Sometimes it's an Intruder...

The past few nights Maddie has been waking up every two and a half to three hours. (Occasionally she will go four hours without waking up, but that's a rarity.) When I put her down for a nap she will then commence screaming for at least thirty minutes before falling asleep. And then, fifteen to thirty minutes after she falls asleep she wakes up again... screaming.

The best hardest part about these episodes is that I wait until she falls asleep before trying to sleep myself... which generally means that as soon as I am sound asleep (dreaming) I am almost instantly awoken by my child's vocal chords. (I am actually impressed that she has not become hoarse yet with all of these antics.)

I'm hoping that the Babywise book is in fact right in that this is just the "45 minute intruder," and is directly related to Madeline going through a growth spurt... And if it's not I am a little scared that she is already taking lessons from her brother in how to avoid sleeping. Although if that's the case I believe the student has surpassed the teacher, because she is now sleeping less than he is. This cannot be healthy...

Why is it that having one child does nothing in preparing you for having a second? Shouldn't there be some takeaway that is universal besides the fact that no matter how many children you have you will never cease to be amazed by the overwhelming love you feel for each of them? I mean, seriously, shouldn't there be more of a takeaway from raising a child?