About the 2.5 week mark is when my newborn is really starting to wake up early. He is fussy all night and trying to slowly switch his nocturnal schedule to a more “normal” schedule. For me, I am naturally nocturnal as well, but I have had to dramatically shift my sleep schedule previously due to work and now due to the newborn. This means that I am sleeping at 11:00 PM and waking up anywhere from 6:00 - 8:00 AM (instead of going to sleep around 1:00 - 2:00 AM, which is my preferred).

Although I have had to shift my schedule, I do feel healthier and more energetic in the mornings. It’s good to get a full night’s rest and I’m really hoping my wife can get a few of those pretty soon here. It also gives me more useable hours during the day, which means time spent reading news, looking at the stock market, getting breakfast ready, working out, chores, or any of the other things you can’t quite do at night (without keeping your brain/body buzzing and delaying sleep).

Today, while my newborn was up at 6:30 AM, I had some time to sit quietly with him and cuddle by the window (after changing his diapers - thank goodness he is using cloth diapers because he goes through so many at night). Although he was crying while I changed him, he was so sleepy afterwards that it was a 10 out of 10 cuddle session. My 5 year old daughter did wake up an hour earlier and I somehow convinced her to go back to sleep (since she usually wakes up after 8:30 AM). I’m glad because she will get enough sleep and I also don’t have to juggle two kids early in the morning.

This is the first time in a while that I had to be up with a newborn and my daughter in the early morning. Maybe this turns into a regular occurrence once my daughter starts going to kindergarten at the end of August, but I hope it’s not a regular occurrence until then. I want to start waking up much earlier to grab the newborn from my wife so that she can get a solid block of sleep overtime, I think this will happen and I’ll gradually wake up earlier and earlier. Here’s to an early bedtime and early morning!