All three children are sharing a bedroom here at Chez MyParents. When I put them to bed, I get an hour to an hour to an hour and a half of quiet. Most nights. (Some nights, they won't go down at all, but that's another post.) But for description's sake, let's call this a good night. I get an hour and a half of quiet. Then Nesyah cries, loudly and angrily. I would even say "lustily," except that sounds like something good, and this is NOT. GOOD.
If I rush in and pick her up, she giggles, coos, and smiles, if I just stand around holding her, which you might think is good. Hey, I can just watch "Outsourced" with my happy baby, right?
Wrong. The attention-demanding, hey-Ima-please-hang-out-with-me screeches from her Highness never fail to wake Asher up, terrified. So now I have two screaming kids, both who want me, but one wants me STANDING and the other will never return to his bed if I don't lie down with him and coax him back to sleep. (He calms after a minute or so, but then wants to stay up to hang out as well.) If one needs a diaper change, or a drink of water, or has messed the sheets, forget about it. I'm out of hands. Then there's scrambling, screaming, and sweating, and Oh Lordy, I'm starting to get stressed just thinking about it.
Monday night, this awful she-screams he-screams cycle happened no less than three times. I tried removing Nesyah to my room, but her screams woke Asher up IN THE NEXT ROOM. It was so bad that at 3:30 AM I told Asher I would give him whatever he wanted, do anything, if he would just stop yelling. Mercifully, he realized he had broken me, let out a mournful sigh, and fell backwards onto his pillow. I got about two hours' sleep before Rami woke up for the day. The rest of the week wasn't much better, each night unfolding with a new and progressively horrible sequence of events.
But it's okay, because David will be here Friday night. Friday night, I'll get some sleep. Six glorious hours, at least, of unbroken sleep, in the dark, probably with headphones. Oh, it will be incredible. Right?
Wrong. David rolled in this Friday afternoon with a killer sore throat, a chesty cough, a four-digit fever, and about 20 hours of work to get done before Monday.
Last night I was up from 10:00-11:00. Fine. Then at 2:45, the wails started again. Kvetch, grunt, back to sleep. The wailing started to become more dominant than anything else around 4:00. You don't need to know any more sordid details - truthfully, I don't fully remember how it all went down. I just know that at 4:15 AM, I had thrown a DVD in the player, a plate of babka in the middle of the room, and a pillow on the floor, and was letting my oldest and youngest literally walk all over me, awake for the day.
I powered through today with well over eight cups of coffee and the sheer force of will.
My goal this week is to sleep. Whenever, wherever I can. My sister's wedding is this Friday (I know! Married on a Friday! Isn't she clever and cute?) and I have to be in as good a form as possible. I'm going to pretend like I have a newborn and sleep when the babies sleep. What am I going to let slide? Everything else.
What about you, my beloved Supers? Goals? Slacking? Did you make yourselves schedules and plans like you wanted? (Go check out Shannon's check-in too...)
P.S. As you may have guessed, Rami is now indisputably and completely understandably my favorite child. Don't pretend that you would say any different, either.
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Oh Leigh Ann...((((hugs))))
ReplyDeleteI would say that I understand what you're going through, but I can't possibly...I only have one baby right now, and I'm not living with my parents while my husband works in another city and only comes home on weekends. You, my darling, have an enormous amount of stress to process. The best thing I can offer is a virtual hug, and an acknowledgment, and a wish (for all of you) that your babies get a little bit more settled and allow you all more sleep. Oh yeah, and the yoga teacher in me says "Don't forget to breathe, and breathe deeply and fully, exhaling completely. This too shall pass (thank Gd)."
I too am exhausted. While only some of my reasons are the same (caring for a tiny human, keeping a home, etc...), the solution is universal: somehow, someway, something has to give so that you (I!!) can get more sleep.
Good luck this week. I'm hoping that you find sweet dreams and rest (with far fewer interruptions).
<3
Maybe try letting Asher share with you during the week, and put a white noise machine in your room so he can't hear Nesi screeching?
ReplyDeleteMy 21-year-old-daughter comes in at strange hours, my two old dogs have to go out at least twice each night, my 6- and 4-year old boys go to sleep at 9 if I am lucky and never fail to be up by 6. My husband works in another town and he comes here some weekends, and we go there other weekends. I'm supposed to be packing to move next month, and I haven't done our taxes yet. It is nice to know I'm not the only one who lays on the floor, gives the kids a snack, and lets them watch tv just to get bits of sleep here and there, lol! Hang in there! Love your blog.
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