Our Current Sleep Struggles

Sleep has always been an "issue" for us.  So much so sometimes I feel like I'm a broken record accounting our night over and over again.  Yes she is still waking up.  Yes it's hard.  Yes a lot of times sometimes I feel like I want to bang my head against a wall.

We hit what I thought to be the "9 month sleep regression" early July.  Before this we had established a really regular routine of one wake up per night sometime around 3:30-4:30.  At first I shrugged it off thinking she had just had a lot of change in her life.  Josh had left on deployment.  She was learning to crawl.  We were settling into a new routine.  But it kept getting worse.  2 wake ups turned to 3 and then 4.  Soon she was up every hour.

To say I was frazzled was an understatement.  I didn't have anyone with me to take a turn or even just bounce ideas off of.  I read lots of blog posts and sent way too many frantic texts to Josh.  (poor guy must have felt horrible not being able to do anything)  Finally I just had to let her cry for my own sanity.  I went in nursed her. Laid her back down and left the room.  After two nights of this we were back to one wake up a night.

Enter our travel schedule.  I was terrified.  I was finally getting some sleep and now we were going to shake things up again.  I know Mara.  I know how susceptible she is to change when it comes to sleep.  Our last major trip ended up in a month of co-sleeping which took two months to un-do. *I'm not saying co-sleeping is a bad thing.  It just didn't work for us.*

Well we've been at my parents for about three weeks now.  Here Mara has her own crib which nice but it is also in my room.  Since we've been here she has woken up anywhere from 2 to 4 times a night.  For the most part we have just cuddled and she has fallen back asleep.  I do nurse her at least once during the night but otherwise she isn't really hungry.

I'm not sure what is going on (and on some level I've stopped trying to "define" it).  She's in a new place.  She's getting accustomed to a new house, new smells, new room.  She was also cutting a tooth which has just shown itself today.  On top of all that she is rapidly conquering a ton of motor skills.  She can now pull up to standing, stand on her own, walk along furniture and walk behind a push toy.  Her little brain must be on hyper drive!

So I guess there's not really a conclusion to this post.  I'm not sure where to go from here nor am I sure I am completely looking for an answer.  Yes I'd like her to sleep longer stretches, not wake up so often and (gasp) sleep that elusive through the night.  But she's not there yet for some reason.  And that's ok.  I'm trying really really hard to change my mindset on this.  To be grateful for the extra cuddles.  To cherish these times together, even if they are at 2 am when she was just up a few hours before.  :)

We will get through this and someday we will look back at this time in our lives as a drop in the bucket.  Heck we'll probably joke about it when we can't drag her teenager butt out of bed at noon one Saturday morning!  But for now I will just continue to push through.  To try to stay calm and show her comfort.  To look for His grace in this.  To thank Him for this sweet time and this precious gift.

On that note I better get to bed....  :)