now the baby's room, and the futon, while it is still in there, does not have enough room to be converted into bed mode, and couch mode just doesn't have nearly enough space for what I need. So, I ended up... are you ready for this?...in the hallway. On the floor. With a pillow. Yes, I actually fell asleep there. For about an hour. So, I woke up again at about 3:30, much less fidgety, but significantly more stiff and achy. Probably not as achy as most women who view 35 years of age in the metaphorical rear view mirror, but being no longer in my teens, I can't just spring up, unaffected. I gathered my protesting body off the floor, and stumbled back to bed. I was there for 3 minutes - yes 3 MINUTES, before KatyBeth woke up and started crying. Still achy, and functioning on a mere hour of sleep (it should be mentioned here that I did not get a nap during the day, to fortify me against a long night), I buckled quickly, and simply brought her to bed with me, instead of trying to get her back to sleep in her own bed. She did a bit of flopping around in her sleep, but I'm pretty sure that bothered Arazyr more than it did me. In fact, I'm sure it did, as he commented about it in the morning, whereas I barely took note. I seem to vaguely recall slipping her back into her crib sometime between 5 and 6 am. I think I ended up awake again, to nurse her, around 8:30. I think Arazyr may have brought her back in to me, but I was out of it enough to not really remember. I know that both my baby girl and I were up and about shortly after 9:30. So, that's what? With all the waking, etc, I probably got about 6 hours of interrupted sleep, 1 of those on the floor in the hall.

While I appreciate any outcry of sympathy this may evoke, I'm not done, yet - KatyBeth went down for a nap around noon. I , not surprisingly, decided to join her. That would have been a wonderful idea, but some pinnacle of consideration in the neighborhood started blasting a stereo, with music that was not conducive to sleep - for me, anyway. The already-snoozing KB took no notice. I got up, closed the window to muffle the unwanted serenade, lay back down, and ... found myself unable to sleep. So, I transfered KB to her crib, and took a much-needed shower, instead. Now, I was delighted to fit the shower in, but it really didn't address my sleep problem. I'm not sure where the rest of the 2 hours that KB slept went, but she woke up about 2:00, and I tried to feed her, which met with only marginal success, and she was moderately fussy for the rest of the afternoon. Is it any wonder that I was about ready to burst into tears, myself, by the time Arazyr got home from work? I passed Baby off to him, and... get ready for the ultimate in relaxation... put on socks and shoes, and went to the bank and the grocery store, then came home and made dinner. Do I know how to pamper myself, or what? At least dinner was at least half of the "heat something up from a frozen package" variety. After a short time of reading through some of the early archive of the Yarn Harlot's blog, I abandoned my husband and child, to go take a nap. I got in an hour. Helpful, but still leaving me glad that KB went to bed around midnight.

Well, it is now nearly 1 am. I got no writing done, this Wednesday, and very little knitting, but... there's always tomorrow (well, today, now)... Here's hoping I can get some less interrupted sleep, tonight...