Okay seriously...

Anyone who I talk with even occasionally knows of our continued struggle with getting an uninterrupted night's sleep. Cole has been a challenge in the overnight department from day one. It was not until almost 10 months that we managed to get him to sleep without waking during the night. That was with trying every sleep behavior method published including the dreaded CIO (cry it out). Finally, we felt giddy that he was letting us snooze until 5am. For about two weeks, that glee endured. Then he slowly inched his waking from 5am to 4:50; 4:40; 4:30...over the course of a month or so, back to 3:30...then after some time stuck there, he edged forward and gradually landed at 4:35 where his morning alarm remained for the better part of 3 months.

In February, Cole saw a sleep specialist, as we wanted to be sure that there was nothing physically wrong with him that was keeping him (and us) on a farmer's schedule (though not even farmer's get up at 3:30?). He was not a good napper either, so we were concerned about his overall sleep deficit. I diligently kept a sleep log for a month, noting daily cycles. After meeting with the specialist, we were told, fortunately, that nothing was wrong with Cole, that he was a true early bird and an older baby needing less sleep on the sleep continuum. The doc said he is very active and curious and hitting all his milestones ahead of time so that he has a lot going on in his brain. We were doing all the right things as far as structured nap times and bedtimes but that Cole was processing a great deal of data and sometimes that results in less sleep. Cole was able to self soothe and be put in his crib awake. So despite the "good news" we were back to square one hoping for that one morning where he would sleep until AFTER the sun rose. Five months later, we are still hoping.

During this past spring and thus far this summer, we are still dealing with the periodic middle of the night wakings due to teething, illness or the unknown factor. Sometimes we can coax him back to sleep and sometimes he is ready for his day to commence. Sometimes he has a stretch of days where his internal clock regresses to 4:35 or earlier. Sometimes we make it to 5:20 and we whoop and holler, like we just struck gold.

Dave and I take turns waking with him at these ungodly hours, taking him downstairs so the other can cherish another hour's sleep. Rarely, once downstairs, can we snuggle him in for just 30 minutes more of shut eye; once in a blue moon as the saying goes.

I know we will sleep 8 hours STRAIGHT again in our life time but our bodies are so primed now for our pre-dawn awakening that we both stir before he actually wakes in order to avoid the adrenaline pumping jolt his cries induce.

We both know that Cole will be the teenager who can't get out of bed and oh the joy it will bring us to barge in with our cheery "Good morning"!!