August 8

So last night, Eli didn't transfer to bed as seamlessly as I thought. 45 minutes later, he was wide awake. Mean baby. I finally got him back to sleep, but texted a friend to complain about how it seems impossible that he will ever sleep through the night. Then I went to bed.

At 6:21 this morning, I woke up and realized there was no baby in bed with me, and his monitor was quiet.

Oh no! Did I have it turned down too low? Did I sleep so deeply that I missed his cries?

No and no. 

People, my baby slept through the night. In his crib. Without me.

I got 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep for the first time in over six months. Praise the Lord!

Need proof? Here's what my Fitbit says:

Boom!

When he woke up, Eli was completely soaked from a diaper that wasn't supposed to be on him for 10 hours. I cleaned him up, brought him into my bed, nursed him, and...

He fell asleep again. Double BOOM!

While he napped, I fed the big kids, got them dressed, and made my grocery list. By the time Eli woke up an hour and a half later, his siblings were all ready to go and so excited to play with their baby brother!

These are my monkeys. Daisy is clearly stealing the show in this picture, but take a look at Lily and Eli back there. Lily has her foot and leg on the poor kid, and he is totally annoyed but doesn't realize he can complain about it. That's pretty much the story of his life!

There. All four of my goofballs.

I loaded them into the van, and we all headed to Trader Joes for groceries and some flowers for Gayle, whose birthday was yesterday. Oops. World's Best Daughter-in-Law I am not. Then I took the older three and the flowers over to Chris' parents house, where Dan and Gayle played with the big kids while Eli and I finished our grocery shopping. Gayle wanted to keep Eli, too, but I knew he was about ready for another nap.

He took that nap while I shopped, and I was even able to successfully transfer him to his car seat, where he continued to sleep. He was on a sleeping kick today! Since he was sleeping, I drove home, unloaded the groceries while Eli slept in the running van, and then went to pick up the big kids. By the time we got home, the headache I had all morning had morphed into a wicked migraine. I knew the kids needed lunch, but I could barely stand up, so I threw snack bars at them and stumbled into my room with Eli. As we lay there, I texted my mom and asked her to come help me.

That woman is a saint. 

She abandoned her plans and came over to help get Lily down for her nap and get me lunch and entertain Caleb so I could rest.

3 applications of essential oils, 1 dose of Tylenol, 1 prescription-level dose of Ibuprofren, and a dose of Excederin later, my migraine was gone. I was left with a profound appreciation for naps, ice packs, and my mother. 

With my headache taken care of, I threw on clothes and met Emily at the church we grew up attending for the visitation and memorial service for my dear friends' dad. He is gone too soon, and my heart breaks for my friends today. We weren't able to stay for the memorial service, though, so I headed home to relieve my mom so that she could visit with the family, too. 

Then I loaded my kids back in the van and went to a barbecue hosted by friends from our church small group. We had a great time, and when it was time to go, two of my four children were shirtless, and all were sweaty and happy. I call that a win. We raced home and I threw them all in the tub. Mom and Ryan arrived to help with bedtime, and Eli once again went right to sleep, then woke up 30 minutes later. As I type this, he is wrapped on my chest, sound asleep.

I am hoping and praying that last night wasn't a fluke, and that maybe he is learning how to sleep? Even more, I'm hoping and praying that his sleep the past 24 hours isn't due to some sort of sickness. I'm feeling optimistic about tonight, but I am also not expecting a repeat of last night's great sleep. We'll see!