Musings

Exhaustion

Sleep is one of those things that is just so darn annoying. We really need it. We don't function well without it. And it also can be a touchy mommy subject. As if this is all some sort of competition. ("I was up 2000 times last night") you know what I am talking about. You may have even heard those words from me before. Or the other side of the coin, those who's children sleep all night and are sure the rest of us are doing something wrong. Let me just affirm and challenge both sides real quick.

 Tired mom -- You have been up way way too much, but complaining about and your kids constantly is not uplifting and won't help anyone. And will actually make you feel more irritated AT them. 

Well rested mom -- The moms who's children wake up all night or don't fall asleep well are not doing something wrong. There is no simple solution, and honestly until you have been in the trenches of night after night after night for months on end with fighting your child on sleep - it will be hard to truly empathize. 

This is my child on the nannycam as I write this. 

It's 9:15pm and she had no nap today. Unfortunately this is not uncommon! 

I hit an all time new in my motherhood journey thus far -- I slept most of the night IN my baby's crib....

Yes the baby was in there too

As I was standing there patting his back for what seemed like an hours on end (maybe 20 minutes actually, but at 2 am who can tell) it seemed like the most logical solution in my foggy state. When he started grunting around 3 hours later I woke up and thought "omg, what am I doing in the crib?"

Hey you do what you gotta do right?

Sleep seems like it has just been one of those issues our kids have always had. I literally cannot fathom putting our children to bed before 8 and not seeing them again for 10-12 hours. 

Our first didn't consistently sleep all night till a little before she turned 2 and then it has been on again off again since. Right now she comes sleep walking (quite seriously, I have many stories) into our room trying to get in our bed at least 4 times a night. She bring her pillow, puppy, doll, water and sleep noise maker.

Every. Single. Time...........Yup. 

So we have put a baby gate in front of her door hoping to solve that problem right? Wrong. She now fully wakes up and where I used to be able to redirect a half asleep toddler back to bed I am now coming head to head with a 2 year old {tired} terror. Not only that but she just stands there at the gate SCREAMING so the second I hear her I bolt out of bed before she wakes up the baby. 

Baby wakes up 3-4 times a night to nurse still at 10 months just like his sister did. Lord help us. lol. Hence me somehow ending up sleeping in his crib last night. 

Our current dilemma is that baby boy likes to wake up around 530 am and will only stay sleeping if nuzzled in bed with us. Lovely. (Have I mentioned that I actually strongly dislike my children being in my bed? I am not a huge lover of their little arms and legs slapping me all night). 

So when he wakes up at that time I usually bring him into bed with us and get another precious hour. 

The problem is that every few nights we break after several attempts of getting Juliana back to her bed and just let her sleep with us since everyone sleeps so well. But then when baby wakes up there is obviously no room for one more child in that bed. 

So ya know, there you have it. If it sounds familiar I hope it encourages you that you are not alone! I stumble back and forth between my children's rooms and my own several times a night every night. And that is not a "poor me" boo hoo sob story. Everyone has different battles they face with their babes. My children are not sick, have special needs, poor eaters, biters, hitters or other things (so far!) I would never complain about those two amazing kiddos. But sleep seems to be the issue in this household. If it is in yours as well then from one tired mama to another.........we will survive this!