Sleep, glorious sleep!!

My sweet, little Samuel turned 13 months yesterday. He has been such a blessing to our family.  He is a true sweetie too.  His smile will light up a room.  His laugh is so contagious that they kids beg me to tickle him just to hear him laugh. I often say how much the kids fawn over him.  I will admit that it's not just them.  Bryan and I fawn over him too.  The only department where he has been a challenge is sleep.

After having 4 children who slept through the night by 2 and 3 months, it has been an interesting and trying journey to have Samuel who wakes up an average of every 2 hours. I've been trying to be patient but most of all I've been tired.  Bryan has been telling me for months that he is worried about me.  He says I hide my exhaustion well but he knows that I am tired and he is afraid I will collapse one day.  A few weeks ago my hygienist even told me that I just looked tired.  It's true, I have been tired for over a year now and it's wearing me out.

It's hard to function when you are tired. It's hard to accomplish the normal, daily tasks of dishes, laundry, taking care of 5 kids and being a good wife.  It's hard to say no to food when you see that food as a source of energy and you need energy more than anything.  It's hard to do some purposeful exercise when you are just finding the normal daily grind tiring enough.  It's also hard to find time to do things since everything you do seems to take longer than it should because you are moving slower than you should.  This is the fog that I have been functioning in for over a year now.

A month ago I started weaning Samuel from nursing.  He weaned directly to whole milk.  I knew this might be a challenge because he really loved nursing.  I was hoping though that this would help him sleep since he woke up several times each night wanting to snuggle and nurse with Mommy.  It did seem to help as I weaned him off of his night time feedings and replaced them with nothing.  At 1 year old he doesn't need to eat during the night.  It was just a bad habit.  He is a very healthy and well-proportioned baby.  It was challenging but something that I felt we needed to do. He started sleeping better after a couple of weeks.  He started some 3 to 4 hour sleeping stretches.  Then he got double ear infections.  We were back to being up each night crying.

His ear infections are clearing up and we are back to trying to get some sleep.  I am so excited to announce that last night he slept 9 hours.  I went to bed one hour after he did so I got 8 hours of sleep.  I jolted awake this morning to light and silence.  It freaked me out because it was light outside and I didn't remember waking up at all last night.  I looked at the clock. It was 7:30.  No one seemed to be awake.  Bryan had left for work at 4am and I didn't hear a thing.  I was tempted to run to Samuel's room to see if he was okay but I held back.  I drifted off to sleep for 15 minutes and then heard Samuel crying.  After getting him out of his crib I texted Bryan to ask him is he got up with Sam last night.  "No," he texted, "did you?" I then asked Gabriella if she hear Sam last night.  She said no also.  Wow!  He actually slept all night.  I was still groggy but amazed and excited.

I have been using the lack of sleep as an excuse for my lack of exercise so in turn I did one of my exercise DVD's for 20 minutes today.  I also did it the other night for 10 minutes so I am looking forward to my new found energy and time.  I know it's just one night but it's light and I'm sure it will turn into more nights of restful sleep soon.

Good sleep to all of you,

Corinna

"You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound. I will both lie down and sleep in peace;p for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety." -Psalm 4:7-8