sleepless in san antonio

I often wonder why when "it rains" "it pours" at my house during the night. I'm not actually talking about a thunderstorm so to speak, but of my children not sleeping very well. I feel like the past month or so someone is awakened by something during the night. Whether it be a nightmare, an "I gotta go pee", the t.v . woke me up, the fact that I took Maryn's paci away and she still hasn't fully adjusted, to something hurts... the reasons could go on and on and on.

Last night, after our first day of school I just knew my two older ones would be so exhausted that nothing would keep them from falling fast asleep and surely nothing would wake them. Boy, was I wrong. It all started around 10:15, after their 8:00 bedtime, Mackenzi got up to go to the bathroom. I was already back in my bedroom into my "get ready for bed" routine, so I walked down the hall to make sure she wasn't sick and she was fine, just had to pee. When she got back in bed she proceeded to wake Maci up (I can't wait for a bigger house with seperate bedrooms). Greg was out in the kitchen on the computer and noticed Maci walking behind him. He asked her what she was doing and got no response. She continued to walk through the kitchen and into the pantry and then closed the door. Greg followed suit and found her with panties down and backing up to the trash can ready to use as a potty. He stopped her in time and carried her to the bathroom so she could relieve her self properly. He put her back in bed but only minutes later was she up again complaining of "burning". He tried to convince her if she would just go back to sleep she wouldn't feel it. Sounds like a doctor comment right? Sleep it off! When you wake up you will be all better. We thought she was convinced so I tucked myself in and dozed off to be startled by a piercing scream. I seriously had been asleep less than 15 minutes and felt like I was incapable of functioning. Greg coaxed her back to bed one more time and then he came to bed. In the meantime Maryn woke up and I ran to her aid held, her for about ten minutes, then asked her if she was ready to go "night-night". She nodded a hesitant "yes" and I kissed her and tucked her in with her blankie. I crawled in my comfy bed that had been calling my name just in time to hear screaming from Maci. I went this time to check out the burning problem but couldn't see anything that could be causing it. I laid her down like a baby and put desitin on the burning, wishfully hoping that would cure it. Well, it didn't. I was getting more and more frustrated and tired at this point and put her in bed with us. I never heard a peep from her after that, but I did get my fair share of kicks in the side through the night.

After feeling like I was a kick boxing bag all night, Greg's alarm startled me when it went off around 445. I did go right back to sleep but only for about 45 minutes...

Maryn started screaming. My kids never wake up, play in their crib and just call out "mommy mommy" whether it is in the middle of the night, or if it is time to get up in the morning, or when they wake from a nap. Their eyes come open and then they start screaming. I can't figure it out. It is like the worst scream you have ever heard. Everything does sound ten times louder when the rest of the house is quiet but it is really, really loud. I decided since it was only 530 I was NOT going in to rescue her. Surely she will go back to sleep, it is still dark outside and the house is quiet. Well, she screamed and screamed and screamed for about an hour. My alarm was due to go off at 630, even though I didn't need one by this point. I had left it on and tried to catch a few more dozes, but it wasn't happening. I gave in and got her around 640 and the first thing she said was "milk milk". The girl loves her milk. It is definately her "comfort" item since we took the paci away.

By mid afternoon I was feeling like I was experiencing life with a newborn. My night had literally kicked my butt. Maryn was down for what I thought was a long nap, after her early morning rise, but again I was fooled by my toddler. She slept maybe and hour, maybe. How on earth was she functioning on such little sleep? Isn't she supposed to be sleeping like 12 or 13 hours still at this age? I wanted so bad to curl up on the couch and take a nap before the bus came. I guess it's a good thing I didn't get my nap, since usually I have a hard time sleeping at night if I have napped.

I felt like bedtime would never come tonight. After my "Sleepless in San Antonio" experience I was so, so ready for the girls to go to bed so I could finish up things around the house and float off to dreamland.

*Do your kids wake up at night very often?*

*How do you convince them to go back to bed within a decent amount of time?*

*Does a sleepless night make you a wicked witch like they do me?*