See? I'm not kidding...

I told you.. sleep deprived.

This baby o' mine seems to like 3am. Why? Only she can tell me, and she's not talking.
We've been trying her on solids for the past week or so, which she very quick to show her disgust. "BLEH!"
"YUCK!"

It's so funny the sounds that come out of a five month old when they actually sound like the work "YUCK!"
I don't blame her. Rice cereal isn't exactly my favorite, either.

For a few days, she was on the schedule of falling asleep at 7pm, waking up at 5am, and two naps (which is unheard of!). Now she is back to waking up at 3am and little to no naps.

Thankfully, she is now sleeping soundly. She may do this for about one hour, wake herself up, then (HOPEFULLY) go back to sleep.

It's amazing how different children can be. You always here the old cliche that "Each child is different" and blah blah blah.
You hear it, ponder it, store it in your mind. But only when there is another child in the picture do you SEE IT and realize that "Yes! This is a completely different human being with completely different needs/wants."

Tabitha and Tara are SO different.

Tabitha is a deep sleeper. (Just like her father.)
You can vacuum on her face (literally, I've almost come close) and she is completely out in sleepy land.

Tara, on the other hand, is a light sleeper. (Just like her mother.)
She can hear a minuscule sound from a galaxy far, far away and awake with large, curious eyes as if to say "GASP! I totally heard that cough that the grasshopper made three blocks away. Well, since I'm up, I might as well stay up and ponder the universe. Oh yeah, and I'm bringing you with me!"

Being up at 3am has its benefits. I do a lot of deep thinking at 3am. You can't help it. I think a lot of people find they are most creative in the wee hours of the morning... poets, lyricists, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince...

As I am feeding and rocking my newborn back to sleep, I can't help but to think of the long laundry lists of things I have yet to accomplish with my life.

That, and what I need to get at the grocery store the next day, how my living room would look arranged differently, if we should get new bookcases, what flowers/vegetables I should buy for the backyard, remembering that I have to weed the front yard, remembering that Tabitha's 6 mos dentist appointment is coming up, how our credit score is doing, trying to motivate myself to work out in the morning, am I a good mother, will my children grow up to be serial killers, are they learning right from wrong, is everyone happy, am I happy, what to do with the million dollars should we win the lottery... the list seems never ending.

And then I find that my mind won't quiet down, as exhausted as I am, to fall back asleep.

I eventually succumb to slumber.

The alarm clock goes off at 5:30am. Time for James to get ready for work. He hits the snooze button once, maybe twice.. okay maybe even three times.
Forget it, I am awake again. There is no hope of sleeping at this point. Should I try and sleep? Of course, but I end up sitting there, cursing the damn, evil alarm clock under my breath. At least it has the sound of ocean waves and not in incessant "BEEP BEEP BEEP" that somehow weasels its' way into your dreams and makes you jump ten feet out of bed.

At this time, Tabitha stumbles down the hallway saying "Good morning, Mommy. I don't want to sleep anymore."
Okay, I might as well get up, start breakfasts, get Tabi's lunchbox and school clothes ready for the day. If Tara's crying and awake by this time, I need to hustle and do everything as fast as I possibly can without a baby in tow.

Then I get Tara up, change her diaper, get bottle ready, etc.

Then Tabitha's bus comes at 7:30am. Off she goes to (hopefully) be all that she can be.

I breathe a sigh of relief that the hectic morning hustle is over with and hope that the baby has a morning nap so I may have a moment to myself.