The last few days have definitely had their ups and downs. I have felt like I will not see a day that I feel well rested again. I have felt like I will not ever have a moment where I am not preoccupied with what comes next in taking care of our little girl. It has felt like Chad and I are going to coexist right along side each other and never be able to feel close and like a couple again. The downs feel like they will last forever.

But the ups are walking in to see the cutest little girl in the world and knowing she belongs to us. We get to see her grow and change. We get to have a family. I could not have imagined that starting our family would be so taxing but I also could not have imagined it being so joyous. The hard part right now is remembering that the lows—when things are overwhelming and it feels like Chad and I will never be able to be close agian and we’ll never have a moment for ourselves again—aren’t what lasts forever. Lucky for us the high moments do. It may not feel like a high all the time—or most of the time—but the really rewarding wonderful things are the ones we get to take with us and treasure for the rest of our lives and ever after that.

All this time that Elisa and I thought we were over-tired, the problem might really have been that Eden was over-tired. I think we have been over-stimulating her to the point that she wasn’t getting enough restful sleep. Because she is so cute, there’s always someone who wants to hold her and rock her. And with grandmas here, there is always some conversation going on. I think we all need some quiet moments. We’re trying to watch her cues better for signs of sleepiness. Sometimes when she is cranky we’ve recognized that the problem is that she needed to be in bed. Everytime we figure out something like this it makes us feel like geniuses in the parenting department.

Last night was the opposite of the night before. Since we had been getting so little sleep, Tara and Sophie were concerned about Elisa’s well being. So at about 11 pm Sophie offered to help rock Eden to sleep. Elisa and I went to bed gratefully. Tara says that Eden went to sleep pretty quickly too. But then Tara and Sophie were worried that Eden might wake up and then wake us up too. So they decided to stay up and watch her sleep. They played cards together until midnight… then 1… then 2… then 3… then 4. At 4:30 Elisa and I got up to see where Eden was. Tara and Sophie were on the couch having breakfast. They were SO punch drunk. 😮