Family Alive

I’ve got several other things I should be doing, but I just had to put these deep thoughts into cyberspace:)

After becoming a parent, you have a whole new understanding of the word “tired”. I am a person whose body has always needed good quality rest. I was never one who could pull an “all-nighter”, and usually my evenings don’t go any later than 11pm. I’ve had seasons in my life where I experienced tired in new ways. I was sick for about 10 months and felt exhausted and extreme fatigue. That was one kind of tired. When I was pregnant, I was VERY tired. My body just felt like it couldn’t handle creating a new life and carrying on my own. Thank goodness for a quiet office to take a brief midday nap in while working! Brian and I experienced a completely different sort of tired/exhausted/zombie status feeling in the first 3 weeks after Analise arrived. The only way to understand that is to live it… But our bodies adjusted, and Analise started sleeping better, and you really learn to appreciate sleep. I had always said that I would never make it if my baby wasn’t sleeping through the night by 6 weeks (when I went back to work). Amazingly enough, as she continued with a 2:30-3am feeding, my body adjusted. I was tired, but life went on. We’ve had quite a few nights where Analise slept through the night. We’ve even determined that “sleeping through the night” is logically until about 4am… since she goes to bed at 7:30! She’ll wake up, come to bed with us, I’ll nurse her really quick, and she’ll be back to sleep before I take her back to bed. Then she’ll sleep until 6:30 or 7.
Last night was ROUGH. Tom & Beverly put her to bed at about 7:30, we got home and were in bed by 10. Analise woke up at 11:30, 2, and 5. (Those are all guesstimates, and there may well have been another wakening in there, because both Brian and I were completely out of it. I guess I think now that “tired” is just a part of parenting. I’m not low on energy. There will be nights like this. There will be nights of solid sleep – and BOY do they feel GOOD! But after 9 1/2 months of interrupted sleep, my body’s learned to make the best of it and life goes on. And it’s all forgotten when Analise curls up in my lap, sucks on her thumb and falls asleep on my chest… for a 2 hour nap, during which I can enjoy a brief rest!:)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!