Lack of Sleep...

Alright, so I know my blog is all about life being beautiful and all that jazz, but often times lack of sleep can make me a little crazy. I actually don't know why I'm writing this post because I might regret it later, but Dave thinks it'll be funny. Oh yes, I'm so hilarious when I'm exhausted and grumpy (holding up the sarcasm sign). I have to warn you in advance that my grammar might suffer a bit because I so need sleep.

About a week before Christmas, Rosie started to get really upset when we put her to bed. She would wake up in the middle of the night crying, which is so unlike her. She used to sleep 12-13 hours through the night, no problem. Neither Dave nor I know what's happened, but one night during one of her fits, she climbed out of her crib and fell face first on the ground. You know what that means right? Time for the big-girl-bed! I've heard horror stories about parents trying to get kids to sleep in a big bed and lucky for Dave and I, we got to experience it during the Christmas season (holding up the sarcasm sign again). Rosie spent the first three nights literally SCREAMING at the top of her lungs for hours at a time. Nothing or nobody could calm her down. Eventually she would give up and crawl into her bed. Since then she's been fairy well behaved and kind cute when she goes to bed, but not last night. Dave read some website about her nightly outburst and he thinks she has something called "night terrors". Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't, but whatever it is, it's terrorizing the whole family.

Last night at 4 am, Rosie woke up screaming. She didn't want a drink, she didn't want a hug, she didn't want a story, she didn't want a song. She just wanted to scream and SCREAM!! By 4:30 am Dave had given up and came back to bed. At 4:45 am, Rosie was screaming "Mom Eeeeee Mom Eeeeee!" so I decided better try to calm her. Of course, as soon as I got up to get her, Joseph woke from all the madness. Now there were two crying babies. I'm trying to wean Joseph during the night anyway, so I asked Dave to deal with him, while I dealt with Rosie. I went into her room and she was standing beside her bed crying. She ran toward me when I came in the room and asked me to pick her up. I got into bed with her and she fell asleep right away! Hurray!!! Victory..... well no not so fast. I'd like to say that everything was ok after that, but it wasn't.

As I laid in bed with Rosie, I could still hear Joseph crying in the next room. Dave was singing him songs but he was still fussy. I knew I'd have to go in and get him soon before he got too upset. I rolled Rosie to the other side of the bed and slowly started to sneak out. The second I got out of her bed, she woke up and started screaming again. Seriously?!?!?! What the heck am I supposed to do now? Well I had the bright idea of bringing Rosie into our room so she could cuddle with me while I feed Joseph. Instead Joseph got upset that Rosie was there, and Rosie couldn't settle herself down. Instead she kicked the wall, jumped on the bed, and talked to Dave. So here we are, 5:30 am, everyone is awake and crabby. We all laid in bed for another half hour, and at this point, Joseph had fallen back asleep, but not for long.

It was time to put Rosie back into her own bed because she wasn't even close to falling asleep in our bed. Dave picked her up and she started crying again, and of course, woke Joseph up. Back to where we started from an hour ago. Arrggghhhh, why does this have to happen? Dave took Rosie into her room, and I settled Joseph down (as best as I could with screaming in the next room). It was 7 am when everyone FINALLY went to sleep. Dave said that Rosie slept with her knees on the ground and her head on the mattress , like she had fallen asleep praying.

I awoke at 10 am to Rosie screaming again and Joseph pulling my hair. It's time to start the day I guess. Now it's noon, and I've finished breakfast and I'm finishing this blog post. I'm so very exhausted and short tempered (thanks kids!) and have no idea how I'm going to finish a long list of things that need to get done.
1. Clean kitchen and finish organizing cupboards
2. Do laundry
3. Clean both bathrooms
4. Organize food storage room
5. Put away clothing the kids have outgrown
3. Clean our bedroom
6. Make dinner
All while dealing with a house full of sleep deprived grumpy pants! I know days like these are all learning experiences and character building. I know that days like these help me to appreciate the better days. One day I'll look back and laugh.... one day... maybe.

Meka Aloha (I almost didn't write that)
- Elisabeth