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You’d think NPR would bore her to sleep

For some reason - cuteness, perhaps - the Bug sleeps really well in the car … when music is playing. I have to maintain a good selection of cds in the car so I won’t go insane. But I can’t listen to NPR - she simply won’t sleep. The last thing I need is a thirty minute commute with a fussy baby.

Doesn’t it seem like she’d sleep well to NPR? Shouldn’t she find it boring? Shouldn’t my turning it on directly lead to her nodding off? All I know is it doesn’t. She will only very rarely sleep to anything but music, and woe unto me if I give something else a try.

Oh, and she sleeps the worst when her mother is talking. Katie simply cannot talk in the car. Of course that’s not a problem for my daily commute.

I guess it could be worse. At least she doesn’t sleep best to absolute silence.

The baby is asleep 30 minutes before closing time

Great. The child who refused to sleep all day is now fast asleep in my lap, and it’s thirty minutes before closing time.

My great fear when this happens is that she will get a good nap and then be awake and fussy for the +30 minute commute. I’d almost rather wake her now and leave work early, hoping she’ll fall back asleep once in the car.

Of course the best case scenario would be 30 minutes of sleep now followed by 30 minutes of sleep in the car, with just a brief interlude in the middle.

But experience tells me that’s unlikely.

Joy.

Baby naps

Like just about all babies, the Bug’s sleep patterns have changed a lot over the nine months that make up her life. Lately, Katie and I have found that she’s been taking really good naps at home on the weekends, although she’s nursing a lot at nights to make up for not being with her mama during the day. At home, the Bug often gets at least one nap a day that is several hours long in addition to other shorter naps.

Elsewhere, things are different. At my work, where her bed is in the corner of my office, she tends to sleep a consistent thirty minutes in the morning, and her afternoon naps vary from nonexistent to an hour or so.

The real cuteness happens at my mother’s house, though. The Bug is blessed to get to spend a couple of days a week with her Mimi. On those days, she rarely sleeps unless held. You can try putting her down and she will fuss, but if you can let yourself go (pick up a book, watch television, take a nap), she will sleep in your arms for two or three hours.

I just love being able to kick back and hold the baby as she sleeps. There are few things greater than holding a lightly snoring baby in your lap. I alternate between jealousy of the time my mom gets with the sleeping Bug and wanting to apologize to her for C keeping her from getting anything done while she sleeps.

Mostly it’s jealousy.

Sleepiness

C is having one of those days when she only really sleeps if she’s in your lap. I’ve repeatedly had her fast asleep just to have her beautiful blue eyes pop wide open the second I try to put her in her bed.

It’s not that I’m complaining, really. Yes, I could stand to be getting more done. But what really bothers me is how sleepy I’m getting, watching her sleep so much!

Won’t someone tell me

Why is it that some people are so good at getting by on little sleep, while others of us almost can’t function on less than 7-8 hours?

She no longer sleeps alone

At work, she falls asleep in my lap. She seems nice and cozy. I let her get into a good, deep sleep and move her to her bed or the swing. I tuck her in, breathe a sigh of relief, and go back to my desk.

Her eyes pop open. She is awake.

My daughter no longer sleeps during the day unless she is actually in your lap - fine if you’re up for watching television all day, not so great if you want to do anything that’s not baby-related.

My mother suggested warming her blanket before putting her down. Something tells me a heating pad would be a no no, but it’s definitely crossed my mind.

I need white noise!

I don’t know why this hasn’t occurred to me before, but I very much could use a white noise machine in my office. We have one at home, and it seems to help C sleep. But here at the office - where the phone is always ringing and people are always around - I don’t have one.

Maybe that would help her sleep better. Yesterday she took about five naps, each lasting between 15 and 45 minutes, but she hasn’t had a long nap in a while.

C’s New Year’s Resolution:

C’s New Year’s Resolution: sleep less.

Sleep!

I’m always impressed by how Katie gets by on so little sleep, whereas I tend to be useless on anything less than a solid eight hours.

Obviously, I didn’t get my eight hours last night. And I regret nothing. But getting up this morning was not my idea of fun. All I could think of was “get C back to sleep, and go back to bed.”

But she’s asleep now, and I’m not about to go back to bed.

Four day weekend

It’s funny. I just realized yesterday that I’m going to have a four day weekend. But because it’s Christmas, I won’t be getting any more sleep than a regular weekend. Katie has to work on Monday, and I’ll bet C will have me up by seven at the latest. And something tells me we won’t be sleeping in on Christmas morning.

Note to self: talk to Katie about Christmas morning!

No pictures

Another downside to seeing baby C less this week is getting to take - and post - fewer pictures.

The rest of the family will be returning fairly late this evening. Luckily, that will give me time to get a good fire going and settle in a bit. But I’ll also have very little time with anybody before it’ll be time to throw in the towel for the day. At least not having the baby at work means I can sleep a bit later.