7 Month old Newborn

Normally, *knock on wood* Jenna is a great little sleeper. In fact, she would make a great substitute for an alarm clock if you had to catch an early flight. She typically goes down at 6:30pm (though we fight to keep her up until 7-7:15), and wakes up at 6:30am. The last two nights, however... totally different story. The night before last was somewhat understandable. Josh missed his little girl around 10pm Sunday night, so he "tip toed" with very heavy feet, purposely hitting the squeaking floor boards, into her room to "check on her." Not surprisingly, she stirred, and Josh took that opportunity to say she was awake. He brought her into our room to play, then decided he was tired, and left me to deal with the wide awake baby. Last night, however, she gets the blame all by herself. She went to bed as usual at 6:30... she hadn't napped well at daycare, so it was a struggle to keep her up that late. At 8pm she woke up screaming, and things just went downhill from there. I fed her, changed her, rocked her, sang to her. Nothing worked. Finally, after pumping her full of more food than I care to admit, she fell back to sleep around 10pm. I was so wired from my efforts that I didn't fall asleep until 1am. At 4am she woke up screaming again. Although unlike her, she will normally fall back to sleep after a quick ounce or two from a bottle, or a quick diaper change. Not this morning. This morning she stayed awake, screaming till her face was purple. She would calm down for brief intervals if I brought her in bed and held her tight, or held her like a newborn and gently bounced up and down like I used to do when I would lull her to sleep in my arms before sneaking her in the crib. As I stood there, delirious, at 5am, gently bouncing my little girl, I had serious deja vu to the days and weeks after we first brought her home from the hospital. Then I looked down and saw that my little baby is now a 17lb child, and no longer the little baby I used to rock to sleep. Normally I would have been sentimental, but all I could think was how quickly we forget how hard it is in the beginning, and take for granted how much easier it gets as they grow older.

My 7 month old newborn finally fell back to sleep around 6:30am, just in time for me to shower and get ready for work. I think Josh took her to daycare sometime around 8:30 or 9. Yesterday I sent my brother an email saying that think I love my baby more than any other parent loves their baby. This morning he called to agree with me, and after last night I (jokingly) almost rescinded that statement!!

I have to say, though, as much as I hated being up with her during all the screaming and crying, it was fun having the extra few hours between 8-10 to play with her. I can't help but wonder what's causing this shift in her sleeping habits. Perhaps it's her newfound mobility and desire to explore at all hours, or her growing little body needs more food to sustain her, who knows. I'm definitely accepting suggestions!!