MARK MY WORD: PARENTS LONGING FOR GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

Sleep. What's that?

Bailey is only a week old and already Joni and I are longing for a good night's sleep.

Webster's defines sleep as "a natural, regularly recurring condition of rest for the body and mind, during which there is little or no conscious thought, sensation or movement."

It also can refer to any condition resembling sleep, such as death, unconsciousness and hibernation.

Joni and I fall into the latter category. Although we're not dead, we are unconscious.

Some of our friends would say we have gone into new-baby hibernation. Our waking and not-so-awake hours are spent taking care of the new baby. Just venturing to the mailbox is a major journey.

Newborn babies eat, sleep and dirty those tiny diapers. Our newest daughter does two of those things quite well.

It's the sleeping that she hasn't quite grasped. She has her nights and days mixed up. Our first daughter, Becca, had the same problem.

This means that Bailey sleeps well during the day. But at night, she wants to party.

Of course, when you're only a week old, it's generally a crying party.

Crying is one of the things babies do really well. It's an art form with them. There are little crys and long, loud ones.

Crying generally works. Mom and dad rush to hold and comfort the baby.

Later, children go through the whining stage. But that doesn't work as well because mom and dad are extremely tired by then and grumpy, having never recovered from the sleepless nights during the baby-up-all-night stage.

Becca loves to hold her little sister. But when Bailey starts to cry, she hands her back to us.

Becca spends a lot of time handing the baby off to us. She'd be great in a relay race.

Bailey's "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" stage is at its peak around 3 a.m.

Bailey wants to be held and fed. She can't just hold her as you doze off in the rocking chair. You have to walk around with her as you try to focus on the special value item of the day on one of those home shopping channels.

As a result, we've become walking zombies. It's truly amazing what parents can accomplish with little sleep. I'm sure there are some Kodak moments here, if we can just get our eyes to focus.

Wait a minute! Joni has just passed the fussy baby to me. She tells me to consider it research for my column. I guess that means I better change Bailey's diaper.

All the research aside, parents tend to have memory loss about this period of their lives. You forget about all the sleepless nights until you have another child.

You also forget how much you can accomplish with only one arm while you cradle the baby in the other.

You can do just about everything except get a decent night's sleep.

Forget the sweet dreams. Pass me the coffee and the burp cloth.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.