omg, i haven't seen you seen you in, like, forever!

I've been hearing this a lot lately:  Where have you been?  I haven't seen you in months!  

I guess we've been hibernating.  In the summer.  Actually, while we've had a busy summer, the truth is that we haven't been out and about all that much because of one simple, sometimes-hard-to-swallow fact:  I have a high maintenance baby.  My darling, sweet Cade is the classic Dr. Sears "high needs" child.  He doesn't sleep (like, at all), and prefers to spend his days - all of them, all day long - nestled in his mommy's arms.  If you did see me at some point this summer, there's about a 99% chance that you saw Cade the velcro baby, too.  Add to that the fact that we're still having to avoid dairy and soy (meaning I have to prepare pretty close to everything I eat at home), and the fact that he resolutely refuses to drink from a bottle, and it's no wonder I don't get out much. 

You're thinking, "Surely she's exaggerating."  I assure you I'm not.  Until just very recently, a solid 1-hour stretch of sleep seemed like a gift from Heaven.  And it usually only came when Cade was draped across me.  Yes - for those who offered their well-meaning "maybe-you-should-try-cosleeping" advice, I can say I'm waaaay ahead of you.  Not only has Cade been sleeping with me, but he actually insists on sleeping ON me.  We've tried everything, including crying it out, which is so not in this mama's nature.  After several bouts of 2+ hours of his crying, I figured crying it out wasn't going to work for this guy.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining, though.  I actually LOVE the fact that he is so partial to his mommy.  And, amazingly, the last few weeks have seen a big improvement in his sleeping.  Last night, after a fitful start, he slept from 2:30 to 5:30 without waking.  We're slowly but surely getting back to some kind of normal. We've started school at GCDS, and our days are shaping up into a nice little routine.  And look, I'm even blogging!  I have a lot to catch up on - we'll see if I can manage to be more diligent about posting now that I'm functioning at slightly less than zombie-level.