What baby?

There is a bit of confusion in our household.... we know we have a baby, but during the day its (almost) like he's not here. He is this little blob that we regularly attempt to wake, feed and change every 2-3 hours but he's often back asleep within 10 minutes. Since, from day 1, we were not going to let him get accustomed to sleeping in arms, so after he is asleep we put him down. He usually falls asleep while we're burping him and often remains asleep even after a diaper change.

So he becomes this little blob that sits in his reclining chair, or in the swing, or in the car seat if he's asleep while we're out. He rarely cries. He rarely wakes up of his own choice. If he is awake, the big kids are all over him, because they really want to be able to 'play' with him and be with him. Patrick will always tell us if his eyes are open - its such a rare day-time occurance.

During the day we keep him with us. He is around lots of noise and always in full daytime light. We take him outside, to the park, shopping, everywhere. This is what all the 'experts' say to get him on a regular cycle. Unfortunately he has not read these 'expert' books.

During the evening/night we have a completely different baby. Around supper time, sometimes later and always before 8 p.m. William 'wakes up'. Hes hungry and cluster-feeds, often passing out for 1/2 an hour between feeds and then waking up frantic for food.

After the big kids are in bed, he's usually WIDE awake. He'll feed and fuss and feed and fuss and generally be unhappy until 10 or 11 at night after which he'll pass out for a few hours and sleep in his crib (3 a.m. seems a popular wake-up time as of late). Then he will be up to feed and get a change. This is usually followed by at least an hour of fussing/unhappiness. After he passes out again, he'll wake again every hour or so. Around 6 a.m. he's ready to be awake again and will be until about 8 a.m. when he turns into the daytime baby again.

So, in general terms, he's awake mostly when our other kids are sleeping, and sleeping when the big kids are awake.

All attempts to keep William up during the day have failed. All attempts to wake him when he's not ready fail. And trying to make him sleep at night when he's not 'feelin' it' are a huge fail.

So, Shaun and I are learning to survive on minimal sleep.

This too shall pass.

And its never more clear during these trying times why it takes 2 to make a baby... you definetly need the support of 2 parents to survive it.