Growing pains

Can you imagine if you put on 10% of your body weight in one week? I have to guess it's probably a pretty uncomfortable position to be in, and don't even start thinking about growing an inch in nearly as little time. The girl is growing like a weed and it's a miracle to watch. It's also been a bit of an experience in the last couple of days. It's as if she hit the 3 month mark and her body said, "Alright! Kick it into high gear, boys!" For three days now E has been uncharacteristically cranky. I've checked everything to make sure there's no other problem. She's fine. She's perfect. She's just pissed.

I'm wondering if perhaps she's getting ready to start teething. I can't see anything happening with her gums really...maybe they're a little more prominent...or it could be my imagination, looking for more explanation than just a growth spurt. She almost goes straight from being hungry to sleepy to hungry again, all tinged with fussiness. This was not the case three days ago! Oh, how I miss life pre-Thursday.

I'd mentioned she's begun to be a little more difficult to settle to sleep at night. Last night she nursed for a little more than an hour and I started to think that the kid is NEVER going to stop on her own. She's the Energizer Bunny of nursing and becomes furious when you try to get her little hoover mouth off. I've found there is about a 5 second window during that fury, where if you can rock and shush perfectly she will calm down and collapse into a little sleeping rag doll. If you miss the window, it's all over. You might as well go sit back down because there's no hope of consoling her otherwise.

Last night, I hit the magic window for consoling, and everything looked very promising. I've placed her ever so delicately in the crib, and am moving in slow motion as to not rouse her. Why oh why am I wearing corduroy, I wonder. There is a reason you'll never see a ninja in corduroy. It is impossible to be stealthy in corduroy. Despite this, my exit is looking good and as I start to tip toe away, Chokydar sneezes. I'm not kidding. The dog sneezes, and Evie is wide eyed and flailing, completely startled and completely awake. Sigh.

After I calmed her down I left her awake in the crib to see if she would go to sleep on her own. She wouldn't. She was quiet just long enough to make me think she was going to sleep, long enough to lure me to bed I had just crawled under the covers and arranged myself perfectly when she began to protest from the other room. It began quietly and I held my breath, hoping she'd calm down and go back to sleep. No cigar. This happened twice, and on the third time, (now about 12:30 am) we'd been trying to get to bed for nearly two and a half hours. When I went in, she would grow calm and hush her crying but would begin again as soon as I moved. I sang to her, rocked and cuddled her. It all worked, but only temporarily. The minute I'd stop, she'd start. Finally we went back to the rocking chair and she nursed for another 10 minutes or so until this time she really fell asleep. I was hoping that given the extraordinary effort to get her to sleep, she would stay that way for a long time. About 3 am she called out to me. I started having flash backs to those first few weeks of exhaustion and realized how good I've had it lately, and how grateful I am, given that it's just me--no back up or pinch hitter available.

After nursing, she went back to sleep and made it from about 3:45 to 8:45 when we got up for the day. I'm feeling pretty tired, but am encouraged by the fact that it's actually SUNNY here today. I only hope that this spurt passes in the next couple of days and we can settle back into something similar to the routine we'd established before. Growing that much must be a pain!