Sleep Envy

Z turned 9 months old this week and by baby standards she has 'slept through the night' (more than 5 hours in a row), but in mommy and daddy terms, she has not successfully slept through the night yet. I have a lot of mommy friends who have babies who are amazing sleepers - some of the little ones even started sleeping through the night when they were only a few months old. When I listen to these mom's talk I am not going to lie...I'm completely jealous! Unfortunately for us, while Z is an awesome baby, sleep has not been her strength (she gets it from her dad) and even at 9 months old she is getting up 1 or 2 times a night. 

Everyone always tells me to enjoy the time while Z is young and don't get me wrong - I love hanging out with her all day long and even don't mind our middle of the night snuggles, but I would also love to sleep for an entire night one day again. I crave a full nights sleep so much that I actually have dreams about sleeping through the night (I know - I am a total nerd, but it sounds so magical!) 

Before we had Z I listened to many friends talk about long nights and sleep deprivation, so I had an idea about what I was getting into, but I don't think that I could have ever imagined what it would be like to be sleep deprived for 9 months straight. For the first couple of months I swear I had mommy super powers and it didn't matter how many times a night we were up, I still managed to function just fine the next day. As Z got older and her night time wakings slowed down, we got into a bit of a rhythm and getting up once or twice wasn't so bad. 

Enter 4 month sleep regression, co-sleeping, night separation anxiety, teething and sleep training - the past 5 months have been a struggle with sleep and surprisingly I have had days where I feel more tired than when Z was a newborn. Just when I feel like we are making progress (and I am feeling more rested again), a new milestone is reached, or a new tooth decides to wreck havoc and we take a step or two back.

We have come along way with Z's sleep - she is now sleeping in her crib at night and for all of her naps (she used to love napping on mom and dad's bed, but with the discovery of rolling multiple times in a row we had to put that to an end). It will likely be a long road ahead, but I am sure that eventually we'll figure this sleep thing out and all of us will be able to enjoy a good nights sleep. One day everything will just click and Z will realize that she doesn't need her mommy any more at night. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy our middle of the night snuggles because I know they won't last forever and one day Z will be 'too cool' to snuggle with her mom.  For those out there who are also suffering from lack of sleep I feel your pain, but from what I hear it does get better :)