To Sleep Perchance to Dream

Good news on the sleep front! For the past two days, Henry has slept through the night! Needless to say, I feel like a new woman. It is amazing what a difference it makes to get an uninterrupted block of sleep. Henry didn't achieve this amazing feat quite on his own, I'm afraid. He had been waking up pretty consistently between 2 and 4 each night for a feeding. He is a big guy and he eats well all day long, so it was clear to me that he didn't really "need" this feeding anymore. Convincing Henry of this, however, was another story. For several days I cut down the time that I was nursing him during the night. Then, on Saturday, I just didn't go in there at all when he woke up. Any parent who goes through sleep training will tell you how horrible it is. Henry cried for an hour, fell asleep, woke up, and cried some more. I was awake almost the entire time with my stomach in knots. Scott was awake all night too, right, Scott? Ha! That guy can sleep! I'm so envious! Anyway, back to Henry... When he woke up in the morning, he was bright and cheerful (see above photo) and he didn't seem to hold anything against me. Years from now he may have to discuss all of this with his therapist, but as far as I can tell, there has been no lasting psychological damage. Sunday night I was braced for more of the same, but the next thing I knew, it was 6:30 in the morning and Henry hadn't woken up at all. Last night -- more of the same! Keep your fingers crossed that this trend continues. Sleep deprivation is absolutely the hardest thing about parenting a newborn and I am very, very happy that it looks like we're finally moving beyond this phase. Before you know it, I will be up all night worrying about the two boys when they're out driving their cars and hanging out with their girlfriends doing God knows what with God knows who and not answering their cell phones when I call and missing their curfew....