It's really hard to put into words just how much I love sleep. I love it more than chocolate, days at the beach, dressing my cat up like a dork ... more than pretty much anything. I mean, if you gave me the choice between $1000 cash and a comfy bed with the guarantee of 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I seriously do not know which one I would choose.
Who am I kidding? I'd take the sleep. I really would.
I've finally met my match.
This Mila. Man. Girlfriend takes that "be opposite of my sister" thing VERY seriously. I have always known that Alexis is terrible at sleeping, but now that I've witnessed that some newborns close their eyes for more than an hour or two each day, I understand just how bad she is.
Still.
To this day.
Alexis just doesn't need as much sleep as most humans.
Mila more than makes up for it.
You guys, I hit the sleeping newborn lottery. In many ways, I earned it because ALEXIS. To clarify, "Alexis" roughly translates to "creature who is fantastic, except that she hates sleep."
Mila, on the other hand, roughly translates to "sleeeeeeeeeep." That's all she does. When I look back at photos of the girls in a decade or two, I'll be able to tell them apart because Alexis' eyes were always open as a newborn while Mila has to be poked and prodded for an hour before she will open her eyes. Even then, she usually only opens one of them.
She sleeps. And sleeps. And sleeps. It is the most wonderful thing in the world.
Except.
(OF COURSE THERE IS AN "EXCEPT.")
She who sleeps so wonderfully lost more weight in the days after her birth than is considered OK. Then, she wasn't gaining fast enough. We found ourselves aboard the Weight Watch train. When you're aboard that train, you have to make the baby eat at least every four hours.
Which, uh, Mila wants to sleep through the night. Seriously. She went as long as six hours before her pediatrician declared that it was time to start setting alarms and poking her awake for feedings. (Please don't throw things at me if your newborn won't sleep six straight hours. Remember, ALEXIS. I EARNED THIS THE HARD WAY.)
I wanted to punch things SO hard the first time I had to set an alarm and wake that Tiny Human. That time when Mila was just a couple of days old and slept six hours was the first time I had slept more than three consecutive hours in months and months. It was the most glorious thing ever. Then I had to wake the baby on purpose. Like a barbarian.
I absolutely recognized the hilarity of the situation, by the way. All I have wanted for years is a healthy baby who slept. I finally got one and then HAHAHAHAHAHA! WAKE HER UP! OFTEN!
Careful what you wish for. You just might get it, and everything that goes with it.
But! GOOD NEWS! Miss Mila graduated from Weight Watch University today. Along with that came the pediatrician's recommendation that we let the Tiny Human sleep as long as she wants at night.
Even if I have jinxed everything and Mila wakes up every two hours tonight, I will be the winner. I have seen the potential for a full night's sleep and I'm willing to wait however long it takes to get it. This time I know it will eventually happen.
Unless Alexis decides to wake me up.