Sleepless in San Jose

We made it to the Bay Area in record time: a mere 5 hours. Our August trip up went so well that we repeated the 3:00am departure for this trip.

But this time, it didn't go so well.

Sure we made great time. But Malia didn't sleep at all. At. All. She woke up when we put her in the car at 3:10am but that was expected. What wasn't expected was her staying awake the entire trip. She was still up at 4:30am, and proceeded to cry until 5:00am. At 4:30am I made the mistake of climbing into the back to fix Kael's head -- it fell so far forward in his sleep that I was worried he'd end up with a permanent crick in his neck. I also needed my pillow so I could catch some zzz's. When I climbed back into the front seat, Malia fell apart and the crying commenced (she was in a dazed coma from 3:10am until 4:30am). Amazingly, Kael stayed asleep the entire 30 minutes of her aria. At 5:05am the crying was reduced to a constant "ughh, ughhh, ughhh", clearly indicating to me that her brain was not connected to her mouth: she was asleep but still "crying". Finally she fell asleep a few minutes later but woke up at 5:50am and stayed awake until naptime at 10:00am. It was a rough day for her.

But it was not over. We attempted a 2nd nap at 2:00pm with her since she had gotten so little sleep the trip up. I know I've said this before but I'll say it again: I hate co-sleeping with Malia. Absolutely hate it. I like the concept of sleeping and cuddling with her but executing it is a nightmare times a million. She wiggles, she squirms, she thrashes, she tries to escape and most of all (or worst of all) she likes to be plugged in. All night. If it wasn't for the holidays and all the traveling we're doing, I'd wean her. Now. As it stands, her night starts off great as she gets to sleep next to her milk on tap but the nightmare begins when she finds out 10 minutes later the bar's locked up for the night. The entire night. Again, Kael sleeps though it all. That boy amazes me sometimes.

As I struggled to put her down without giving in to her demand for another milk hit, I was seeing in my mind the next 7 days and nights. That's 7 more naps and 7 more bedtimes. I felt another handful of gray hairs pop out of my head. At 3:30pm (90 minutes of her eyes at half mast, nearing falling asleep then jerking herself awake) I lost it. I handed her off to Truong, snarled at him "I'm going to Walmart, buying a Pack-N-Play and sticking her ass in the closet tonight" and stalked out of the room. Truong accepted his daughter, wisely without saying anything.

I was gone for 30 minutes and came home with a PNP. She's never slept in a PNP before and let me tell you, I wasn't going to give her a choice. Never let it be said that I'm not a woman of my word: I set the thing up in the closet and there she slept. In the closet. In my defense, it's a huge closet - about 10'x10' - so it's more like a room. Just a room that contains a lot of clothing. I was pleasantly surprised when she only cried hard for 30 minutes before falling asleep. And after we cleaned a poopy diaper that we discovered at 10:00pm, she stayed asleep the entire night. And tonight, she fussed for less than 5 minutes. What a good girl!

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this huge problem resolved. I love visiting my family but Malia's sleeping arrangements have always given me heartburn. Now I have hope that I can actually remember my vacation without being in a sleep stupor.

Unfortunately in our haste to leave Orange County, we left all of Kael's animals (his sleep buddies) at home. He's been asking for them at night.

Great. Just great.