What the heck does that phrase mean, sleeping like a baby?  It used to think it meant sleeping peacefully all throughout the night.  Yeah, right.  I’ve been sleeping like a baby during the last three months of nights and I’m gettin’ pretty tired.  Too bad I can’t sleep like a baby during the daytime too.

A few nights ago Henley woke up at 1 AM and did not go back to sleep until 3 AM.  I did pretty well staying up with her until about 2:00.  That’s when I felt like my eyelids were as heavy as an army tank falling off a thirty foot cliff.  Strange analogy?  Well, your mind gets a little loopy when sleep deprived.  That’s when I quit playing with Henley and tried everything I could think of to get her little eyes to close.  I sang to her, rocked her, fed her, gave her a pacifier, walked with her, swayed with her, danced with her, snuggled on the couch with her, changed her diaper, fed her again, rocked her some more, and read her a story.  She continued to giggle and coo, laugh and smile, and not go to sleep.  The. Little. Twerp.  I was just about to throw in the towel and call in the reinforcements, namely, Mr. Rancher, when the sleepless little stinker rolled over on her blankie and fell fast asleep.  I dragged myself to a hunched standing position, scooped her up, and laid her in her cradle.  The clock read 2:59 AM when I dropped back into my bed.

Two hours later, Henley was awake again and ready to eat.  Bleary-eyed I nursed her, practically in my sleep, and thought about better nights, when I could sleep for eight hours straight.  I never got up during the middle of the night until I got pregnant with Henley.  Then I had to use the bathroom a couple times a night.  When I was hugely pregnant I woke up out of discomfort.  Now, the little missy wakes me up to nurse or, on the bad nights, just to play.  I have a new-found respect for all the mothers out there.  It’s not easy sleeping like a baby during the night and working like an adult during the day.

Here’s to a week of better sleep!

This is the little stinker at about 1:45 AM.  Smug as a bug.