same_sky | sleep, baby, sleep.

I have a pretty good sleeping baby, really. She sleeps through the night pretty well and if she does wake up, she usually just wants to lay in my lap and nurse for an hour. (She is always up for an hour, strangely. If I try to put her down before that, she almost always wakes up immediately.) However, I am still jealous of those people who just pick their kids up and rock them for five minutes to get them to take a nap, or even count on them to sleep in the car. Evelyn? Not so much. I was trying to figure out exactly why I get nothing done these days, and that's when it occurred to me that I am spending approximately ninety percent of my waking time putting the child to sleep. This morning, it took me 45 minutes, and then she slept for about that long. During that time, I was cooking myself lunch, cleaning the kitchen and then eating--it's usually that or showering, depending on when her nap is. This afternoon, I was feeling pleased with myself for getting her to sleep at three because she's been napping later and later, which messes up her bedtime. It took me an entire hour to get her to go to sleep. (She was super sleepy, I promise I am not just being mean to her by forcing her to nap when she doesn't want to.) After 45 minutes, she woke up crying, and when I picked her up, she snuggled on me and then fell asleep right away. I held her for another 45 minutes while she napped--I've learned from experience that she is usually not going to stay asleep if I put her down after she wakes up like that. At eight, she was rubbing her eyes so hard we considered putting her to bed an hour before we had planned. We held out until almost nine, and then I spent TWO HOURS getting the child to sleep. In total, I have spent over four hours today either soothing the child to sleep or letting her nap on me. There is a permanent me-imprint on the couch, and I have finished the internets. It's lovely sweet and I will remember it fondly for the rest of my life, yadda yadda yadda but couldn't she just fall asleep without two hours of Mommy time first?

sleep, baby, sleep.

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