Do Not Be Fooled

Oh Nyla, you're a tricky one...especially in the middle of the night.

For the first few days of Nyla's life, we had her figured out: she smacks her lips, she's hungry, we feed her, she falls asleep. Like clockwork.

That is no longer the case. The first three steps are the same (smack, hungry, feed), but now she likes to be a trickster. She'll close her eyes, even let her mouth loll open like she's sleeping. This is the point where I feel accomplished and excited because now Mommy will be able to go to sleep! I gently hoist myself off the couch, calmly and smoothly walk over to her crib, and take deep breaths before "the transfer." This is the move where I try to transfer her from my arms down into her crib without her waking up. "The transfer" is the key to a few uninterrupted hours of sleep.

Nyla no longer stays asleep during "the transfer." It's like she has little sensors all over her body that tell her "hold up! Mommy is not holding me anymore; it is time to wake up." At first, I thought to myself Elizabeth, you need to just swaddle/cuddle/snuggle her a little longer; that way she will definitely be asleep. This worked for a night or two, but our Nyla must be a little genius because she figured that out.  (Okay, not a genius, just smarter than her mother...that may or may not be saying much)

Last night, there was no hope for her sleeping through "the transfer." So I put up my white flag and surrendered...Nyla and I slept on the couch together. To be honest, it was wonderful, and if it wouldn't give her a total dependency complex, I'd do it every night for the next year. It was just too sweet having our little one sleeping/snoring/grunting on my chest.

There is also an upside to late night wake-ups; last night, we were able to watch WWE, something I haven't done since college. The Rock was on the show last night, and while he addressed the millions (AND MILLIONS!) of his fans on TV from the ring, I was whispering to Nyla "we like him. The Rock is the best." She farted on me while I was telling her this; that must have been her signal of agreement.

Back to the moral of this post, new parents beware--even when you think your child is asleep, they're not. And they're probably not even close to being asleep.  Just give in, find something entertaining on TV and relax; you could be there awhile.