Lanie Not Sleeping

I found Lanie sitting straight up in bed last night when I went to the bathroom at 2:00 am, looking around, dazed.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I am seeing that my blankets are very messy," she answered.
"It's time to sleep," I said.
"So, it's too messy around here," she told me.
"Good night Lanie," I told her.
"I think your room is not messy in your bed," she said.
"Yes, my room is messy. My bed is very messy."
"I'll just check," she told me.
Lanie 1 point, me 0.
Can't argue at 2:00am.

Sleeping

Sleeping Arrangements Part IV

Last night I went up to bed at 9:30.

Apparently we're confused about where we sleep these days.  The silent, little figure in my bed.
"Lanie, you scared me! What are you doing?"
"I find you mama."

Sleeping Arrangements, Part III

My child who every few weeks has a sleepless night and wanders around.  Sometimes I find her sitting in her rocking chair rocking back and forth in the dark, which is a little disconcerting.  Other times she will wander, downstairs to see what Chris is doing and hang out with him, I'll find her in bed with one of the other children, or she'll climb in bed with me and stroke my hair.

Sam is sound asleep.

Other times, on different days, I'll find her "resting" in various places around the house. 

"Mama, I nap here in Jack's bed?"

Jack discovers her in his bed.

Lanie resting on the bathroom floor while I take a shower.

New Beds

Over the weekend I saw a post for a loft bed being sold in our town.   We have been working on getting Vivian out of the toddler bed into a twin bed, and since her room is small, it seemed like a great solution to keeping her room in tact, while up sizing her bed.  She is also our climber, so getting up and down seemed like it wouldn't be a problem.  It also simultaneously allowed Lanie to graduate from the crib to a toddler bed, and we could get rid of the crib.


So Chris picked up the bed on Sunday in his truck and we moved the beds, disassembled the crib, Chris reassembled the loft bed, etc.  At the last minute, I thought we should hang onto the toddler mattress Vivian had been using, just in case.  Meanwhile, Vivian was sick on Saturday and spent the entire day asleep, which started to morph into a cough.

The girls were both super excited about their beds, and Lanie kept telling us "come" and then taking us by the hand and showing us her bed.  She would periodically put herself to bed under her blankets.
However, Vivian looked at her bed and decided perhaps she would sleep in it "another time," and I put the toddler mattress on the floor under it. 

Come Sunday night, Lanie put herself to bed, then cried when we said, "good night," but stayed in her bed.  Vivian meanwhile passed out on the kitchen floor, so Chris put her in on her old toddler mattress under the loft bed.

Last night, Chris went back to work and Vivian decided to sleep in her loft bed.  She climbed up, went to sleep, and coughed for an hour and a half straight.  I climbed up the ladder and put Vicks on her feet and chest, put pillows under her head, turned on a humidifier and she continued to cough.  At 10:00 she was coughing so much she was crying, and I thought she was going to vomit on the high up bed, and I was standing on a chair next to her bed trying to talk her into coming down.   It took 10 minutes of negotiations to talk her into climbing out of the bed, she kept coughing and lying back down.  I finally got her to stop coughing and put her back to bed in my bed.  I fell asleep and at exactly 10:30, I heard a thump and Lanie crying, and found her upside down, feet still on the bed, on her head on the floor.  She was more indignant than hurt.  Obviously this woke Vivian up, so she immediately started coughing again.  We should probably have just left everything the way it was.

Although everyone actually slept after that, with periodic episodes of coughing. 

Sleeping Children

When I came home after having drinks with a coworker, Chris had put the children to bed and this is how I found them, sound asleep.

Back at Work

Just went back to work to finish up the school year (and get my summer pay!).

It's been a challenge to say the least.  Thank god for coffee.  It's more the organizing and getting out the door in the morning than anything else, on limited sleep at best.  Lannin was sleeping in 3-4 hour increments until I actually started back and then regressed to every two hours, probably for comfort.  Thankfully I only returned for 2-3 weeks, though they seem like really long weeks...

Since returning I've done some pretty dumb things that I know about- not sure what dumb things I don't know about...

- I backed into a stationary trash can in Davis Square- outside Starbucks naturally.  The homeless gentleman on the street thought it was amusing, luckily no damage done.

- tore the house apart looking for my keys before work and found them in the ignition of the car from the day before.  The car was parked in the exact spot where a car was stolen about 3 months ago

- dropped and shattered an iPhone

- after going away for the weekend we left behind (luckily at a family house), an iPad, my wedding rings (I think), a puzzle, a book, and then when we arrived home on Sunday and unpacked realized Chris's car was at my work from leaving on Friday

- gone to an appointment on the wrong day and time and rearranged my own, Sam's, Chris's, and my mom's schedule accordingly so that I could do so

- emailed the wrong teachers about the wrong timeframe at work

- remembered food for a volunteer breakfast at work, for Vivian, for Sam, for myself, but not milk for the baby at the babysitters so got to spend the day pumping and running a milk delivery service across the street between teaching, meetings, and interviews

- forgotten at least 8 kids names at school and called several by the wrong name

On a positive note, school ends in three days, and to date all of my own kids are accounted for, fed, and clean.  And right now, by some miracle sleeping, which I'm sure won't last for long.

