the 4-month sleep regression

ugh. so anna jae has gone from the girl who sleeps 9.5 hours at night and learned to nap on her own for 1-2 hours, 2-3 times a day, to the girl who wakes 6 times a night and can't nap longer than 30 minutes. i'm exhausted.

she's a few days away from her 5-month mark, so i guess this started at 4.5 months. she's been teething, so i thought it was that. and it still might be a contributing factor. but i do think that most of it is the 4-month sleep regression. it's so very common in kids 4 months or so to go from a dream sleeper to a nightmare, quite literally overnight. i guess that, at this stage, there is so much new stuff going on with them -- growing, teething, learning, etc. -- that it really affects their sleep patterns.

i'm really hoping this doesn't last very long. we have always been lucky with anna's sleep habits, at least at night (naps are a crap shoot). i would love to go back to that!!

in other news, our girl is doing great. we are getting prepped for an exciting week this week. since grandma and grandpa are away on a cruise (boooo... we miss you!), we filled our time with all new things and people! tomorrow, on anna's 21st week mark, we are visiting with gina and sue, and then going to see g.g. for some quality time. on wednesday, our friend julia newman is coming by to take professional photos of anna jae, which should be a blast! on thursday, as usual, we are visiting with anna's new baby friends (and my new mommy friends) at our weekly group get together. and on friday, i believe we are meeting jen and her son, whom she affectionately refers to as mcscreamy.

hopefully i'll have enough energy to do all this with her! if she would just sleep...