Too much is never enough

Sleep. We never get enough sleep. Well, not true exactly -- one of us (Jack) sleeps as much as he wants, but that's only 9 hours a night. Jack goes to sleep around 8:30 and gets up at 6 (sometimes 5:30).

Or course, we are much better rested than we were as "young" (ha) parents. I remember our first pediatrician appointment when Jack was 3 days old or so. Hans and I were both so tired that we couldn't fill out the forms correctly. We dissolved into a fit of laughing until tears streamed down our faces. There would be more tears later in Jack's babyhood, and not always the happy kind. When Jack was just over a month old, I called Hans at work (on his birthday no less) in tears, pleading with him to come home -- Jack would not stop crying and I was exhausted.

In his second year, Jack slept better until his teeth came in, and then it was 6 months of agony for the whole family. He woke up crying almost every night, sometimes more than once a night. I can remember reading to him during the day and being so tired that I could not decode the words. I would stop, stuck on a simple, everyday word, and think for 5 seconds or so, until I could recall that word.

Now Jack is 6 days from his second birthday. He sleeps through the night and takes a nap for about 1 1/2 hours every day. Some time in the next year he will most likely drop that nap, which will be a mixed blessing for me. I cherish that 90 minute nap in the middle of the day. It gives me a break, a chance to rest, catch up on email, write, and relax. However, we are told that when toddlers stop taking naps they go to bed earlier, so it'll be nice to have a bit of time to ourselves in the evening.