Early to Rise

You know the saying. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Yeah. Not so much. I guess, though, that I'm not really doing it properly. I'm only doing the early to rise part, and it's not because I really want to, it's because if I don't get up Amanda will scream and scream until she wakes up the entire house. So let's rephrase. Very late to bed, early to rise, makes a man cranky, angry and tired. Yes, that sucks. It doesn't even rhyme.

Amanda has settled into a new waking pattern and it's not one that I like very much. For the past several weeks she has been waking up around 5:30 a.m. If I am lucky she will sleep until 6:00. Unfortunately, since she is still nursing, I am the one who has to get up with her. Don't get me wrong, since Charlie and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends, yesterday after I fed her and brought her back to our room he got up with her. Then I got to go back to sleep. But I didn't even do that until at least 6:30, so he got to sleep that extra time. During the week we sort of take turns, but there's no real pattern to it. Sometimes I get up with her and stay up, sometimes I bring her back to bed and then Charlie gets up with her and takes her into the bathroom while he showers. Regardless of how it works out, it sucks to get up so early in the morning. Period.

Amanda has some weird hatred of her crib right now. She does not want to be in it. She doesn't want to nap, she doesn't want to sleep at night, does not want to be in there. I usually nurse her before she goes to bed or takes a nap. Previously she would fall asleep or be in that drunk drowsy state and I would put her in her bed. She might cry for a second before she wrapped herself in her blanket and went to sleep. Now, she just screams. As soon as I start to stand up from the rocking chair she senses the movement and starts to get agitated, and then when I put her down the shrieking begins. She cries and cries, and usually I come back 10-20 minutes later (not at night, I'm so done with her then she just has to cry it out) and she's standing at the rail so sad and dejected. I feel a little sad for her, but I'm so tired and worn out at this point that I have a hard time mustering much sympathy for her.

I'm hoping this won't last forever, but who knows. Andy used to wake up at 6:00 a.m. when he was a baby. That was partly because we had to get him up to take him to daycare before work, and partly because that's just who he is. When I quit working and he could sleep longer his sleep patterns didn't change. He still to this day wakes around 6:30 every morning regardless of what time he went to bed. It's just innate. It drives us crazy, but during the school year it's fabulous because we never have to wake hhim or use an alarm clock or anything. He just gets up, gets dressed, feeds himself breakfast and then waits for somebody to drive him to school. I would not be surprised if Amanda turns out the same way.

For the next couple of months, at least while she's still nursing, I will have to continue to get up with her. Maybe after that, we can let Andy get up with her and they can have brother and sister bonding time. If only I knew that he would really watch her, and wouldn't let her eat small toys while he played Wii, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Of course, this thought comes from someone who is far too sleep deprived to be wise.