What I didn't know about sleep (and some recent photos by Rob)

My children are five yrs old (Lucy) and almost two yrs old (Jasper - pictured at left), so those of you with no kids or with good-sleeping kids may think that Rob and I sleep at least 8 hours per night by now, no problem. This is not the case by a long shot. For example, I was awake virtually all night for two nights in a row a week and a half ago while Jasper had a scary respiratory episode and hospitalization. Then I had a night of very choppy sleep while still in the hospital with Jasper. For the following eight nights, Jasper woke up at least one time to nurse and sometimes more. So my sleep was at the very least interrupted once, between 11 pm and 3 am or so. Last night, bless him, Jasper slept from 9 pm until 5 am without waking up. Then back to sleep after 5 am for a couple of hours. This is something I did not understand before having children: one can survive on severely interrupted sleep for years on end. And one does not even necessarily feel bad all the time, just occasionally the fatigue takes over. Amazing really.

Before I post this and move on, I must say that Lucy sleeps a beautiful, reliable 10 - 12 hrs per night with nary a peep. This was after a sleep beginning that was as unpromising as J's. I cling to this fact and believe that the future will be better than today, sleep-wise.

The pictures below were taken at Golden Gardens beach last weekend. Jasper is still talking about the rainbow.