Timing really is everything in life. I mean, think about all the things in your life that you’ve accomplished simply because it was the right time—you just happened to be there when so and so happened.

Consider how many hours of your life you’ll have saved (by the time you die) because you happened to catch that bothersome string of red lights downtown just right and instead of accelerating like a madman only to have to slam on brakes at each subsequent light, you instead cruised right through them as if you had Jedi powers (“there is no red light”).

My timing has been pretty great lately, but kinda not in a good way. I mean, I could harken all the way back to the day I answered the phone from an old boss and listened as he wooed me back to my current job, but rather, let’s stick to the present here (focus people!). After our first son was born, for months and months he woke up multiple times during the night and Career-mom was incapable of letting him cry himself back to sleep, opting instead to go in and give him a bottle. Which worked; but it just happened 2-3 times each night until he was almost one and a half.

Our youngest son is now seven months old and for whatever reason, Career-mom has decided that a little crying is OK after all (note to self: mentally pat back later for being right yet again).

The result: In the last week, the youngest has slept from 8:30 p.m. to approximately 4:00 a.m. nonstop three out of the last four nights. The fourth night he woke up twice. The only problem with this is, my daggum brain hasn’t given up on the idea that at any moment throughout the night, I’ll be awakened to the sound of a crying baby, so from about 1 a.m. on, I’m on full sleep-alert.

You know what sleep-alert is right? It’s when you’re mostly asleep, but the slightest noise wakes you up. Well, of these last four nights, I’ve been the one to hear the baby wake up around 4 a.m., mostly because at this magic hour, something in my head switches on and I come awake. And surprisingly, usually, within 5-10 minutes of my full waking up, the baby starts crying. Which also means that by the time I’m finished feeding and changing him, it’s near 4:30 a.m. and I’ve got to get up in another hour anyway…so why not just stay up?

So I do. Love that timing!

I don’t really mind the getting up as long as he goes back to sleep, and he does. But, while getting 6 hours of sleep per night is usually enough for me, there is something to be said for getting 7 ½ hours of sleep.

Now, if only Career-mom and I can sync up our “timing” for a little post-baby relationship-building…I’ll be a happy man!