I'm going crazy.
Like, I cried because my hair was tangled kind of crazy. Then the next day I had it chopped off.
So that's where I'm at.

The reason?
My sweet, cheerful baby who used to sleep 9-10 hours straight per night, has now decided that sleeping is overrated. So is eating at the right time. So is entertaining himself for more than sixty-five seconds without a weepy breakdown.
Apparently, this is a four month development thing. But, lucky parents everywhere know that it's not just a sleep regression. It's weeks of misery, and sleep is not the only thing that changes. Sometimes he wants to eat more, sometimes less, sometimes he's too distracted for you to know which it is. They get clingy, then don't take long naps, so you're basically desperate for either of you to sleep.
The best part is that he waited until Danny had to be up for the day between 3 and 5am before he decided to quit sleeping.
I've read an insane number of blogs and sites talking about this four month sleep regression. Some of them offer good advice, and an overview of how it will likely go. We are at 19 weeks, so that means normally it will peak about now. Which is good, since I was up for more than three hours over the course of last night. What's annoying is that a lot of the sites that talk about it are just pitching a product or service. (i.e., you MUST buy this sleep-sack or sleep-suit or whatever. And you MUST hire me as a sleep consultant to help you)
Of all the advice I've read, the main thing people recommend on each and every one is putting your baby to bed early, because a well rested baby will sleep more. So, we've been doing that, and praying that it will help. At this point I haven't noticed a difference, but I can dream, can't I? Oh wait, can't dream if you're not sleeping.
When your baby is a newborn, you're in the zone of waking up every couple hours. But the plus is that newborns typically sleep a lot during the day, so you can at least be guaranteed a couple naps for yourself. Not so at this stage in the game!
I swear the actual key to "surviving the 4 month sleep regression" is just reading a bunch of advice for a month until it passes on it's own.

Therefore, my house has hit a new low in tidiness. My husband came home and was impressed at just how much dirty laundry I could pile up in the bin without it spilling over. Yep, these are the skills I'm cultivating this week.


Anyway, the last few weeks have been rough, but this is what I signed up for. Even in the thick of it, under lots of stress, uncertainty, and change, I'm reminded of all the good things God has done for us. We are so blessed. And that's what I'm telling myself in the middle of every night, when I'm up for longer than I was when he was a newborn. Hopefully this is just a brief season.
Tonight is the night we are implementing some major sleep training. I'll update with a new post when it's successful!