We Done Got Played

Writing this post with one hand while desperately clutching my coffee cup in the other, trying to summon the energy to raise it high enough to drink out of it. At 12 months and two weeks, we are back to square one, y'all.

It has gotten progressively worse over the past few days but last night was the breaking point. Lily has been fighting sleep more and more lately. At first it was going to sleep. It took forever. Then she began going down OK but staying asleep started to get tricky. We figured now that Baby Girl has FIVE (5) teeth coming in at once on the top, she was just feeling her growing pains. Motrin has become the chic new nightcap. But, then, if she were in pain, the pain wouldn't stop simply because we hold her, right?

Last night, from 11pm to 4:30am, Jason and I reverted back to our Zombies With A Newborn Mode and took turns stumbling into Lily's room, rocking her back to sleep, only to put her down into her crib and have her shoot up like a cannon and start yelling again. During this time frame, the only time the girl slept was when she was in our arms, and the only time we slept was when the other was on rockin' duty. We would listen on the monitor and wait. 5 minutes. Go in. 10 minutes. Your turn. Then 20 minute increments of time before we went back. She would cry and yell and call out for us by name: "Mama!" (read: shame). "Dada" (read: shame). And then coo and purr the second we walked in. Happy as a clam.

We figure if this were really all about teething, the pain would still be there whether we held her or not. We figure if she were afraid of the dark, the worry would stop when the night light was put in. Y'all, the girl played us like fiddles.

Tonight we're starting early (so hopefully the neighbors won't call in a complaint!) and try a healthy mix between the Ferber method and the Focker method (see "Meet The Fockers". That's right, I went there) in an attempt to get our star sleeper back on track. We can learn a lot from the movies. Really.

Wish us luck! It's gonna be a rough day!