Happy 18 Months! (or You Will Never Sleep Again)

Our sweet little Sammy-kins has never done well with his vaccines. I distinctly remember his 2-month check-up and the sleepless week that followed! On top of the normal newborn sleeplessness I thought I really might die! Or at least pass out at any moment. I really was reconsidering having his 4 month shots, something I didn't think I would ever consider, because I do believe vaccines are important. But boy it was tempting to put them off until he was older. Well, we made it through, and his reactions were never quite as bad as that first time...until now. I feel like a first time parent sometimes since Gabe never had a noticeable reaction to any of his shots. At least, nothing that some ibuprofen and a snuggle couldn't fix.

I have been really worried about his 18 month shots because I know the MMR is a beast of a shot and judging from his reactions to "milder" vaccines I was really paranoid. I even put off his appointment until after Christmas because I just knew it would ruin our holidays. So in we went on Thursday (Jan8) and he survived the shots. He slept 14 hours that night without a peep and I thought *maybe* we were going to escape the horror... But it was not to be! He has since been up several times each night since, crying inconsolably, and has to be rocked back to sleep. And not just sleep-y, but the zombie sleep that comes after rocking for 30 minutes at 1 o'clock in the morning! And we have now gone two days with effectively no naps. He either screams until I come in and hold him while he sleeps, or he has a stinky diaper, loses his "banky" (blanket) or "mimi" (pacifier) and then insists on being rocked *again* and then refuses to go back in the crib. Last night he was so exhausted that he fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. with no screaming! I was foolishly optimistic that he would sleep through the night. No such luck, he was up at 11, and I could not get him back to bed until about 1:30 a.m. I even tried to bring him in bed with us, which we never do, but he thought it was play time like our morning snuggles and wouldn't settle down. I finally thought maybe he was hungry, since he hadn't eaten well all day, so I gave him a big sippy cup of milk and he finally fell back to sleep. *Whew*

Luckily I have a very sweet husband who let me sleep in until 8 a.m. when he had to leave for work. Anyway, there really isn't a point to this post except to elicit some sympathy from anyone who has had their share of sleepless nights, or to scare those of you who haven't! ;)

Since I hate to post without a picture, here is a picture of Sam after his 2 month shots. How fast he has grown up!