On The Road Again

Why does my son hate to sleep so much?! How it is possible that I could produce someone who fights sleep, when I love it so much? Colin has never been what I would consider a good sleeper. Sure, some days he does sleep through the night and some days he even manages to take TWO whole naps, but rarely both! In the beginning, he was decent at napping every couple of hours, but then would also wake up every couple of hours at night. Now he's sleeping through the night but refuses to take more than 1 nap a day! I guess beggars can't be choosers but a girl can still dream, right?!

Partly because of the sleep issues and partly because we haven't had a free weekend, we just now were able to visit Wes's family for Christmas. I have to admit, I was dreading the trip, not because I didn't want to see them, but because I was leery of the sleeping situation for Colin. We took the pack'n'play, but Colin has never slept in it. We tried when he was a new born and he screamed his head off. I prayed the same event would not transpire and that perhaps he would get a few hours of sleep. Be careful what you wish for because that's exactly what I got, a FEW hours. Let me back up for a minute. Not surprisingly, he refused his late afternoon nap, which made him exhausted by 7pm. So down he went without much of a fight. We had to put the pack'n'play in our room and shut the door. When it was time for me to go to bed I was leery of having to open the door to sneak into the room but I managed. I failed to mention that this door could use some WD-40! Colin is still asleep. Next comes Wes about 11pm. We couldn't be so lucky to escape the squeaky door 2 times in a row. He no more gets into bed when Colin begins to cry. Up he goes to tend to him. He gets him out and there is no room to walk, rock, etc. So he sits in the papasan chair (You know the kind you don't sit in, you sink in? And then just imagine trying to get out of that chair, holding a sleeping baby, while trying not to wake him). Somehow he manages to get him back to sleep and back in the pack'n'play. 1am rolls around and here we go again, only this time it was my turn. I get up, trip over my suitcase, stub my toe on the pack'n'play, jab my hip into the end of the bed, and oh I forgot to mention that I had forgotten my glasses so I couldn't see a thing! I manage to get him out and then I just stand there like now what do I do. He was wide awake - even in my blind state I could see those big blue eyes starring back at me! He's no dummy, he knew he wasn't at home and wanted to check everything out. There were a few lights from various clocks, on/off switches, etc, that Colin found quite interesting. I brought him to the bed with me because I knew I wasn't stealthy enough to maneuver in the papason chair. A few minutes later, he fell asleep right next to me. Please note this is something I never thought I'd do, but desperate times call for desperate measures! Surely he will be content laying close to Mommy for the remainder of the night. WRONG. Up again at 3 and thank goodness it was Wes's turn because I seriously couldn't move. Wes follows my lead and stays in the bed with him. Back to sleep again, only for him to wake up at 5:45 ready to eat. I manage to hold him off until 6:10 and I feed him. Normally he would go back to sleep until about 8, think again! Nope, he was up and raring to go. Wes was none too pleased with the series of events and proclaimed that we wouldn't be repeating this trip anytime soon.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't like to have my sleep patterns interrupted, but in this case I just don't think it's fair to Colin. He has his set routine and clearly doesn't like to have it interrupted. Does this mean we can never leave our house?! How will we manage on vacation this summer for a week in a foreign location? Can anyone provide some much needed insight? Please tell me how I was able to function in the beginning of his life when we were up every 3 hours! Can you say adrenaline?!!

If you have a baby/child/offspring that sleeps well, consider yourself lucky! Give your child a big hug and kiss tonight and thank them for allowing you to sleep. This is something you shouldn't take for granted!