Magic

My cousin and her friends are magic.  My baby doesn't go to bed until 10 or 11 pm, depending on her mood.  Then she wakes up every 3 hours (or less) during the night.  This has been the drill ever since she was born, except for a couple of blessed nights when she went for four or five hours.

Last night Eric and I went out and asked my cousin if she would tend the girls.  She did and also brought a couple of friends along.  When it comes to keeping up with Ellie, the more the better.

Tangent: When we got home it was almost 10 pm and we were sure Ellie would have crashed and burned by then.  Not so.  She and the girls were dancing to the end of George of the Jungle.  They told me Ellie is very energetic.  If three high school girls tell me that it makes me feel better about being run down at the end of the day.  End tangent.

I had expected to find Ellie conked out in her bed and Maya asleep in the front room.  It turns out they rocked Maya to sleep at 7:30 and put her in her crib.  She woke up around 9 and fussed a little before falling back to sleep.  That was a surprise.  Maya never does that for me.  She stayed asleep until about 11 (just as I was ready to climb into bed) when she woke up for a feeding.  I fed her and, miracle of miracles, she stayed asleep when I put her in her crib.

Maya didn't wake up until after 8 am.  The heavens opened and the angels began to sing.  My body still woke me up every three hours, but at least I didn't have to get out of bed.  I had to check on her in the morning to make sure she was still breathing.  It's a shame there wasn't a camera to capture the panicked, spastic sprint I got into when I saw her blanket over her face.  It would have been one for posterity.  But Maya just stretched, rolled to her side, and went back to sleep after I snatched the blanket away.  If I'm lucky tonight will be the same--minus the blanket snatching.

My only explanation for Maya's rapid shift in sleeping patterns is that Andrea and Co. are magic.  Maybe I can work out a deal to have them put Maya down every night...