Sleeping Like a Baby

Since Des was born, one of the first questions people ask is:

"How is he sleeping?"
"Is he a good sleeper?"
"Sleeping through the night yet?"

Literally it's either the first or second question, always. Apparently this is a may-jah concern in the parenting world. I get it, I really do.

And every time I reply, I bite my lip. Early on I hesitated to answer truthfully, for fear of jinxing it. When I did, I'd knock on wood, say a quick Hail Mary, throw imaginary salt over my shoulder. But it's almost 8 months in, and that fear is finally gone. Pretty much...

Here's the truth. Desmond is a fantastic sleeper.

There. I said it. And oh god, the coffee table is going to get a knuckle beating tonight.

He's been sleeping through the night consistently from about 10 or 12 weeks. Before that, he was up once a night for a feeding. And always around the same time.

He's predictable and easy to read. If he rubs his eyes, we put him down for a nap. If it's close to 7pm, it's bed time, and he's down for the night. Then he's up between 5 and 6am. The past 3 mornings he was up at 5:41am EXACTLY. He's a machine! I gave birth to a human alarm clock!

Sure, he has his tough days of 'fighting it' or not napping long enough. A few times he has woken up crying inconsolably. Nightmares, we presume. But thankfully, that's not often. We never did any sleep training. It just kinda happened. We are obviously just so amazingly awesome at this parenting thing. What, like it's hard?

I read and hear stories about babies not sleeping well the whole first year and beyond. I feel spoiled. I feel guilty. I wonder what we did to deserve such a luxury. And I fear the future, when the universe finally grabs me by the neck skin and slaps me in the face repeatedly. Maybe Des will decide he doesn't need to sleep through the night anymore. Or maybe we'll get it with the next child. Shudder.

I'm enjoying it now. Because god only knows what's going to happen after I post this. I am so scared. Universe? Please be kind.


Crappy camera phone photo. Still captures cuteness.