My poor baby. He recently suffered through teeth #9 and #10 coming in - they were very painful and took a long time. When they finally came in, he had exactly four - FOUR - somewhat decent nights of sleep before he caught a major, major cold. He isn't even over the cold yet, and now teeth #11 and #12 are starting to make their way through his upper gums.

One day, a few weeks ago, I was talking to my husband about how incredibly pernicious long-term sleep deprivation can be - it has a devastating effect on every aspect of your life - and how it truly is impossible to fully comprehend it unless you've experienced it firsthand.

"You know," he said, "guys on ships, in time of war - they do shifts that are 8 hours on, 4 hours off, round the clock, sometimes for as long as 8 months." By bringing this up, I suppose, he was trying to make the point that I don't really have it all that bad.

"Only 8 months?" I said. "Those lucky bastards."