The new reality

Turns out, I've been sleep deprived for going on nine months now.  I've grown accustomed to the familiar feeling of choosing to only pay attention to six rather than nine things at once because that's all my gasping brain can handle, to the constant race I am in to drink enough water to stay one step ahead of the ever-looming exhaustion headache that has taken up residence in the back of my brain.

But I guess it's not supposed to be like this.  Oh, it is for new parents, don't doubt that, but for the general population - no.

I went to sleep much too late last night (a stupid recent trend, I'll admit) and was awoken a glorious 90 minutes later to the sound of a crying baby.  Now this baby, she never cries at night.  When she usually wakes up after eight hours of sleeping and is hungry, she starts to stir and make grunty noises.  I get up and get into her room before things escalate to the point of actual wakefulness or sadness.  I do this every night, on my own, while hubs slumbers, peacefully undisturbed.

So when she cried last night, I knew it was his time to get up.  He didn't, not right away, anyway.  Anyway, that's a story for another post.

When the kiddo is back down and getting dozey, I find that I have been awake for two hours and can't fall back asleep.  Pre-baby, this would really freak me out.  Post-baby, this has happened more than I care to admit.

When hubs' alarm went off three hours later, I dutifully climbed out of bed, got dressed and combed my hair.

The kid woke up not long after, which is to say WHY IS SHE NOT TAKING A NAP RIGHT NOW?

I am hoping that by continuing to leave her in her room she will magically drift off to sleep.  I am also hoping that someone else will show up to take care of this.