Sleep!!!

Sleep is important y'all. For Sawyer. For Drew. For me. I mean, seriously, we need sleep. But ever since we brought our sweet sweet boy home from the hospital, sleep has been an adventure. 10 months of hoping and praying for better sleep. I know, sleep is always going to be rough as a parent, one way or another. But I'm talking about sleeping for more then two or three hour chunks. That is the goal. Not having hour long (or longer!) parties in the middle of the night would be a blessing. On the bright side, Sawyer had never been a big crier. No colic. No crying into the wee hours. Not even lots of tears when it's bedtime. Sure, he gets fussy, but he's a baby. Besides when he is fighting strep throat from hell, has been sick practically since Thanksgiving, had tubes put in, and is combating a fever - that brought on tears last night. Other then that, Sawyer is the happiest baby I know. For reals. And for that I'm thankful beyond words. But decent sleep - we need it!!

 When Sawyer came home he was on a strict "eat every two hours" plan. Which made sense, he was barely over 4 lbs when we left the hospital. We were waking him up every two hours to eat. Really though, you measure from when a feeding starts. So, he starts eating at 1:00, the next feeding should be at 3:00. Yea. Minimal sleep. Then we got good reports on his weight gain and started being able to spread out feedings, aka not force him awake. Then he turned 6 months and everyone said this is the golden age. He'll start sleeping longer/better. Then he started day care. Again, all we heard was this was the start of better sleep. Then we had tubes put in his ears because fluid was not draining. And we prayed that this would help. Prayed, hoped, held our breath. And it almost got better; a couple of nights that included 6 hour stretches of sleep.

Then strep hit. And we reverted. Currently amoxicillin is not clearing the strep up, and hopefully a trip to the dr will equal a new prescription that will put Sawyer on the mend. Because these two or three stretches of sleep at a time is getting old. And besides COI (which I can't even) we've done it all - cosleeping, no bedtime routine, strict bedtime routine, late bedtime, early bedtime - and same results. Sawyer is a joy in the mornings. Smiles. Laughs. Excited to see us, excited to start the day. And we are bleary eyed. How can he wake up so happy on such a tough night's sleep? Especially Drew. He's bares the brunt being alone 5 nights a week while I work third shift. So pray us that after another round of antibiotics our boy turns the corner. Gets better and stays better. And sleeps! I'm not asking all night. But consistently getting two long stretches with the awake time in between being under 30 minutes would be heaven. Heaven!

As an aside, this is something that's been in my mind to write for awhile. But I didn't. I didn't want to sound like a complainer. Because I know we are beyond blessed with Sawyer. But maybe there are other parents out there sick of hearing "my baby's been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks/3 months/etc." and need the affirmation that you are not the only one.

2012 in Review: What a Year!!

Here's a recap of the Pilkenton adventures from the past year. A lot happened and a lot changed over the last 12 months. I'll try to sum it up short and sweet like :)

January - babymoon/3rd year anniversary trip to San Antonio. Our first year of marriage Drew and I decided that we would take a trip every year for our anniversary. This year we took our trip a couple months early due to my pregnancy. We had a great time - River Walk, Spurs game, zoo, food trucks in Austin, and of course the Alamo.

February - baby showers! This was the month that crazy baby preparations started. We had two showers, and cracked down on preparing the nursery for Sawyer's upcoming debut. Good thing some nesting started because...

March - Sawyer arrives!!! 3 weeks to the day early, Sawyer flew (by Drew's first hand account) into the world. Went into labor Saturday night after a baby shower and dinner at Sonny's with family. Absolutely perfect and adorable, Sawyer made March 11 a very special date.

April - birthday, anniversary, Easter and the return to work. April started with the bustle of my birthday and Sawyer's first Easter. Then ended with my return back to work. 7 weeks went by way too fast!

May - Mother's Day and Sawyer's baby dedication. Worked out perfectly that the baby dedication landed on my first Mother's Day. And I got to share it with sweet friends who had also welcomed little ones this year. So special.

June - Father's Day! Sawyer turned 3 months old and started holding his head up. Just in time for Drew to celebrate his first Father's Day.

July - We tried our best attempts to make sure Sawyer was a true Florida boy and introduced him to his first pool experience in a little blow up my parents bought. He rocked the look - cute baby board shorts and shades. Was not so much a fan of the actual pool part. Next year!! Lol

August - Sawyer turns 5 months and started rolling over really well. Stomach to back then back to stomach. Getting so big. Drew's parents also came down and stayed a week to help Drew care for Sawyer while I got the opportunity to travel to my railroads. I went to the Carolinas to play trains (even ran a locomotive!) and experience railroading firsthand.

September - start of football season! And Sawyer's first trip to the beach! Sawyer and I joined my parents and brother for a weekend getaway to Daytona beach. Sawyer enjoyed his first beach/ocean experience a lot more then his first pool experience, and we all had a fun, relaxing time.

October - sitting up (finally!) and Halloween! Sawyer finally decided that sitting up was acceptable, and slowly began sitting on his own. He was also the cutest astronaut ever for his first Halloween. Seriously, adorable!!

November - Sawyer starts daycare. And celebrates his first Thanksgiving! Sawyer started going to preschool at the church up the road from us. It's small, convenient, and his teacher is super nice. There's only four total in his class. And it's all little boys, two a month older and another about 3 months younger. We celebrated Thanksgiving, and Drew's parents and grandparents came down for a long weekend.

December - crawling, Christmas, and surgery. Sawyer turned 9 months old and started crawling! He's gotten better and better, and now doesn't even need to be bribed by a phone to crawl. Best feeling ever when he sees you and crawls straight for you! We celebrated his first Christmas. It was pretty low key, but we had fun. Next year and the rest will be even more fun and exciting :). The month ended with Sawyer having tubes put in his ears to combat excessive fluid build up and persistent ear infections. He did wonderfully!

Can't wait to see what the new year brings our family. 2013 should bring lots of fun and lots of blessings.

Happy New Year!!!