Over the past couple of weeks, it seems that Matthew has developed two distinct personalities.

There is the sweet little angel that everyone gets to know immediately when spending time around Matthew.

Then there is the night terror who keeps mom and dad up for hours all night.

I’ve talked about our lack of sleep before, however it seems to be getting worse instead of better. Matthew gave us a little taste of sleeping thru the night several months ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. He would go down around 9pm and wouldn’t wake until almost 6. It was a thing of beauty. If only I knew it was only going to last for a couple of weeks, I likely would have cherished it more at that moment.

Since that 2 week run was broken… I believe there has been no more than 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep. On one of those nights Riley was nice enough to remind me that he used to be #1 and woke me at 3:30 in the morning so he could take care of #2. So essentially over the last 3 months I can only recall one night of peace and quiet.

The last two nights we have been in Jersey, spending time with family and enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday. Matthew has been well behaved, like usual… until it’s bedtime. Up it seems every hour on the hour until 4am. Feeding constantly and falling sleep in Anne’s arms or on my shoulder. And then the minute we put him down in his crib… his feet start flailing, his arms start swinging and the cries begin. Time to pick him up and start the cycle all over again. Matthew did finally sleep for a few hours in his car seat. In the wee hours of Friday morning he racked up a solid 3 hours.

On Friday night into Saturday morning the same steps happened again, with a little added excitement. While being changed on the impromptu changing table that was our bed… Matthew peed out and suddenly we were changing our own sheets at midnight. I’m pretty sure at that point in the night everyone in the house was awake.

So a little after 4am I decided it was time for my wife to get some sleep and I brought Matthew downstairs. For the moment he had stopped crying. I moved into farthest room in the house, so in the event that Matthew did start crying again, there would be little chance that he would wake anyone but me. As I started to back down and sit on the couch, suddenly I heard the deep sound of “Hello” coming from below. I had almost sat on my brother in law sleeping on the couch. At some point in the night he had escaped the cries of the boy and as a result almost got crushed by my fat ass. Is that what one deserves for being a gracious host?

I never thought in a million years that it would be easier to train a dog that it’s time time to go to bed. Riley knows the word “bedtime” and follows me upstairs. Soon enough… I can only hope and pray that Matthew will understand this too. For now Anne and I will continue to try to do whatever it takes to get him to sleep. Before we know it he will be teething and even more variables will be against us to get a good nights rest.

Now I understand why everyone warned us that we would not sleep until the little guy rolls off to college. Of course, they grow up so fast… so it will be here before we know it. In the meantime I will try and enjoy the late night feedings and cries in the night as I know before long he will asking for the keys to the car.