Thank you, Lord, for blessin' me...

My sleeping beauties...
Please notice....
The only person not pictured here is ME!

But back to the title... Thank you, Lord, for blessin' me....

With a child that finally sleeps through the night! Whew! Who knew two kids could be SO different and yet look so much alike?

Princess Laney is finally sleeping during the adult night. And it is time, girl, IT IS TIME!! For a while there, she was sleeping 8 hours or so, except her "night" was from about 8 pm - 3 am. That's not "sleeping through the night" to me because I'm still getting up at a ridiculous hour. Her pediatrician and nurses were so pleased at her two month and then three month visits: "Oh, that's wonderful! We certainly count that as sleeping through the night!" Whatever. That's because she's not at your house. If she were, you'd look like me and know it doesn't count until you get to sleep through the night, too.

If nothing else, Keith, Ethan, and I are sleepers. We don't normally get up at 3 am for any reason unless some one is sick or a noise (like the dog yakking) wakes us up. Laney's arrival -- although wonderful -- has been a bit disruptive.

Well... maybe not so much for Ethan. Or really Keith for that matter. Ethan inherited his dad's ability to sleep... and really, it's more of a talent than an ability. Ethan started sleeping through the night at about 3 weeks (if I let him sleep in bed with us... which some people would argue makes me a bad mom... but I argue that me without sleep makes me a much worse mom) and then on his own at about 6 weeks. I thought all babies did this.

Apparently not.

And Keith... well... he's could be a world champion sleeper. In fact, when Ethan was a baby, Keith was napping straight through a tornado funnel cloud passing right over our top floor apartment. I hearded the baby and dogs into the bathroom as soon as the local weatherman posted the predicted path on the television and stocked up on possibly needed supplies: radio, flashlight, food, Diet Coke, formula, toys, cell phone... you know, the basics.

Keith was still snoozing away, oblivious to the possible destruction headed our way.

Oh, I'd told him to get up. I'd yelled and pushed and all but attacked him with a weapon, but he'd just grumble and roll over.

I finally got him to at least stumble into the bathroom and hold Ethan, but when I came back from checking the weather report on the tv (a few seconds later), he was dead asleep in the bathtub/shower, pillow behind his head, baby snuggled into the crook of his elbow. The end of life as we knew it was bearing down on us, and he couldn't even wake up to tell us all good-bye?!?! It's a sickness, I believe...

Anyway, Ethan is the only three-year old I know who has to be dragged out of bed (or persuaded to leave his warm covers with promises of Pop-Tarts or muffins) -- so he rarely hears Laney crying in the night. And we already know Keith doesn't hear her much (or pretends not to hear her, he once confessed in a weaker moment that will haunt him for the rest of his life)... at least until I deliver a well-calculated elbow jab to his unprotected ribs. Amazingly enough, that tends to bring him back to the land of the living immediately...

So, pretty much, it's been disruptive for me. It's that weird Mommy thing where you hear everything... every heavy breath, ever tiny cry, every wailing, earpiercing, bloodcurdling shriek... you know what I mean. There have been a couple of occasions where I really didn't hear anything (usually brought on by severe exhaustion from teaching, coaching, and mommying) and slept right through whatever tantrum she was throwing, forcing Keith to finally get up. (To his credit, he does get up with her much more now... even when I haven't lost complete consciousness.)

But that doesn't happen much... which means I don't get to sleep much.

And can I just state for the record: a mommy with little sleep is a time bomb.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

But her little three-month old cherubic self diffused the bomb!!! Two nights in a row -- 11 pm until at least 6 am. Praise God and Hallelujah! I feel like a new woman, and my skin looks like it belongs on a 29 (!) year old instead of a 60 year old smoker. My volleyball team even won it's second game last night, improving last year's record 100%!

Coincidence? I think not!