Sleep

There hasn't been a whole lot of it happening in our household recently.

Well, except for Landon. He's sleeping for all of us. Although his patterns are changing.

I think Landon is officially transitioning himself down to one nap a day. I have mixed feelings about this...on the one hand, I'm going to miss my guaranteed 4 hours of Landon-less productivity (or Layla time) but on the other hand, it will be nice to have a little bit more freedom to do things/go places in the mornings more. I'm ok with him switching to one nap a day as long as he sleeps a little later in the mornings (maybe till 9ish?) and preferably if he'd take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. That hasn't been working out perfectly the past few days though, so this could be a rough transition. Except for Saturday - Landon slept until 10:45 in the morning and took a 3 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. WOW! We were all jealous. I blame it on the rainy day.

Layla is continuing her boycott of sleeping well, no matter what I try. At bedtime she eats a bowl of cereal, nurses, and then I also give her a couple oz of formula - I always make 4 but she usually only drinks 2-3 oz of it. You would think that would be enough nutrition to keep her little tummy full for a long time, right?

Wrong. She goes to bed usually around 8:30ish by the time the feeding process is done, and she's still waking up typically between 1 to 2 a.m. Then she goes back to sleep and wakes up again between 4 and 6 a.m. to eat again, then usually goes back to sleep till 8 or 8:30. (Although every now and then she gets all giggly and smiley during that feeding and think she needs to stay awake. Those are the times I move the swing into her room in desperation to get her to go back to sleep).

I just don't know what to do about her poor sleeping patterns. I can't tell if she's really genuinely hungry or just waking up and not self-soothing back to sleep. Babies need to come with a meter on their stomachs to tell you if they're hungry or not. She naps pretty well during the day, and always takes at least 1 if not 2 of her naps back in her crib. Why oh why do you keep torturing me, Layla?? I had to rebuke myself for feeling legitimately angry with my almost 6 month old girl when I looked back on my blog and read that at this age Landon was sleeping from 10 or 10:30 p.m. till 7 or 8 a.m. consistently. (and then I read that my friend Sarah's 20 month old girl is waking them up ready for the day at 4 a.m. and decided I needed to stop throwing myself a pity party).

I am *hoping* that starting Layla on solid foods next week will give her some extra calories throughout the day that will maybe help her sleep better at night. I'm desperate for anything to help her sleep better at night. (Suggestions welcome, your advice will not be unsolicited)

So obviously my sleeping habits haven't been awesome continuing to get up to feed Layla. I feel like I can never get on top of not feeling tired these days - no matter what time I go to bed or how many hours of sleep I get, I still feel exhausted every day. Maybe almost 6 months of not sleeping solid through the night is just starting to wear on me. It probably doesn't help that I keep having great ambitions of going to bed by 10:30 every night to try and get as much sleep as possible before Layla wakes up, but somehow I always get distracted doing something and don't actually make it to bed till 11 or 11:30. Could also have something to do with the cup of coffee I keep drinking in the afternoon lately (like right now), sometimes because I'm dragging and need the caffeine, but mostly because I just crave the flavor. I need to buy some decaf K-cups for our Keurig.

And Kyle...well Kyle never gets any sleep at the beginning of the school year. These first few weeks it's not uncommon for him to be hanging out over in the dorms till 1 a.m. or later, and then he still has to get up at a decent time in the mornings. So as much as getting up with Layla wears me out, I really can't complain when some nights the first time I'm getting up to feed her is when Kyle is just getting into bed. My husband is such a trooper, and I'm so thankful for how hard he works and sacrifices so that college men can know Christ.

Have I mentioned I'm really thankful God gave us the gift of coffee?