Why is sleeping so hard for babies? I'm practically narcoleptic when placed in a moving vehicle (train, plane or automobile) and never met a nap I didn't like. Anika, on the other hand, fights it all the way. She'll have her eyes closed, little hands in mini fists rubbing at those eyes, head drooped over -- and yet sleep seems to be this moving target that we are never able to hit.
Other than falling asleep in her car seat - which she does only in the last ten minutes of the ride, and which ends the moment the engine shuts off - and sometimes catching 20 minutes in her stroller, we've yet to give this kid a proper nap. I wasn't worried too much about it until the other day, when I read that kids her age are supposed to be sleeping 14-16 hours a day. Yikes. She sleeps maybe 10 at night if we're lucky (with a few feedings mixed in there) and, on a good day, gets in maybe one 20 minute nap. I'm starting to feel like she's sleep-deprived and not sure what to do about it. All of the literature on the subject suggest routines as the way to go. But how do you establish a routine when you're sharing a 400 square-foot place and your kid startles at the smallest little noise or dimmest light? We do the whole bath-story-feed thing, but then it's a fight against sleep, sometimes lasting 3 hours or more.
Sigh. I hope to look back on this time and laugh. Or at least be able to say, we made it through and it's a distant memory. One thing's for certain: I am several steps closer to knowing how it feels to be homeless, and I have to say it sucks even more than you'd think. It makes me want to volunteer for some organization that provides services for those families who are homeless in the Albuquerque area.
In other fun news, did you know that license plates in Colorado are calculated based on the value of the vehicle, and for a little old VW they want to charge nearly $500? For license plates we are going to promptly throw away since we now live in NM? After several hours of calling around yesterday, I found out that it is possible to apply for temporary plates in NM. I see a mountain of paperwork and hours of standing in line at the NM DMV in my future. Also on the docket for today: searching for new health insurance. Anika hates this as much as I do; she starts crying the minute she hears hold music on the speaker phone.
Anybody want to switch places for the day?
There is one piece of good news: we found out yesterday that the house appraised at what we've agreed to pay the sellers. Next up is the inspection, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited to see the house again, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high because we still need to get final loan approval. With all the horror stories out there in today's maddeningly skittish and sluggish economy, you can't count on the place being yours until the money's in the bank.
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