around henry's three month birthday, joey decided the sleeping pattern we'd been perpetuating with henry wasn't going to work. he was right, the hours were annoying! h woke up every morning around 7 o'clock - which i loved - but he refused to go down at night until at least 11. more often closer to midnight. of course he woke several times in the night too, so mama bear was lucky to bank herself three or four good hours of sleep each night. i'd gotten used to it by the third month, but in the beginning that schedule was my version of straight hell. the first night of our new initiative - operation 'get da mama some sleep' (gdmss) - we dimmed the lights in the house, bathed our grumpy babe, and nestled in for a few books before his scheduled feeding at around 8:00 pm. when it came time to eat, huck and i shut ourselves into my bedroom with the lights dim and one of us ate while the other silently pleaded for mercy and a solid 5-7 hours of sleep. strangely, that first night henry slept from about 8:30 pm until 7:30 the following morning. he didn't wake up once! we tried again the next night - equal success. and so it began, our celebrated nightly ritual of bathing, reading, and feeding, and eventually henry was asleep by 8 each night and regularly slept through the night, unless he woke once or twice for a (very quick) snack and went back down in less than a half hour. consequently, mother found her long lost mind again, and joey and i were able to re-establish a semblance of our old relationship, where we actually got to spend time with one another again without the company of our needy infant. life was good!
but you know i wouldn't be sharing all of this good luck, nor would i be writing in past tense, if our bubble of happy sleeping continued to hold strong. because on saturday night, exactly one month since we started operation gdmss, the clocks played a nasty prank on the larson household - oh, it happened at your house too? weird - and sprung one hour ahead so that henry found himself awake at 8:30 sunday morning instead of 7:30, and when the clock struck 7:30 that night, and his parents tried to begin the nightly bedtime routine, henry's body said, "hold it right there, mom! it's only 6:30!" although henry's always been a sucker for a cuddle and feeding with mom, and so an hour early didn't stand in his way of falling asleep right on time at 8 o'clock (new time). but something inside little huckleberry sent up smoke signals and sounded the alarms, because that night henry woke up six times before 1:00am. the next night he did the same thing. and last night, he was awake every two hours allnightlong! newborn henry came back in a big way, almost seven pounds heavier and four inches taller with much less hair! a speedy fast forward back to four month henry might not break my heart. because sleep has been such a welcomed part of my life again, and i missed hanging out with my husband!
it's also been a month since i swore off dairy for the good of huck's tummy, and today we had a follow-up with his pediatrician to make sure it's been effective. it hasn't, at least as far as his diapers are concerned, so the next step is to cut out soy. you know soy, the key ingredient in any of your major dairy replacement food items: cheese, yogurt, creams, fake chocolate, etc. so now i think i'm safe to eat... lettuce? i'm clearly exaggerating (like always), and of course it's a worth-while sacrifice for henry. plus, his pediatrician assures me it may only take a few months before we can start fazing dairy back in again, so i won't complain (much). but that is it for my lenten fast. i think god will understand if i don't commit to giving up decaf coffee this year. i hope.
henry and i visited his new daycare a couple of times this week, and i let him stay on his own while i bit my fingernails off and paced nervously while watching the clock like a mad-woman. the center is run by a peruvian woman named ana and her three spanish-speaking employees. the infant room - henry's room - is supervised by the only caregiver who doesn't speak any english at all. i couldn't even ask her what her name was. but when we found the center, we fell instantly in love. imagine how cool it'll be to have our kids so far ahead of the game they're exposed to and learn to speak two languages from infancy! plus we really loved the energy, the care-taking philosophies, and the overall cozy, homey feeling we got the minute we walked in. i finally got official word that my new job at george washington university starts in a few weeks, so it will no longer be just me and h all day every day (don't get me started on how that feels - horrible! - because that's not what this is about. don't worry, i'll (over) share more veryveryvery soon). lots of changes in our neck of the woods these days. if you have a minute or two, your thoughts would be appreciated.
hope all is well with you and yours!
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