Oh, Where Art Thou, Sleep?!

Its no secret that sleep is hard to come by around here. Neither of my kids have ever been good sleepers -- they came out of the womb boycotting the stuff, and nothing has changed in the years since. Sure, some nights are better than others, and some mornings, as well. But lately, its been getting worse.

And worse.

And worse.

It seems as though as soon as I get used to the current "situation", the kids switch it up on me. Throughout most of the summer, 7am was our standard wake-up time. Sometimes a little earlier or later, but for the most part, we were on a good routine. And then school started.

Suddenly, the kids adjusted really quickly to having to wake up at 630am on school days and started doing it every day. And if you know anything about these kids of mine, you know that once they are up, they are up. They hit the ground running. There is no slow wake-up around here.

Time change quickly approached, and suddenly the kids were waking up at 5 or 530am. Before the sun even thought about rising. Before I even thought about rising, most days. And nothing I could say or do would convince them to climb back in bed, or relax calmly with some books for awhile.

And suddenly, without warning, 5am became 4am.

Like I said, as soon as I would get used to one schedule/routine, they would switch it up on me.

On top of the earlier and earlier wake-ups, the kids have BOTH been boycotting naptimes, which I expect out of the 5 year old ... but my 2 year old? He needs that bit of sleep. And of course, it now means that if we get in the car any time after 11am, he promptly falls asleep and has a hard time waking up, leaving him grouchy and no fun for a little while.

And middle of the night is rough, too. Both of the kids wake up multiple times. Coming into our room, crying out for me to come see them, asking for snuggles, rocking, a simple hug and a kiss. Anything, really. I've tried ignoring it, and it only gets louder, for longer, until they get what they want.

I've tried a bunch of things ... melatonin, lavender, letting them sleep together, dark-out curtains, shutting their doors, leaving them open, making sure they are eating enough before bedtime so they are not waking up mid-night, hungry.

Thankfully, we have a routine well-check for S later this week, and I plan on talking to the doctor about BOTH of their sleep issues. Last year, I mentioned the poor sleep routine at L's appointment, and his only suggestion was "Maybe he just doesn't need a nap anymore ..." which only made the problem worse. Let's see what he has to say this year.

The only thing I can hope for? A few hours of uninterrupted sleep for Christmas!