Sleep deprivation sucks

I have an overdue apology for the gap in time from one post to another. I have been so sleep deprived the past 4 weeks that I don't know how I am still alive, let alone awake.

After dealing with Abby's croup, which turned into a nasty cold, we each took our turn in the sick-bed. I got her cold, which was a doozy. Shortly after getting on the mend, Abby decided to teeth, or go through a growth spurt, or have night time anxiety. I'm still not sure what quite happened there.

It started with her whining in her sleep. I would pop back in her pacifier and she'd roll over and go back to la-la land. When that turned into her waking up every hour I knew I had to do something. Broken sleep was not doing any favours to my daily duties at work. I was becoming unfocused and tired by 2pm, yet I didn't give in to starting a coffee habit.

I turned to online resources and my own know-how on how to deal with this situation. I began different things: offering her water when she woke, changing what she wore at night (since the weather is starting to get warmer here), giving her advil, changing our night time routine, baths, location, you name it. The only real thing that seemed to help was a combination of a bath using night time body wash by Johnson & Johnson and a bottle of water for her to drink at night.

Then, one magical night, she woke up every 3 hours. To a working mom who needs sleep and doesn't have the opportunity to take a nap on lunch, this was incredible.

I am happy to report that whatever it was that bothered her has passed and she is now only getting up 2 times at night. A HUGE improvement over once every 1-2 hours. It seriously felt like having a newborn again, without the 20 minute feeding sessions, that is.

I am a much happier mommy and she is a much happier baby. Now we are having trouble getting her up in the morning! I sense shades of what it will be like when she's a teenager.

The lesson I learned here is to never give up and that nothing, as far as a toddler is concerned, will last forever. And most importantly...I love sleep!