my college sophomore

Gabe and I got back from California almost two weeks ago, and we're still in the depths of sleep hell. Gabe seems to have a slight problem with time changes and new homes and switching from cribs to pack and plays and back to cribs again. I don't know what his problem is, because I'm not having any problems sleeping. I mean, as long as you don't count the 8 month old screeching from his crib as a problem.

Before we left for California, he was doing pretty well. We were sleeping from 9pm until about 7 or 8am, when he would wake up to eat, and go straight back to sleep until 11am. 11am! 14 hours of sleep! Sure, he woke up for those 15 minutes at 7 or 8 am, but this was a small price to pay for 14 hours of sweet, non-screeching sleep.

Then we went to California, and it all went to hell in a handbasket, or whatever that saying is. He was getting up at midnight, and 2am, and 4am, and then up for the day at 7am. At each of these wake-up times he was desperate for milk, even though he'd eaten just 2 hours beforehand, and he didn't seem to understand that since he hadn't been drinking milk at 2am for the last 2 months, my boobs were no longer producing milk for the 2am shift. So there was a lot of screeching.

My mom would wander out of her room at 4am during these fits to offer helpful suggestions like, "Maybe he just wants to play for a while?"

I was desperate for him to sleep again. It felt as if now that I'd gotten a taste of life without sleep deprivation, I couldn't possibly go back. We were in California for 2 weeks, and two days before we left, Gabe finally started sleeping through the night again. 12 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep. And then, of course, we left.

I tried to talk to Gabe about the fact that this was HIS ROOM, HIS BED, HIS SHEETS, so he didn't need to wake up 8 times a night. Apparently he missed the memo. The other night, between 12:30 and 2:30 am, I went into his room to soothe him no less than 15 times. I'd rock him for a minute, put him down, tiptoe out of the room, and 5 minutes later he'd start screaming. To make matters worse, he picked up a cold on the plane, AND he is getting 4 teeth at the same time.

It's been a long couple of weeks, that's for sure.

Having parents that live in California is difficult on so many levels, and this is just one of them. I want to go visit my parents and Josh's parents as often as possible, and I'm desperate for Gabe to know his grandparents, but this traveling is kicking my ass. Since Gabe was born, he's been to California 4 times and Florida once. 5 trips in 8 months! Plus, it seems like he is having a harder time adjusting as he gets older. When he was 5 months old, it took him a day to get back into his regular routine. This time, it's been almost 2 weeks and counting.

I'm tired, my friends, very very tired. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll return to our regularly scheduled baby who sleeps like a teenager.