Time to Give up the Binky

Sleeping Arrangements Part II

This is how the night typically begins.

We can't quite seem to get it right around here.  My father took the crib down for us and we put Sam back in his toddler bed as he and Vivian were trying to sleep on one toddler mattress and would squish each other.  She would wake up crying and end up in our bed.  Now, Vivian is on the floor on a mattress and Sam is in his bed.  Until he falls out and lands on top of her, night after night.  And she rightfully wakes up and yells for me or Chris, and "no Sammy! Owie!!!" as he continues to sleep through it all.  He doesn't even seem to wonder how he goes to sleep in his bed and wakes ip on the floor each night.  She ends up in our bed.  The one night he didn't fall out of his bed, they both slept until 5:30   am in the nursery, possibly a first.

This is what I found last night.  Vivian is regarding Sam while crying.
His head is where she had been laying, his butt on her pillow and his feet
are still on his bed.

Sleeping siblings

It probably won't end well, but adorable all the same.

Napping on the Couch

Vivian brought Sam some of his favorite things while he was sleeping on the couch.

The Binky Thief Strikes Again

Chris and I had a blissful night away on Saturday, while my parents had an overnight at our house with the kids.  Naturally, Vivian woke up in the middle of the night and ended up in bed with my parents.  In the morning, my mom found Sam with a binky in his mouth.
His entirely believable excuse this time:  "Vivian threw it out of her crib and it landed in my mouth!"

The Binky Thief, Continued

Vivian woke up at some point last night, Chris actually retrieved her and she ended up in our bed, maybe around 1:00 am.  Somehow though we all slept until almost 7:00 am, possibly a household record.  Anyway, Sam's bed at first glance looked binky-free, however, when I went to change his sheets tonight, there was a binky under his pillow.  

My mom was over when I asked him how it had gotten there.  It went along the lines of, "well, I was sleeping in my own bed, when a binky fell out of Viv's crib, and right onto the floor.  And then I fell out of my bed and onto the floor.  With all my blankets.  And then the binky jumped into my mouth and started sucking.  And I got back into my bed."

My mom and I lost it around the self-sucking binky part.  Really???  

Tonight Vivian was put to bed with one binky.  I gave Sam several stern warnings and already Vivian has cried once.  I gave her another binky and searched both of their beds, one of them is lying on top of the original binky.  Not sure where to go with this one- it's a binky addiction.

The Binky Thief

Sam  gave up his super-size binkies a few months ago, around the
time that he turned four.  We had upgraded from the regular binkies when he was a year or two, because he was stuffing them wholeheartedly into his mouth, so for a long time he had teething pacifiers that were huge.  Then they were discontinued.  The manufacturers for some reason stopped producing them, and at last search, they were seriously going for $25 a pop.  It was understood when these binkies were lost or broken, they would be gone and not replaced.  So they came to a timely end, when one-by-one, they started to break slightly in the rubber nipple piece, and according to Sam, were no longer comfortable to suck.  He gave them up a little reluctantly, with few tears, (one bad night of an hour crying before bed) and that was that.  We still have two that are around the house that he holds occasionally for comfort.

Sam's relinquished binky

Meanwhile, Vivian still takes the baby pacifiers, and falls asleep with one, and to go back to sleep puts one back in her mouth and dozes back off.  Well these have been disappearing left and right.  I have even replaced a few lately.  Chris and I try to put her down with at least five in the crib, so we don't have to be disturbed in the night when she wakes up and can't find one.  There have been several nights lately where I have been crawling around on the floor between the hours of 11pm and 4 am, tearing apart the crib and not locating a single binky.  Chris and I then accuse each other of losing them and subsequently not putting her down with them.
On two recent mornings, I have spotted a binky in Sam's bed.  On further inspection, I found several binkies stored in and around Sam's bed.  Like under his pillow, by the headboard, under blankets, stuffed animals, etc.  The stinker has been stealing his sister's binkies from her crib (I'd like to think not directly from her mouth).  Chris and I confronted him this morning:

Vivian's binkies

"Sam, how did Vivian's binky get from her crib to your mouth?"
"Um… magic?"

