Sleep

Sleep, is perhaps the most painful sacrifice of parenthood. Some kids are great sleepers, others are terrible, but almost all kids go through bouts of night wakings, depriving their parents of something they can't do their job without. We have had our share of it all, but it seems that we've been in a particularly long-lasting rut since Theo was born. He is not a great sleeper. Between our travels, teething (he has 3 of 4 molars at this point,) and illnesses, the last three months have been pretty bad. Add in the fact that he only sleeps 9 1/2 hours at night, and prefers to rise between 6 and 6:30, and it can be rough. His brothers like to do their part as well, choosing the nights that Theo sleeps soundly for their nighttime troubles. As I write this, Jack is upstairs in the bathroom, jolted awake by a full bladder, which resulted in a night terror. He hadn't had one in over a year, but his success with nighttime dryness has brought them back again. If he has to go to the bathroom early in the night, waking disturbs his sleep

patterns enough to launch a night terror. So, he's doing a beautiful job staying dry, but we're back to getting up to put him back to bed now too. Thankfully, there's Mattie. He is our best sleeper. I asked Ted last night if he could remember the last time Mattie woke up in the middle of the night. He couldn't. Neither can I. He sleeps from 7 to 7. I like to fantasize about what my life would be like if all of my kids slept like that. Ahhhh. Until that happens, I hope that you'll ignore my puffy eyes. And if I'm spacey, forgetful, or slow to respond, just nod and smile. Someday the boys will be teenagers, and sleep-in until noon. I just might then too.