Sleep...What a Treat!

Sleeping was always a difficult area with Jaden when he was a baby. I'm not sure if he was colicky or just overtired from fighting sleep, but we had to go to great lengths to get that little guy to sleep - I tightly swaddled him, we played loud static on the radio, rocked him, played Anne Murray songs over and over, and held him while we bounced on a big exercise ball; and the second we would put him down..."WAAHHH!" Then we would try all over again. This went on for months before he finally started to fall asleep on his own. Elijah hasn't been quite as needy, but it's almost a guarantee that at 7:00 every evening, he is going to fuss and cry until we can eventually get him to sleep. So I definitely can't brag like those parents who say that their baby slept through the night at one month old (and I have to admit I hate hearing about it). But I am very excited to say that last night Elijah slept for four hours straight before waking for a feeding! We've gotten into a pretty good evening routine - we go for a walk, take baths, have story time, then I feed Elijah and put him in bed. Last night he was in bed and asleep by 9:00 and didn't wake up until 1:00am! So I did everything exactly the same tonight, hoping for similar results!

And something unusual happened this morning as well. I actually had to wake Jaden up! He is usually up before 8 every morning and I always hear him over the monitor yelling, "Daddy, UP!" (and much to his disappointment, I'm usually the one who walks in to get him up because daddy's gone to work, and I'm greeted with a "I want Daddy. Where Daddy go?"). But this morning, 8:00 came and went; then 9:00 and I still hadn't heard him. I finally went in to get him up at 10:00. He is usually talking nonstop long before I ever go in to get him, and then jumps up as soon as the door is opened. Today, he slowly got up when the door opened, and he just didn't look well. He looked exhausted, actually. I thought this was unusual after having well over 12 hours of sleep, so I checked the bed for throw up, then hurried to get the thermometer; but no throw up, no fever. I went to get him some water and by the time I came back, he was laying back down on his pillow, which never ever happens because he is always anxious to get up and play. I figured that the weekend's activities and many late nights must have caught up to him. So after going back to sleep, he didn't wake up until 1pm!

And yet another rare sleeping moment (all within a 24 hour period) both boys...and I...all napped at the same time this afternoon. Jaden usually takes a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons, but I thought there was no way he would nap today after waking up at 1:00. So we played with just about every toy in his playroom, then played some more outside. When Elijah fell asleep, I layed him in his swing so that Jaden and I could do a craft activity. The next thing I knew, Jaden had decided that he wanted to lay down too, so he brought his big soft Elmo book into the livingroom to use as a pillow. It's not every day, or any day for that matter, that Jaden will willingly give in to his sleepiness and just rest. And I have to admit that I was exhausted myself, so I had to take advantage of this rare opportunity. I layed down on the couch too, and we all slept! What a treat!