Sleep Deprived, but Smiling

The floor under my desk is looking awfully comfortable today. All day I've been fighting the urge to just curl up under there and close my eyes. I could pull my chair up close and no one would ever even notice me under there.

We had a delicious dinner last night with Cliff's parents and uncle in celebration of Cliff's birthday. We got home just in time to feed and change Gavin and put him to bed. Except he wasn't tired. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. What does that mean, anyway - bushy tailed? Does that mean you were awake enough to comb your tail fur? Well, he was bright-eyed anyway, and talking up a storm! He woke up babbling yesterday morning and was still babbling last night at 8:00... and at 8:30, and at 9:00... need I go on? I think he was actually singing Happy Birthday to Cliff when he woke up in the morning! So, Gavin finally fell asleep around 10:00 last night and I got in the bathtub. I fell asleep in the tub and only awoke enough to climb out of the tub and into my bed and I was asleep again in minutes! Then Cliff got into bed and I woke up. It was only 10:45, so I had only been asleep for a few minutes. A few minutes later, Gavin started fussing. I looked at the clock. I guess it wasn't a few minutes, but it certainly wasn't long enough for me to feel rested. It was midnight. I picked up Gavin and fed him. This usually lulls him into a deep milk-induced coma, all rag-dollish and floppy. I can scoop him up, burp him, and then lay him back in his crib without him even twitching a finger. Not last night though. Nope, he was bright-eyed and bu... well, you know - he was awake. Wide awake. I laid him back in his bed. He talked and he fussed and Cliff suggested we change his diaper and feed him some more. With a clean diaper and a full belly, he was laughing and talking and cooing and giggling and all smiley and happy, but he STILL wasn't sleepy. We put him back in his crib. He talked, sang us a little song, then when we didn't pick him up after a while, he fussed. Cliff talked to him, gave him a pacifier, rubbed his belly, tried to sooth him. No sleepiness whatsoever. Cliff got back in bed and put in his earplugs. I laid there listening... waiting for Gavin to quiet down and drift off. Nothing. I decided I'd let him cry for five minutes and then I would get up with him. I got him up and tried to feed him some more. Could he possibly still be hungry? Nope! Just awake. We went out to the living room at 1:30. He had already been up for an hour and a half, which meant so had we. I sat in the living room with him and rocked him. He fell asleep. I stood up to carry him back to bed and he started crying. Then he opened his eyes wide and smiled. Cliff came out to check on us. I sat back down and rocked him some more. He finally drifted off to sleep and I got him back into bed.

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when he was up again! It was now shortly after 5:00am and I had been asleep for roughly three hours. He normally sleeps for 8 hours or more with out waking up or eating. What was going on? I fed him. He acted like he was starving and hadn't been fed in days! After he went back to sleep and I crawled back into bed, I looked at the clock. 5:55am. My alarm was going off in 5 minutes. I turned the alarm off and went to sleep. 40 minutes later I woke up and got ready for work. I woke up Cliff and Gavin and neither of them wanted to get up either.

I'm so grateful that Gavin usually sleeps through the night. I can't imagine if he was still waking every few hours on a regular basis. I would never be able to function at work. Maybe he is going through a growth spurt and needs to eat more? Maybe he had too much chocolate and coffee yesterday and was hopped up on caffeine. No, he is just a baby without a schedule. Let's hope tonight goes better. I'm not a happy camper when I'm sleep deprived and our household will be much happier if we all sleep through the night tonight!! If you can't find me this afternoon, check under my desk. I may have just curled up there for a little snooze.