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Don't Eat, Don't Sleep, What Do you Do?


Despite having gone to both college AND law school, I had never pulled an "all nighter" before my little Pumpkin arrived. The past week has been a complete blur of little faint cries, searching for pacifiers in the dark, and rocking, patting, and shushing. It honestly hasn't been this exhausting since the early, early newborn days. I'm a bleary-eyed mess and wake up each morning thinking there is no way I will make it through another day...but then I see that beautiful little smile and know that I could never sleep again and be just fine.


I'm not sure what is causing her lack of sleep. It all started when I went out of town for ONE NIGHT last week for work. Aaron let her sleep in the bed that night - for her benefit, of course (wink, wink). Well, she was up and down all night (presumably because her big bear of a dad was grunting and snoring next to her). So we chalked that bad night of sleep up to Aaron. But then the next night, and the next, and the next. She has not slept more than an hour or two at a time since that night. I've considered every possible cause and attempted various remedies - from teething, to allergies, to being cold, to being a werewolf. None of them have worked so far.


The funniest thing is that I got a call from daycare yesterday telling me that she wasn't sleeping there either. So she just isn't sleeping at all. She definitely didn't get that from me. So I'm just giving up hope and continuing to remind myself that one day I'll be wishing she were there for me to hold at night. With that in mind, I'm learning to cherish my exhaustion (with the help of approximately 6 cups of a coffee and 3 diet cokes a day).


In addition to not getting my sleeping habits, she also did not inherit my eating habits. As big and "healthy" as our girl is, she does not like food. It's not just any particular food that she despises - it is food in general. We've been trying for over a month - fruits, veggies, rice cereal; jar baby food, homemade baby food; in the high chair, in our laps, outside. Nothing works. She hates food. In fact when I'm trying to feed her is the ONLY time she won't look at me, won't smile, and won't open her mouth. Usually, she will put anything in her mouth - from a toy, to her (or anyone's) hand, to the dog - but you get a spoon of anything resembling food near her mouth and the clamp is down tight. I even let her play in the food thinking she might "accidentally" put some in her mouth and like it. No dice. And some food she hates more than others. Squash she will just let fall ungracefully from her mouth, but bananas cause her to scream as though she were being tortured. So, I've resigned myself to the fact that in addition to never sleeping again, we are also going to have to price formula fountains for her wedding. Don't worry, we'll have a bar and a buffet for the rest of us :)






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