Miss Wiggles

Grunt. Squeak. Toot. Sigh. One thing I didn't realize about babies is what noisy little critters they are. Don't get me wrong, I knew they were noisy. I just didn't realize how noisy they are when they sleep!

Over the last week Allie has definitely started to become more vocal. Not in the sense that she is crying a lot or even much at all really (she really is a great baby - knock on wood). She is just starting to make more sounds. When we set up the crib in our bedroom in our tiny Manhattan apartment we knew the day would come when I would end up sleeping on our couch bed in the den. Turns out, last night was that night. After three nights of being woken up every fifteen minutes by squirming, tossing and mumbling I finally made my way to the couch bed where I slept like a (baby?) for three whole straight hours before I got up to feed Allie.

At first I felt like a terrible mother. After all, Bret seems to have no problem sleeping through her vocal antics and he adores being in the same room as her. But then I remembered that I will be an even worse (and cranky) mother if I keep trying to survive on such little sleep. I have always been a bit of a "high maintenance" sleeper as Bret would call me. The temperature needs to be just right, the covers need to be perfectly straight and the room needs to be dead silent for me to sleep (other than the hum of my air cleaner which I have become accustomed to ever since I was diagnosed with asthma) and God forbid all my favorite pairs of pajamas are in the wash. Disaster!

I remember my mother telling me that she kicked me out of her room after only three days home from the hospital because I was so noisy. She said I used to scratch the bed with my nails and it drove her crazy. How could she I thought? Well, now I know. Like mother, like daughter I guess. I feel bad sleeping in a different room but as long as Allie knows that when she needs me I'll rush in to be there, then that is all that matters.