what a difference a day makes

Tuesday night, Hazel was awake from 2:00am until 4:00am... and not just awake - screaming/crying/shrieking awake. And since we're still working on her learning how to fall asleep on her own (without a mama-milk date and without being rocked in the big, squashy blue chair)... those two hours were mostly full of Mark and I laying in bed, trying to not feel hideous and neglectful as our baby daughter sobbed in the next room (in between going in to check on her and reassure her that it's OK to fall asleep, which pretty much always only makes her cry harder).

Last night, I nursed Hazel as part of the usual bedtime routine (nap, pjs, nursing, storytime) and then again before I went to bed. The second nursing session terrified me to my very core because it involved entering her room, picking her up out of her crib and feeding her... and trying to do all that without really waking her up, and hoping that she'd fall straight back to sleep afterward. Our sleep battles have been so intense this last year - it's just so hard for me to touch a sleeping Hazel.

Praise God - I don't think she actually woke up at all, even though she nursed - she went straight back to bed without a peep, and then proceeded to sleep the entire rest of the night. And I was in bed so early that I was able to get up early, shower and spend some time in the Word BEFORE she woke up at 6:30. She got 11.5 hours of sleep, I got almost 8, and today has been a lovely day.

I don't know if it's too much to hope for a repeat, or for the installation of a new trend here... but my heart is a little lighter, knowing that there's some hope.


No matter what - this kid makes me laugh out loud every single day and she can't even talk yet! Sleepytime may be rough, but mamahood has some serious perks. I'll roll with the bad days and know that there's always tomorrow!