Sleep!

Ace is not a sleeper. Far from it. I've discussed this plight before. However, today I am proud to announce (and document!) that Ace last night slept from 11pm until 4:37am! Both Loving Husband and I awoke to hearing his cries - LH went to go get him - and I checked the clock. I was guessing it was simply 1 or 2am nope! 4:37am!!!!! Do you know what this means?! This means my son slept for FIVE hours and 37 minutes! (give or take a minute or two) I was THRILLED! I mean elated! hopeful that ONE day he really will sleep!

In fact yesterday in general was a pretty good sleep day. Aside from the fact it took 90, yes NINETY minutes to get him to sleep he had 2 good naps (1 hour each) and getting him down for those naps took less than 20 minutes total. Typically my day consists of an average of 3 hours trying to get him to nap or sleep. He honestly doesn't like to calm down and relax in order to fall asleep. So sometimes it is a fight and sometimes it's just plain ridiculous - but yesterday was a breath of fresh air - honestly. Even the 90 minutes of getting him to sleep (which 60 I attempted and the other 30 LH got him asleep eventually) wasn't so terrible. Discouraging in the moment but easily forgotten when I woke up at 4:37am to my son's first cries of the night!!

My son slept for 337 minutes!!! Over 5 hours! Honestly I could not be more excited if he had slept through the night entirely. Seriously. Why am I jumping up and down over less than 6 hours of sleep? Because literally that is the second longest he's ever slept. The longest is 6 hours, which he did at 4 months old... 13 months ago. His average stint is 3 hours before he wakes to eat or just be comforted for a period of time back to sleep. So 3 hours times 3 times a night - broken sleep is actually laughable - is it broken if that's the standard? Siigh. Yes, yes it is! But last night since a) he went to bed so late and b) he slept for over 5 hours - I actually managed to get 4.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. That has happened ONE other time in the last 17 months... when I had a sleepover.

I love my son, and I love him even when he doesn't sleep or let me sleep - but I won't lie - it's been wearing on me. I've been praying a lot lately for some relief, for God to help him sleep, for him to know that he's safe, that he doesn't need to wake up, and last night's lengthy stint of sleep is honestly a sign of an answered prayer and I can only hope and pray that it develops and extends into the norm.

Ace napping after swim lessons. The last two weeks after swim lessons I've simply taken him out of the car (mostly unconscious) and just laid him in his bed and he's out for over an hour. It is a nice blessing and reward for waking up so early for swim lessons.