Tired Mom

Well, time for some advice, or atleast listen to my venting. I used to brag just a little because my kids have been pretty good sleepers. Well...not so much. Lets start with Hannah, she is right at 28mos old, she goes to sleep wonderfully. We have our routine, of reading, singing, and prayers. She gives hugs and kisses and gets in her bed and goes to sleep in her bed in her own room. We put her to bed right around 8pm. However lately she's been waking up like 2-3 times a night, we change her diaper, put her back in her bed...we usually sing a fast version of "God is so good" and she goes back to sleep. However if she wakes up at like 5:30am or later...good luck getting her to go back to sleep. We go in and pat her, put her in her bed, and she may be quiet for like 10minutes, then she's standing at her door saying "mommy mommy"....just kind of whining. We repeat the patting and putting her back in her bed OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Sometimes she has had full blown tantrums at like 5am, if I go in the room, she wants daddy and vice versa. If it's 7am, we will usually let her get in bed with us and lay there which only lasts about 10minutes and she is up and ready to go. Now Caleb's crib is in our room, for lack of space, and it's right by the door that goes into Hannah's room (Hannah's door open directly into our bedroom)....so when she makes noise we usually go immediately so that she won't wake him up. So there is the story on her.....I don't really know what to do...oh and also lately she's been having all these wonderful excuses to get you to do things for her, for example...she has started the "I need some water", then if she has the slightest cough "I need medicine for my cough AND water", then she had a really good one "Mommy I have boogers in my nose"..so I procede with the nasal aspirator that we still use with her and there were no boogers to be found. I tell her...get in your bed right now and go to sleep, it is the middle of the night, it is dark outside. Then she wants daddy to come in and give her a kiss. I say daddy is sleeping and I'm not waking him up to come in here right now at 3am to come give you a kiss...sometimes that one turns into a "throwing herself down on the floor" tantrum...and I remind you, I'm threatening her to BE QUIET and DO NOT wake up her brother. So, I think that completes the Hannah chapter of nighttime sleeping. It may not be every single night, but it's most nights. She still takes a nap in the afternoons anywhere from 1-3hrs.

Now for my little man. Caleb is almost 6mos and a week old now. At around 4mos he started sleeping well, meaning 8-10hrs of sleep in a row at night. I don't nurse him in the middle of the night anymore, that stopped at about 4mos, so he eats basically 4times a day now. The bedtime nursing is usually for comfort because he doesn't really eat a ton, but he gets really sleepy which makes going to bed much easier. So after Hannah is in bed, I nurse him and put him to bed, so he's usually in bed by 9pm. Now he used to sleep all night until like 7 or 8am, however this little guy now almost like clockwork wakes up around midnight....so I usually rock him and put him back to sleep. For comfort he sucks his first two fingers on his right hand, he usually can find them pretty well. Now there have been times where he has put himself to sleep by himself, which is kinda rare but I LOVE IT. Anyway, so I put him back in bed (yes and he sleeps on his stomach contrary to studies these days...he DOES NOT LIKE to sleep on his back). Then the whimpering usually starts up again around 5am or so....now usually I pick him up again and rock him, sometimes this time it takes 20min or so to get him back to sleep. I don't change diapers or anything like that that would "wake him up more". Keep in mind, if Hannah is sleeping, I am desperate for her to stay sleeping, so I don't really want him to be loud in his crib because I think she might hear him. So here is my nighttime drama. Now with Hannah, I rocked her to sleep everynight and in the middle of the night until she was 11mos old. Then I decided she has to go back to sleep on her own. We would let her cry.....you know go in and pat at periodic intervals, and after about 3 weeks, she would go to sleep fine. She sucks her thumb, so it was pretty easy for her to be comforted.

So all that to say, I'm sure other moms out there go through this at sometime in the raising of their children...maybe not, some people have very good sleepers. Just pray for us to get the rest we need, and for me to not be extremely frustrated. If you have any fabulous words of wisdom, I'm an open ear. I get very frustrated....I mean last night night Caleb woke up at 3:45am....he was back in bed and me in bed at 4am sharp, then at 4:05am Hannah wakes up.....and then starts the battle of staying in bed, go to sleep, etc...... I love my children so much, I even like them alot too, but I like them more in the daytime and I'm a happier mom to be around when I've slept good. That way I don't have to be a slob on the couch all day long in my jammies with my hair in a ponytail on top of my head, and Hannah sitting on her Winnie the Pooh couch watching Veggie Tales and the Muppets all day long.