These children can't belong to me.....tales of a sleep deprived woman.

Disclaimer: Before you read my rantings, here is a photo of me sleeping and my baby boy shared all of his "babies" with me!

I LOVE sleep! I super love it when I'm extra tired and that moment comes when my head hits the pillow. I love to wake up feeling fully rested. At least I think I do. I have not risen fully rested in 7 months. Pregnancy wasn't wonderful, but I did occasionally get awesome sleep. For the past seven months it has been 1 hour here 3 hours there and it never fails that the moment I hit deep sleep the baby cries. My loving husband does get up faithfully in the mornings with BOTH children and lets me sleep until I'm ready to wake up or around 10:30. Whichever comes first. That means I am not getting on average 3 to 5 hours of nearly uninterrupted sleep. It would be seamless if the neighbor's dogs didn't bark, the geese didn't yell, and the kid across the street didn't unfailingly get his mother's key chain and set off her car alarm at 8:15.

This brings me to my kids. Mostly Evelyn. I'll give Abram credit where it is due. He is an excellent sleeper. His problem is with "going" to sleep, but we'll get there in due time. Back to Evelyn. She has NEVER been a sleeper since birth. She pretended to be for about 3 weeks in October when I was visiting my mother, but she is just not as into it as the rest of the Collins household. She is up making some sort of noise be it crying or other at least 5 times a night. 5 TIMES! No wonder I can't stay healthy so says Dr. Oz. Uninterrupted sleep is crucial to good healthy. Still yet this is not really the largest problem at hand.

Since I am working on the "willingly" attitude I have been "okay" with the noise/getting up 3-5 times a night. Its what happens before bed that is driving me crazy and pushing me over the edge of sanity. Cut back to the toddler.

We have always had a great routine with Abram, or so I thought. Bath, book, prayer, songs, bed. Well I don't know how much you know about terrible two's, but they are truly terrible. Having a short stack that is extra intelligent and verbal trying to make up his own mind about EVERYTHING is a struggle. Don't ever pray for God to give you patience because he may send you a 2 year old to teach you in that area. As soon as we even mention bed it is freak out mode major. WHY? Its the same thing every night. I thought children thrived on routine? He was fine until we moved here. Now its not only a chore to get him up the stairs, in his pajamas, teeth brushed, still for the book and prayer, and in his bed, but he doesn't go to sleep for most nights at least an hour after we lay him down.

When focusing on the questions from yesterday I realized bedtime is a major stress, and it is one of the main times when I lose my soft voice, patient attitude with him. I find myself trying every trick in the book. First I'm sweet, but he's not having it. Then I try to talk about what the next day holds for us hoping to distract him, or bribe him sort of to get ready for bed. Next we move on to threats of time out. BOO. That takes it to a negative level. Bedtime is a WONDERFUL thing. Why doesn't my child understand that?

I guess its time to do some creative parent reading and figure out if there is even a solution. A way to get my toddler into a more comfortable place with his bedtime routine. Until then I guess I will be thanking God for giving me SO MANY opportunities to practice my patience. At least if I slip up I can blame it on lack of sleep right?