Sleep Blessed Sleep

I have one of those kids that won't sleep. From the minute that he was born, Tobin screamed like he was on fire if he was ever put down. The kid wouldn't sit/lay in a stroller, car seat, swing, bouncy seat, or any type of crib. We read every book and tried everything but he just wanted to be held. I slept sitting up for the first few 6-8 months of his life. Then he would finally sleep beside me in bed.

When he was around 12 months he finally started sleeping 4 or so hours at a time. I remember feeling like a whole different person after getting 5 hours of sleep at a time. My brain could work and I could think clearly for the first time in over a year.

Now at 2 years old, he still has trouble staying asleep for very long. I have tried everything and read all of the books out there, but nothing doing. The only thing that works is to slowly work him towards a goal. Consistent baby steps is the only way to get him to do anything.

So I have not had more than 6 hours at the very most (and that is only every other week or so) of sleep in over 2 years. Every time I look confused or say something that doesn't make much sense, my husband just nicely tells my family to remember that I am always sleep deprived. I can hardly believe that I use to be one of those people who had to have 8 solid hours or I fell apart.

When you have a kid that won't sleep, you get a lot of advice from other mothers (and it is all good stuff and I have tried all of it out there). I have noticed though that when another mom finds out about Tobin not sleeping through the night there are two types of responses:

- the first mom type always says something like "oh yeah, my kid did that for a few weeks. I tried ______ and she now sleeps through the night."

- the second just looks sadly at me and says "my kid didn't sleep through the night til he was 5." That's it, no suggestions or sleep theories, just one short sentence. Why? Because moms with kids who really don't sleep know that there is no answer. You just keep trying and one of these days your kid will finally be ready on their own to sleep all night long.

Anyway all that to say that the other night I actually got 7 hours of sleep because Clark and I spent our first night away from Tobin. Since we have no choice but to leave him when we travel to Ethiopia to get the baby, we are trying to get him ready. Our first step was to go away for a night and let Grandma and Grandpa sleep with him. Tobin was pretty excited about the idea of GaGa sleeping in his room and my mom said he was like a kid at a sleep over. He actually did really great and only asked for me a few times. He of course woke up about 4 times, but always went back to sleep. So maybe leaving him won't be too horrible.