Sleep

Oh sleep, where art thou...? Oh precious sleep. It's something so simple yet I am unable to obtain it. I feel like I have not slept through the night since I had Grace in August 2010. She was an awesome sleeper... At first that is!! She started STTN at 2 months old! It was amazing, but short lived. The 4 month wakeful started and we were screwed. For over a year!!! Screwed! I honestly can say that I don't miss much from my pre-kid life, but oh how I miss sleep!

Grace stopped STTN at 4 months and didn't start again until 13 months. She was up almost every night from 4 months to 13 months and sometimes it was for hours at a time. At 13 months we decided to do CIO with her and it was literally one of our best decisions! It saved our sanity. For 2 weeks we blissfully STTN with her... Then Luke was born 5 weeks early. We spent 4 nights in the hospital with him and no one STTN there. We spent the next 7 days worrying about him and wondering when he would come home from the NICU.

Kris can always sleep. It's rare that he's up, and when he is coffee is usually the culprit. He is the type of person who can be talking to you one second then he's snoring the next. If only I could bottle up some of that able-to-fall-asleep-in-an-instant juice. I would be free!! But alas I'm sitting here typing at 2am when I have to be up for church in 6 very short hours. And Kris... He's sleeping!! Of course!

So why am I awake? Because my husband stole the blankets AGAIN and I was cold. Then because Grace was up at 1am because she had pooped herself and she has a rash (of course! It won't go away) and she was in pain. On one of the very few nights I actually fell asleep before 12 my 18 month old is up. It's a cruel thing this sleep! A quick diaper change and some Motrin for her rash, some cuddles in the rocking chair and she's back in bed. I get back to bed and I have to take back the blankets again from Kris because he's stollen then again. And I'm lying here awake. Listening to Scout the dog of the monitor because apparently my daughter takes after me and can't get back to sleep either.

And Kris and Luke... They are sound asleep! One of the rare night my son decides to not play the pacifier game and be up every 1-2 hours, I'm awake! I am jealous. I was asleep just an hour ago and now I'm wide awake. The cruelty of sleep. And the funniest part is a I wish for sleep everyday but always get woken by Luke for his pacifier. But then on the rare nights he's asleep I wish for him to make a sound or cry because I need to know he's ok. It's a vicious cycle!

Most nights I lay awake until 2 or 3am then finally get to sleep, only to be woken up in 30 minutes by Luke. It's like he knows when I finally fall asleep! My mind just won't shut off. I think about selling our house, being able to pay down some bills, what house we may be renting once our house sells, what the kids' rooms will look like, how we will move, how Grace will adjust and many more things. It's not like I'm anxious or worried or sad, I just can't shut my brain off. It's been like this for so long. I think it's because I'm so used to being woken up I just can't get used to STTN.

So here's to sleep! Please come and let me go to sleep!! I feel like I may be able to go to sleep soon, but I guarantee you that Luke will be up as soon as I shut my eyes.

Sleepy babies

I love seeing my kids sleeping. There is just something so peaceful about it. There is innocents in the way they sleep and security. Both my kids are such light sleepers, they wake up to a pin dropping. The term "sleeps like a baby" doesn't apply to my kids because they don't even sleep like babies. Since day 1 both of them have been woken up by the slightest sounds.

With Grace we used to sneak out of her room after we FINALLY got her to sleep because if she woke up we would have to start all over again. Her floor would creak and would have to step on it just right so she wouldn't hear you. If you made floor crack, she would pop right up and look at you! It's funny because thunder doesn't wake her up no matter how loud it is, but if you stepped on her floor wrong and made it creak she would wake right up!

Luke hates hearing Grace cry. The minute she makes a sound, he's fussing and awake. We have to run in his room to get him to go back to sleep or else our morning starts right then. Grace likes to jump and kick in her crib. She makes all kinds of noises in the early morning, she's just crazy. Luke HATES those noises. We have sound machines in both of their rooms because of it, but sometimes even that's not enough.

Kris is very loud, he just doesn't know how to be quiet. He bangs things, coughs a lot, clears his throat... even walking is loud for him. The kids just don't like it. He used to wake Grace up all the time when she was younger. When we are in our bedroom at night we have to whisper so we don't wake them up. It's annoying,, but their rooms are just across the hall. It's funny how kids have their own quirks from the time they are born.

My next house is going to have our room away from theirs and theirs across from each other and not next to each other.

Here's Grace and all her car seat sleepiness! She was 4 months old in this one.... 

And 7 months old in these:

And again at 7 months old in mommy & daddy's bed:

And 8 months old.... too sleepy to drink her ba-ba!

And at 1 yr old...

  

This was taken just a week before Luke was born... 

And here she is cuddling her baby in her crib (she'd wake up if I took it in her room)...

16 months...

And Sunday... sleepy girl didn't want to get up for church.

And this the very 1st picture we have of Luke home. He was so happy to be home...

4 weeks old... 

Sleeping on Daddy...

3 months old

Sleepy boy.

My cuddly boy on mommy

He looked like a little angel

Last week. He fell asleep with Kris burping him. It was too cute.

I love sleepy babies! They are just so adorable!

My accomplishment for the day

Both my kids are sleeping in their rooms in their cribs! I also put both of them down awake and they fell asleep on their own. The kicker is neither of them cried at all and just went to sleep. It may seem silly to some, but this is a HUGE accomplishment in this house

Also, Luke was given Nexium last week for his reflux. He seemed to be doing well on it but now he's right back to where he was before this medication. But a few things have changed.

He went from pooping every 3-4 days to going everyday. Now today he went 2xs. It's loose, really light green and diarrhea (think up his back). His norm was sticky and almost black.

His puke smells! Like metal or iron or something. This kid pukes all the time so I'm used to the smell. This new smell makes me want to puke.

He's not sleeping well all of a sudden. He has a stuffy nose but only when laying down for the night.

He's refusing formula. Usually takes a 6oz bottles before bed and tonight he refused the last 2ozs! Otherwise he is acting normal. Happy, smiley, completely normal. No fever, no indicators that he's sick. My gut says he's not sick. If anything he's dealing with allergies just like Grace is (she has a stuffy/runny nose but also isn't sick). Also, he has weight gain issues so refusing formula is no good!