Sleep is Underrated

Someone asked me yesterday if Lucas is sleeping through the night and I was finally able to say "yes". It felt odd. Actually, people don't usually ask me that anymore because they expect than an 11 month old would definitely be sleeping through the night. People only ask you that question when you have a 1 or 2 month old - which is crazy since it's probably not even healthy for a 1 to 2 month old to sleep through the night. Oh well, I'm sure I didn't know that before I had a baby and asked the same questions at the wrong time.

Anyway, our family has slept well this week and I feel normal again. It happened like this...

Quick summary.. for the first 4 months Lucas woke every 3-4 hours and was easy to get back to sleep; around 4 months we put him in his crib and turned into a co-sleeping family when Lucas would wake up several times and eventually we'd just bring him to bed with us. We thought we'd get more sleep, but Lucas's daytime temperament doesn't go away when he sleeps. He'd fidget the entire night and if I got any amount of sleep at all I'd wake up with a sore neck from contorting my body to accommodate Lucas's sleep; at 7-8 months we faced the option of being a grumpy family or "teaching" Lucas to sleep on his own. We were making great progress, but then we went away for a week during Christmas and it all went to hell in a hand basket. We started over, made more progress, and Lucas slept in his crib all night without us going in to get him for the first time in January. THEN he got a cold. THEN he got 4 monster teeth. During this time he needed to be held, so of course when he was well and we put him back in the crib, he wanted nothing to do with it. He went back to waking up every hour, even when we brought him to bed with us. It was like someone had injected him with speed before going to bed - he moved around like crazy. I even asked the doctor if it was possible that something was wrong with him! Jeff and I decided, with the doctor's help, to wait and try the sleep training in the spring when there were no more colds going around. We tried to wait, but the other night I had gone 4 nights in a row without sleeping more than 3 hours at a time. I was so frustrated that I threw a pillow across the room (and we wonder where Lucas gets his temper). Jeff, thankfully, stepped in a said that something had to change. We put Lucas into his crib and said we'd go in after 5 min. That was last Saturday and we've only had to go into his room once or twice this week, so we're on the 5th night of Lucas sleeping all night in his crib without any help from mom or dad. We're so proud of "our big boy!".

So, to get back to the title of this post, I can tell a difference in Lucas and DEFINITELY myself this week. Lucas wakes up happy and, although it may be a coincidence, has had tons of things click for him this week. He signed "more", "ball", and "duck" for the first time this week. Yesterday I looked over and saw him banging his shoes against his feet (trying to put them on). He does the signs to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" (clapping and hooray only). And, get this, when he's tired and we ask him if he wants to go night-night he will do the sign for sleep and has even pointed to his crib once this week. I couldn't believe that.

As for me, I am focused and getting more done. Jeff and I beat our 3 mile jog time from last week because (in my opinion) I had more energy and pushed us. We're just in better moods.

Sleep is totally underrated. Sorry for such a long post.