I need a village. And sleep

I need a village and I need one quick. Right now Zachary sleeps on my lap and I'm contorting myself to type and to write my thesis on the couch. Zachary has decided this week to go to a new extreme with his mommy-separation-anxiety and this has resulted in some pretty severe sleep issues. In addition, he's teething again (4 molars are creating mountains in his little mouth) and he's had a cold. UGH. That is way too much for a little 11 month old to handle and it's a lot for his parents to handle too.

Don't get me wrong, it is endearing to have him be so attached to me, but sometimes a mama wants to put her son down, go to the bathroom alone, cook some dinner or sleep without a baby attached to her. Sometimes a mama wants her little one to sleep more than a few hours uninterrupted or to not wake up for 2 hour stretches overnight or not have to get out of bed and rock the baby for an hour or two. Or as it is right now, I'd just like to put him down and take a shower.

It is also hard to keep up one's relationship with your spouse at this stage as well. Sleep deprivation makes one a bit crazy, creates short tempers and general misbehaving. I'm trying very hard but it's tough and poor Greg takes the brunt of my frustration. I can't yell at Zachary at 3 in the morning that I want to go to sleep, but it's so much easier to bitch at Greg about the dishes the morning after... It's not fair and I need to behave and I need the babe to sleep as well.

That's where the village would be nice. When I quit work, I lost a huge chunk of my village. Folks just don't come around that often. Then we moved and my village got smaller. Plus we have no family nearby and driving to Houston is not my idea of a village, despite what my mother-in-law says...

I'd really like to have more mamma's around to commiserate with, to gather with and to just plain not be alone. I really didn't realize how having a baby isolated a person and how it could make a person lonely at times. Okay, okay, I know, I'm just exhausted, overcaffinated and need a bit a vacation and a completed thesis.

Well, I finally put the babe down in his crib and he didn't wake up. So that means I have a minimum of 15 minutes till he wakes to a max of.... Well... Hopefully hours. So I'm off to shower, grab a snack and change the sheets on the bed.

I promise, after some sleep and a little break, I will be a happier blogger.... Tomorrow will be cute photo day, promise.