Her older two siblings are giving us a challenge, and it's wearing on this mama. A big shout out to my husband, without him I would be totally losing my mind!
Hannah has not slept well since we took her paci away, at the very beginning on February. It was an immediate change, and along with the sleep change, our ALWAYS happy girl has become somewhat unhappy. She is much more whiny, clingy and so sensitive. Anything sets her off on a 40 minute crying jag. Seriously, it takes very little. I'm not being dramatic. She cannot be reasoned with, and threatening/punishing her literally does nothing. So it's something she really cannot control, and stems from not sleeping enough.
Her napping also stopped abruptly (which she was not ready for, despite being 3), and the only day she has napped since getting rid of her paci was one day when she was sick. She gets up in the morning anywhere between 5-630am, no matter when we put her down. She can barely make it until 630pm, so that's when she's been going to bed. If she slept solidly for 12 hours that would be wonderful, but she does not. She is up usually at least 2x in the middle of the night, which is a complete 180 from our easy going, drop her in her crib and she plays til she goes to sleep little girl, see ya in the morning. She has always been an amazing sleeper, until we took the dang paci away. Breaks my heart, and adds stress to our evenings. She wants someone in with her while she goes back to sleep, which can take awhile, depending on when she wakes up. I know she will adjust, I am just anxious for when that day will come. Even if she is slap worn out, she still wakes up, so holding her off and making her extra tired does not work. She still gets up. If anything, she should be going to bed even earlier.
Asher had gotten into a good phase of sleeping all night, or if he was up it was just to potty, then right back down. He now is waking up a couple of times a night most nights as well. I think he is having bad dreams, as he wakes up and cries huge crocodile tears and is shaking etc. He was able to verbalize one dream to me, in which he was on a bridge, and the bridge broke, and he fell down into a cave. He told me he doesn't like to close his eyes because that's when it starts. I can't say for sure how many of his wake ups are due to dreams, and how many are just because, but the last several nights have been bad for this family.
Last night in particular was terrible. We got everyone down by 8pm and I started to make dinner. Asher started waking up at about 830pm and was up about every 15 minutes for a couple of hours. Add in there Hope refusing to sleep anywhere but my arms (seriously tried the Pack n Play and swing several times before giving up and holding her until about 1am when I was able to transfer her to our bed and sleep next to her.) and dinner got put on hold. Asher kept waking up very upset but wasn't with it enough to tell us what was wrong. I finally sat by his bed and prayed over him, while eating my dinner (at about 10pm), while poor Jayme held a screaming Hope (this was when I figured out she just wanted me, and wanted held). Asher finally went down around 1030pm and I just sat on our bed holding Hope. Cue Hannah's time to wake up. Jayme went in with her and was in her room for basically almost the remainder of the night, during which poor guy, he slept on the floor.
Cue Asher wake back up and flip out at about 1230am because Hope is also screaming and I have to feed her. I finally convinced him to lay next to me in our bed while I fed Hope, and he drifted off to sleep. So 4 of us (Jayme eventually came back to our room around 4am probably) slept in the (thankfully) king size bed last night, until Hannah woke up at about 6am I believe.
I'm sorry for the book I am writing, but we just need specific prayers (as the Bible says we are supposed to pray) that the kids would go to sleep quickly and STAY ASLEEP ALL NIGHT. That there are no bad dreams, or wake ups or up-for-the-day-ness at 5am. Jayme and I barely see each other, except to give a quick kiss and an I love you have a good day.
We know this is a phase and we will get through it, it just never hurts to have everyone saying specific prayers. The lack of sleep takes its toll on everyone and if we are home the kids just do a lot of bickering, which isn't normal for them. Being out and about helps, but we can't stay out all day because Hope needs to get on a nap schedule! Needless to say, not much is getting done around the house, which is driving me crazy.
Ok, thank you all so much for reading, and we know we are super blessed to have healthy kids, but just pray alongside us for these requests specifically. Oh and Hannah has an ear infection as well, and though she didn't complain about it, it stirs up mom guilt! Thank you in advance for your prayers, and here are some happy, innocent "who me? I'm not up all night" pictures to smile at! :)
Some quotations that speak to me right now:
"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." I struggle with this one, as I hear them talking to each other emphatically the way I talk to (and sometimes yell) at them.
"When our little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it's our job to share our calm, not join in their chaos." So true, when I am tempted to say "you shouldn't be upset about that" and I just don't understand why they do what they do, and am tempted to yell.
And my new favorite:
"Water is the most essential element of life, because without it you can't make coffee. " :)
Two times this week when the big kids surprised me with something good!
1. We were at the Town Center eating pretzels and watching the turtles in the pond, and Asher got the last cinnamon sugar pretzel (which Hannah is obsessed with). He took a tiny bite and then said "Here Hannah you can have the rest." Just to be nice :).
2. Yesterday Asher was melting down about who was holding the bubble jar (Hannah currently was), and I was telling him he could have a turn in a minute. Hannah looked at him and said "Here Ashur" and handed it over.
We are getting through!!!
PRAYING for you mama, praying praying praying. ((((HUGS))))
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