Got any Toothpicks?

'Cause I think I need them to prop my eyelids open. As I'm starting to write this, it's 6:48 am and I've been up for almost 2 hours. I am cursed with bad sleepers for children.

Nora usually wakes up once during the night and then is up at 5 am, if not earlier. The little shit insists on being all smiley and coo-y and WIDE AWAKE at this time. Doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to cuddle, just wants to sit up and try and pry my nose off my face. If she insists on getting up before the sun, the least she could do is make herself useful and run out and get me coffee or something, but noooooo.

Most people at this point would say, "Well, just put her to bed later." Ok, this kid will not stay up past 7 pm. There are nights that I practically have to strip her naked and hang her upside down by about 6:30 in order to keep her awake. She's got an amazing internal clock. 7 pm and she wants her bottle and bed and God help you if you try and delay it for 30 seconds. 5 am and she's wide freaking awake. Every. Morning. I just get stressed because I'm trying to start getting her on some sort of rough nap/eat schedule, but it's hard because she starts getting tired for her morning nap around the time we have to leave to take Tate to day care on the 2 days a week he goes, and then on the other days she's usually napping at the time we have to leave for playdates. Which isn't usually too big of a problem because the kid usually blesses me with about a 45-minute nap.

Yes, it's Tate all over again. Early rising, non-napping insanity around here. I get so mad when I read "babies normally sleep 12-14 hours a night". Yeah, bite me. Mine gives me 10 hours if I'm lucky. Then I've heard rumors that babies normally take like 2 or 3 significant naps a day. Ok, suck my left one. I get 2 naps. MAYBE for an hour each. Maybe. Tate must be grooming her to be his evil underling.

Tate got up by 5:30 every morning for about 18 months. 5:30 was a good day. There were many mornings of me hearing Tate, rolling over to look at the clock and going "Fuuuuuuuck!" when I realized it was 5, or 4:45 or 4:20. And let's not forget the Infamous Morning of Waking Up at 3:30, back in '07. Yeah, that was a good day. I was curled up on the couch weeping from exhaustion by about 9 am, and it didn't get any better, because Tate did not sleep again til 7 pm. Yes, he was up for, what, 15 1/2 hours? It's insane. It's like they're robots or mutants or on crack or something. Tate has taken a nap the last two days in a row, and that's honestly the first time that's happened in months. He went 5 weeks with no nap.

I have no idea how to break Nora of this nasty habit but I really have to. Sleep deprivation was a huge contributer to my nasty PPD last time, and that little affliction just insists on hanging on and on, and I know I can't let it get as bad as it did before. Mommy gets a little crazy when she's overtired.

On a lighter note, I took Tate in for a haircut yesterday at Snips and Giggles and I love it, as always. He looks like a little man. not a homeless dog. I also asked them to do a little snip snip on the front of Nora's hair just so it wouldn't be in her eyes and ears and mouth all the time. They took off a little more than I would have liked but it's nice to be able to see her eyes without having to part her hair in the middle so she ends up looking like Hitler.

Time to go wrestle my kid into some clothes.