Well, we made it through the mid watch string.
I swear, I have never been more tired except for maybe the first two weeks after Miss C was born. For the past 5 days, I had to get Miss C out of her crib at 930pm and take her over to Mrs J's for a "sleep over" then go to work until 730am. I would get home by 8am, call Mrs J to check on how she slept etc then catch about 4 hours of sleep and go pick her up. In order to avoid that inevitable Mommy guilt about not doing enough, we always did something in the afternoon after Miss C took a nap. It didn't matter how tired I was (and let me tell you, but Wednesday, I was beat!), we did something. By something, I mean we usually went for a long hike around our neighborhood or played in the yard. We did lots of reading and coloring but it still didn't make up for the fact that I had to disrupt Miss C's sleep, which I will be paying for over the next couple of weeks.
It takes time to develop habits and by the time the string was done, Miss C wasn't even waking up when I got her to Mrs J's. The problem is, she kind of got used to Mrs J jumping up at her every noise, which is something I finally broke myself of when she was about 6 months old. Not that its bad that Mrs J did that, its what i expect because she doesn't know when Miss C doesn't need help or what at night. We have figured out what noises need attending to etc but she hasn't had time to figure that out at night.
Well, last night, our first night back at home, Miss C woke up a couple of times and when I didn't jump right up, decided yea, she really needed me. It will take a couple more days before I get her back to herself but I guess if this is the worst that comes from the string, I can take it.
Our next hurdle is a week of eve watches. That week I will be taking Miss C to Mrs J's in the early afternoon and picking her up around midnight to get her home.
I know that she will take it fine, I just hope she doesn't get into the habit of getting up at midnight. Again, we can deal with it, but argh! You all know how it is. We have been beyond this stage for a long time and now... to have to deal with the middle of the night awakenings again is tough.
I can't wait until June. I am taking a little leave and once DH gets home, we won't have to move Miss C anywhere at night (thank goodness). I am also supposed to come off this crazy schedule and become a "day snake." I can't wait.