Friday, September 16, 2011

Sleeping through the night.

I don't know about you mamas, but since the day my first was born, I have NEVER slept through the night.

A typical night for this mother of 3:

The kids go to bed around 8:30. I say "go" because they don't necessarily sleep. Tatum and Lucy will fall asleep within a matter of minutes. Spencer, however, will stay up, look at books, play in his room, until around 10 or 10:30. So when he's fallen asleep, I'll finally make my rounds to check on everyone before going to bed myself around 11. I, like Spencer, have a hard time falling asleep. So, I will turn on my Pzizz app and listen to the melodious music and some strange man tell me that "it is time for sleeping..."

I'll fall asleep around midnight.

Around 3:30 I ALWAYS wake up and have to use the leu. Ask my mom, I've NEVER been able to hold it through the night and have ALWAYS had to wake up to tinkle in the middle of the night. Thank you Mother for always putting my bedroom directly across the hall from the bathroom growing up. ;) I use this time to check on my babies another time. I start at the bedroom farthest away and I put Tatum back on her pillow and cover her up, whispering "I love you sweetie pea, sweet dreams" in her ear. On to Spencer. As I get closer to his bed to lean over and give him a kiss, I step in something. Awesome. He had to pee and thought his bedroom was the bathroom again. Poor guy. He has mama's bladder and was so asleep he didn't realize he wasn't peeing in the toilet. SO, I get the cleaner, clean it up, check to see if he got it on his bed or himself and clean up accordingly. This time I had to wake him up and have him change. But for some reason he didn't want me to leave so I spent another 10 minutes praying with him and singing to him so he'd fall back asleep. Finally I make it to Lu's room and I cover her back up and tell her how much I love her.

I make it back to bed around 4 and spend another 30 minutes (with Pzizz back on) trying to fall back asleep, intermittently kicking my husband to get him to stop snoring. Tony will make it into the shower between 6 & 7 and I'll usually get up again to use the bathroom. If I keep one eye closed I can usually fall back asleep in a matter of minutes before being awoken by Spencer around 8am.

So I'm curious. To all those mamas whose babies are sleeping through the night... Does sleeping through the night for your babies mean you as well? Because I'm pretty sure this is my nightly routine for the rest of my life.

1 comment:

My name is Kristen! said...

We've probably already had this conversation, but...I'll comment anyway :D

No, my friend, you are not alone. I was very lucky in that my babies sleep through the night at a VERY early age, 8 weeks. And by sleep through the night I mean as peensers they started going down at 6pm and would wake up at 6/6:30am. That later transitioned into 7pm bedtime and anywhere from 5-6 am wake up! Ugh. But no, I NEVER slept through the night. I have a hard time falling asleep and when i do sleep I toss and turn all night, swear that I "hear" my kids, and wake up many, many times. Then you gotta throw in teething {Bekah was a HORRIBLE teether} and sickness which always breaks up that nice schedule I got going on. And don't forget POTTY TRAINING! lol. Then both of the girls went through a phase around the age of 2 1/2-3 where they randomly wake up 3-4 times a night. No exaggeration. Luckily it was always right back down, but that meant I had to get out of bed. We JUST got through that with Madelyn within the past year and about 6 months ago I FINALLY started sleeping hard. The first night I woke up and hadn't woken up I was like WHAT just happened?! Then i went to GA and you've heard that story, lol. Then I came home and had to re-adjust. I still have an awful time falling asleep but once I'm asleep I don't wake up til the kids do, as of now. It's so awesome! But I know that will soon change.