Jinx

There is a reason why babies are adorable. If it weren't for their pudgy cheeks, round bellies and chunky thighs no one would sign up for the sleep deprivation. I knew I was jinxing myself when I wrote this blogpost last week. But what I didn't expect was for Alyson's sleep patterns to actually get worse. The past two nights the longest stretch of sleep she has had has been two hours, which means the longest stretch I have had has been about one and a half.

Bret and I have been trying to be patient - we know that she is far too young for sleep training and that her tiny little stomach can't hold very much food at once, but boy is it tough. We keep hearing stories about babies who sleep through the night at six weeks old or even four weeks old and it makes us want to jump out the window. Now that the first month adrenaline of being a new parent has worn off we are actually finding it harder to fight through the sleepless nights and exhausting days (which accounts for the many grammatical and spelling errors in this blog). And yes, before you ask. We are doing everything the books say. Put her down at the same time every night. Keep the lights off. Don't interact with her in the middle of the night. Put some gin in her bottle (OK, we didn't do that last one...)

I almost lost it last night at 4:15 when she woke up crying after only 45 minutes of sleep -- I swear she knows exactly when I doze off. But then I leaned over her crib to pick her up and she gave me the biggest smile and it made it all worth it. Let's just hope she stays cute...

So if your baby slept through the night write in and let us know your secret. Rice cereal in the bottle? Formula? Whiskey on the gums - I promise I won't tell! Just don't say when they started sleeping through the night or I may have to push you out the window with me. :-)