Sleep: overrated? I think not.

I miss it, that wonderful thing called sleep.

I love my baby boy. I just don't want to party with him every night.

But that's what teething does. It makes him wake up every hour and a half - all night long. And since his crib is in our room, it's really tough to let him cry it out. I mean, he can SEE me. He clings to the top of the crib rail and wails and wails and wails.

The other night, after he'd already been up twice, he was up again at about 4:30 a.m. I nursed him, both sides, and still he screamed when I tried to put him back into his crib. But this time, in between his sobbing, he said "da dee da dee da dee!" So I elbowed David and said, "He wants you, dude." And David actually got out of bed, picked him up and walked him around a bit. Then he gave him some motrin and the kid finally passed out.

He was back at it again the next night, and the next. Last night he got up at 11:20, then at 4:30. He dozed a little on my stomach, but was up for good at 6 a.m.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there are the other two kids. Sage came in a couple nights ago because she was scared of the witch in her Scooby Doo book and needed David to take the book out of her room. Last night Sawyer crawled into our bed between us. David removed him, but I was so out of it I didn't wake up.

Then there was the time last week that Sawyer came in at 6 in the morning - after X had just fallen back to sleep - to loudy announce that he had, er, made a deposit in the bathroom. Yes, the baby woke up.

It's been 8 1/2 months. He's had a few nights here and there where he's slept from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. But then he regresses and we start all over. The first two kids were great sleepers as babies, so this is new territory for me.

The worst part is I can't seem to get myself into any kind of workout routine. I used to run at 5:30 a.m. three days a week, and the other two days I'd take a 5:45 a.m. spin class.

I'm either nursing or passed out at that time these days. I could go to the gym after he goes down at night, but frankly, I'm exhausted.

I know this too shall pass. I guess I should just savor all these extra moments I have with my baby while he still needs me so much.

The pavement, the treadmill, the bike - it'll all still be there, waiting for me.