the groundhog blues

Ryan's away again.  He was in Austria for 2 weeks earlier this month and now he's in Las Vegas.   For the shortest month of the year, February 2013 has probably been the longest and most challenging month of my entire life.

We're still chasing sleep around here and it's not just Leo with the problems.  For the past two weeks Ruby has decided she won't nap - ever.  I was hoping it would just be a phase but I've accepted it (.... not really).  I still offer the nap every day but every day she abruptly turns me down.  Because I'm awake with Leo every two hours throughout the night, I don't have the energy to push the subject so the negotiation is pretty simple.   Ruby wins.  She's winning at everything lately and frankly it has me worried.

This no-nap phenomenon started simultaneously with 1) her getting the croup, and 2) us taking away her soothers.  I can't be certain if any of it is related, I just know that Ruby is overtired and it's getting pretty ugly.  She's losing a cumulative 3 to 4 hours of sleep per day, (2+ hours in naps plus she's waking up early!)  We used to count on Ruby to sleep in until 8 o'clock.... but all of a sudden her norm is becoming 6.  Is she trying to kill me?   I think so.  She's cranky and overtired and the more overtired she becomes the earlier she wakes up (and the crankier she is).  She's even waking up in the middle of the night, which is something she never did before.  

Onto Leo.... 

He's become very active lately and is officially crawling.  I'm hoping that this increase in activity is what's causing his abnormal waking patterns at night.  That's what "they" say on the internet anyway.  Fingers crossed that one day out of the clear blue sky he'll sleep all night or at least give me a 5-6 hour stretch, OR at the very least get on a predictable schedule.

I know that some day in the not so distant future, I'll look back on these days and smile.  But for now, all I want is for Leo to sleep longer, for Ruby to stop whining and take her damn nap, and for Spring to hurry the F$%& up and get here!  What did that silly Groundhog say anyway??  I was too busy changing poopy diapers and negotiating M&M's for pees on the potty to hear.

We're still in love.  No matter what.

Hopefully my next blog will be more cheerful and include lots of pictures of outdoor fun!
We did go sliding this week but I didn't have my camera.  It was lots of fun!