So we have had conversations over the course of the day around the theme of not taking his sister's binkies from her crib, that he is a big boy, that he gets other things she doesn't ("but that's not fair mom, she gets binkies ALL the time"), and finally, if he took one more binky, they were all going up high on a cabinet that no one could reach (not sure how this was even relevant to him but it resinated).

The most frustrating part might be that he must have stealthily crept across to her crib, taking the binky, which woke her, then myself, then Chris, by which time Sam was back in his bed sleeping soundly!  When the rest of us were bleary-eyed in the morning arguing about why the baby wasn't sleeping, Sam was snoozing peacefully in his bed.  We shall see what tonight brings...

From the Nursery

Get the kids down and through the baby monitor I hear, "Bethan."  Silence.  "Mom."   Silence.  "Bethan."

I tiptoe in.  "Yes, Sam?"

"The heat came on and woke my sister up."  Sure enough Vivian is groggily rubbing her eyes looking confused.  "I think there's something wrong with it.  We should call the plumber."

Trying to do Work

And so of course I'm checking Facebook and writing a post, but it reminded me of a day earlier this week.  I just finished teaching a course to teachers in Boston and with Vivian not sleeping because of her congestion this week, she'd wake up every night at around 9:00, just as I finished doing things around the house and sat down to prepare or grade.
The other night I got her to back to sleep on our bed and opened the computer to get back to work.  She really was sound asleep, when all of a sudden, behind the open laptop a head appeared and then two little hands.

                                  So much for Mama working.

Naptime Again

This was naptime this weekend, or the lack of naptime.  The kids had to play, each taking the opportunity to wake each other up as they drifted off, at least once.  Vivian has learned how to pull up, which she finds delightful and hilarious.  However, she can't get back down, so I must have lain her back down at least ten times.
Needless to say, very little sleeping got done (they finally were separated and Viv napped with me and Sam with Chris) and they were both cranky for the rest of the evening.

The next day at Nana and GrandJoe's was similar.  The photos below I found on my phone which was on the bed with Sam and I, when I was napping and he apparently was not, since he was the photographer.  He finally slept when Joe finally lay down with him.  Vivian slept with Auntie and then managed to crawl off the bed despite her nest of pillows.  Yet, somehow, she will nap (solo) in 2-3 hour shifts at her childcare provider's during the week!

Vivian in the Crib

So far Sam has been cool with the toddler bed, since the big change in sleeping arrangements.  Vivian will tolerate the crib for so long during the night and nap times when she is really tired.  However, if there is something better going on, this is what I find when I go to check on her.  The crib is near the doorway of the nursery and even if I have the door closed, she is convinced she is missing something.  She crawls to the end, drops her pacifier down, then whines until I go in.  Then, usually, she is delighted to see me.  Here, she's checking out what we're doing without her.

The Nap That Did Not Happen

The drawback to sharing a room.  They played instead of napped until I took Vivian out of the crib.  Not even 6 months old and he's 3, and they think it's hilarious to play instead of sleep.

Transitions

We made it through the night.  The kids slept fairly well, Chris and I were up and down a lot, settling Vivian and then I had to nurse her a few times.  Sam woke up, but went back to sleep and stayed in the bed the whole night.  He may not know he can get out?
The Lego car bribe will be the death of me.  Of course it's totally not-age appropriate, which why buying a $5 bargain toy is not the best plan.  Sam is also practicing wearing underwear today and having lots of accidents.  So between cleaning those up, I get to fix the Lego car that completely falls apart everytime he plays with it.  I'm totally going to end up buying a Lego car that he can play with and fix himself and will end up spending three times as much.  Of course.
I just looked up Lego and there are different stages of Legos.  Apparently the Lego Duplo is what he should and can play with and also potentially that Viv won't be so likely choke on.

I'm not sure how I waited all summer for all of these transitions!  Trying to convince the child that he can pee in the toilet will be a miracle.  I am completely at a loss as to how he can want to wear underwear but not use the toilet.  These were his top toilet training excuses.  Now it's just "later."


I will when I'm four. (It used to be "when I'm three.").

I will after the baby comes. (He tried that again this week.  Apparently he thought another baby was coming.  Way to make me feel great about my flabby belly.)

I can't squish Lightning McQueen (the picture on his toilet seat).

I'm only medium big.  Not big up to the ceiling yet.

I like my diapers. (No doubt about that).

After Santa comes.  (Six months later...).

I will when I'm five.  (He's still three).

I don't want it to touch my leg.

Tomorrow.

I don't like the color of the toilet.  White's not my favorite.

The following bribes have been rejected:  chocolate, an ice-cream sundae, watching TV, a toy excavator, a new Lightning McQueen car, a trip to the park, trip to the beach, and choosing big boy underwear.  He could probably hit us up for a real car and get one the way we're going.

Thank goodness Vivian can't talk and tell me why she can't sleep in the crib.