Sleep Deprivation

I'm working on a blog about Caleb turning a month old (wow!) but I'm having trouble narrowing down the 867 pictures we have of him to just a few for the post. I'll get to it eventually... :- )

Nothing says new parent quite like the exhaustion beyond all reason that's written all over their face and body. Hubsters and I are no exceptions to this rule. We've had many sleepless nights that led to far too many sleepless days. However, sometimes in the middle of the night sleep deprivation gets the better of you and all that's left is laughter. Allow me to illustrate...

One night I was trying to let DJ get some sleep so I was changing Caleb and re-swaddling him in all his layers. (This is normally DJ's job.) I was struggling to get it done because our son has incredibly strong arms that refuse to be swaddled! I finally went to wake DJ and ask for help since he's so much better than I am. He kept asking who needed to be swaddled and why they couldn't do it themselves. I giggled but kept working to get him out of bed. When he did, he grabbed his shorts and attempted to put them on. However, he couldn't lift his leg high enough and kept falling over into everything around him. I tried to tell him he didn't need shorts - just a swaddle but I was laughing way too hard. He got so mad that I was laughing but I simply couldn't stop.

There are a lot of times that I feed Caleb, get him back to sleep, and lay him down. The child has Spidey Senses and can tell the second my head hits the pillow because he inevitably chooses that second to spit up and cry because he's laying in a puddle. There have been SEVERAL nights that I've asked DJ to get up and comfort him to which he replies, "But you haven't fed him yet!" However, two nights ago I shook him awake because we needed to get up. He argued, quite passionately, with me that I hadn't fed him yet. It took quite a bit of arguing to convince him that I fed him three hours ago and that we needed to be up again. He was convinced I never fed him the first time.

There was one night that Caleb woke up to eat and was crying. DJ nudged me that we needed to get up. I promptly rolled over and snapped, "You gave him the medicine! You deal with it!" There was no medicine. There was no reason for this comment or the intesne anger I felt towards my husband.

I've also become very well known for rocking the bed back and forth when Caleb begins to cry in an attempt to calm him down. Caleb doesn't sleep in our bed! He sleeps across the room in a beautiful hand made cradle! Why do I feel the need to rock him to sleep in my bed? No clue!

However, my all time favorite story was from the first week we were home with Caleb. In that first week we were up every 2 hours to feed and I had to take some form of pain pill every 2-4 hours. One night in particular I was feeding Caleb, struggling to stay awake, while DJ snored loudly in the bed. (He's lucky I didn't throw something at him! I was so jealous of his sleep at that point!) Suddenly, the alarm on his phone went off alerting us that it was time to take a pain pill. Since I was feeding Caleb I called out his name and told him to turn off the alarm. He immediately reached over and began hitting his water glass, trying to turn off the sound. I giggled and reminded him that his phone was making noise. Without hesitating, he picked up the remote and said, "Hello? Hello? HELLO?" When I finally contained my laughter I told him what he was doing. He looked at me and said, "Shhhh! I'm on the phone!" It was all I could do to keep hold of Caleb as I laughed hysterically. Poor kid got a milk shake that night!


Sleep deprivation is an evil mistress! But praise the Lord that our little boy slept 7 hours last night! And then slept 5 hours after that! YAY! We're feeling much better today - especially my poor husband who has to get up in the morning and go to work each day. I have a hunch, however, that the nights of sleep deprivation are no where near an end. I expect that Caleb will have many more milk shakes before it's all said and done! :-)