Sleep

I used to sleep late. I remember sleeping until 10 or 11:00 in the morning (on Saturdays, at least). Boy...those were the days. After Jacob was born, sleeping late became a thing of the past, never to return. When you bring a new baby into your household, the words, "sleep late," vanish from your vocabulary. Sleep? What is sleep? Instead of wanting to sleep late, you find yourself praying to just get a few hours at a time.

I seem to have adjusted to my new sleep schedule with Annabelle -- a catnap here, a catnap there, all through the night -- but I've still been praying for at least one good night's sleep. Well, it finally happened! Friday night, Annabelle slept for five hours straight. Hooray! Last night, I put her (and myself) in bed around 11:30. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to her crying and looked at the clock. It was 6:15!! Can you believe it? I sure couldn't. I think she was a little sleep deprived because she has trouble napping during the day. Her big brother does not like her to sleep and does everything within his power to keep her awake.

Yesterday, Heath was holding Annabelle on the couch and she had finally drifted off to sleep despite the noisy toys Jacob was playing with at the time. Not long after she closed her eyes, Jacob walked over to her with his guitar, grabbed her hands, and said, "Dance Annabelle, dance!!" He loves to make her "dance." I only wish he wouldn't dance with her while she's sleeping. Of course, she woke up. Then later, when she was trying to take another nap, Jacob stood over her and said, "Annabelle, WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!!!" She did. I've decided I need to take her away from the "action" when she's ready for a nap and let her sleep in another room. That should work, as long as I can keep Jacob out of that room.

Besides waking her up all the time, Jacob loves playing and "taking care" of his little sister. Sometimes when she cries now, he says, "see her brother," meaning, "She wants to see her brother." Cute, huh? One day last week, I left Annabelle in the Pack 'n Play while I went to fill her bathtub. When I came back to get her, she had Boudreaux's Butt Paste all over her and there was a pile of q-tips on her stomach. Jacob had already left the scene, but when I called his name, he came running in saying, "lotion on her tummy...lotion on her tummy." He just wanted to put lotion on her tummy. I'm not sure what he was doing with the q-tips.

Let's Pray

Jacob loves to pray. Before he eats, he likes to say his own prayer now. He doesn't want to repeat a prayer. He wants to say it "self" (himself). And he does a good job. He says, "A God...Kink you...a day...a food...A-meeun." (Dear God, Thank you for this day and this food. Amen.) I'll have to video him saying this. Yesterday, while he was playing with his guitar, he stopped mid-song, closed his eyes, and started praying: "A God....help me....listen....to what...Mommy Daddy....tells you. A-meeun." Then went right back to playing his guitar. He looked like a little worship leader. Everyday we talk to him about how he needs to listen to what Mommy and Daddy tell him to do. "You need to listen to what Mommy and Daddy tell you," we say. We also include it in the bedtime prayers. I guess he just felt the need to pray about that yesterday afternoon. How funny. He actually did the same thing this morning, only this time, he thanked God for the day, then said, "I yuv you Jesus. A-meeun." Maybe he will grow up to be a worship leader one day. Who knows?

Yesterday morning, Jacob found this jingle bell bracelet and immediately started singing Jingle Bells. And yes, he now uses his ride-on toys as step stools to get things that are out of his reach. That's what he was doing here before I stopped him.