Sleep

Sleep has been a battle in my house for years. I was always a great sleeper. I am a night owl who could sleep the day away if left to my own devices. My first college room mate hated how much I slept and my last room mate slept as much or even more than I did. I can sleep anywhere and through anything. When I was pregnant I continued napping on weekends and went to bed early because I was up at night. When I had Nate I was up for the night time feedings but he started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. It was a beautiful thing. I went back to work when he was 11 weeks old and really needed to sleep the whole night.

About a month before Nate’s first birthday he started waking in the middle of the night and had trouble falling asleep at first. I started bringing him to my bed for fear of falling asleep while I was holding him in the rocking chair and thus began our 3 year battle to get him out of our bed. It wasn’t uncomfortable at first having him there but you are aware of it so you don’t sleep as deeply. He would yell from his crib for one of us and we would argue over who was going to get him. Finally we got him a toddler bed and then he began just appearing in our bed. Over time of course he got bigger and it did become uncomfortable to have him there. This summer I hit my breaking point because my back pain was becoming unbearable and his little feet kicking me all night were not helping. He is all over the place at night and it was driving me crazy.

We moved his new bed into his room 4 weeks ago and he has slept in the bed EVERY night and ALL night. I was afraid that with the change at his school and Love working a new shift that all of our work would fall apart but I have kept him on a consistent schedule and it is working. I come home at 6pm and we eat dinner. We color or play for a little while and then clean up. At 7:30pm I let the dog out and we head to my bed for quiet time where we read and he watches Olivia. At 8pm he goes to his bed with my iPod and watches Mike the Knight. He’s like me and he falls asleep watching TV which is fine. I’m not buying him a TV for his room but he is allowed to borrow my iPod to fall asleep. He is usually fast asleep and snoring by 8:15-8:30pm and only wakes up to go potty and then heads right back to his room.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can keep this going. He’s had the twin mattress since Sunday and he seems more comfortable and is sleeping better and longer. Of course the new no napping policy also went into effect this summer so that is a big help. When he does nap (bad daddy!) he is a nightmare for me at bedtime. The other night I was almost passed out from exhaustion at 10pm and he came in yelling, “Look mommy!” and shoving his hands in my face. He had boogers on almost every finger. I’m all for a clean nose but really?

 His beloved Jake sheets

 Which of course match the Jake blanket

 No napping!

Someone was a little sleepy after a long day