Surviving sleep deprivation- A Mother on Auto-pilot.

I remember when I was a teenager, and I could get up at 7am after being out until 3am and still function through the day. I remember in my early 20's wanting to do nothing but sleep all day, noon, one, that was my regular wake up time, off to work by 2 in the afternoon. I really loved sleep before Isaac was born. Everyone kept telling me to get all the sleep I could before he was born, but what did I know? I was nesting by the end. 24 hrs before he was born I helped my roommate move out, cleaned 2 bedrooms and moved our entire bedroom set into the master suite. I assume that may have been why he came so early, but who knows. For the first 4 months, almost 6 months of his life I mourned my bed, I cried for it. I frequently slept when Isaac did, but it was never enough. I slept on the floor in the livingroom, in a rocking chair, almost always with Isaac in my arms, so you are never really fully asleep. Then Isaac started sleeping through the night. He would get up at midnight and 3am for a bottle, but my husband would do the midnight feed and I would do the 3am feed, so I was potentially getting 5 hours a night, which was pretty good from the little nap/sleeps I was getting before that. Now that Isaac is nearly 2, I am very used to going to bed at 10/11/12 and getting up at 7 or 8am. However, we were recently thrown into a different routine where my mother moved in with us. We have a tiny 2 bedroom apartment, with a reasonabely sized master bedroom, in which we moved our 21 month old into so that my mother could have her privacy. Well, Isaac is used to having his own room, so sharing is a little awkward for him. But he has always managed. He is also suffering an ear infection in both ears currently, so my husband and I have not had much sleep in the last week. I am so suprised at how easily I can function though through-out the day, its amazing that I can get anything done. I have been extremely lucky to have the hubby home the last 2 weeks, that has helped termendiously, but I survive on auto pilot. I have the ability to go to be with a screaming toddler at 4am and get up at 7am and function for the entire day. Us humans are a pretty neat species.